On occasion editors permit me to stray from hunting and fishing to discuss my favorite topic - regional history. Such is the case with John Bruguier. John Bruguier’s mother was a Yanktonai. His father, Theophile Bruguier, was a Canadian Frenchman born near Montreal in 1813. Theo eventually settled near the mouth of the Big Sioux River on the Iowa side, and in 1855 received government contracts to furnish supplies to the Indians living along the Missouri. A French settlement grew near the mouth of the Big Sioux, and most of these Frenchmen took Indian wives.

Theophile Bruguier became friends with Chief War Eagle, a Yankton whose two beautiful daughters were given to Theo as wives. The wives were generally glad for each other’s company, and following the marriage, he built a log house at Sioux City in 1849 said to be the first white man’s building in the vicinity. His wives had fifteen children between them including Dawn’s son, John. A staunch believer in education, Theo sent all of his children to a Catholic institution in St. Louis.

When the War Department sent out word for all Sioux to report to their respective reservations in early December 1875, a very severe winter had already set in. The Hunkpaphayas under Siting Bull and the Oglalas under Crazy Horse were hunting in Montana and knew nothing of the president’s order. War would be declared against any Sioux who didn’t report to their respective reservations by January 1st, 1876. Unfortunately President Rutherford Hayes didn’t realize that many Sioux were unaware of his order.

January 1876 found John Bruguier and his brother Bill at the Fort Yates Standing Rock agency where a Mr. McKay, a local farmer who had been employed as an agency carpenter, was involved in a card game fight with Billy Bruguier. When Billy cried out for help, John Bruguier hit McKay on the head with a poker. McKay was taken to the garrison hospital where he died the next morning.

At this same time a Major Hughes had asked John Bruguier to deliver a message to Sitting Bull’s camp in hope of avoiding war with the Sioux. John Bruguier was promised his freedom if he went. Bruguier accepted the challenge to face probable death in a vast white wilderness of intense winds and cold with no trails.

Bruguier first reached Fort Lincoln, 58 miles north as the crow flies, and reported to General George Armstrong Custer. As John knew nothing of the terrain, he asked for a guide to the Tongue River, reportedly the site of Sitting Bull’s camp. Wanaksunte, a fearless Yanktonai as well as being John Bruguier’s brother-in-law, accepted the challenge so long as they could wait until a thaw took place.

When the pair successfully reached Sitting Bull’s camp, some of the Sioux band were suspicious of the two scout’s intentions. To ease a possible confrontation, Sitting Bull spoke of their bravery and John’s need for rest and food. A few days later Sitting Bull announced that he was adopting John Bruguier as his brother – a great honor.

Bruguier could read and write, was well-versed in military matters, the coming of white settlers, and political affairs. Bruguier remained in camp for four months and was questioned every evening by Sitting Bull. Bruguier had grown very fond of Sitting Bull and his people, and Bruguier’s last words to Sitting Bull advised him to surrender as the white people were too many. However, it was already too late as war had been declared by Washington.

As Sitting Bull and his band headed west, Bruguier hoped to intercept Custer on his way to the Yellowstone River. He failed to meet up with Custer, therefore avoiding the 6/25/76 massacre, but he did fall in with General Miles who enlisted Bruguier as an army scout. In the fall of that same year, Bruguier acted as an interpreter for a conference involving Miles and Sitting Bull. Miles later reported that he could not have gotten along without Bruguier, and that at Bruguier’s 1879 trial in Fargo for the murder of McKay, Miles personally testified on Bruguier’s behalf. John Bruguier was acquitted.

Bruguier was murdered in 1898 after a prosperous career in ranching. Earnest Stricker, a Yanktonai, and John Hanson were held in connection with the murder but released as they had alibis. John Williamson of Greenwood was one of the preachers who presided at John Bruguier’s funeral. The procession of buggies and wagons was said to be three miles long. John Bruguier was buried at Poplar, Montana. Material for this column was taken from Witness: A Hunkpapha Historian’s Strong-Heart Song of the Lakotas by Josephine Waggoner.

See you next week.