A fire lookout at the top of Harney Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Photo from SummitPost
South Dakota Dems back Harney Peak name change
By Brandon Ecoffey
LCT Editor RAPID CITY— One week after the Pennington County Democratic party announced that it had passed a motion encouraging the U.S. Board of Geographic Names to approve the formal request of Lakota elder Basil Brave Heart to change the name of Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak, the South Dakota Democratic Party has done the same. The motions by both organizations state the reason that South Dakota democrats have jumped behind the movement to change the name is that “public comments received by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names included support of the name change by a descendent of General William S. Harney and a descendent of Little Thunder, a leader of a Lakota village destroyed by Harney in 1855,” and that “the existing name of the peak is highly offensive to Native people.” Gen. Harney and Little Thunder share an infamous moment in American history when on September 2, 1855, U.S. Army forces led by Harney attacked a camp who followed Little Thunder and were near Blue Water Creek. Despite pleas for peace from Little Thunder to other Lakota prior to the incident, eighty-six Lakota died that day, including 40 women and children. The attack was in retaliation for the destruction of a contingent of Army soldiers led by Second Lieutenant John Lawrence Grattan by a camp of Brule Lakota warriors. Grattan had attempted to arrest members of Chief Conquering Bear’s band on August 17, 1854, after a visiting Mniconjou named High Forehead had slaughtered a migrant’s cow who had wondered in to the camp just east of Ft. Laramie and near the highly traveled Oregon Trail. After Gratten had arrived at the camp he demanded that Conquering Bear turn over those responsible for killing the cow. Instead Conquering Bear in accordance with Lakota practices at the time offered to make amends for the incident by offering a horse from his personal herd or one of the tribe’s cattle. Unable to reach an agreement Grattan would leave the camp and return along with 30 soldiers and an interpreter named Lucienne Auguste, all of whom intended to entice the nearby Lakota in to a fight. After arriving at the camp tensions increased and a misfired gunshot led to a battle where all of Grattan’s men were killed. The incident marked one of the first encounters of the plains Indian wars as well as one of the government’s first encounters with a young Lakota warrior named Red Cloud. On that day Red Cloud led a band of his Bad Face warrior society to cut off 18 soldiers who were seeking cover in nearby cliffs. The Lakota that Harney encountered and slaughtered at Blue Water were led by Little Thunder who had openly opposed conflict with whites who were traveling in the area and included no members of the camp involved in the Grattan incident. Recently the U.S. Board of Geographic Names has heard testimony from not only descendents of Gen. Harney and Little Thunder but also Myron Pourier who is a direct descendent of Black Elk. The proposed alternate name to Harney Peak is Black Elk’s Peak after Lakota leader and spiritual leader Black Elk. The pleas from the Democratic Party have come in stark contrast to several local county and city boards who have suggested to the federal committee that the name remain unchanged. In the release the South Dakota Democratic Party quoted Historian Eric Zimmer, a doctoral candidate at the University of Iowa and a research fellow at the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Harney, “likely never set foot on the mountain. Harney’s actions before and during his time in the Black Hills, moreover, were deplorable under any standard of human decency." "While living in St. Louis in 1834, Harney murdered a slave child named Hannah. He was well known for his short temper, and historians have surmised that the girl’s only transgression may have been as minor as misplacing the soldier’s keys. Even in the antebellum South, the attack sparked a public outrage and Harney was indicted for murder. He was ultimately acquitted because, in the repulsive logic of their time, he was a decorated white soldier and she a forgettable slave girl,” said Zimmer. For Karin Little Thunder who is a descendent of those massacred at Blue Water she told LCT that the name change “is a chance for her and other to begin to heal” from historical incidents that occurred in the area. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at editor@lakotacountrytimes.com) Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter.
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