Scott Clark: Percussionist // Composer // Improviser
Author Archives: Scott Clark
New Release "ToNow" on Clean Feed Records
Scott Clark 05/09/2018
I am very excited to announce the release of my new record "ToNow" on Clean Feed Records. (Purchase your copy below or on the music page) We celebrated the release with a show at Black Iris Gallery (321 W. Broad St. Richmond, VA) on Wednesday May 9th. The show was also an art opening for some of my paintings.
ToNow is a contribution in music to the protests that took place at Standing Rock for much of 2016-2017 and remains ongoing. Four songs represent four different aspects: "Plains" (the landscape), "Stand" (Standing Rock reservation), "Red, White, Yellow" (colors on the reservation flag) and "Cantapeta Creek" (the epicenter of the protests). ToNow is meant to be listened to as a suite, continuing the through-compositional voice heard on Bury My Heart (2016), inspired by the events in Dee Brown's book of the same name.
On the Title:
ToNow comes from something that my daughter said to me one day, "No dada not today tonow" and I thought that was brilliant. It applies to my thoughts on the events at Standing Rock and a lot of other current issues. We can't wait until tomorrow or even today, things need to happen ToNow.
On the Recording:
I would send some pictures or links to stories to try to have the musicians coming from a similar place emotionally when we would go to play it on a particular take. That's the most important thing–trying to capture what the piece is and the emotion of what you're playing.
On the Cover:
The cover is one of my paintings that happened to be finished on Columbus Day. I like the idea of the colors falling down and there being no stars. It means many different things to many different people.
Cameron Ralston, bass
Jason Scott, saxophone
Bob Miller, trumpet
Scott Clark, drums & compositions
Alan Parker, guitar
Tobin Summerfield, guitar
Thank you all for your support and I look forward to sharing more with you soon….
ScottClark ToNow
Upcoming RVA Shows
I am very excited to have a string of great concerts coming up in the next week and a half.
First, Thursday 4/20 at Vagabond in RVA. My great friend and amazing musician Scott Burton has put together a night of music he's calling Small Talk. He describes it as follows:
"Small Talk is a new free musical improvisation series from Scott Burton featuring chance encounters between creatives. The idea is simple: 2 short sets of musical small talk, and 1 set where all the players come together for a longer conversation. You get to eavesdrop!"
Small Talk #1 will be:
Set 1: Guitarists Scott Burton and Toby Summerfield
Set 2: Drummer Scott Clark and Guitarist Alan Parker
Set 3: All of the Above
(more info here https://www.facebook.com/events/1404305372965670/)
(Vagabond 700 E. Broad St. 10pm Free)
Then on Friday 4/21 Cary Street Cafe presents RVA Jazz Night. This show will feature 3 amazing groups in one night. First Scott Burton's new Kessel Quartet will be performing the music of guitarist Barney Kessel. Next, my group the ScottClarkEnsemble will be performing some new music fresh to everyone. Finally, Charles Owens will have his quartet performing music from his new release "As One" (https://charlesowens.bandcamp.com/album/as-one). Special thanks to Jeremy Simmons for helping set up this great night of music at one of Richmond's staple music venues. (more info here https://www.facebook.com/events/255989714809070/)
(Cary St. Cafe 2631 W. Cary St. 10pm $10)
Finally, Thursday 4/27 the great Chicago saxophonist Dave Rempis will be in town performing two sets at Candela Books and Gallery in Richmond (214 W. Broad St. 7pm $10). The first set will be of Dave's work for solo saxophone, followed by a collaboration of a trio featuring Dave, myself and the great guitarist/composer Toby Summerfield.
Dave is on a tour that he describes as follows:
"Prolific Chicago-based saxophonist Dave Rempis (Rempis Percussion Quartet, Ballister, Rempis/Abrams/Ra, The Engines) will undertake a sprawling solo journey around the United States this spring, developing repertoire for his first solo release scheduled on Aerophonic Records this fall, while also working to strengthen the informal networks that connect, inform, and sustain the improvised music scene throughout the U.S. Each concert on the trip will involve a solo set, as well as a collaboration with one or more locally-based musicians in every city he visits. The working title of this ambitious project is Lattice."
