The Voice before the Void: Arcana, Story, Poetry

The small society of the Arikara, in facing their age-old enemies the mighty Lakota nation, prehend a powerful ally: the United States. ⁓The Voice before the Void Into Annihilation: The Arikara Story of Custer’s March to, and the Battle of, the Little Bighorn from The Arikara Narrative of the Campaign against the Hostile Dakotas, June, 1876 compiled from interviews conducted by the North Dakota State Historical Society with the aged Arikara scouts in 1912 at Fort Berthold Reservation edited by O.G. Libby and The Voice before the Void part 2 Preface to the Arikara Narrative of the Campaign against the Hostile Dakotas The purpose in publishing this material on the Dakota campaign of 1876 is twofold. Merely as a matter of justice to the Arikara scouts, their version of the campaign in which they played an important part should have long ago been given to the public. Nearly every other conceivable angle of this memorable campaign has received attention and study. But during the past generation, the Arikara scouts, true to their oath of fealty to the government as they understood it, have remained silent as to their own part in those eventful days. The present narrative is designed to make public the real story of the Arikara scouts who served with General Terry and under the immediate command of Colonel Custer. In August, 1912, the nine survivors of some forty of these scouts met at the home of Bear’s Belly on the Fort Berthold Reservation, and there they related to Judge A. McG. Beede and to the secretary of the North Dakota State Historical Society, O.G. Libby, the various portions of the narrative that follow. The narrators were very scrupulous to confine themselves to just that portion of the common experience to which they were eye witnesses; for the most part what is set down in this account is the testimony of those who were actual participants. The narratives were carefully taken down as interpreted by Peter Beauchamp, a graduate of Hampton Institute, Virginia. After the whole story was put in form it was submitted to the scouts to be read and corrected through their interpreters by all those who had taken part. Thus there has been assembled a complete account of these important events given from the standpoint of an Indian scout. While it is true that these scouts knew nothing of the general plan of the campaign nor of the larger features of the movements in which they took part, nevertheless they have supplied an astonishing number of clear cut facts and observations that have all the definiteness and accuracy of an instantaneous photograph. In the second place the narratives of individual scouts give us an insight into the lives of a few individuals and families. The true Indian is extremely reticent concerning matters of ritual, family tradition, and tribal observance. Not as much of such details was obtained as was asked for, still the narrative affords, in many instances, a flashlight picture of Indian life. We were privileged to hear, also, a large number of rare and remarkable ceremonial chants and songs. At the close, the occasion was celebrated by the organization of a society known as the U. S. Volunteer Indian Scouts. Two local posts are already in existence, to which belong most of the veteran scouts of the Fort Berthold Reservation. An impartial examination of the evidence offered in the narrative of these scouts will completely clear them from the old charge of cowardice which has so long been voiced against them. These scouts were charged with being to blame for the defeat of Reno’s men in their first encounter with the Dakotas at the upper village on the Little Big Horn.

