From his birth on the banks of the Niobrara River in Nebraska until his death in 1908, Chief Standing Bear spent his life in a constant struggle to gain equality and justice for our nation’s Native Americans. Open the pdf for the rest of the story
Chief Standing Bear Presentation
The War Bonnet – courtesy of the Historical Society
In a document from December of 1915, Caroline C. Poppleton tells the story of an important Native American relic – the war bonnet.
Reports of Agents in Indian Territory, 1877
This document describes the transition from Dakota to Quapaw Reservation, Indian Territory – the new home of the Ponca Tribe as of 1877. (Source: Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior of the Operations of the Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1877–Washington: Government Printing Office. 1877)
Reports of Agents in Indian Territory, 1877
This document describes the transition from Dakota to Quapaw Reservation, Indian Territory – the new home of the Ponca Tribe as of 1877. (Source: Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior of the Operations of the Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1877–Washington: Government Printing Office. 1877)
Nebraska County Histories
Creighton Centennial, 100 Years of Progress Creighton, Nebraska 1874-1974, Creighton (1974)
Kansas Sources re. Movement
Kansas Newspapers, Maps, and County Histories re. Movements
Reports of Agents in Indian Territory, 1878 – The Poncas
This report discusses the lack of compensation the Ponca Tribe received for the land they had to leave behind on the Dakota Reservation, and also discusses the development and conditions on the Quapaw Reservation as of 1878. (Source: Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1878–Washington: Government Printing Office. 1878)
Reports of Agents in Indian Territory, 1879
This agency report details the development of farming, housing, and education in Indian Territory during the two years following the Ponca’s relocation to the site. (Source: Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1879–Washington: Government Printing Office. 1879)
Reports of Agents in Indian Territory, 1879-The Poncas
In another report filed approximately two years after the relocation of the Ponca Tribe, a government worker describes recent developments in Indian Territory, such as the creation of a steady police force and improving health conditions. (Source: Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1879–Washington: Government Printing Office. 1879)
Nebraska Legislative Resolution 171
LR171 briefly describes the need for a continuous Chief Standing Bear trail from Nebraska to Oklahoma, and the cultural and historical significance of the trail to the state of Nebraska and its citizens.
Kansas House Resolution 6042
House Resolution 6042 outlines a resolution aimed at designating and developing a Chief Standing Bear Trail from Nebraska to Oklahoma.
Secretary Schurz. Reply of the Boston Committee
Written in 1880 by the Massachusetts Committee on the Ponca Indians, this document outlines the importance of providing education, guarantees of citizenship and titles to land to American Indians following their forced relocation. (Source: Secretary Schurz, Reply of the Boston, Massachusetts Committee on the Ponca Indians, Governor John D. Long, Chairman, Misrepresentations Corrected and Important Facts Presented, 1881)
Legal Filings (writ of Habeas Corpus) from Standing Bear v. Crook
National Archives at Kansas City
Record Group 21, Records of the District Courts of the U.S.
U.S. Circuit Court for the Omaha Division of the District of Nebraska
Chancery, Criminal, Equity and Law Case Files, 1867-1911
ARC Identifier 1105112
Case #136E, U.S. ex. Rel Standing Bear v. George Crook
View this document on the National Archives Catalog
Publications
John E. Carter, Photographers and Plains Indians. NEBRASKAland Magazine, November 2014, p16
An Omaha ‘Princess’ in Kilwinning
(By Tom F. Cunningham, Courtesy of The English Westerners’ Society)