More about Dave Rempis can be found below or at http://daverempis.com
Saxophonist, improviser, and composer Dave Rempis has been an integral part of the thriving Chicago jazz and improvised music scene since 1997. With a background in ethnomusicology and African studies at Northwestern University, including a year spent at the University of Ghana, Rempis burst onto the creative music scene at the age of 22 when he joined the well-known Chicago jazz outfit The Vandermark Five. This opportunity catapulted him to notoriety as he began to tour regularly throughout the US and Europe, an active schedule that he still maintains to the present day. At the same time, Rempis began to develop the many Chicago-based groups for which he's currently known, including The Rempis Percussion Quartet, The Engines, Ballister, Rempis/Abrams/Ra, Wheelhouse, Triage, The Rempis/Rosaly Duo, and The Rempis/Daisy Duo. Other collaborations have included work with Paul Lytton, Axel Dörner, Fred Anderson, Peter Brötzmann, C. Spencer Yeh, Hamid Drake, Steve Swell, John Tchicai, Roscoe Mitchell, Kevin Drumm, Paal Nilssen-Love, Nels Cline, and Joe McPhee. Rempis has been named regularly since 2006 in the annual Downbeat Critics's Poll as a "rising star" on alto saxophone, and as a "rising star" and "established talent" on baritone saxophone. In 2013, he started his own record label, Aerophonic Records, to document this ongoing work.
Rempis' musical expression draws on a number of touchstones. While heavily improvisational in nature, his Greek ethnicity, studies in jazz and ethnomusicology, an appreciation for the philosophical underpinnings of contempory composition, and a love for unforgivingly strident yelps, screeches, and squeals that can encompass the ever-evolving state of human depravity all inform his work.
Aside from his role as a musician and composer, Rempis has worked tirelessly as a presenter. Since 2002, he's organized and produced a weekly series of improvised music at Chicago's Elastic Arts Foundation. He was a founding member of Umbrella Music, and one of the lead producers and curators of its annual festival in Chicago from 2006-2014, and served as the business manager of the Pitchfork Music Festival from 2005-2016. He currently works with the Hyde Park Jazz Festival.
Thanks for your support and more soon……
New Music….Clark:Rempis:Roebke Live at The Hungry Brain
I was lucky enough to travel to Chicago in mid 2014 to play and hear some great music. This recording is a documentation from that trip and a set that I played at the Hungry Brain featuring the great saxophonist Dave Rempis and the great bassist Jason Roebke. It was an honor to get to play with both of these musicians. You can find out more information about these musicians on their websites and see all of the great music that they have available.
Dave Rempis: www.daverempis.com
Jason Roebke: www.jasonroebke.info
more soon…..
Nick Millevoi Desertion Trio w/ScottClark6tet
I'm very excited about this show coming up on Sunday January 29th at The Camel in Richmond. We'll be welcoming Nick Millevoi Desertion Trio to town…and my new ensemble, the ScottClark6tet will be opening.
I've known Nick for years having opened up for some of his other projects (notably Many Arms). The Desertion Trio features Kevin Shea on drums and Johnny DeBlase on bass. This is a truly special group of musicians, and I'm very excited to have them coming through Richmond.
Nick Millevoi's Desertion Trio w/ScottClark6tet
1621 W. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23220
$7adv $10 door
(Facebook event link here Nick Millevoi's Desertion Trio w/ScottClark6tet)
Here is a short description of Nick and his band:
Desertion Trio is the newest project from intrepid Philadelphia-based guitarist/composer Nick Millevoi, exploring the sonic space between Neil Young's expansive work with Crazy Horse, late 60s free jazz, and the NY Downtown scene. Millevoi's Desertion Trio features Johnny DeBlase of Sabbath Assembly and Zevious on bass and Kevin Shea, best known for his work with jazz assassins Mostly Other People Do The Killing and Talibam!, on drums.
