Re: Sioux/Black Hills
Kathy Frenchman (kgfrenchman@ucdavis.edu)
Wed, 16 Nov 1994 20:52:03 -0800
During the trial for the Yellow Thunder camp, the courts allowed oral
information from elders to be entered as evidence for the Sioux knowledge
of the Black Hills. The Sioux and the Cheyenne made pilgrimages to the
Black Hills since time immemorial. It is not that the Sioux claim to
live at the Black Hills, instead delegations of people were sent to make
specific ceremonies at specific times. The Sioux creation story is set
in the Black Hills, this story is of course most ancient. The white
people, who were not the most sophisticated, had no concept of the
complex timing of the ceremonies, some of which were done only once in 5
years. The written documents of white people are not the whole story of
the Sioux understanding of the power of the Black Hills.
Also, a military diary written by a young lieutenant in 1874 was
published by the Brigham Young University in around 1979, contains a
statement by him on the holiness of the Black Hills. This military
expedition was led by Custer, it was secret and the men were in plain
clothes. the intent of the expedition was to find out why the Indians
did not want white men to enter the hills.
Kathy Frenchman