What is Standing Bear famous for?
Standing Bear was born on land that later became the Ponca reservation in what is now Nebraska, around 1834, although some sources say he was born in 1829. “Standing Bear” translates from the Ponca (PaNka) “MaNchu NaNzhiN.” A more literal translation would be “Standing Grizzly Bear. In early times the Ponca were driven southward by the Sioux. The tribe suffered decimation by smallpox. (Lewis and Clark numbered them at only 200.) At the time Standing Bear was born, the Ponca people had settled in an area around the mouth of the Niobrara River. By 1858, the Ponca relinquished all land they had claimed except for a small reserve along the Niobrara. They tried to change from nomadic buffalo hunters to farmers. In the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), the government mistakenly included the Ponca’s land in the territory assigned to the Sioux. Subsequently, the Sioux raided the area claimed by the Ponca and many lives were lost. To end the raids, the government’s moved the Ponca to Indian Territ
