Notes on 16.1-16.3: Medicine Lodge Creek Speech ( Ten Bears ) and Bosque Redondo / Navajo and Apache Experiences
Paruasemena (Ten Bears) Speech at Medicine Lodge Creek, 1867
Context and source
Paruasemena, known as Ten Bears, was a 75-year-old Comanche leader who spoke to the U.S. peace commission at Medicine Lodge Creek in . He had previously met with Lincoln at the White House in . The speech is noted for its passion and pathos and for articulating a clash of values between the U.S. government and the Comanche people.
Source: Taylor, Nathaniel G., et al., (1910) Papers Relating to Talks and Councils Held with the Indians in Dakota and Montana in the years . Washington: Government Printing Office. (Original in the National Archives, Records of the Indian Division, Office of the Secretary of the Interior, Record Group 48.)
Key claims about the conflict
“My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites.”
“There has been trouble between us… my young men have danced the war dance. But it was not begun by us. It was you who sent out the first soldier.”
Two years before the speech, their route along the buffalo plains was disrupted: “Two years ago I came upon this road, following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us…The blue-dressed soldiers and the Utes came out from the night…and for campfires they lit our lodges. Instead of hunting game they killed my braves, and the warriors of the tribe cut short their hair for the dead.”
Descriptions of violence and desecration by whites and their allies: “They lit our lodges” for campfires; “they killed my braves.” The Comanches compared the invaders to predators and emphasized lasting harm to their communities.
“The Comanches are not weak and blind, like the pups of a dog when seven sleeps old. They are strong and farsighted, like grown horses.” This metaphor frames Comanches as capable, strategic, and not easily subdued.
The speech as a moral appeal against reservations: “There are things which you have said to me which I do not like. They were not sweet like sugar, but bitter like gourds. You have said that you want to put us on a reservation, to build us houses and make us medicine lodges. I do not want them.”
He roots his claim in a life of freedom: “I was born under the prairie, where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun.” He emphasizes a lifetime of unconstrained movement, knowledge of the land, and a preference for dying “on the prairie til we die.”
He asserts continuity with his ancestors: “I know every stream and wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over that country. I live like my fathers before me and like them I lived happily.”
Critique of government rhetoric about land and living arrangements: “When I was in Washington the Great 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? Do not ask us to give up the buffalo for the sheep.”
He links the pain of his people to broader territorial loss: “The Texans have taken away the places where the grass grew the thickest and the timber was best. Had we kept that, we might have done the things you ask. But it is too late. The whites have the country which we loved, and we wish only to wander on the prairie til we die.”
Final stance: “I love to carry out the talk I get from the Great Father… If the Texans had kept out of my country, there might have been peace.” He frames obedience to the Great Father as honorable, yet rejects the imposed living arrangements.
Major characters and terms
Paruasemena (Ten Bears): Comanche leader delivering the speech.
The Great Father: reference to the U.S. President or federal authority.
The Texans: reference to white settlers and state forces who encroached on Comanche lands.
The “war dance”: symbolic expression of resistance; indicates the existence of ongoing conflict even if not initiated by the Comanche.
“Buffalo road”: the traditional migration path for buffalo & people; used to argue for maintained freedom and livelihood.
Consequences and implications of the speech
The speech emphasizes a preference for freedom, land, and traditional lifeways over sedentary reservation life.
It frames U.S. government promises as unfulfilled or contradictory to earlier assurances about land and living conditions.
It highlights the emotional and material costs of conflict, including violence against women and children and the loss of traditional hunting grounds.
Source context and content notes
The speech is part of a broader record of talks and councils with Native American leaders from (the same era captured in the Taylor et al. collection).
The transcript is used to analyze the dynamics of U.S. policy, military actions, and Indigenous responses during the late 1860s.
Thinking Critically
Documentary Analysis
How did Paruasemena characterize the conflict between his people and the United States government?
He portrays conflict as a reaction to white encroachment, military aggression, and broken promises, with the Comanche responding to violence against them rather than initiating it. He frames U.S. soldiers as aggressors who disrupted traditional life and caused suffering, thus justifying resistance to confinement and loss of land.
Contextualization
What light does this document shed on the differences between white and Indian cultural values in the 1800s?
It highlights a fundamental difference between a freedom-centric, land-based lifeway rooted in open spaces (born under the prairie, dependence on buffalo, nomadic movement) and a settler colonial system that seeks sedentary living, fixed borders, and assimilation into new social structures (houses, medicine lodges, and fence-like enclosures). It also reveals differing perceptions of land stewardship, property, and the meaning of “home.”
The Navajos and the Apaches: Bosque Redondo and Aftermath
Overview and context
The Navajos (Diné) and Mescalero Apache engaged in fierce resistance and warfare in the American Southwest; the U.S. Army sought to subdue and relocate Native groups to reservations after the Civil War.
Bosque Redondo reservation in central New Mexico became a focal point of federal policy failure and Native suffering.
Sequence of events and key figures
: Union Brigadier General James H. Carleton arrives in New Mexico with California volunteers, initially pursuing Confederates but then targeting Apaches and Navajos.