Nick's resume includes playing John Zorn's Bagatelles with the Hollenberg-Millevoi Quartet, playing guitar with Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band live and on the group's critically acclaimed The Rarity of Experience, and co-leading noise jazz trio Many Arms, who released two CDs on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Nick's music has been released by labels such as Tzadik, New Atlantis, Gaffer, and The Flenser, and has been reviewed by Pitchfork, SPIN, NPR Music, The Onion AV Club, Wire magazine, and many others.
In May 2015, Shhpuma, part of the Clean Feed label, focused on releasing music that goes "beyond, below and above the jazz realm," released the debut record by Desertion, featuring bassist Johnny DeBlase, keyboardist Jamie Saft, and drummer Ches Smith. In a track premiere for NPR Music, Lars Gotrich said Desertion "hits the sweet spot between Neil Young's exploratory Crazy Horse jams and a spaghetti western soundtrack," and Aquarium Drunkard said, "Desertion is well worth getting lost in."
Opening the show will be my new group called the ScottClark6tet.
The group features some of my favorite musicians.
Cameron Ralston-bass
Jason Scott-saxophone
Bob Miller-trumpet
Alan Parker-guitar
Tobin Summerfield-guitar
Scott Clark- drums
We will be playing all new music written for this band…and I couldn't be more excited and honored to get to play with this group.
We'd love to have you come join us for this great show…..
won't you join us?
ScottClark4tet "Bury My Heart"
I know that in today's culture it's become "on to the next thing". In music it's the same way, "on to the next record". Not many people want to know what you did but rather, "what are you doing?" There are some elements of that which I agree with, however last November I released a record on Clean Feed Records called "Bury My Heart". Some of you may have heard the record or maybe saw a show, but after a recent concert performing the suite from that record, I feel that it is just as relevant today as it was the day that I started writing the music. I want to thank everyone that has checked out the record, and the inspiration/stories behind the music, as well as all the musicians that have played the suite with me live or on the record itself. (and also a special thank you to Pedro Costa at Clean Feed for helping get the record out into the world).
If you would like to check it out, you can find the music on my website as well as on Clean Feed's site.
I am working on new music for this project…which I look forward to sharing with you soon. In the meantime, thank you all for your support and a special thank you to the people that I get to make music with for being so giving of their time and talents to make this music come alive and have the impact that it has had.
https://scottwclark.com/2015/10/27/scottclark4tet-bury-my-heart-on-clean-feed-records/
https://scottwclark.com/listen/
https://cleanfeed-records.com/product/bury-my-heart/
Exciting Upcoming Concerts…
For many years now I've been working (along with many other people) to try to bring world class musicians to our city to perform and connect with what we're doing here in Richmond. A lot of that wouldn't be possible without the support of Chris Bopst at Balliceaux, Lucas Fritz at The Camel and The Broadberry and recently the Black Iris Gallery and their Tiny Bar Sessions. (there have also been many other great venues and supporters of shows over the years….Tony Garcia and Darryl Harper at VCU, Gallery 5, Commercial Taphouse, ForInstance Gallery, Black Hand Coffee, Hardywood Brewery and many many many others!).
There are two shows coming up that I am very excited to be bringing to Richmond. First is the group Friends and Neighbors joining us all the way from Norway on Friday, September 2nd at Black Iris Gallery. Doors for the show open at 8:30pm and music starts right at 9pm. Tickets are $10
Quoting from their website: "Friends & Neighbors represents a new generation of bands from the Norwegian jazz-scene. The music can be described as energetic and melodic free jazz inspired by musicians like Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and John Carter. On their debut album "No Beat Policy", Friends & Neighbors have created an authentic and acoustic atmosphere that refers back to the political roots of free jazz. Through original and strong compositions, this has resulted in a band sound with strong identity, crystal clear presence and personality."
