BULL. 30] 



STAMIS STANDING BEAR 



633 



in 1562; possibly the Stono. The village 

 indicated on the De Bry map of 1591 is 

 described as 15 leagues by water n. from 

 the French fort near Port Koyal. See 

 DeBry (1591) inLeMoyne, Narr., Apple- 

 ton trans., 1875; Lliudonniere (1564) in 

 French, Hist. Coll. La., 201, 1869. 



Stamis. A Squawmish village on the 

 left bank of Sqiiawmisht r., w. Brit. Col. 



Sta-amus.— Brit. Adni. chart, no. 1917. Stamas. — 

 Boa.s, MS., B. A. E., 1887. Sta'mis.— Hill-Tout in 

 Rep. Brit. A. A. S., 474, 1900. 



Standing Bear { Mon-chu-no'^-zhin) . A 

 Ponca chief of whom little was known 

 until the removal of his people from n. 

 Nel)raska to Indian Ter. because the res- 

 ervation confirmed to them by treaty had 

 been included in the land granted to the 

 Sioux. When the order for removal was 

 given, Jan. 15, 1877, Standing Bear strong- 

 ly opposed it, but in February he and 

 nine other chiefs were taken s. to choose 

 a reservation. They followed the oflBcial, 

 but would not select a place. Their 

 wearisome journey brought them to Ar- 

 kansas City, Kans., whence they asked 

 to be taken home; being refused, they 

 started back afoot, with a few dollars 

 among them and a blanket each. In 40 

 days they had walked 500 m., reaching 

 home Apr. 2, to find the oflBcial there 

 unwilling to listen to protests and deter- 

 mined to remove the people. He called 

 the military, and the tribe, losing hope, 

 abandoned their homes in May. Stand- 

 ing Bear could get no response to his de- 

 mand to know why he and his people 

 were arrested and treated as criminals 

 when they had done no wrong. 



The change of climate brought great 

 suffering to the Ponca; within the year 

 a third of the tribe had died and most of 

 the survivors were ill or disabled. A son 

 of Standing Bear died. Craving to bury 

 the lad at his old home, the chief deter- 

 mined to defy restraint. He took the 

 bones of his son and with his immediate 

 following turned northward in Jan. 1879, 

 and in March arrived destitute at the 

 Omaha res. Asking to borrow land and 

 seed, his request was granted, and the 

 Ponca were about to put in a crop when 

 soldiers appeared with orders to arrest 

 Standing Bear and his party and return 

 them to Indian Ter. On their way they 

 camped near Omaha, where Standing 

 Bear was interviewed by T. H. Tibbies, 

 a newspaper correspondent, and accounts 

 of their grievances appearing in the 

 Omaha newspapers, the citizens became 

 actively interested and opened a church 

 where to a crowded house the chief re- 

 peated liis story. Messrs Poppleton and 

 Webster proffered legal services to the 

 prisoners and in their behalf sued out a 

 writ of habeas corpus. The United States 

 denied the prisoners' right to the writ on 

 the ground that they were "not persons 

 within the meaning of the law." On 



Apr. 18 Judge Dundy decided that "an 

 Indian is a person within tlie meaning of 

 the law of the United States," and there- 

 fore had a right to the writ when re- 

 strained in violation of law; that "no 

 rightful authority exists for removing V)y 

 force any of the prisoners to the In- 

 dian Territory," and therefore, "the pris- 

 onersmust be discharged from custody." 

 Standing Bear and his band returned 

 to N. Nebraska. In the winter of 1879- 

 80, accompanied by Susette La Flesche 

 ("Bright Eyes," q. v.) and Francis La 

 Flesche, as interpreters, with T. H. Tib- 

 bies, Standing Bear visited the cities of 

 the E., where, by relating his story of the 



STANDING BEAR 



wrongs suffered, he won attention and 

 sympathy. Many people wrote to the 

 President and to other executive ofiicials 

 of the Government, and to members of 

 Congress, protesting against unjust treat- 

 ment of Indians. In the spring of 1880 

 the Senate appointed a committee to in- 

 vestigate tlie Ponca removal, the report 

 of which confirmed the story of Standing 

 Bear, and a satisfactory adjustment was 

 effected. Better lands were given those 

 Ponca who chose to remain in Indian 

 Ter. ; payment was made to all who had 

 lost property, and a home was provided 

 for Standing Bear and his followers at 

 their old reservation. Here, in Sept. 1908, 

 after having been instrumental in bring- 

 ing about a change of Governmental pol- 

 icy toward all Indians and their homes, 

 the chief died at the age of 79 and was 

 buried among the hills overlooking the 

 village site of his ancestors. (f. l.) 



