Standing Bear v. Crook

What happened

Standing Bear and twenty-five others, Ponca Indians, were arrested on the Omaha Indian reservation on the orders of General George Crook, who commanded the Department of the Platte. The order, issued at the request of the Secretary of the Interior, was to return them by force to their tribe in the Indian Territory. On April 8, 1879, they petitioned the federal court at Lincoln for a writ of habeas corpus.

Judge Elmer Dundy recounted the background. The Poncas made a treaty with the United States on March 12, 1858, ceding all land except one tract. A treaty of March 10, 1865 ceded part of that reservation and substituted other lands. Then a treaty with the Sioux, signed April 29, 1868, completely absolved the reservations set apart for the Poncas. "This was done without consultation with, or knowledge or consent on the part of, the Ponca tribe of Indians."

Standing Bear testified that of 581 Ponca who went to the Indian Territory, 158 died within a year or so. To save the survivors of his family, he determined to leave and return to his old home.

Dundy concluded that "an Indian is a 'person' within the meaning of the laws of the United States," and so may seek a writ of habeas corpus in a federal court. He found no treaty or law that authorized removing the relators by force to the Indian Territory. He ordered them discharged from custody.

Good to know. The treaty and removal facts are as the judge recounted them; the Ponca Tribe's own account may differ.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error