Struck by the Ree

Struck by the Ree, also known as Strikes the Ree, (c. 1804-1888) was a chief of the Native American Yankton Sioux tribe.

In 1804, a great pow-wow was held for the Lewis and Clark Expedition at Calumet Bluff/Gavins Point (near present-day Yankton, South Dakota) that included the "Shunka" sacred dog feast ceremony. During the festivities, the explorers learned that a boy had just been born, and they asked to see the infant. They wrapped the baby in an American flag, held him up, and proclaimed him as destined to be a great "American". According to the traditions of the Yankton people, that baby boy was Struck by the Ree, who in manhood became a leader among the Yankton, and traveled to Washington, D.C.. For his efforts in promoting peace between whites and Native Americans, he received medals from U.S. Presidents Franklin Pierce, Ulysses S. Grant and James Garfield.

In 1862, during the Dakota U.S. War in Minnesota, Struck by the Ree deployed his warriors to protect them from the unmercyful whites. In spite of this, his people were expelled from Minnesota after the uprising. In 1865, Struck by the Ree testified at hearings of the Doolittle Commission, which investigated fraud among Indian agents. He reported that agents routinely skimmed goods from stores purchased with Indian annuity money and that Native people were illegally forced to pay for food out of their treaty money, while the agents ate for free. Agents routinely padded their pockets with money that, under treaty agreement, was supposed to purchase supplies for Indians. Struck by the Ree also reported that frontier soldiers routinely coerced sexual favors from Native women. He said, "Before the soldiers came along, we had good health, but, the soldiers go to my women, and they want to sleep with them, and the women being hungry will sleep with them in order to get something to eat, and will get a bad disease, and then the women go to their husbands and give them the bad disease."

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