Baptiste "Big Bat" Pourier, 1843-1928, was a French scout and trader who married Josephine Richards, an Oglala Lakota woman. He is buried on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Photo by Itsapony2005
Baptiste "Big Bat" Pourier Family To Gather
By Brandon Ecoffey
Lakota Country Times Editor
lakotacountrytimes.com PINE RIDGE -- The family of an American legend is coming together in Rapid City. Throughout American history there have been countless figures who have left their mark as true frontiersmen, very few however have had the impact on the culture of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as did Baptiste "Big Bat" Pourier. On the weekend of July 14 at the old Storybook Island in Rapid City descendants of longtime friend of the Lakota gathered as a family to celebrate his life and lineage. Baptiste "Bat" Pourier, owner of the Big Bat's gas station in Pine Ridge is a direct descendant of "Big Bat" said of the event, "It is good to get together for a happy occasion rather than a sad one." The event itself has come together through months of planning as both Matt Amiotte and Valerie Pourier have been instrumental in the process. At the gathering a collection of artifacts gathered by the daughter of "Big Bat" will be displayed and will include several beaded and quilled items that once belonged to the American legend. Additionally there will be an article read about Lovie McGaa's account of Wounded Knee Massacre and the first 250 people will receive a 32 page genealogy book put together by Matt Amiotte Born in St. Charles Mo in 1834, Pourier would go on to live a life straight out of an old western book as he would live to befriend the likes of John Richards, Jules Ecoffey, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse over the course of his 94 years on this earth. At the young age of 15 Bat would meet John Richards, a fellow Frenchman and a frontiersman who had traveled the Oregon Trail that led straight through the heart of Lakota Country. The two would head west on the Oregon Trail, that would eventually lead them into the heart of Red Cloud's territory that at the time comprised roughly 1/5 of the continental United States. On the first trip Bat made with Richards to his Wyoming home he would not only meet John Richard's Lakota wife Mary, but also her sister Josephine who would eventually become his wife. Around this time in his life Big Bat would meet and become friends with another legend in the form of the great Oglala Chief Red Cloud. The two would develop a friendship that would last a lifetime after Red Cloud invited the young Frenchman to look at his horse. The completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 would usher in an era in American History that Big Bat had surely lamented as he recalled seeing so many buffalo killed that people walking would see so many corpses that they "one could from one to another." At one point in time it is believed that as many as 60 million buffalo roamed the Great Plains but were nearly driven into extinction as they were killed off for sport and to deny Native people of their primary source of food.
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Big Bat would eventually find work as a translator who was present at the Ft. Laramie Peace conference in 1868. At the conference Big Bat is said to have attempted to negotiate a best possible deal for Lakota people. The treaty that emerged from the conference is considered to be one of the most important treaties ever signed between the Great Sioux Nation and the United States government and is still applicable today as it has guaranteed multiple concessions for today's Lakota people. In 1874, General Crook, with Big Bat at his side went to the Black Hills to keep miners out but came across more than 1200 miners looking for gold. The discovery would lead to more conflict between settlers and Indians. Big Bat was also present at Fort Robinson the day the Crazy Horse was murder d and he is said to have delivered he news of the death to Crazy Horse's father. Eventually Big Bat would construct a home north of Manderson, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where he would raise 11 children. When asked if he was an Indian, Big Bat replied "Yes, I am an Indian, but I am a white man too." (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at editor@lakotacountrytimes.com) Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter and download the new Lakota Country Times app today.
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