Early : Campaigns confine some 400 Mescalero Apache and attack Navajo lands, including Canyon de Chelly; destruction of orchards, crops, and livestock.
Carleton appoints Kit Carson to lead the campaign against the Navajos, who numbered about people at that time.
Carson’s campaign drives the Navajos toward Bosque Redondo after a series of forced relocations and sieges; by , roughly Navajos had surrendered rather than endure starvation.
The “Long Walk” to Bosque Redondo: about Navajos were relocated to the reservation, a 300-mile journey south.
Bosque Redondo was a complete failure: arid land unable to support thousands of families; poor living conditions and inter-tribal tensions (Mescalero Apaches saw the Navajos as inveterate enemies).
Consequences of Bosque Redondo
The reservation was unsustainable due to climate, soil, and resource constraints, leading to humanitarian disaster and widespread suffering.
The experience created lasting cross-tribal empathy for suffering and a shared determination to preserve tribal identities.
Return and reorganization
After a congressional peace commission visit post-war, a new treaty was signed on June 1, , allowing the Navajos to return to reservations in their homeland.
A new Mescalero Apache reservation was created in central New Mexico in and later expanded in .
The Navajo leadership negotiated several land expansions between and , extending their reservation across a large portion of New Mexico and Arizona up to the Four Corners area, including parts of Colorado and Utah.
Policy implications and outcomes
The government avoided the division of the Navajo Reservation into individual allotments, unlike some other tribes, which helped the Navajo maintain tribal cohesion and cultural continuity.
The shared experience of suffering at Bosque Redondo contributed to a stronger sense of Navajo Nation identity and unity.
The Navajo economy adapted to the new lands by emphasizing sheep, goats, and horses; the tribe grew from about in to around by .
The Four Corners region and expansive lands enabled continued cultural and economic development, with the tribe preserving core practices while navigating new political realities.
The broader historical arc
The experience at Bosque Redondo informed later U.S. policy assessments, including Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor (1881), which critiqued federal treatment of Native peoples and helped catalyze reform movements.
The Navajo Nation’s resilience and growth illustrate a broader pattern of tribal survival, adaptation, and sovereignty within the constraints of U.S. expansion.
Key terms and places
Bosque Redondo: reservation in central New Mexico for Navajos and Mescalero Apaches.
Canyon de Chelly: Navajo homeland and site of early conflicts.
Long Walk: the forced 300-mile relocation of Navajos to Bosque Redondo.
Four Corners region: area where Navajo lands extended, including parts of present-day CO, AZ, NM, UT.
Quantitative highlights
Navajo population in :
Navajo population by : ≈
Bosque Redondo relocation figures: relocated; initial confinement and starvation pressures affected about who surrendered by
Source context and content notes
This section is drawn from a synthesis of post-Cell War U.S. policy actions and a narrative of tribal resistance and adaptation in the Southwest.
Connections to broader themes
The policy of relocation and later reconsideration exemplifies the tension between U.S. expansion and tribal sovereignty.
The Navajo outcome contributed to later reform debates about reservation life, land tenure, and the allotment policy.
Ethical, philosophical, and practical implications
The Bosque Redondo episode underscores the humanitarian costs of American expansionism and the moral weight of government policy on Indigenous communities.
The narrative demonstrates how resilience and adaptive governance (e.g., maintaining a unified Navajo Nation) can emerge from brutal policy failures.
Takeaways and reflections
The Long Walk and Bosque Redondo are central to understanding U.S.-Indigenous relations in the Civil War era and its aftermath.
The Navajo Nation’s growth and land stewardship illustrate a successful adaptation within the context of ongoing external pressures.
Chapter and course context
Chapter 16: Conflict in the West; this material connects to broader themes of military campaigns, treaties, relocation, and the long-term emergence of Indigenous sovereignty in the American West.
Readings and supplementary materials
Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor (1881) is indicated as a related resource for understanding the treatment of Native peoples and the critiques of federal policy.
Source note
The section references Bosque Redondo and related events as part of the Civil War-era and immediate postwar policy environment in the Southwest, with a focus on the Navajo and Mescalero Apache experiences.
Chapter 16: Conflict in the West (Summary and Key Takeaways)
The period from the 1860s through the late 19th century shows a pattern of intense military campaigns against Indigenous nations, followed by varying degrees of relocation, policy reform, and efforts to redefine sovereignty and land rights.
Key figures and events mentioned in this and related pages include Paruasemena (Ten Bears), Isa-tai, Parker (Quannah Parker), Kit Carson, General James H. Carleton, and the U.S. peace commissions at Medicine Lodge Creek and other sites.
The content underscores the overlap of cultural clash, humanitarian crises, and evolving U.S. policy as the nation expanded.
Numbers and places to remember
, , , , , , , are key dates.
Populations: Navajos (1864) to (1900).
Relocation: roughly Navajos moved to Bosque Redondo; surrendered by during the campaign.
Overall takeaway
The period reflects a shift from overt warfare to policy-based control that sought to confine, manage, and eventually assimilate Indigenous peoples, while Indigenous communities responded with resistance, adaptation, and nation-building.
Source note
The material is presented in a course chapter with primary sources and interpretive commentary, situating the events within the broader arc of U.S. westward expansion and Indigenous survival.