Battle of the Little Bighorn Anniversary Special: One of the most mesmeric and seismic battles in world history: when the Lakota defeated utterly the United States. ⁓The Voice before the Void Into Annihilation: The Arikara Story of Custer’s March to, and the Battle of, the Little Bighorn from The Arikara Narrative of the Campaign against the Hostile Dakotas, June, 1876 compiled from interviews conducted by the North Dakota State Historical Society with the aged Arikara scouts in 1912 at Fort Berthold Reservation edited by O.G. Libby and The Voice before the Void part 1 Historical Introduction to the Battle of the Little Big Horn In the year 1867, the United States Congress provided for a commission to treat with all the Indian tribes of the Great Plains and arrange a treaty which would grant to them definite lands. This, it was thought, would cause them to settle down and cease their war on the white man. Parts of two years were spent in visiting the scattered bands and finally, in April, 1868, an agreement was concluded which defined clearly the boundaries of the territory set apart for the Dakotas [Treaty of Fort Laramie]. This area was not large when compared with the fields over which the Dakotas had been accustomed to roam at will, but it included the Black Hills and adjacent lands which the Dakotas had cherished for a long time as a hunting ground and asylum. Consequently when gold was discovered in these hills and when the expedition commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was sent “to reconnoiter the route from Fort Abraham Lincoln to Bear Butte,” a well known point north of the Black Hills, and “to explore the country south, southeast, and southwest of that point,” the Dakotas were much disturbed. The evidence gathered on Custer’s expedition with regard to a large amount of precious metal in the Black Hills was on the whole discouraging. However, other expeditions followed, and soon there began a rush of white men into this territory. It was at this point that the Dakotas were aroused and made a desperate attempt to defend their lands and their rights in the treaty. From the time of the treaty of 1868 there had remained outside of the reservation a number of Dakotas, known as hostiles. To these were constantly being added outlaws who left the reservations, until the number which could be called hostile was probably about three thousand. Most of these were under the leadership of Sitting Bull. In late 1875, the Indian inspector E.C. Watkins, after investigation, advised that troops be sent against these hostile Indians “that winter; the sooner the better.” In early 1876, General George Crook and Colonel J.J. Reynolds were sent on an expedition against the hostiles. Colonel Reynolds followed a trail and struck the camp of Crazy Horse. The Dakotas fled and the soldiers destroyed the camp, while being shot at from rocks, bushes, and gullies [Battle of Powder River]. General Crook was driven back by the Indians. The results of this expedition were considered neither conclusive nor satisfactory, and a systematic campaign was devised, consisting of three distinct divisions – General Crook from the south, General Alfred H. Terry from the east, and Colonel John Gibbon from the west – to march and converge upon the Big Horn River, a tributary of the Yellowstone River. The military authorities assumed that any one of these three divisions could defeat the enemy, the only difficulty being to catch him, for it was believed that no one of the commanders would encounter more than five to eight hundred hostile warriors. But the failure of Crook’s expedition in March, and the delay of Custer’s command at Fort Linco...

Folk verse. ⁓The Voice before the Void “Canned Milk” anonymous Canned milk is the best in the land Here I sit with a can in my hand No tits to pull, no hay to pitch You just punch a hole in the son of a bitch

Discovery of the Baltic Sea Anomaly Anniversary Special: Love the weird. ⁓The Voice before the Void “Baltic Sea anomaly” Wikipedia The Baltic Sea anomaly is a 60-meter circular rock-like formation on the floor of the Baltic Sea, discovered by Peter Lindberg, Dennis Åsberg, and their Swedish “Ocean X” diving team in June 2011. The team reported that the formation rests on a pillar and includes a structure similar in appearance to a staircase, leading to a dark hole. Commentators have suggested that the structure could be a World War II anti-submarine device, a battleship gun turret, sediment dropped by a fishing trawler, or a flying saucer. Several experts have stated that it is most likely a natural geological formation. 1. Discovery The discovery was made on June 19, 2011 by the Swedish based “Ocean X Team” during a dive in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland while searching for an old shipwreck. The group describes themselves as treasure hunters and salvage operators who specialize in underwater searches for sunken “antique high-end alcoholic beverages and historic artefacts.” In March 2012, Ocean X formalized a partnership with entertainment producers Titan TV to produce a TV documentary series and documentary film. 2. Description According to Ocean X, the formation has an appearance of “rough granite,” is round, 3 to 4 meters thick and approximately 60 meters in diameter, stands on an 8-meter tall pillar-like feature, and is located at a depth of 85 to 90 meters. There is also another smaller object not far away. The object is at the end of what resembles a 300-meter “runway.” The Ocean X team has published one additional close-up sonar scan on their website and nine additional close-up sonar scans on their YouTube page that appear to show a 90-degree angle and other features of the object. On their second expedition, they reported that they found something that looks like a staircase and a round black hole that goes directly into the structure. 3. Chemical composition Infrared spectroscopy analysis made by Steve Weiner, director of the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science at the Weizmann Institute, indicates that a piece which was recovered by divers from the circle anomaly is made of limonite and goethite. Dr. Weiner’s opinion is that it is strange to find these materials in a structure like this, and thinks these materials would be most likely found in a modern construction. However, two other geologists – Fredrik Klingberg at Geological Survey of Sweden and Martin Jakobsson, marine geologist at Stockholm University – claim that the chemical composition of the sample resembles that of nodules that are not uncommon in sea beds, and that the materials found, including limonite and goethite, can indeed be formed by nature itself. Stone samples have also been analyzed by Volker Brüchert, an associate professor of geology at Stockholm University. According to Brüchert, most of the samples that were brought up from the sea bottom are granites, gneisses and sandstones. Among the samples was also a single loose piece of basaltic (volcanic) rock, which is out of place on the seafloor, but not unusual. “Because the whole northern Baltic region is so heavily influenced by glacial thawing processes, both the feature and the rock samples are likely to have formed in connection with glacial and postglacial processes. […] Possibly these rocks were transported there by glaciers,” explained Brüchert. 4. Reaction While a former Swedish naval officer speculated that the sonar image could show the remains of a World War II German anti-submarine device, and Discovery.com contributor Benjamin Radford considered that it could be a damaged gun turret from an old battleship,