Being able to have an international jazz group playing in our city is a great thing…and I hope that you will come and support them and the music.
Find out more about them here: Friends and Neighbors
Also hear their most recent release on Clean Feed Records here: http://cleanfeed-records.com/product/hymn-for-a-hungry-nation/
The second show is the group Battle Trance led by the great saxophonist/composer Travis Laplante. This show will also be taking place at the Black Iris Gallery on Wednesday, September 7th (doors at 8:30pm music at 9pm. Tickets $10) Battle Trance's new record "Blade of Love" was just released and it is a truly amazing record.
More on the group and the new record via their site:
"Blade of Love is the new album from tenor saxophone quartet Battle Trance. The follow-up to their widely acclaimed debut Palace of Wind (2014), Blade of Love is an elemental composition that aims to fulfill the tenor saxophone's expansive potential as an ensemble instrument. Working within the intimate intersection of the human body/breath and the saxophone, Blade of Love is a spiritual and enigmatic work with a deep emotional resonance.
Since forming in 2012, the four saxophonists in Battle Trance (Travis Laplante, Patrick Breiner, Matt Nelson, Jeremy Viner) have spent hundreds of hours deepening their musical connection with each other, maturing as an ensemble through relentless touring everywhere from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, Montreal to Vancouver, and most places in between.
The three movements of Blade of Love were composed by Battle Trance leader Travis Laplante and recorded by the group in a wooden room with soaring ceilings in the Vermont forest, after spending two years of rigorous rehearsals working to perfect the array of extended techniques, both virtuosic and primal, required to bring the challenging piece to life.
Blade of Love's central focus is on the physical and spiritual intersection of the saxophone and the human body. The saxophone is one of the few instruments that literally enters the body of the person playing it, and Blade of Love is a medium for this sacred meeting place, with each member of Battle Trance using the saxophone as a vessel for the human spirit.
Singing has an inherent power, but that power is heightened in the context of Blade of Love. At times, the four players sing while exhaling through the saxophone tubes, using the instrument's keys to shift the timbre of their voices. Laplante also integrates non-traditional mouth articulations, using the saxophone as a resonant chamber for these inventive sounds."
You can purchase your copy of their new record at the show and also hear a sample of the music via the bandcamp page here: https://battletrance.bandcamp.com/album/blade-of-love
These two shows are just the most recent, in a long list of shows, that will pass through Richmond. I hope that you will come support the music and help to continue to make Richmond a destination for other musicians to stop at and share their music with us.
For both of these shows my group, the ScottClarkOther4tet, will be opening. For the show on September 2nd the 4tet will be playing music that we've been working on over the past few months, stemming from some of my early compositions. For the show on September 7th we will be performing the suite "Bury My Heart" from our most recent release on Clean Feed Records. This will be the first performance of the suite with guitarist Alan Parker, and I am very excited to share this music with you. If you haven't already heard the record you can hear it here (https://cleanfeed-records.com/product/bury-my-heart/) and I will also have hard copies for sale at both shows.
As always, thank you for all of your support….
Rick Parker/Li Daiguo & ScottClarkOther4tet @ Balliceaux
Join us for a special night of music, on Wednesday August 3rd, as we welcome the duo of Brooklyn's Rick Parker and China's Li Daiguo to Richmond for a great night of music at Balliceaux. The ScottClarkOther4tet will be opeing (featuring Cameron Ralston, Bob Miller, Alan Parker and Scott Clark).
Doors open at 9:30 and the show is free….
Balliceaux: 203 N. Lombardy St Richmond, VA 23220
Read more about Rick and Li below…they are touing in support of their new record and this is really something that you don't want to miss. (you can hear a sample of what they do here…..https://youtu.be/yayQMF6LyeU)
ABOUT LI DAIGUO AND RICK PARKER
Sounds of the trombone, cello, pipa human voice and a variety of electronic remedies are conjured to form the psychoacoustic duo of Brooklyn's Rick Parker and China's Li Daiguo. "The sounds that the two create together are uncategorizable, a fluid blend of past and future, traditional and modern. They move from the ambient to the abstract, with folk-like acoustics colliding strangely with sci-fi electronics." (Shaun Brady). With performances and recording sessions over the last 2 years in both NYC and Dali, a small city in southwest China, Parker and Li will release their debut record, Free World Music, on Brooklyn's eleven2eleven record label in June 2016.
