Chief Garry
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Spokane Garry (sometimes Spokan Garry) was a Native American leader who was born approximately in 1811 at the Marian Indian village at the junction of the Spokane and the Little Spokane River. He was the son to Ileeum Spokanee, of the Middle plains Spokane Indian Tribe. His father was the tribal chief of the Sma-hoo-men-a-ish; however, they were often mistakenly called the Middle Spokanes by traders and settlers and the name stuck.
Garry grew up primarily around the white traders who built their post near his tribe, so they never feared or surprised of either the "King George" men (the British) or the "Bostons" (the Americans).
In 1961, Dudley C. Carter created a carving of Garry on the site of St. Dunstan's Church of the Highlands Parish, Shoreline, Washington in honor of a biography of Garry written by the then-vicar of the congregation.
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[edit] The Prophecy
Compiled by www.SpokaneOutdoors.com
There were many chiefs, but three of them saw one prophecy. The old Chief, Chief Ileeum Spokanee, and Chief Garry were the three. The prophecy came about like this:
The old chief was highly respected until the day that his favorite son accidentally died. This death hurt the old chief more than anything ever had. The chief felt his heart. It felt like a piece had been cut out. He could not stand this pain. There was no way to get away from the pain, though he tried. Finally all he could do was to cry out to try to ease the pain. He yelled at God, "Why have you allowed my son's death?" "How could you be a good God and allow this to happen?"
He repeated this until his tribe could stand it no longer. They didn't want the children to hear this. They worked hard to love God and now it was even harder. They had to quiet the main chief. They went to the other chiefs and told them to challenge the old chief. Tell him to decide whether God is good or not, and whether they should go back to be like the animals again or still try to be like God. The chiefs confronted the old chief. You must decide whether to go forward with God or go back to the animals where we came from, and not make your people feel bad about their God any more. "You are right." said the old chief, "I will go away until I can decide." He ran with little clothing or supplies up into the foothills until reaching the snowy top of the mountain that is called Mount Spokane today. He was the only human there. He was not cold. He started a fire and sat before it thinking about his God and his son. When he looked down he saw only the green of many trees. He sat without moving for three days. No food. Just some snow he drank. He prayed over and over, "Why did you do this, God?"
Suddenly a vision came as big as the whole sky and trees together. God's voice was visibly flying across his entire sight saying, "Your son is happy here with me, so you should have faith." The old chief's heart was whole again as immediately as he saw his son smiling and sitting next to God. God spoke again. "This world will not go away until people with white flesh come and bring a book with them." "This book will have many words about me in it." Do not kill these people even if they harm you, for there is no use to it." This was all that was spoken, but it inspired the old chief. He had had visions as a child, but this truly was the clearest vision of them all.
Now he ran down the moutain fast, thinking how happy his people would be to know that God is good. And he wanted very much to tell them everything that God said. The further down the mountain and the closer to his camp the less sure he was about how his people would understand the part of his vision about the white people. So by the time he arrived in his camp he only told them the good news and thought he should wait about the rest of the story until some other day.
The old chief never told the rest of the story to anyone, but became older and older until almost no one in his camp remembered that he had been a highly respected chief of his tribe. Most of his day was spent sitting in camp by the fire daydreaming about his youth. One day in the very midst of tribal activity, the mountain known as Helena today erupted and blew ash into winds that carried the ash and dumped it on the camp, making it night in the middle of the day. This frightened everyone so much that all they could do was jump up and down and scream, "This is the end of the world!" There was a dark confusion all around.
The old chief pushed his way up to a standing position as he now remembered the rest of the story, and lifted his mouth up. "This is not the end of the world!" "God told me this world will not go away until many white skinned people will come here with a book holding many words about God in it." "This has not happened yet, so the world could not be ending!"
Everyone was quiet now to listen to this voice of authority. They looked around. It was still dark but now it was peaceful and did not seem like it could be an end, but just a quiet time. Most people went to their lodges and slept. Some of the braves huddled around the old chief to ask him more about what God had told him. One of these was the currently most respected chief. Illeeum Spokanee was his name and he was the father of a 5 year old boy who later would take the name Garry chief of the Spokanes. The young chief listened with interest, but Garry listened with awe. This vision seemed to be somehow, his vision. Garry was thinking about the old chief, "I'm glad this man can remember things so well." Garry decided that day to watch carefully for the day when the white people came with the book.
He wanted to learn these words about God...
[edit] Spokane Garry Goes to School
In 1825, upon the arrival of white men, Garry and two of his brothers were chosen to be taught at the Anglican Mission School in Winnipeg, Canada, by Hudson's Bay Company that was run by the Church Missionary Society of the Church of England. Upon arriving there, it was custom to receive a new respected name. He was given Spokane Garry, and the name remained until his death.
The boy who accompanied him was known as Kootenais Pelly, who became Garry's closest friend at the mission school. The students learned English, and new ways to live off the land. Garry was very interested in these new words. However, the new life was different from his own. It has been said that once he broke a rule and was punished in the usual way of being held by one of the white upper classmen while the teacher whipped his behind with a willow twig.It scared Garry so much that he bit down hard before it started, and only afterward realized he bit into blood of the upper classmen's ear. He looked up at the student in fear of reprisal. The student told him to not worry for he understood. This is the moment when Garry realized that these white people had a lot of good in them. He also realized that there probably was no use in fighting with them even though he knew there was going to be trouble if too many of them came to his camp.