Summer Vacation Special: Odd old North Dakota poetry, humorous, weird, haunting. ⁓The Voice before the Void “A Pause” Frances Vejtasa I leaned against an age-hewn stump, While pausing on my way; A child sat on the green-grown slope, To rest her feet from play. “The day, it too will fade,” said I, Who am old and slow and gray; She caught the thought and voiced my mood: “And the leaves, they’ll blow away.” “And youth and love, they flicker out,” My mind had a tragic sway; The child looked up with woeful eyes, “Santa, too, has passed away.”

Walt Whitman’s Birthday Special: Nation-creating glorious smut. ⁓The Voice before the Void “A Woman Waits for Me” Walt Whitman A woman waits for me, she contains all, nothing is lacking, Yet all were lacking if sex were lacking, or if the moisture of the right man were lacking. Sex contains all, bodies, souls, Meanings, proofs, purities, delicacies, results, promulgations, Songs, commands, health, pride, the maternal mystery, the seminal milk, All hopes, benefactions, bestowals, all the passions, loves, beauties, delights of the earth, All the governments, judges, gods, follow’d persons of the earth, These are contain’d in sex as parts of itself and justifications of itself. Without shame the man I like knows and avows the deliciousness of his sex, Without shame the woman I like knows and avows hers. Now I will dismiss myself from impassive women, I will go stay with her who waits for me, and with those women that are warm-blooded and sufficient for me, I see that they understand me and do not deny me, I see that they are worthy of me, I will be the robust husband of those women. They are not one jot less than I am, They are tann’d in the face by shining suns and blowing winds, Their flesh has the old divine suppleness and strength, They know how to swim, row, ride, wrestle, shoot, run, strike, retreat, advance, resist, defend themselves, They are ultimate in their own right—they are calm, clear, well-possess’d of themselves. I draw you close to me, you women, I cannot let you go, I would do you good, I am for you, and you are for me, not only for our own sake, but for others’ sakes, Envelop’d in you sleep greater heroes and bards, They refuse to awake at the touch of any man but me. It is I, you women, I make my way, I am stern, acrid, large, undissuadable, but I love you, I do not hurt you any more than is necessary for you, I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for these States, I press with slow rude muscle, I brace myself effectually, I listen to no entreaties, I dare not withdraw till I deposit what has so long accumulated within me. Through you I drain the pent-up rivers of myself, In you I wrap a thousand onward years, On you I graft the grafts of the best-beloved of me and America, The drops I distil upon you shall grow fierce and athletic girls, new artists, musicians, and singers, The babes I beget upon you are to beget babes in their turn, I shall demand perfect men and women out of my love-spendings, I shall expect them to interpenetrate with others, as I and you inter-penetrate now, I shall count on the fruits of the gushing showers of them, as I count on the fruits of the gushing showers I give now, I shall look for loving crops from the birth, life, death, immortality, I plant so lovingly now.