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Lost Bird Of Wounded Knee: Spirit Of The Lakota
In December 1890 the U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred a band of Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Miraculously, after a four-day blizzard, an infant was found alive under the frozen body of her dead mother. The dashing brigadier general (and future Assistant Attorney General of the United States) Leonard W. Colby kidnapped and then adopted the baby girl named Lost Bird (1890–1920) as a "living curio," and exploited her in order to attract prominent tribes as clients of his law practice.After the general's wife, the nationally known suffragist and newspaper editor Clara B. Colby, divorced her husband, she raised the Lakota child as a white girl in a well-meaning but disastrous attempt to provide a stable home. Lost Bird ran away to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and appeared in silent films and vaudeville. During her brief but unforgettable life she endured sexual abuse, violence, prostitution, and the rejection of her own tribe before dying at age twenty-nine on Valentine's Day. This remarkable biography examines the life of the woman who became a symbol of the warring cultures that entrapped her, and a heartbreaking microcosm of all those Native American children who lost their heritage through adoption, social injustice, and war.
392 pages, Paperback
First published June 14, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 2, 2011
I did not finish this book, I will say that right up front.
Not knowing much of the subject, I expected a fairly standard Biography of the named subject, namely, Zintkala Nuni, infant survivor of the massacre.
What I neither expected, nor wanted, was a biography of her 'adoptive" mother. Two thirds through the book, and still, Zintkala is mentioned almost as an aside to the story of Clara Bewick Colby, the Suffragette who lived forever eclipsed by Susan B Anthony. At which point I pitched it back into the pile to be returned to the library and picked up my ereader instead.
Two thumbs down for false advertising.
Not knowing much of the subject, I expected a fairly standard Biography of the named subject, namely, Zintkala Nuni, infant survivor of the massacre.
What I neither expected, nor wanted, was a biography of her 'adoptive" mother. Two thirds through the book, and still, Zintkala is mentioned almost as an aside to the story of Clara Bewick Colby, the Suffragette who lived forever eclipsed by Susan B Anthony. At which point I pitched it back into the pile to be returned to the library and picked up my ereader instead.
Two thumbs down for false advertising.
November 28, 2020
"Throughout her life of prejudice, exploitation, poverty, misunderstanding, and disease, she never gave up hope that one day she would find out where she really belonged."
Zintkala Nuni, known as Lost Bird, (1890-1920) was an infant who survived the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota and a 4-day blizzard before being discovered shielded under the frozen body of her dead mother. General Colby, in SD on a cleanup mission, took an interest in her and after kidnapping her a few times from Lakota families, adopted his "war trophy" and delivered Zintkala to his suffragette wife, Clara Bewick Colby.
That's the premise of this biography that was supposed to be about Zintkala Nuni's life but was far more about Clara Colby. A contemporary of Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Clara attempted to "civilize" her adopted Native daughter and find a place for Zintkala in White society. Needless to say, it didn't go well.
This book took me 4 months to finish and for a multitude of reasons pissed me off. I was hungry to learn about Zintkala and instead found myself reading about the White suffragette experience. There are lots of those books around, painfully little about Zintkala. General Colby was an incredible asshole. Zintkala was treated to the ignorance of the day, that her nature was uncivilized and skin color made her less than. Like many people who are separated from their communities, she never found the place where she fit in. And at the end of the day, the book was about her adopted mother, not her.
Perhaps there wasn't enough documentation to craft a biography and historical fiction would have been a better way to tell Zintkala's story.
Zintkala Nuni, known as Lost Bird, (1890-1920) was an infant who survived the massacre at Wounded Knee, South Dakota and a 4-day blizzard before being discovered shielded under the frozen body of her dead mother. General Colby, in SD on a cleanup mission, took an interest in her and after kidnapping her a few times from Lakota families, adopted his "war trophy" and delivered Zintkala to his suffragette wife, Clara Bewick Colby.
That's the premise of this biography that was supposed to be about Zintkala Nuni's life but was far more about Clara Colby. A contemporary of Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Clara attempted to "civilize" her adopted Native daughter and find a place for Zintkala in White society. Needless to say, it didn't go well.
