The site formerly known at Custer Battlefield, named for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer has been renamed the Little Bighorn Battle National Monument, with monuments honoring and remembering the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors who were victorious over Custer’s 7th Cavalry.
Reliving Indian history, 'Forgiving is not forgetting’
By Karin Eagle
Native Sun News Staff Writer COVELO, Calif. –The plaque reads; Round Valley was discovered by white settlers in 1854. That plaque has been like salt in a wound to the tribes that originally founded and lived in the valley for thousands of years. The tribes were living there when the first settler arrived. The plaque that makes this claim on behalf of those first settlers makes no mention of the death and cultural genocide that followed in the wake of this “discovery.” In what was seen as a long-over-do victory, the record has finally been set straight on what is often considered the secret history of California. This year a revised plaque has been installed that acknowledges the true history of the valley and its original inhabitants. Only a few families of the original tribal memberships remain alive today. "Californians are unaware, generally, that our forbears committed themselves to the literal extermination of the California Indian people," says James J. Rawls of Diablo Valley College, who has written several books about California history. The actual truth about what happened to the tribes in California is far from pleasant. In a history story that echoes across Indian Country, the valley tribes were driven from their homelands during the Gold Rush. Stories of tribal members being hunted down, diseases that were foreign to the people and Natives forcibly driven from their own homes are as common in California as they are across the rest of the continent. The book “The Missions of California: A Legacy of Genocide” by Rupert and Jeanette Costo was not a welcome publication by many Californians because it exposed the painful truth about the destruction of a people by the so-called 49ers in their pursuit of gold. Rupert, a Cahuilla Indian, was the founder and president of the American Indian Historical Society and editor of the Indian Historian Press. According to the 1900 census nearly 95% of the original population had vanished. Confronting the past has not come easy to the California tribes and other residents. However, the progress made in other parts of the country has helped to pave the path toward some semblance of reconciliation. The 1876 battle that took out the entire 7th Cavalry under General G. Custer was long known as Custer’s Last Stand. The location was viewed as a place of tragic loss for the United States, rather than the victory that the Cheyenne and Lakota tribes had won. Up until recent years, the battlefield was designated as a memorial site to the men who had lost their lives after the failed military campaign in the war with the Indians. The battlefield was named for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. After many years of concerted effort by the tribe’s involved the battle field has been renamed the Little Bighorn Battle National Monument, with memorials for the Natives who had fought during the battle in various phases of construction. Former Oglala Lakota President Enos Poor Bear was instrumental in winning this battle. The year 1910 saw the name Squaw Peak first used in reference to a mountain located in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve in Arizona. Other historic names included Squaw Tit Mountain and Vainom Do'ag, the Pima name for the mountain, meaning Iron Mountain. As the term "squaw" is considered derogatory by many, numerous efforts to change the name of the mountain were made through the years. State Representative Jack Jackson, Navajo, submitted a bill to change the name annually beginning in 1992, which generated repeated and often raw debates in Arizona. The Native newspaper Indian Country Today then owned by Oglala Lakota Tim Giago, published articles locally pointing out the need to change the name. ICT then had a branch office in Scottsdale, AZ. U.S. Board on Geographic Names policy is to consider changes to features using the word "squaw" when approved by local authorities, but petitioners are strongly urged to choose new names that relate to Native American woman and/or culture. In 2003, newly elected Governor Janet Napolitano petitioned the state board to rename the mountain for Lori Piestewa, the first woman killed in the Iraq war and the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving with the U.S. military. This proved to be controversial, not only due to the request but for the governor. The controversy stemmed in part from the fact that governor's request violated a required waiting period of five years after a person's death prior to renaming a geographic feature; Piestewa had been killed earlier that year. Phoenix police officer Tim Norton, who was serving as the board's director at the time, had refused to place the request on the board's agenda, citing the five year requirement. The state board ultimately approved the name change to Piestewa Peak on April 17, 2003, less than a month after Piestewa's death. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, however, refused to accept a similar petition at the time, citing their own five year waiting rule. Five years later the board agreed to review the request as the waiting period had passed. The board also considered other potential alternatives, including Swilling Peak for area pioneer Jack Swilling. The national board ultimately voted 11-2 to approve the name change to Piestewa Peak, while indicating that the original name of Squaw Peak might still be used in publications as a secondary reference. For the Round Valley tribes it has taken a couple generations of effort to get the State and local governments to listen to their concerns and requests for a change in the historical designation plaque. This fight is not unique to the Native population, however. A statue of Thomas Fallon, who was an early mayor of San Jose has been removed and stored in a warehouse due to the uproar in the Mexican American community who had concerns about the implications of honoring the U.S. imperialism that founded the state. In Round Valley, 150 miles north of San Francisco, reservation residents have objected to the plaque since its installation in 1959. The protest went as far as the desecration of the plaque with graffiti and gunshot holes from time to time. Two years ago, the state Office of Historic Preservation began holding community meetings and reviewing proposals for new language for the plaque. Descendants of the original settlers liked the plaque the way it was. Indians and other whites, including some with family histories of being run out of the valley by some of the original pioneers, wanted it changed. There were some state-brokered compromises. Indians wanted "genocide," to reflect how their numbers were ravaged by disease, malnutrition and attacks. "The state mellowed that out and toned it down to 'conflict,' " Merrifield said. The final wording acknowledges the Yuki Indians as the original inhabitants of the valley and points out that, after conflict with European settlers in the 1850s, the region was declared a reservation and other tribes were moved in to inhabit the land. In 1864, the government reduced reservation land by four-fifths. One sunny afternoon last spring, about 200 people gathered on Inspiration Point under a bright blue sky to dedicate the new marker. "Forgiving is not forgetting," Round Valley tribe member Cora Lee Simmons said. "It's just letting go of the hurt." (Contact Karin Eagle at staffwriter@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
Join the Conversation
