You said that you wanted to put us upon a reservation, to build us houses and make us medicine lodges. I was born where there were no enclosures and everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls.quote by: chief Ten Bears
quoted: sleeve of
generation terroriststaken from: speech for the comanche tribe at the council of medicine, Lodge Creek on october 19th, 1867.
other quotes from this speech:
When I was at Washington, the Great White Father told me that all the Comanche land was ours, and that no one should hinder us in living upon it. So why do you ask us to leave the rivers, and the sun, and the wind, and live in houses?
When I get good and presents, I and my people feel glad, since it shows us that he [the 'great white father'] holds us in his eye. If the Texans had kept out of my country, there might have been peace. But that which you say we must live on is too small.
I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clean and pure, and I wish it so, that all who go through among my people may find peace when they come in, and leave it when they go out.
about the quoted person:
leader of the comanche tribe indians. The Comanche originally lived in the Rocky Mountains, where they were primarily hunters and ate fish and large game. Their early explorations to the south of the mountains caused them to come into contact with Spanish settlers. One of the Comanche rivals were the Caddoan people in New Mexico. The Comanche and Caddoan fought repeatedly until 1746, when the French succeeded in making a peace alliance between them. After that, the comanche and Caddoan were generally war allies. The Comanche joined thousands of other Indians, government commissioners, army officers, press representatives and interpreters. Comanche Chief Ten Bears gave an orations that stands out as one of the finest delivered by an Indian in the history of America. the manics took their quote form this speech. In the Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty, the Comanche were granted 2,968,893 acres of land south of the Washita River in Oklahoma. The new conditions of tribal life and the disappearance of the buffalo caused the Comanche to lash out against the white settlers and take a rebellious attitude against the government. The treaty of Medicine Lodge did not solve the Indian problem, because the presence of soldiers and white settlers on the reservation, who were ready for action at the slightest sign of trouble, made the Indians wary and more hostile than ever before.
