An Archive Of Letters To And From Dr. George Bird Grinnell, Anthropologist Who Studied Native Americans Of The Plains And A Western Historian. Calvary Officer Homer Wheeler Wrote: "I Cannot Understand Why General Custer's Command Did Not Cross The River At The Ford And Charge Through The Indian Village? In Mrs. Custer's Book She Blames Reno For Not Going To Custer's Defense. It Was An Utter Impossibility"

GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL

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DR. GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL (1849-1938). Grinnell was an American naturalist, anthropologist, and author best known for his studies of Native American cultures of the Plains. He was also a Western historian. Archive. Approximately 66 pieces. 1903-1930 (majority 1910s and 1920s). An archive of letters to and from George Bird Grinnell, all relating to his studies of Plains Native Americans. Many of the letters comes from veterans of the Seventh Cavalry and describe Custer's defeat at the Battle of Little Bighorn. Eyewitnesses include William O. Taylor (5 letters), E. S. Godfrey (11 letters), and Colonel Homer W. Wheeler (3 letters). According to Wheeler: "?In yours of the 15th instant you say, 'I cannot understand why General Custer's command did not cross the river at the ford and charge through the Indian Village'. At the time the fight occurred there was not any particular ford and if there was one at all the Indians were the only men who knew anything about it?I was on the battleground with General Sheridan about one year after the first and we had several Indians with us who took part in the engagement. I will give a short account of their version of the fight?At the time the Indians supposed they were fighting all the soldiers in the country, when all at once General Custer's command made its appearance, coming out of a ravine a mile or so below where they were fighting?Judging by the way we found the graves of the men, I do not think a man ever reached the river?In Mrs. Custer's book she blames Reno for not going to Custer's defense. It was an utter impossibility?". Other items with military subject matter include a six-page typed description by Grinnell of a squad roster for the G Troop of the Seventh Cavalry at Little Bighorn and a three-page contemporary copy of a letter by S. Shlesinger, a veteran of the Battle of Beecher Island, disputing another person's account of the battle published in the Kansas City Star. It mentions the Cheyenne warrior Roman Nose, who died during the battle. There are also many letters about Native American art, culture, and contemporary life by scholars, artists, and others. For example, Wyoming rancher and politician L.R.A. Condit speculates on the identity of the body in a Native American burial, and Hamlin Garland suggests aid for starving Blackfeet: "?If we can feed Russians and Turks we ought to be able to see that our own people are not hungry and cold?.". Historian and ethnographer Thomas Marquis and artist Joe De Yong discuss the Medicine Wheel and Medicine Dance; Marquis even encloses photographs from his recent visits to such events. Several of the authors advocated for Native American rights and well-being. In a contemporary copy to Indian Commissioner Charles H. Burke, photographer Thomas M. Galey wrote passionately in support of Native American's freedom to practice their own religions: "This letter is to appraise you of certain personal observations I recently made and in particular to beg you to promptly order a policy of non-interference in the religious practices of the tribes and the Cheyennes in Montana in particular?The Constitution provided that every man can worship his god in his own way. The past policy of the Department has been to prohibit the holding of Medicin [sic] Lodge and other festivities. The idea back of it seems to be that the Indians do themselves personal injury and that the Government is such a very tender ward that this will be avoided. The existence of those of the past generation is a rather dreary wait for the end. Why not let them have their Medicin [sic] Lodge and other religious festivities and get all the fun out of life and the comfort that the observance of old time customs would make. When they die off it is almost a certainty that the young bloods will not continue the old custom?The Catholics and the Menonites have missions in the Reservation and I think it a crime to shove white man religion down their throats?The sum and substance of this le. Seller Inventory # 5676

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Title: An Archive Of Letters To And From Dr. George...
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