[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 49 (Thursday, April 5, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3527-S3528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO SCARLET CROW

 Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute and 
restore honor

[[Page S3528]]

to a Native American who contributed much to the expansion of our 
Nation and the development of what would later become my home State of 
North Dakota.
  After seeing an exhibit at the Library of Congress recently, I became 
interested in learning more about the Native Americans who are buried 
in the Congressional Cemetery. Through my research, I came across the 
name of Scarlet Crow. Scarlet Crow, a member of the Wahpeton Sisseton 
Sioux Tribe, died in Washington, DC., under mysterious circumstances in 
1867, and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery east of Capitol 
Hill.
  I learned from further research that Scarlet Crow's death certificate 
reported his cause of death to be suicide. But the facts reveal a 
different, more tragic story.
  In February 1867, Scarlet Crow left a family that included eight 
children to undertake a long journey from the Dakota Territory to 
Washington, DC. He was a tribal chief who came here to renegotiate a 
treaty with the U.S. Government. He was, in fact, one of many Native 
Americans who came to the Nation's capital in those days to negotiate 
in good faith, only to discover that the United States continued to 
mistreat Native Americans by forging agreements the Government 
subsequently failed to honor.
  Before his work here was done, tragedy struck. Scarlet Crow was 
reported missing on February 24th that year. Two weeks later, his body 
was discovered near the Occoquan Bridge in Northern Virginia several 
miles outside Washington. At first, his death was reported to be a 
suicide. But investigators later described evidence that could not 
support that conclusion.
  The mystery of what really happened to Scarlet Crow still remains. We 
do know that criminal investigators pointed out that the cloth Scarlet 
Crow would have used to hang himself would not have supported a weight 
of more than 40 pounds. The branch from which he supposedly hung 
himself would have broken under the weight of a small child, they said. 
In addition, his blanket was folded neatly by his body, with no signs 
of a struggle. Despite this evidence, which might suggest that Scarlet 
Crow was murdered, there is no record that anyone followed up on the 
investigation. And today, Scarlet Crow's death certificate still lists 
suicide as the cause of death.
  There are no records to tell us when and how Scarlet Crow's family 
learned of his death, or what happened to his family afterward. Records 
do tell us, however, that he was an honorable and trustworthy man who 
devoted his efforts to a peaceful life with the settlers who came to 
tame the great Midwest. He is described in one Government letter as an 
industrious man who worked to promote agriculture among his fellow 
Native Americans. And at one time, it was reported that his ``laborious 
habits had made him a prosperous farmer,'' a prosperity that was later 
lost during hostilities in 1862.
  In 1916, Congress voted to provide a headstone for Scarlet Crow's 
grave, at the request of North Dakota Senator Asle J. Gronna. Since 
that action nearly a century ago, the memory of Scarlet Crow has been 
relegated to obscurity.
  The mysterious circumstances of Mr. Crow's death and the unusual 
story about his burial in the Congressional Cemetery led me to visit 
the cemetery recently to locate his tombstone.
  The cemetery has fallen into some disrepair over the years and it is 
in some ways a rather forlorn place. Perhaps as we move forward with 
our planning for this year, Congress can find the resources to restore 
dignity to our Congressional Cemetery. In the meantime, I urge my 
colleagues to find time to visit this cemetery. And while there, I hope 
you will pause a moment in tribute to this dedicated Native American, 
Scarlet Crow, whose life came to such a tragic and untimely end in our 
Nation's capital.

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