Their unlikely collaboration began in 2014 with Parker's visit to Li's current hometown of Dali where they performed and recorded. Later that fall, Li travelled to NYC where they spent another day in the recording studio and performed concerts at Manhattan Inn and Trans-Pecos presented by Lucas Ligeti's Pigeon Culture. Their performance in Philadelphia presented by Fire Museum was also named a 2014 Best Performance in Philadelphia by Ken Weiss in Cadence Magazine. In the summer of 2015, they were invited to take part in a week long composition residency at COART in Lijiang, China which culminated in a concert of the music they created together during that week.
Both musicians have shaped their own successful careers on their own. Li Daiguo is a major figure in the experimental traditional music world in China and abroad. The multi-instrumentalist has performed solo concerts on cello, pipa, throat singing and beat boxing at Paris Cite De La Musique, Sonic Protest Festival France, Culturescapes Arts Festival in Switzerland, World Sacred Spirits Festival in India as well as festivals all over China. He has also composed for the Guangzhou Modern Dance company, Guangzhou Ballet company, Nobu Khan Malaysian Butoh Dance festival and has released numerous recordings on his own.
Combining jazz, experimental, electronic and rock, Rick Parker casts a broad net with his trombone playing augmented by electronics and synthesizers. His music has been described as "an expressive new-breed fusion, informed by a few generations of downtown experimentation." Nate Chinen, New York Times. He leads/co-leads several groups including: jazz quintet, the Rick Parker Collective; Little Worlds a trio dedicated to the performance of Bela Bartok's Mikrokosmos and 9 Volt with Eyal Maoz. These groups have 5 releases on labels including OutNow Recordings, Fresh Sound New Talent and eleven2eleven. Parker has worked with a large cross section of notable musicians including Tim Berne, Mingus Big Band, Charli Persip, Frank Lacy, Ravish Momin's Tarana, Super Hi-Fi, Tim Kuhl, Beninghove's Hangmen, hip hop legends the Wu Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah, DMC and mexican pop stars Ximena Sariñana and Natalia LaFourcade.
ScottClark4tet Kennedy Center Video
On February 24, the ScottClark4tet played at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of their Millennium Stage series. The concert was streamed live and is now on their website as part of their archive (which has an amazing selection of videos to watch!). I want to thank everyone that attended the concert that night and also thank you to everyone that watched online.
If you missed it, you can view the performance via this link http://www.kennedy-center.org/video/index/M6669
This performance was of our suite "Bury My Heart" and is available on our new record by the same name. You can purchase your copy on my site under the "music" tab (https://scottwclark.com/listen/) as well as on the Clean Feed Records website (https://cleanfeed-records.com/product/bury-my-heart/). It is also available on your favorite online music service (amazon, iTunes etc).
Thank you for all of your support….more soon
Upcoming ScottClark4tet Concerts
I am very excited to announce a few concerts that are coming up this month for my group the ScottClark4tet.
First we will be playing at Balliceaux, in Richmond, on February 16th with the Brian Jones Trio. This concert will feature music from our new release on Clean Feed Records "Bury My Heart" as well as some other SC4tet standards. The Brian Jones Trio will be playing some Brian Jones originals, as well as some standards and a number of other things. Brian's bands are always amazing and you will not want to miss this. (more info here)
The following week we have two great shows. First on Wednesday, February 24th we will be performing the "Bury My Heart" suite at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts Millennium Stage in Washington DC. Doors for this concert open at 5:30pm and the show will start right at 6pm. Concerts at the Millennium Stage are free and open to the public.
