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NATIVE BUT FOREIGN
Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands by Brenden W. Rensink, Texas A&M Press, 2018

Chapter 4, Note 4 (pages 72 and 239)

Big Bear’s negative reputation—from Cree border-crossings in the early 1880s to his involvement in the bloody North-West Rebellion—would dominate the  minds of Montanans when Big Bear’s son, Little Bear (Imasees), crossed into Montana and made a decades-long attempt to establish permanent residence. (p. 72)

Chapter 4, Note 4 . . . for an extensive list of regional and national newspaper articles detailing Big Bear’s activities. (p. 239)

The constant and shocking level of attention paid to Big Bear and other Crees prepared a cold reception (at the local and national level) for the Crees who fled to Montana in 1885 and beyond. He was portrayed a troublesome, meddling, a dangerous threat, determined to kill whites, etc.

Consider the following sources from 1885 and 1886 alone:

  •  “How the Rebel, Riel, Spends His Time in Confinement,” Daily Evening Bulletin (Maysville, KY), May 21, 1885, 4.
  • “Big Bear Ready for a Fight,” St. Paul Daily Globe, May 26, 1885, 2.
  • “Prisoner Poundmaker,” Salt Lake Herald, May 28, 1885, 1.
  • “Big Bear Starting to Surrender?” and “After Big Bear’s Scalp,” St. Paul Daily Globe, May 28, 1885.
  • “Chief Poundmaker,” and “Northwest Affairs,” The New North-West, May 29, 1885, 2.
  • “Middleton and Big Bear,” Salt Lake Evening Democrat, June 1, 1885, 1.
  • “Big Bear’s Bold Talk,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 4, 1885, 1.
  • “The Northwest Rebellion,” The Northern Pacific Farmer (Wadena, MN), June 4, 1885, 2.
  • “Big Bear Will Fight Canada,” Springfield Globe-Republic, June 4, 1885, 2.
  • “The Northwest War,” The Iola Register (KS), June 5, 1885, 6.
  • “The Last Tocsin Sounds,” Daily Evening Bulletin, June 5, 1885.
  • “Big Bear Fights,” and “Big Bear’s Philosophy,” Bismarck Weekly Tribune (ND), June 5, 1885, 1, 3.
  • “The Canadian Rebellion,” The Livingston Enterprise (MT), June 6, 1885, 4.
  • “Big Bear’s Broken Band,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 7, 1885, 4.
  • “Finding and Fighting Big Bear,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 8, 1885, 1.
  • “Middleton After Big Bear,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 9, 1885, 4.
  • “Big Bear Fights Back Steele and Middleton,” New Ulm Weekly Review (MN), June 10, 1885, 4.
  • “Beardy and Big Bear Converted,” The River Press, June 10, 1885, 6.
  • “A Crushing Blow,” The McCook Tribune (NE), June 11, 1885, 7.
  • “Big Bear Eludes Middleton,” Bismarck Weekly Tribune, June 27, 1885, 1.
  • “Big Bear Eludes Them,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 12, 1885, 4.
  • “The Canadian-Indian War,” The Ottawa Free Trader (IL), June 13, 1885, pg. 4.
  • “The Canada Indian War,” The Livingston Enterprise, June 13, 1885, 2.
  • “Big Bear in a Hole. Big Bear Gets Away. Chasing Big Bear,” Devils Lake Inter-Ocean (ND), June 13, 1885, pg. 4.
  • “The Rebellion in Manitoba,” Western Appeal (St. Paul, MN), June 13, 1885, 3.
  • “Middleton and Big Bear,” The Salt Lake Herald (UT), June 14, 1885, 1.
  • “A Steele Trap for Big Bear,” The Salt Lake Evening Democrat, June 15, 1885, 1.
  • “Pressing Big Bear Hard,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 15, 1885, 1.
  • “General Strange’s Adversary,” The Omaha Bee (NE), June 16, 1885, 4.
  • “Big Bear’s Career. Our Bogus Army. Still Pressing Big Bear,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 16, 1885, 4.
  • “Walsh and Steele and Big Bear,” The River Press, June 17, 1885, 6.
  • “Big Bear’s Band,” Daily Evening Bulletin, June 17, 1885, 1.
  • “Northwest News,” Helena Weekly Herald, June 18, 1885, 3.
  • “A Tame Fight,” Turner County Herald (Hurley, SD), June 18, 1885, 2.
  • “Wild Goose Chase,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 18, 1885, pg. 1.
  • “The Indian Troubles in Manitoba,” Western Appeal (St. Paul, MN), June 20, 1885,2.
  • “Middleton Gives up Big Bear,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 21, 1885, 1.
  • “Big Bear Not Trapped Yet,” Salt Lake Evening Democrat, June 22, 1885, 1.
  • “Prisoners Well Treated,” St. Paul Daily Globe, June 23, 1885, 1.
  • “Middleton and Big Bear. Middleton Abandons the Attempt,” The River Press, June 24, 1885, 7.
  • “Predicting Big Bear’s Movement. Priests Disappear,” New Ulm Weekly Review, June 24, 1885, 7.
  • “Big Bear’s Dishwasher Administration,” The River Press, June 24, 1885, 4.
  • “Late News from Riel’s allies,” The Wahpeton Times (ND), June 25, 1885, 2.
  • “Steele Overtakes Big Bear,” The Bad Lands Cow Boy (Little Missouri, ND), June 25, 1885, 2.
  • “Big Bear Releases his Prisoners,” Western Appeal, June 27, 1885, 3.
  • “Some News from Ottawa,” The River Press, July 1, 1885, 6.
  • “Big Bear,” The New North-West, July 3, 1885, 3.
  • “Big Bear Bagged,” St. Paul Daily Globe, July 6, 1885, 1.
  • “Affairs in Manitoba,” Western Appeal, July 11, 1885, 3.
  • “Middleton Fails to Capture Big Bear,” Northwest Enterprise (Anacortes, WA), July 25, 1885, 3.
  • “Big Bear Captured,” Northwest Enterprise, August 1, 1885, 3.
  • “The Captive Big Bear,” St. Paul Daily Globe, August 17, 1885, 1.
  • “Big Bear’s Sentence,” The River Press, September 23, 1885, 7.
  • “To Fort Assinaboine and Return,” The River Press, October 7, 1885, 3.
  • “Hanging of the Indians,” Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer, November 28, 1885, 3,
  • “Wholesale Indian Hanging,” Press and Daily Dakotaian (SD), November 28, 1885, 2.
  • “The Captured Crees,” The River Press, December 30, 1885, 5.
  • “Captured Crees,” The Choteau Calumet (MT), January 1, 1886, 7.
  • “Release of Riel’s Comrades,” The River Press, February 17, 1886, 7.
  • “Big Bear Released,” St. Paul Daily Globe, April 26, 1886, 5.
  • “Big Bear’s Wives,” St. Paul Daily Globe, December 8, 1886, 5.