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Tonkawa Tribal
Nez Perce Memorial
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| Original 1976 Dedication | 2006 Dedication |
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This article is from the twice monthly newspaper, News From
Indian Country. It is published by Indian Country Communications, Inc. with
offices at Rt.2 Box 2900A, Hayward, WI 54843. They may be contacted by calling
(715) 634-5226; FAX (715) 634-3243.
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| A Special Article by Elmer M. Savilla Fort Oakland, Oklahoma | |
July, '92- Henry
Allen, worked quietly and unselfishly for years on his own private project to
remember and honor the native people who were gathered here by the U.S.
Cavalry in 1877, and then were forced to walk to new reservations in the
northwest. Heinmont Tooyalaket, known to whites as Chief Joseph, legendary Nez
Perce leader, and Yellow Wolf, were among the the chiefs who tried to keep the
Nez Perce people together.
Henry Allen served the
Tonkawa tribe as Chairman for 18 years until his own death in April of 1989.
The Tonkawa's are now located on the grounds of the old Fort Oakland, now
known as Tonkawa, Oklahoma. In his spare time Allen did research on old
records, piecing together the sad story of those who passed through this lush
country which the white Americans wanted so badly. Working with Indian
archivists of the Oklahoma Historical Society, he was able to erect a seven
foot tall by four feet wide pink granite memorial stone nearby the Tonkawa
tribal offices so that they would never be forgotten. Henry Allen, was so
spiritually moved by the story of these people that he took it upon himself to
build a monument to their memory.
Text carved into the granite
memorial tell a small part of the suffering the Nez Perce families endured.
Full records could not be located, but it was recorded that a daughter was
born to Chief Joseph at Lolo Lake in June of 1877. She died here at Fort
Oakland and was buried alongside at least 100 other Nez Perce children who
were born here while the tribe was imprisoned and died of malaria and other
diseases.
Also buried here is a man
named Halahtookit, who was born to a Nez Perce woman and fathered by William
Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition fame.
On June 30, 1884, the local
Indian Agent wrote to the Indian Affairs Commissioner H. Price, that in view
of the large numbers of Nez Perce buried here, it was thought that to preclude
any possible removal by looters a barricade fence should be installed around
the burial ground. They located trees of suitable size and hauled them to a
local lumbermill where they were cut into fence lumber and a "good substantial
fence round the enclosure sufficient to include all the graves" was built.
Carl Schurs was Secretary of Interior at the time and known to be a friend of
Indians, and this may be the reason that the protected burial ground was
permitted.
An interested person would
wonder, how did the Nez Perce who were from the northwest happen to be here in
Oklahoma territory? That story is another of the shameful chapters of American
history and of how the West was really won:
In 1805 the Lewis and Clark
expedition came out of the Rocky Mountains western side. The Nez Perce found
them starved, sick, and near death. They fed them and took care of them until
they were well enough to continue. The Nez Perce and the whites remained good
friends until the yellow fever of "gold" turned them into enemies. Treaties
and promise after promise was broken by the whites, supported by the U.S.
Army.
In 1863 a new treaty was
offered, giving them a new small reservation. The first Chief Joseph, Tuekakas,
known as old Joseph, refused to sign the treaty. He died in 1871 and U.S.
officials immediately ordered the Nez Perce to leave Wallowa, in what is now
Washington state, and go to Lapwai in what is now Idaho. The new chief, Young
Joseph, also refused to go.
After much harassment and
mistreatment, Nez Perce warriors fought with and killed some soldiers. Joseph,
advised by subchiefs White Bird, Looking Glass, his brother Ollokot, and the
tribal elder-prophet Toohoolhoolzote, decided to take the Nez Perce to Canada
for safety. The army pursued them through snowstorm and blizzard, and after
brutally killing more than 50 women and children 25 warriors in a pre-dawn
attack, the army succeeded in turning the Nez Perce southward.
Traveling south through
Yellowstone Park they were attacked by General "Bear Coat" Miles, so named by
Indians because of his habit of wearing a large bearskin coat. Miles had 30
Sioux and Cheyenne scouts who had been recruited from the Indian force which
had defeated Custer, and these scouts led 600 troops of the 7th Cavalry in a
charge upon Nez Perce.
The charge was stopped by Nez
Perce warriors, then under a flag of truce Chief Joseph was taken prisoner.
Bear Coat Miles received
reinforcements and the Nez Perce were besieged. Their war chief, Looking
Glass, was killed, as was Toohoolhoolzote, the prophet. It was then, as a
prisoner, that Chief Joseph, in order to save the lives of the remaining women
and children, surrendered and made his now famous speech which ended with "I
will fight no more forever."
Some warriors escaped to
Canada, but the remaining Nez Perce were taken to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
instead of to the promised Lapwai reservation. One hundred Nez Perce died
there before they were sent to Fort Oakland (Tonkawa) where more died of
sickness and mistreatment. By 1885 only 285 Nez Perce remained alive, most of
them the very young or the very old. In 1887 some were returned to Lapwai in
Idaho, but Chief Joseph and a few other warriors were sent to the Colville
reservation in northern Washington, where they lived in exile and separated
from the other Nez Perce.
On September 21, 1904
Heinmont Tooyalaket, Chief Joseph, died at the age of 63. The attending
physician reported that cause of death was "a broken heart."
This then, is the story which
touched Henry Allen, Sr., Chief of the Tonkawa's so much that he had to honor
them with his own memorial. Today the board fence has been replaced with a
wire fence and the burial ground is surrounded with farm crops. The constant
Oklahoma winds whistling through the trees and the tall corn seem to whisper
to the listener, voicing their thanks to Henry who wanted no recognition for
building this memorial and got none (until now), and to the occasional visitor
who traveled a hot and dusty country road to briefly visit with them and to
see their final resting place. The writing on the memorial stone reads, "NEZ
PERCE INDIAN BURIAL GROUND 1879-1885". It is a memorial to the good heart of
Henry Allen, Sr., and the Tonkawa people as well.
A-ho!
Michele Lord
Alpha Institute
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If you have come here to help me,
you are wasting your time.....
But if you have come because
your liberation is bound up with mine,
then let us work together.
-Aboriginal Woman
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