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Show ! B(Hi A all Hl V. 3:JpoDN7pii rfes -l r&AmmgiM0i fry vsjr V hfi m$mmm '- 1 ' ?pfpj 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ay-ysaertlllS year marks the tenth annl-versaryof annl-versaryof the establishment of a J diiy for honoring the memory of the original Inhabitants of this continent the American Indian. It was In 1U19 that the Illinois legislature authorized the observ-. observ-. ance of Indian day on the fourth Friday In September of each year. Since that time the Idea has spread to other states and all over the country the day is marked with various ceremonies. In connection with this event, it Is Interesting to note how many permanent memorials have been erected within recent years to perpetuate the fame of some Individual red man or of the Indian as a race. The past year has seen the addl tlon of several to an already long list of such memorials. Outstanding among these have been the two Indian equestrian statues of heroic size which were made a part of the main project of the monumental Grant park decorative scheme, the twin bridges across the railroad tracks at the foot of Congress street, on the lake front of Chicago. Chi-cago. Characterized as "two of the ugliest but most Impressive Indians ever cast In bronze" these statues, modeled by Ivan Mestrovlq, the great Yugo-Slav sculptor, Idealize the fighting spirit of the American Indian as not done before. Other memorials to a vanished race (and that terra Is used purposely, because the primitive Indian Is not merely the "vanishing race," but very definitely a "vanished ruce'7 Include the life-like bust of Chief Oratem, of the Achklnke-Bhacky Achklnke-Bhacky tribe, which was recently presented to the Bergen County Historical society In New Jersey the monument to Chief Straw of the Delawares' unveiled at Strawtown, near NoblesvIIle, Ind.;and a massive granite boulder erected at Surrey Courthouse, Virginia, which recalls to the people of that state their Indebtedness to an Indian named Chanco. A bronze tablet on that boulder tells his story. It reads: "In memory of Chanco the Indian who lived with Richard Pace at Pace's Palnes in this county and who, on the night before the massacre of March 22, 1C22. Informed Pace of Opechancanough's plot and thus saved the Jamestown colony." And these are only a few of the many memorials memo-rials to the American Indian which have been erected in every state in the Union. An entire book could he written about these memorials and the heroic deeds to which they testify. This article, arti-cle, therefore, cannot hope to contain a complete list In New England alone, for instance, a plan was set on foot several years ago to erect one hundred monuments to all the tribes and to a number of Individual Indians who lived in that section of the country. Just the other day it was announced that a memorial of a different sort . from the usual was to be established on Mount Dope In Rhode Island as a shrine to perpetuate the memory of King Philip, the great Wnmpanoae warrior. On that historic ridge will be built a fireproof museum for housing objects of historic -Indian value and it will be a shrine, an orcheo-logical orcheo-logical sanctuary for new England history. Mas- . sachusetLs long ago honored tin? memory of King Philip's father, Massasoit, with a huge- bronze statue of "the great Sachem of the Wamprinoags protector and preserver of the Pilgrims," which was erected at Plymouth during the Pilgrim ' tercentenary in 1021. . Ilia visitor at New Harbor, Maine, will And there a reminder of another friend of the Pilgrims. Pil-grims. It Is a granite monument with a bronze tablet bearing this inscription: "Saraoset, an Indian Sagamore of Temaquld who welcomed the English at Plymouth, gave a deed of the land where this stone was quarried, and of that where it stands, to John Rrown of New Harbor 15th July, lG2o, and acknowledged It before Abraham Shurte, it being the first deed properly executed in New England." One other New England statue which should be mentioned before leaving that part of the country Is the famous bronze by Cyrus E. Dallln, "The Appeal to the Great Spirit," Spir-it," which stands before the museum of fine arts in Boston. This was the last of a series of four statues made by the famous sculptor more than twenty years ago which represented the racial tragedy In which our national life began. The first "The Signal of Peace" stands In Lincoln park, Chicago, and represents the friendly meeting meet-ing of wiille and red man. "The Medicine Man" in Fali-mount park, Philadelphia, depicts the red man's suspicion of the invader while "Protest" shows the warfare of the tribesmen ngulnst settlers. set-tlers. "The Appeal to the Great Spirit" illustrates illus-trates the surrender of the Indian, not to human enemies but to a higher friend. One other of Dallin's symbolical sculptors should be added to the list of his masterpieces. It is "The Scout" which stands in Penn Valley park in Kansas City. Mo., an appropriate locale, for this was the eastern east-ern terminus of the Oregon and Santa Fe trails and the mounted Indian is looking over the vast empire where he made his last stand before the onrush of the white settlement of the West .The recent unveiling of the Chanco monument In Virginia is a reminder that Pocahontas, one of the two great Indian heroines in American hls-- hls-- tory, was not the only one whom Virginians have reason to hold in grateful remembrance. The statue of Pocahontas, which stands on Jamestown Island, is perhaps the best known of all Indian statues. To see the, memorial to another-Indian heroine you must go clear across the continent to City park In Portland, Ore. There stands Sakakawea, her hand outstretched to the west, pointing the way as she did more than a hun-dred hun-dred years ago when she guided Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition into the wilderness. North Dakota