Speech of the Four Bears to the Rees and Mandans (1837)

Following the great smallpox epidemic of 1837, Mato-tope - chief of the Mandan tribe known as the Four Bears - was dying of the #disease. The whole tribe had been wiped out after being infected and there were a few survivors out of 2.000 members. During his last public speech - edited in the Fort Clark manager, Francis A. Chardon's journal - Mato-tope put the blame on "the #Whites" for being the cause of the deadly plague. He called for vengeance by waging #war to the perpetrators. But he died soon after of the disease. Painter George Catlin - who made a portrait of the chief - claimed that Mato-tope starved to death out of despair, after his people were all gone. "They have deceived me. Those whom I considered as brothers have proved my most bitter enemies. I have been in many battles and often wounded; but the wounds I received from my enemies I glory in. Today I am wounded and by whom? -- by those dogs of whites that I considered my friends."