In the winter of 1828, Garry's father, Ileeum Spokanee, died. The weather prevented him from making the trip home to his tribe, but in the following Spring he made the 1800-mile trip back to the Spokane river, and his people. At this time he was eighteen years.
[edit] His Return to Spokane
On his return to Spokane, the teachings he had learned at his school spread like wildfire across the Columbia Plateau. Many of the Native American beliefs were decaying at this time, and this hybrid form of Christianity Garry brought to them suited the needs of the native population.
After bringing new children to learn as he did at the Red River, he was asked to return, however, he remained behind after bringing news of Pelly's death. With his new standing role in his tribe, he became more interested in the needs of his people and creating peace between them and the new white settlers. At this time he also married the daughter of another tribal chief, and named her Lucy.
[edit] The Later Years
Chief Garry, turning 40 in 1851, was a wealthy man by tribal standards, and he began to receive much respect among both his own people and the white settlers in the area. Tension at this time, however, was very high after the Whitman Massacre in 1847, only making it more difficult to keep the peace between each other.
On October 17, 1853, Garry was summoned to a meeting with newly-appointed Governor of Washington Territory, Isaac Stevens, who was making his way east to Olympia, the new territorial capital. They had a lengthy conversation, and Stevens was surprised at the amount of English Garry could speak.
To keep peace in the territory of Washington, Isaac Stevens summoned the audience of the Walla Walla, Nez Perce, Cayuse and Yakama tribes to make a treaty. Everyone left happy and it would seem like there would be peace, however, upon returning home they learned that the Yakama had decided against allowing the whites to take their land were going to war with the United States. They were eager to recruit other tribes into the war, and many of the younger Spokanes were willing to fight -- rather than sit around and let them take their land. Chief Garry strongly opposed the war and persuaded his men to remain peaceful until they could discuss it with Stevens. However, several miners were killed on the Yakima River, followed by the murder of special agent to the Yakimas, A. J. Bolton on September 23, 1855, and the war with the whites had begun.
Upon hearing of the outbreak of war while travelling back from Blackfoot country, arrived suddenly in the Spokane village on the evening of November 27, and surprised the Spokanes by demanding an instant decision for war or peace.
Once the chiefs of the Spokane, Coeur d'Alenes, Colvilles and some French Canadians were assembled, Stevens opened the council with promises of friendship, however, he eventually came to the point...
I think it is best for you to sell a portion of your lands, and live on Reservations, as the Nez Perces and Yakimas agreed to do. I would advise you as a friend to do that…If you think my advice good, and we should agree, it is well. If you say, "We do not wish to sell," it is also good, because it is for you to say...
All of the other tribes agreed and signed over much of their land to the whites, however, Chief Garry decided against it and left without signing his treaty. For now, their land was free.
For the following years, he urged peace among his people and the settlers, and continued to try to make a treaty with the Governor. But from 1859 and forward he was ignored. The Governor instead strenuously tried to encourage the Spokanes to abandon their traditional land and take up individual ownership under the Indian homestead act. In 1887, Garry finally got his treaty, but not the reservation.
[edit] The Forgotten Spokanite
The following year, while Garry and his family were at a temporary fishing camp, white men took possession of his farm, which had been sold to him after the signing of the treaty. Although he and his family rushed home to reclaim it, they were told to keep off the land. Endeavoring to regain possession peacefully, Garry maneuvered his way through the legal system while his property grew in value. Shortly before his death, a final judgment was rendered against his claims, and Spokane Garry's home, valued at $25,000, passed into the hands of another man with no compensation made to Garry or his family.
Beside all of these hard times Garry still believed there was good in all men, and said that inside us humans there is the same colored blood, so we should treat each other equally under this God of ours. Garry continued teaching well into old age and advising his people, until it is said he gave into gambling and drinking. During his last years on Earth he spent much of his time living in his teepee on the Spokane river. At one location near Hangman Creek bridge, young white boys rolled boulders down on his tent while he tried to move the teepee out of the way. He then found his final teepee site in Indian Canyon in a fairly remote area.
On January 14, 1892, Spokane Garry died—homeless and penniless, his estate consisting of nothing more than "a few flea-bitten cayuses," his burial expenses paid out of the Spokane County pauper fund. His life and story forgotten over the century to become speculation, then, little more than legend.
[edit] Notes
- ↑ Two sources disagree on the spelling of Garry's fathers name. [4] claims it is Illim.
- ↑ Kootenais Pelly is only mentioned in one biography of Chief Garry; [5], however, there is much dispute on the time he spent at the missionary school and we have to leave it up to history.
- ↑ Again, there is speculation on this concerning his property. [6] states it was stolen from his family and he was never compensated. I have only heard this on one site, but I wouldn't surprised if this is the truth as this often occurred in the west.
