Chief Two Moons Addressing the Council
CHIEF TWO MOONS: I feel that I am engaging in a great [pg 208] work in helping to make this historic picture of a great Indian council. I have led the Cheyennes in so many battles, and my life has been so full, that I felt when I came here that I was an old man, but since meeting the chiefs and having a share in the great council and recalling my old life for this record, I feel like a young man again. It is a great day for all of us, because there are no more wars between us, and we meet in peace and hold this great council of the chiefs and smoke the pipe of peace. I am glad at heart that this great picture is to be made of us, as we are assembled here, because our old chiefs are fast dying away, and our old Indian customs soon will pass out of sight. This record will survive for our children, and their children will reap the benefit. I am glad we are here, but my heart is sorry to say farewell.
CHIEF RED CLOUD: I think this a great and good thing. Good things have come to us from the white man. When the white man came across the ocean we heard he was coming because there was land over here, and he brought us food to eat. The coming of this man to make these pictures, to be preserved in Washington and to be shown in great cities, means good to us, because the generations to come will know of our manners and customs. It is good, besides, to meet all these chiefs who are as brothers to one another. We have never met them before; we shall never see their faces again, and it is, [pg 209] therefore, I think, a great and good thing to have this last council of the chiefs.
MOUNTAIN CHIEF: I think it was one of the greatest things that ever happened when we had this great council. It will be remembered forever. As for myself, it will not be very long until I go to the happy hunting grounds, but I have left this record for the coming generations. While I was sitting in the council I was thinking of the past when we used not to see each other's faces, except with the firing of guns, and now we have met the different tribes in council to talk with one another in the sign language. It shows that the Government is greater than the Indian. I think it was a great thing to bring these chiefs together, and so long as I live I am going to tell this story to my children and my grandchildren. I think that Chief Two Moons and Chief Plenty Coups were the two greatest men in the council. They impressed me more than any others by their appearance. Two Moons was not dressed up, but he showed that he was a man. I feel as I sit talking here with you that we are brothers together. And I say farewell to all the chiefs with a sad heart.
CHIEF WHITE HORSE: This council of all the chiefs seems to me to be a wonderful idea. I have met a good many whom I have never seen before, and it was a great surprise to me, and my heart felt glad. These different tribes of Indians have been [pg 210] enemies to each other for generations back, but we have now been at peace with each other for many years. But now we all meet here and see each other. I think your idea of taking notes and making a record of our lives and taking pictures of us, of our Indian costumes and our manners, is a great thing. I am old enough now and do not expect to live very long, but I am very glad that this record is to be made, and put on file in the Great Father's house at Washington. Another thing I would like to say: we all speak different languages, and we are all as helpless as a child, and we want you to help us in our needs during our last days. My trip here was the first time I have ever been on an iron horse, and there are a great many lessons that I learned from my ride here. When I came here and saw all the Indians speaking different languages and looking different, and I saw all that was going on and heard their speeches by sign language, I thought it was one of the most important events in my life. The first lesson I got while riding on the iron horse was to see the coaches filled with white people, and when I went in they all looked at me and looked as though I was a great curiosity to them. When I first saw the white people I felt backward—they looked at me so hard. I felt backward, but I finally felt more at ease, for I thought, I am going to die anyway. I looked over the white people and their dress, and I looked over the ceiling of the [pg 211] coach, and I thought these are all wonderful things. I looked out of the window and the train was going so fast that it seemed to me I was on the wings of a great bird. We travelled so fast I could not see the things very near the coach. When we used to travel on our ponies it took us many days to come over to this place. But on the train it took us one half day to come to Miles City, and that was one of the things that made me fear. It seems impossible how the trains go so fast, and this thought came to my mind: This is of the white people, who are so educated they can make the iron horse draw things across the country so fast. My wish is that the Indians will come to be like the white people, and be able to invent things, but the thought comes to me that this will be impossible. As we came along, flying as a bird, I looked out of the window, saw a country over which I had once hunted, and the thought of the buffalo came back to me, and I cried in my heart. When I get home I expect to stay there, and never leave my country again. I shall never see this land any more. I expect to die at home. When I get home I shall tell my people of the journey I had on the train, and what I saw, and of my visit to this great country, of the speeches that we made, of the pictures that were taken, and I know when I tell them they will be glad.
An Indian Communion
