Ivan F. Star Comes Out
Lakota oral history tells the true untold stories
By Ivan F. Star Comes Out William McNeill (Why Study History? 1985) wrote, “Historical knowledge is no more and no less than carefully and critically constructed collective memory.” He also stated that without memory of one’s past, a person literally loses his or her individual identity and would not know how to interact with others. McNeill also said loss of collective memory does not immediately affect a group, but ignorance of, absence of, or flawed history deprives them of the best available guide. It has also been said that history is an analysis of the past that explains why things are the way they are today. Still others say past events are communicated in the form of narratives (stories). I’ve always held traditional oral history to be as valid as the written word. In fact, the written history of this country is biased since the truth wasn’t always promulgated. On the other hand, Lakota oral history was transmitted within a definite air of spirituality, truth, and morality. Select elders were the keepers of tiospaye history who used symbols to remind them of specific events. However, similar to our language and culture, oral history is beginning to lose its integrity in modern Lakota society. Those elders are gone now and the written word reigns. Today’s youth are adversely affected. Is appears their tiospaye histories are irrelevant and are no longer interested. So, it is with urgency that I put a bit of my tiospaye history on paper. Some of it has been written already in newspapers however the anti-Indian sentiment of the time is obvious and Lakota oral history was not considered. An example involves the fight between Tasunke Witko (Crazy Horse), an Oglala war leader, and Mni Nica (No Water), a Hunkpapa tiospaye leader in the 1870s. A white author assumed the fight was over a woman and that No Water instigated the fight in a jealous rage. This account is widely accepted. Also that Crazy Horse was “demoted” from his “shirt wearer” status for taking another man’s wife. This does not diminish his staunch resistance to White encroachment for which he is renowned. Local oral history indicates that the fight occurred because the young Oglala was trying to prevent the elder Hunkpapa tiospaye leader from meeting with his tiospaye elders. No Water’s action was concerned about the integrity of tiospaye law and essentially Oceti Sakowin (seven council fires) law. The Oglala warrior had defiled the very foundation of tiospaye integrity, the family unit. Oral history specifies that No Water came to the Red Cloud Agency when Sitting Bull took his Hunkpapa into Canada after the fight with Custer’s 7th Cavalry. The late Gerald One Feather may have been the last elder to have spoken of No Water’s words when he arrived here, “If the Oglala are going to die here, we will die with them.” Locally, No Water’s people were called the Hokayuta Okaspe (Badger Eater Group) which is a reference to a Hunkpapa warrior society that used the badger as its symbol. They peered, in ceremony, into a pool of blood in the stomach cavity of a badger before going into battle. What the young warriors saw is unknown but they knew they were coming home from the fight or they were not. Either way, they prepared themselves and went into battle fearlessly. The group was allotted land in 1889. The original No Water Camp site was at the confluence of the White Clay and White River. His second camp site (1889) is located six miles north and now an Indian Reorganization Act constitutional community. Today, the descendants of No Water’s group number around 100, mostly children. Like most of the Oglala tiospaye who camped along the creeks and rivers, the majority of No Water’s descendants now live in the Oglala area. Sadly, younger generations no longer remember which tiospaye they come from. A few managed to remain in the area where their ancestors were allotted land in 1889. I and my immediate family are one of those few and the only residents of the No Water Community. Here is some more unknown history. My younger brother, Stan, researched some historical events at the request of a local elder now residing in Kyle, South Dakota. The events he spoke of actually filled in the gaps in what information I had managed to gather over the years. These events are not recorded in standard history texts, only in old now obscure newspaper accounts. This involves a Lakota man by the name of Two Sticks. Written and oral history places these events two to three years after the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. Oral history indicates his name was erroneously translated. His name alludes to the phrase “can unpapi” (they smoke wood), which is a descriptive of smoking cansasa (red willow tobacco) with the sacred pipe. I relay the events here in general terms since this space is not sufficient for a detailed essay. Reservation life offered scant sustenance forcing some young Oglala men to venture into the He Sapa (Black Hills) in search of game. Not finding any, they were returning home when they encountered some cattle northwest of the Pine Ridge Agency. The cows were part of the agency’s food rationing program. The young warriors killed one and brought the meat home for the families who had young children to feed. The incident was reported to the agency superintendent who sent a small group of Indian police out to arrest Two Sticks at his camp. A fight broke out and five of the police officers were killed and the sixth was wounded but managed to return to the agency to report what had happened. In the meantime, Two Sticks’ warrior’s, enraged by the attempted arrest, attacked and killed the cowboys who reported the “crime.” Newspaper accounts indicate the attack occurred at a ranch. Oral history says the cowboys were living in a dugout near No Water’s second camp. During this fight, three of the five warriors who took the cow were killed and Two Sticks was severely wounded. The superintendent had sent out more officers to arrest Two Sticks, who had taken refuge at No Water’s camp. The police immediately opened fire and gunfire was exchanged. The indignant No Water prepared his warriors for a full scale battle. Oglala tiospaye leader, Young Man Afraid of His Horses, (name also misinterpreted) intervened with his tiospaye warriors and beseeched No Water. He said if his warriors wiped out the officers, more will come and the military would be involved. He warned that the people would not be able to withstand it as times are hard. After more discussion, No Water decided not to fight. Negotiating with the police, No Water insisted on medical treatment for Two Sticks and that he is not to be harmed or killed. Reluctantly, he released the Oglala but wanted his youngest son, Mato Nasula (Bear Brain) or Ivan Star Comes Out, to go with Two Stick to the agency to ensure the agreements are kept. The agency police kept Two Stick in Pine Ridge until his wound healed enough to travel. Upon learning that Two Sticks was to be transported to Deadwood for trial, No Water insisted his son continue as his escort. Details are unclear, but Ivan Star Comes Out was made an Indian police officer who then accompanied Two Sticks to Deadwood. Upon recovering from a long illness, Two Sticks was tried and convicted of killing the four cowboys and executed (hung) there in Deadwood. Obviously, his fate served as an example to deter further hostilities. My grandfather, Ivan Star Comes Out, relayed his last words to his relatives. The people are to beware that they will suffer long at the hands of the Whiteman. No Water regretted his decision to allow Two Sticks to be taken and that if he knew they were going to hang him, he would not have released him. Shortly after this, Oral history tells of No Water being falsely accused of hosting a Ghost Dance. He was arrested, convicted, and imprisoned in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he died. Descendants contended that the superintendent used No Water as an example to suppress further hostilities and violence. The agency superintendent feared him as people were looking to him as a leader. (Ivan F. Star Comes Out, POB 147, Oglala, SD 57764; (605) 867-2448; mato_nasula2@outlook.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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