This book took me 4 months to finish and for a multitude of reasons pissed me off. I was hungry to learn about Zintkala and instead found myself reading about the White suffragette experience. There are lots of those books around, painfully little about Zintkala. General Colby was an incredible asshole. Zintkala was treated to the ignorance of the day, that her nature was uncivilized and skin color made her less than. Like many people who are separated from their communities, she never found the place where she fit in. And at the end of the day, the book was about her adopted mother, not her.
Perhaps there wasn't enough documentation to craft a biography and historical fiction would have been a better way to tell Zintkala's story.
April 29, 2014
I have often wondered how many kinds of manifestation of evil is there in the world? General Colby was not only wicked, he was evil. I don't say these things lightly or overdramatically. If others want to be detached from the events in this book it would be said at the beginning he was arrogant and ignorant to kidnap a baby from her family and her people. But as she grew he left her knowingly to negligence that became mental abuse. As she went from childhood to girl this abuse became physical and sexual. He beat her, robbed her of her youth and raped her, likely on a continually basis for many years. It is true Clara Colby did her wrong as well, however, it was not with evil intent. Without a sense of family, of belonging or of knowing who she was and that she was abused in all ways the girl died aged 30, needlessly and horrifically. Unfortunately this book had less of her than I anticipated. Records of any kind are few. However, I would sooner read a reprint of the 17 paged letters or so written in her hand to have her voice than to read the difficulties Clara Colby had with Susan B. Anthony and the bigoted suffragettes. It may have been that the closer look at Zintkala Nuni was to be reconstructed from imagination, but the reader would have been nearer to knowing Zintkala than merely guessing at her life when she ran away from home. In this book even to her reburial she is still a Lost Bird, I don't feel she came home to me, because there was no touch as to the girl as an individual. In this she seems still on the edges of someone else's life, she is still the reflection in the glass on the carousel and that's a pity. I can understand that one needs a sort of background into the couple that brought her away from her people, Clara made sure to always keep her away from people whom may have cared for her. It came to pass the book was more of Clara Colby in some ways than Zintkala Nuni herself, I'm still not sure what is the correct pronunciation of her name. But it was not only general Colby that was evil unto her but Henry Pope, his brothers (who ganged raped her) and her drunken husband (who gave her syphilis), the women were stupid, Clara Colby and Jennie Pope. Was it any wonder the girl ran away from home? Was violent in actions and temperament? That she was confused and sick often? She stayed a Lost Bird all her short, bitter and tragic life. Any redress? Healing began to come when they buried the girl in the land of her ancestors and her tortured spirit may have peace, and yet what of her son? Did he live? Did he die young in pain? Is he not also lost whether he lived long or short, brutal or just a spluttering spark? Even at the end with these questions I know that the girl that was Zintkala Nuni was not the only Lost Bird. There have been so many babies that became Lost Birds, not only of the 19th century but of the 20th and into the 21st and not only of North America as their backgrounds and not only with war that stole their parents. Many, many Aboriginal children in North America and Australia and else where were stolen from their families. They were dragged into a forced system to turn them from "savage" to "White", to kill their heritage inside them. They were abused liked Zintkala Nuni, if for a few not by obvious abuse, but by the fact they could never return to their families, their heritage, to their true selves. Many died as babies, small children or adolescents, and some had children when they were young and the cycle of self hate continued. It can be said by governments "We're sorry there were these schools, these people, here take some money and get over it." But that is taking a tub of salt and pouring it over open wounds. I am no social worker, not government official, or even one of the abused, however, I do know that if you educate people, by books like this and by talking about it and trying to get a sense of what has happened, what continues to happen we can give redress, healing and hope to those that suffered and died, those that are scarred by continually suffering and those that are the children and grandchildren whom witnessed the suffering first hand.
February 11, 2016
This book recounts the life of Zintkala Nuni, Lost Bird of Wounded Knee. Just four days after the disgraceful massacre at Wounded Knee, the infant was found alive under the frozen stiff body of her mother.
Zintkala Nuni, was adopted by Gen. Leonard Colby and his (surprised) wife Clara Bewick Colby.
This sad and poignant book recounts the life, death, and reclamation (by the Lakota Nation) of this lost child.
This is an important book for those who are interested in Lakota history and culture.
Mi Takuye Oyacin
Zintkala Nuni, was adopted by Gen. Leonard Colby and his (surprised) wife Clara Bewick Colby.
