My Name is Horse Warrior

My name is Tashunka Akecheta, Horse Warrior, and I am of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Nation. This story I tell is of our Nation and how it came to be, beginning long before I was born. This knowledge has been passed down from generation to generation, from Great Grandfather the Grandfather, from father to son for many years. Our Sioux Nation was mighty even before we left Minnesota; and when we chased the Iroquois and Blackfeet away from this land, we became even mightier. This land stretched for thousands of miles and was rich with game and timber stands and also held our Sacred Black Hills Paha Sapa. We are a very proud nation with a rich heritage and we were the rulers of these lands known as the North American Plains and were feared by the tribes from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains. To the west of us lived the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes; to the north and east, we had the Ponca, with the Omaha and Pawnee to our south. Our lives were nomadic, following the buffalo as they crossed back and forth across these Great Plains. We traveled to the Hot Springs in Arkansas where we met other tribes hunting and bathing in the healing waters. This was a place of sanctuary, even when tribes warred with each other, people from opposing sides could continue to meet in safety and in peace, knowing that no differences would cross them here. The time when I begin my story is from when we were still at war with the Assiniboine tribes and the skirmishes were continuous over long periods of time and in addition to those Indians, we also had interlopers on the Plains, known as the Huron Indians who were being driven from their own homes and lands during the Beaver Wars, whom we drove away from Lakota Country north of the Mississippi River.