Ten Bears

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Parrywasaymen (Ten Bears, 1792-1873), was a chief of the Tamparika band of the Comanche. Although he wasn’t considered a particularly great warrior, Ten Bears became noted among whites and Indigenous alike for his moving speeches, his poetic language skills and remarkable diplomacy and leadership abilities. He first visited Washington in 1863 , but he was unable to get any major concessions for his people from the U.S. government.

In 1865, Ten Bears signed a treaty at the Little Arkansas River in Kansas, which created a reservation for the Comanches in the southwestern area of Oklahoma. At the 1867 Medicine Lodge Conference, Ten Bears gave a specially emotive speech during, stating that he disliked being put on a reservation and "...was born where there were no enclosures and where everything drew a free breath... I want to die there and not within walls".' However, his attempts to negotiate were unsuccessful, and the Government decreed that the Comanches had to give up most of their lands for their small reservation. In 1872, Ten Bears revisited Washington along with Chief Tosawi of the Penateka Comanche band and leaders from other tribes, but the hope that promises would be kept was ultimately futile. Despairing and rejected by his own people for his part in negotiating unpopular treaties, Ten Bears died in 1873 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

[[One of the most eloquent addresses ever made by an Indian was that made by "Ten Bears", a Comanche, before the Commissioners at the famous Medicine Lodge Peace Council in October, 1867. He said: "My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as brooks fill with water when the snow melts in the spring; and I feel glad, as the ponies do when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year. I heard of your coming when I was many sleeps away, and I made but a few camps when I met you. I know that you had come to do good to me and my people. I looked for benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you. My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites. There has been trouble on the line between us and my young men have danced the war dance. But it was not begun by us. It was you to send the first soldier and we who sent out the second. 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, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm and we have not known which way to go. So it was upon the Canadian. Nor have we been made to cry alone. The blue dressed soldiers and the Utes came from out of the night when it was dark and still, and for camp fires 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. So it was in Texas. They made sorrow come in our camps, and we went out like the buffalo bulls when the cows are attacked. When we found them, we killed them, and their scalps hang in our lodges. 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. We took their road and we went on it. The white women cried and our women laughed. "But 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 said that you wanted to put us upon reservation, to build our houses and make us medicine lodges. I do not want them. I was born on the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no closures and where everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls. I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country. I lived like my fathers before me, and like them, I lived happily. "When I was at Washington the Great Father told me that all the Comanches 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. The young men have heard talk of this, and it has made them sad and angry. Do not speak of it more. I love to carry out the talk I got from the Great Father. When I get goods and presents I and my people feel glad, since it shows that he holds us in his eye. "If the Texans had kept out of my country there might have been peace. But that which you now say we must live on is too small. The Texans have taken away the places where the grass grew the thickest and the timber was the best. Had we kept that we might have done the things you ask. But it is too late. The white man has the country which we loved, and we only wish to wander on the prairie until we die. Any good thing you say to me shall not be forgotten. I shall carry it as near to my heart as my children, and it shall be as often on my tongue as the name of the Great Father. I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clear and pure and I wish it so that all who go through among my people may find peace when they come in and leave it when they go out."]]

[[I heard of your coming when I was many sleeps away I knew that you had come to do good to me and my people. I looked for the benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you.

My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites. It was you who sent out the first soldier, and it was we who sent out the second.

The blue dressed soldiers and the Utes came from out of the night when it was dark and still, 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.

The Comanche’s are not weak and blind like the pups of a dog when seven sleeps old. They are strong and farsighted like grown horses. We took their road and went on it. The white women cried, and our women laughed.

But there are things which you have said to me which I did not like. They were not sweet like sugar, but bitter like gourds. You said that you wanted to put us on a reservation, to build us houses and to make us Medicine Lodges. I do not want them.

I was born upon the prairie where the wind blew free, and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures, and where everything drew free breath. I want to die there, and not within walls.

I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country. I lived like my fathers before me, and like them I lived happily.

Do not ask us to give up the buffalo for the sheep. The young men have heard talk of this, and it has made them sad and angry. Do not speak of it any more. The white man has the country we loved and we only wish to wander on the prairie until we die.

Any good thing you say to me shall not be forgotten. I shall carry it as near to my heart as my children, and it shall be as often on my tongue as the name of the Great Spirit.

I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clear and pure, and I wish it so, that all who go through among my people may find peace when they come in, and leave it when they go out.]]