also has honored the memory of this Indian girl with a statue which stands on the grounds of the slate capltol at Bismarck. Virginia, Vir-ginia, however, is not the only state which had a Pocahontas. Near the town of Benton, Tenn., stands a cairn of stones bearing a marker with the following Inscription: "In Memory of Nancy Ward, Princess and Prophetess of the Cherokee Nation. The Pocahontas of Tennessee, The Constant Con-stant Friend of the Pioneer, Born 173S Died 1822." In the Congressional cemetery In Washington, D. C, stands a monument which Is not only unique In that burying ground of notables of our nation. It is also a memorial to an Indian war. flor and statesman said by many to be the greatest great-est of all his race known to the white man and honored at the time of his death with a military funeral accorded only those ranking as general officers of the United States army the only red man in history to have born paid such a tribute. Engraved on the plain shaft that marks his burying bury-ing place nre these words': "Pushmataha, a Choctaw Choc-taw Chief lies here. This monument to his memory was erected by his bro(hr cl lefs. who were associated with him in n delegation from their nation in the year 1S24 to the government of the United States. Pushmataha was a warrior of great distinction. He was wise In council, eloquent elo-quent to an extraordinary degree, and on all occasion occa-sion under all circumstances, the white man's friend. He died In Washington on the 21th day of December, 1821, of croup, In the GOth year of his age." It is to the credit "of the white man, at least that not all of the monuments which he has erected have been to friendly Indians. Some of them perpetuate the watlike deeds of Indians who were in their day the bitterest enemies of the encroaching whites. One of these stands in the courthouse yard at Point Pleasant, W. Va., and bears witness to the greatness of Cornstalk, the Shawnee, who led his warriors In the first and greatest "all-American battle" at Point Pleasant Pleas-ant at the mouth of the great Kannwha in 1774 when native white frontiersmen under Gen Anurew i-ewis strove mightily with native red men under Cornstalk. Although defeated at that battle Cornstalk's prowess and generalship won the highest praise from his enemies, who later were the rnost sincere mourners of his death at the hands of treacherous and cowardly whites while he was detained as n hostage. A memorial in a Pittsburgh park recalls another great Shawnee Shaw-nee who fought under Cornstalk at Point Pleasant Pleas-ant He was Catahecassa, but known along the frontier as Black Hoof, a warrior whose fighting days extended from Braddock's defeat In 1755 through the defeats of Harmnr and St Clair, until Mad Anthony Wayne finally broke the power of the Indians and peace was signed In 1705. No part of the United States is richer in Indian memorials than the great Mississippi valley which was for so long the beloved homeland of several powerful Indian tribes. Near Columbus, Ohio, stands a monument to the memory of Leather-lips, Leather-lips, a Wyandot chief, who was executed by his own people on the site of the monument In 1S09. This memorial was erected by the Wyandot club, an organization dating back to pioneer days, because of the fact that, although the Wyandots claim that the old chief was executed for practicing prac-ticing witchcraft, It was the opinion of the settlers set-tlers that it was done because Leatherlips was too friendly with the whites. Chicago, the metropolis metrop-olis of the Mississippi valley empire, is especially espe-cially rich In Indian memorials. In addition to the Mestrovlc and Dallin statues, it has also a monument which perpetuates not only the story of a terrible IncHan massacre but also a noble act on the part of a red man. This Is the Fort Dearborn Massacre monument on the lake front capped by the stirring group which depicts Black Pnrtrldge, the Pottawatomie, saving the life of Mrs. Helm, wife of one of the officers in the fort, from the deadly tomahawk of an infuriated infuri-ated Indian brave. West of Chicago the traveler will see, on a high bluff above the Rock river, a solitary majestic figure outlined sharply against the natural beauty of field and woodland in the background. Although this statue, the work of the noted Chicago Chi-cago sculptor, Lorado Taft, Is popularly believed to be that of F.lackhawk, the great leader of the Sacs and Foxes, its maker has declared that It is neither a representation of that leader nor of any single tribe. It symbolizes the Indian, a spirit unconquered while still a conquered race. It Is one of the first large monuments to be made of concrete. Still further west Is another statue by the same sculptor which tells the story of another great Sac and Fox leader. This Is the bronze figure of Chief Keokuk which stands In the Iowa city which bears his name. Oshkosh is an honored name, the-name of a chieftain of the Menominee Indians and several years ago, in a beautiful set ting In Menominee park, the citizens of Oshkosh, Wis., erectotl a statue in honor of his memory. Out In Colorado Is another city which tears the name of a great Indian chief. He was ChJe Ouray of the Utes, an Indian who repeatedly proved his right to the title of "Friend of the White Man." A few years ago a part of their debt of gratitude to him was paid by the unveiling unveil-ing of a monument to Ouray and his wife, Chi-peta, Chi-peta, on a tract of land near Montrose which was a part of the original Chief Ouray ranch. And these nre but a few of the many memorials memo-rials to the vanished race. As westward the "star of empire took Its way" it tool; with it the Indian and the sorrowful f:ite which has been his, and Is symbolized In one of the most famous of all Indian statues the bowed figure of an Indian warrior, mounted upon a hovse whose drooping head Is pointing toward the setting sun Jame Eaii Fraser' "The End A Lhe Trail." |
