The days we once knew are gone forever, like the leaves of autumn, they slowly faded away,  forever swept away by the winds of time. Songs that we sang still echo through the night, and are heard in the rustling of the trees, as birds and animals join in the chorus as it is heard across the land in the hearts of the people. The path that we walked may be faded by the storms of life, but it is still there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For we are people forever changed by the sands of time, our spirits have been tested by the fires of greed and the storms that rage in mens' soul, and like the seasons we had to change but we always returned with fire in our hearts and a spirit tested by the furnace of history and having to learn to drink the cup of sorrows. We know the way we should walk and to help others along the way, for we were created in our Fathers image and He has protected our spirit and kept the fire burning in our hearts, for we are His children.

 

 

 

man who walks backwards

 

 

For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

 

Psalms  10 : 3

 

 

Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats.

 

Proverbs 23:6

 

 

For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.

 

 Isaiah 57:17

 

 

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

 

Jeremiah  6 : 13

 

 

We did not know there were other people besides the Indian until about one hundred winters ago, when some men with white faces came to our country. 

 

Chief Joseph 

 

 

 

 

 "At some time there shall come among you a stranger, speaking a language you do not understand. He will try to buy the land from you, but do not sell it; keep it for an inheritance to your children

  

Aseenewub, Red Lake Ojibwa

 

 

 

 

 

Soon there will come from the rising sun a different kind of man from any have yet seen, who will bring with them a book and will teach you everything."

 

Spokane Prophet

 

 

The white men told lies for each other. They drove off a great many of our cattle. Some branded our young cattle so they could claim them.

 

Chief Joseph 

 

 

 

 

 

I will follow the white man's trail. I will make him my friend, but I will not bend my back to his burdens. I will be cunning as a coyote. I will ask him to help me understand his ways, then I will prepare the way for my children, and their children. The Great Spirit has shown me - a day will come when they will outrun the white man in his own shoes."

 

Many Horses

 

 

We soon found that the white men were growing rich very fast, and were greedy. 

 

Chief Joseph 

 

 

 

We had a great many horses, of which we gave Lewis and Clark what they needed, and they gave us guns and tobacco in return.

 

Chief Joseph 

 

 

 

 

 

My father was the first to see through the schemes of the white man. 

Chief Joseph 

 

 

We had good white friends who advised us against taking the war path. My friend and brother, Mr. Chapman, told us just how the war would end. 

 

Chief Joseph 

 

 

 

 

Governor Isaac Stevens of the Washington Territory said there were a great many white people in our country, and many more would come; that he wanted the land marked out so that the Indians and the white man could be separated. 

 

Chief Joseph 

 

 

 

"If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear. What one fears, one destroys."

 

Chief Dan George

 

 

 

 

 Major Ethan Allen Hitchcock was among those who found the remains of the Dade party in February. In his journal he wrote an account of the discovery, then vented his bitter discontent with the conflict: "The government is in the wrong, and this is the chief cause of the persevering opposition of the Indians, who have nobly defended their country against our attempt to enforce a fraudulent treaty. The natives used every means to avoid a war, but were forced into it by the tyranny of our government."

 

 

 

 

Following speech by The Great Shawnee Warrior and Statesman, Chief Tecumseh, as included in the following magazine article by Simon Pokagon, Pokagon Band of Pottawatomie Nation:Published, 1899, (Tecumseh's speech spoken c.1800) "Harpers New Monthly Magazine"
Vol. XCVIII, No. DLXXXVI, March 1899

 

 

"Before me stand the rightful owners of kwaw–notchi–we au–kee (this beautiful land).
"The Great Spirit in His wisdom gave it to you and your children to defend, and placed you here.
"But ä–te–wä (alas!) the incoming race, like a huge serpent, is coiling closer and closer about you.
"And not content with hemming you in on every side, they have built at She–gog–ong (Chicago), in the very center of our country, a military fort, garrisoned with soldiers, ready and equipped for battle.

 

 

"As sure as waw–kwen–og (the heavens) are above you they are determined to destroy you and your children and occupy this goodly land themselves.
"Then they will destroy these forests, whose branches wave in the winds above the graves your fathers, chanting their praises.
"If you doubt it, come, go with me eastward or southward a few days' journey along your ancient mi–kan–og (trails), and I will show you a land you once occupied made desolate.

 

 

"There the forests of untold years have been hewn down and cast into the fire!
"There be–sheck–kee and waw–mawsh–ka–she (the buffalo and deer) pe–nay–shen and ke–gon (the fowl and fish), are all gone.
"There the woodland birds, whose sweet songs once pleased your ears, have forsaken the land, never to return.
"And waw–bi–gon–ag (the wild flowers), which your maidens once loved to wear, have all withered and died.
"You must bear in mind these strangers are not as you — they are devoid of natural affection, loving gold or gain better than one another, or ki–tchi–tchag (their own souls).

 

 

"Some of them follow on your track as quietly as maw–in–gawn (the wolf) pursues the deer, to shoot you down, as you hunt and kill mé–she–bé–zhe (the panther)."
"But a few years since I saw with my own eyes a young white man near the O-hi-o River who was held by our people as a prisoner of war. He won the hearts of his captors with his apparent friendship and good-will, while murder was in his heart.
"They trusted him as they trusted one another. But he most treacherously betrayed their confidence, and secretly killed not less than nech-to-naw (twenty) before his crimes were detected, and then he had fled...".

 

 

 

 

We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.

Dakota

 

 

 

 

Man's law changes with his understanding of man. Only the laws of the spirit remain always the same.

 

Crow

 

 

It is less of a problem to be poor, than to be dishonest.

Anishinabe

 

 

 

 

 

Our first teacher is our own heart

 

Cheyenne