Then on Friday, February 26th we will be performing the suite again, but this time in NY at the ShapeShifter Lab. This show is especially exciting as we will be sharing the stage with Nate Wooley and his Quintet. Nate has been a big source of inspiration for me over many years and it was a great honor to have our new record released the same time, on the same label, as his Quintet's new record. If you're not familiar with Nate's music, or if you haven't heard his latest record on Clean Feed Records, I truly encourage you to find out more info on him. (here is a great place to start http://natewooley.com) (also, more on Nate's new record here Nate Wooley on Clean Feed Records and Nate Wooley Store)
This is an early show with sets at 7pm and 8:15pm $10.
Thank you all for your support and we hope to see you at one of these shows….
ScottClark4tet & Brian Jones Trio @ Balliceaux
203 N. Lombardy St Richmond, VA
9pm $5
ScottClark4tet @ Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millennium Stage
2700 F St NW, Washington, DC 20566
6pm Free
Friday, February 26th
ScottClark4tet & Nate Wooley Quintet @ ShapeShifter Lab
18 Whitwell Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11215
7pm & 8:15pm $10
(If you haven't picked up your copy of our new record…you can do so here https://scottwclark.com/listen/ or on the previous post below)
ScottClark4tet "Bury My Heart" on Clean Feed Records
Scott Clark 10/27/2015 1
I am very excited to announce that the ScottClark4tet record, "Bury My Heart", has been released on Clean Feed Records. As some of you may know, I have been working on this suite of music for quite some time and I am really looking forward to sharing this work with everyone. The music is inspired by my research into my own ancestry as well as certain events from Native American history.
ScottClark4tet: Bury My Heart
1) Broken Treaties
2) Wounded Knee
3) Little Crow's War
4) Big Horn
5) Sand Creek
6) Remembrance
ScottClark4tet:
Cameron Ralston- bass
Jason Scott- saxophone
Bob Miller- trumpet
Featuring JC Kuhl -bass clarinet & Bryan Hooten- trombone on "Broken Treaties"
The title of this recording isn't a mere literary reference (to "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", by Dee Brown). Just like the novel, the music inside is a tragic and soulful portrait of one of the darkest pages of human history and particularly the United States past (with effects continuing to present day): the Native-American genocide. Created by jazz drummer and composer Scott Clark, himself of Native-American descent, it has the form of a suite but none of its formal, classical, aspects. The approach is irreverent, visceral, raw and urgent, further developing the unique style of this incredible musician coming from the vibrant scene of Richmond, Virginia. This is downbeat music, very much connecting to the inner feeling of that musical language called jazz, and we do feel the pain, but there's no negativity on it. As Brian Edward Jones writes in the liner notes, remembering Albert Ayler, «music is the healing force of the universe». And what heals us is the freshness, the novelty and the creativity of this magnificent opus. Here is a masterpiece, not just another jazz album.
Some information on the songs and what inspired them.
Broken Treaties
It is estimated that there have been over 500 treaties entered into with Native Americans by the United States. It is also estimated that of those 500 treaties, nearly all of them were broken at some point in their history. Many times, the violation of these treaties led to most of the hostilities that erupted between Native Americans and the white settlers that the treaties were with.
Wounded Knee
On December 29, the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost Dancers under Big Foot, a Lakota Sioux chief, near Wounded Knee Creek and demanded they surrender their weapons. As that was happening, a fight broke out between an Indian and a U.S. soldier and a shot was fired, although it's unclear from which side. A brutal massacre followed, in which it's estimated 150 Indians were killed (some historians put this number at twice as high), nearly half of them women and children. The cavalry lost 25 men.
The conflict at Wounded Knee was originally referred to as a battle, but in reality it was a tragic and avoidable massacre. Surrounded by heavily armed troops, it's unlikely that Big Foot's band would have intentionally started a fight. Some historians speculate that the soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were deliberately taking revenge for the regiment's defeat at Little Bighorn in 1876. Whatever the motives, the massacre ended the Ghost Dance movement and was the last major confrontation in America's deadly war against the Plains Indians.
