Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 1, 1 January 2016 — Hawaiians in American History [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiians in American History

Aīoha e nā 'ōiwi 'ōīino, nā pulapua a Hāīoa, mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau, puni ke ao mālamalama. Scotty Bowman, high-

lighting Native Hawaiians on the Continent, mahalo. The Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last battles between the Northern Plains Indians and the Army. Native Americans fought to preserve their independent and traditional lifestyle. Army troops fought to implement President Grant's order to relocate natives to reservations.

battle, more than 260 troops and attached personnel and 60 to 100 Native Americans were killed. Among the dead were Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and every member of his immediate command. Although Native Americans won this battle, they lost their war against the whites and were relegated to live on reservations. A little-known aspect of this historic battle involves Frank Grouard, an army scout whose father married a Hawaiian when he was establishing a Mormon church in Hawai'i. They had three children and Frank was born in 1850. In 1852, the family moved to California. Later, Frank's mother and sister returned home. Frank was adopted by a Mormon family that moved to Utah. He ran away when he was 16. In 1869, Sitting Bull and a small war party waited to ambush a mail-rider. The Chief ordered his warriors to kill all mail-riders, because many carried information locating tribal villages. They captured Frank Grouard, now a big 19-year-old. Instead of killing him, however, Sitting Bull took the young man to his village. Frank learned the Lakota language quickly and embraced their culture. Shortly thereafter, Sitting Bull adopted Grouard as his brother. The Chief liked Frank, but had political reasons for adopting him. Sitting Bull refused to deal directly

with whites and needed a trustworthy intermediary eapahle of understanding and communicating with the washi-

chus. Frank soon heeame a member of the Chief's inner circle where he developed great respect for Sitting Bull's leadership skill. In 1873, Frank told Sitting Bull he was going on a horse-stealing raid. Actually he went to Fort Peek. Like many cultural go-betweens, Grouard was tom by the competing pull of very different lifestyles. He decided he needed to at least visit the fort. When Sitting Bull leamed of Frank's lie, the Hunkpapa leader was furious to the point Frank feared

he would be killed. Sitting Bull's mother tried unsuccessfully to patch things between the two, but Frank chose to leave Sitting Bull's circle andjoin the Oglala. He soon heeame the tmsted lieutenant of Crazy Horse, the preeminent Lakota Chief who fought to defend his people and their way of life and later helped defeat Custer at the battle of Little Big Hom. By the spring of 1875, Frank had left Crazy Horse to work for the Red Cloud Agency. He led government officials to negotiations to obtain Lakota support for sale of the Black Hills and led them to Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse's eamp for meetings. In March 1876, he led Gen. George Crook and 1,000 troops to a village of Cheyenne, Ogala and Minneconjou. They attacked without warning, burned the village and stole their horses. In June, he led Crook to the Rosebud River, where they fought an estimated 700 warriors. Several days later, those Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors, reinforced by up to 2,500 more, under the leadership of several chiefs including Crazy Horse, attacked and annihilated Custer and five of the Seventh Calvary's twelve companies. Ironically, by adopting Grouard, Sitting Bull provided the Army with the one person eapahle of finding Native American villages and eluding the warriors who guarded them. 37/48 ■

Haunani Apnlinna, MSW TrustEE, At-largE

Scotty Bowman During the June 25 and 26, 1876

Last Stand Hill in Butte, MT where Custer and his immediate command died.