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Updated: June 25, 2025
One Secretary of the Interior at the point of the bayonet had caused all the Poncas Indians to be driven from northern Nebraska down to Indian Territory, depriving them of lands to which they held government deeds. They were left in the new country for months without rations, and more than one third of them died. Among these was the son of Standing Bear.
The removal of the Sioux necessitated the transfer of the Poncas, a peaceful tribe which lay immediately east. The latter, not unnaturally, objected, quarrels arose and eventually the Poncas were practically broken to pieces.
The Poncas, sorely pressed, took refuge behind a rude bulwark of earth; but the Blackbird kept up so galling a fire, that he seemed likely to execute his menace. In their extremity they sent forth a herald, bearing the calumet or pipe of peace, but he was shot down by order of the Blackbird. Another herald was sent forth in similar guise, but he shared a like fate.
If they have any suspicion that this thing cannot last forever, and that the time will soon come for them to work or starve, the great majority do not allow themselves to be influenced by it, but seem determined to put the evil day as far off as possible. Poncas.
They had spent much money of the tribe, for tools and buildings, and were becoming like white men. The Government had issued papers to them, showing which land each man possessed. Now they were liable to lose their lands, as the Poncas had lost. The Omahas hastened to ask white lawyers about it.
"For two hours before sundown the kettle-tenders is howlin' an' callin' the dance throughout the Osage camp. Thar's to be a full moon, an' the dance the Ingraska it is; a dance the Osages buys from the Poncas for eight ponies is to come off in a big, high-board corral called the 'Round House. "Followin' the first yell of the kettle-tenders, the young bucks begins to paint up for the hilarity.
The present temporary location of the Red Cloud agency has, however, drawn just within the limits of Wyoming a body of Indians varying from 8,000 to 9,000, who are here, and usually, reckoned as belonging in Dakota. The Indians within the limits of Dakota Territory are the Sioux, the Poncas, and the Arickarees, Gros Ventres, and Mandans. Sioux.
Whenever he was displeased with an Indian, he prophesied his death before a certain day, and the sure accomplishment of the prophecy rendered Blackbird an object of terror and reverence. On one occasion, the Poncas made an incursion into Blackbird's territory, and carried away a number of women and horses. He immediately collected his warriors and pursued them.
"The court-room was crowded with fashionably dressed women; and the clergy, which had been greatly stirred by the incident, were there in force. The court-room was a galaxy of brilliancy. "On one side stood the army officers, the brilliantly dressed women, and the white people; on the other was standing Bear, in his official robes as chief of the Poncas, and with him were his leading men.
Finally the Poncas remained by themselves, low down on the Niobrara River in northern Nebraska. When the captains, Lewis and Clark, met some of them, the tribe had been cut by the small-pox to only some two hundred people. They never have been a big people. Their number today, about eight hundred and fifty, is as large as ever in their history.
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