(*history.com staff http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/wounded-knee)
Little Crow's War
Throughout the late 1850s, treaty violations by the United States and late or unfair annuity payments by Indian agents caused increasing hunger and hardship among the Dakota. Traders with the Dakota previously had demanded that the government give the annuity payments directly to them (introducing the possibility of unfair dealing between the agents and the traders to the exclusion of the Dakota). In mid-1862, the Dakota (led by Little Crow, Thaóyate Dúta) demanded the annuities directly from their agent, Thomas J. Galbraith. The traders refused to provide any more supplies on credit under those conditions, and negotiations reached an impasse.
On August 17, 1862, one young Dakota with a hunting party of three others killed five settlers while on a hunting expedition. That night a council of Dakota decided to attack settlements throughout the Minnesota River valley to try to drive whites out of the area. There has never been an official report on the number of settlers killed, although in Abraham Lincoln's second annual address, he noted that not less than 800 men, women, and children had died.Over the next several months, continued battles pitting the Dakota against settlers and later, the United States Army, ended with the surrender of most of the Dakota bands. By late December 1862, soldiers had taken captive more than a thousand Dakota, who were interned in jails in Minnesota. After trials and sentencing, 38 Dakota were hanged on December 26, 1862, in the largest one-day execution in American history. In April 1863, the rest of the Dakota were expelled from Minnesota to Nebraska and South Dakota. The United States Congress abolished their reservations.
(*Wikipedia contributors. "Dakota War of 1862." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia)
At mid-day on June 25, Custer's 600 men entered the Little Bighorn Valley. Among the Native Americans, word quickly spread of the impending attack. The older Sitting Bull rallied the warriors and saw to the safety of the women and children, while Crazy Horse set off with a large force to meet the attackers head on. Despite Custer's desperate attempts to regroup his men, they were quickly overwhelmed. Custer and some 200 men in his battalion were attacked by as many as 3,000 Native Americans; within an hour, Custer and all of his soldiers were dead.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer's Last Stand, marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The demise of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations.
(*history.com staff http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/battle-of-the-little-bighorn)
At dawn on November 29, 1864, approximately 675 U.S. volunteer soldiers commanded by Colonel John M. Chivington attacked a village of about 700 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado Territory. Using small arms and howitzer fire, the troops drove the people out of their camp. While many managed to escape the initial onslaught, others, particularly non-combatant women, children, and the elderly fled into and up the bottom of the dry stream bed. The soldiers followed, shooting at them as they struggled through the sandy earth. At a point several hundred yards above the village, the women and children frantically excavated pits and trenches along either side of the streambed to protect themselves. Some adult men attempted to hold back the Army with whatever weapons they had managed to retrieve from the camp, and at several places along Sand Creek the soldiers shot the people from opposite banks and brought forward the howitzers to blast them from their improvised defenses. Over the course of eight hours the troops killed around 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people composed mostly of women, children, and the elderly. During the afternoon and following day, the soldiers wandered over the field committing atrocities on the dead before departing the scene on December 1 to resume campaigning.
(National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/sand/historyculture/index.htm)
Much of what we consider the "history" of Native Americans is still being felt to this day. There are still fights over land rights at Wounded Knee, there are still people fighting to have the United States honor treaties that were entered into many years ago, there are still conflicts about how the upcoming Sand Creek Massacre anniversary is being portrayed and there still remains fallout over the Dakota Wars and their aftermath. There are still many conflicts and issues that exist on reservations today including extreme poverty, illness, little or no access to health care etc. However, despite what would at first appear to be all negative stories, there are many hopeful ones as well. Native culture remains vibrant and efforts to bring back native languages are spreading throughout the country. There are many tribes that are continuing efforts to reclaim land that was lost and more awareness is being spread to the modern day reality of many Native Americans. It's important to remember the past and see how it informs our present. It's also important to see the beauty that exists in Native American culture and to help focus on the positives that do exist today.
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