This sad and poignant book recounts the life, death, and reclamation (by the Lakota Nation) of this lost child.
This is an important book for those who are interested in Lakota history and culture.
Mi Takuye Oyacin
April 26, 2012
Fascinating true story. Lost Bird died in the Hanford area. Her body was exhumed by, the Souix people with help form the local tribe Taches, and taken back to south Dakota for buriel. This was in the 1990s when we lived in Hanford.
September 11, 2013
More about the mother than Lost Bird.
August 21, 2016
My heart is heavy after reading Lost Bird of Wounded Knee. I had been interested in reading this book for quite some time, after reading more about the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890 and discovering there were several infant survivors, Zintkala Nuni among them. The subject matter of the story is certainly a dark one, rife with tragedy and sadness, but at the end of the book I still was left with a feeling of intense remorse and grief for everything with which Zintkala Nuni's life was filled.
The first half of the book was slow to get into, as it focused on excruciatingly unnecessary details about Leonard and Clara's life, details that had nothing to do with Zintkala Nuni's life, since she was not even born during this section. I thought the book was going to be about Lost Bird herself, and it was to some extent, but it was more about Clara than anyone else: Clara's life, her ambitions, her mothering skills, her relationship to her adopted daughter. It was an interesting book because of that angle that I was unaware of, but the book is titled after Lost Bird, and it seemed like I was shortchanged for actual information about the girl's life. I understand that not much information could exist in a lot of ways for a Lakota girl who didn't have many records or correspondence of her own, but there were many sections of Clara's life that were irrelevant to include.
The book is well-written and and easy read. There are some sections where the prose drags on, but it also has to do with the subject matter mentioned above, meaning that I was more interested in Zintkala Nuni than other details Flood provided. She has clearly done her research, however, by including some important context and background into the events.
I did feel that the second half of the book was rushed, which was a shame because that was where the details of the book really began to be hammered out. This was the part that was most interesting, as the detail's of Zinktala Nuni's life come out as she grows up without a real identity. The dichotomy of her life, torn between two cultures, is fascinating, and so important to understanding the history of Native Americans in this country, especially those in boarding schools and other institutions that viewed Natives the way the Colbys viewed Zintka: as a trophy and something to convert to their white, Christian ways.
The book was certainly thought provoking, and a good read for anyone who knows a little bit about the Wounded Knee massacre and the effects it had on both independent Native American life and overarching white culture in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. It left me feeling so many things about the way Zintkala Nuni's life turned out, knowing the historical, social and cultural contexts for how her tragically short life ended.
The first half of the book was slow to get into, as it focused on excruciatingly unnecessary details about Leonard and Clara's life, details that had nothing to do with Zintkala Nuni's life, since she was not even born during this section. I thought the book was going to be about Lost Bird herself, and it was to some extent, but it was more about Clara than anyone else: Clara's life, her ambitions, her mothering skills, her relationship to her adopted daughter. It was an interesting book because of that angle that I was unaware of, but the book is titled after Lost Bird, and it seemed like I was shortchanged for actual information about the girl's life. I understand that not much information could exist in a lot of ways for a Lakota girl who didn't have many records or correspondence of her own, but there were many sections of Clara's life that were irrelevant to include.
The book is well-written and and easy read. There are some sections where the prose drags on, but it also has to do with the subject matter mentioned above, meaning that I was more interested in Zintkala Nuni than other details Flood provided. She has clearly done her research, however, by including some important context and background into the events.
I did feel that the second half of the book was rushed, which was a shame because that was where the details of the book really began to be hammered out. This was the part that was most interesting, as the detail's of Zinktala Nuni's life come out as she grows up without a real identity. The dichotomy of her life, torn between two cultures, is fascinating, and so important to understanding the history of Native Americans in this country, especially those in boarding schools and other institutions that viewed Natives the way the Colbys viewed Zintka: as a trophy and something to convert to their white, Christian ways.
The book was certainly thought provoking, and a good read for anyone who knows a little bit about the Wounded Knee massacre and the effects it had on both independent Native American life and overarching white culture in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. It left me feeling so many things about the way Zintkala Nuni's life turned out, knowing the historical, social and cultural contexts for how her tragically short life ended.
April 19, 2012
This book is about Lost Bird (Also known as Zintkala Nuni) who was a baby girl found at Wounded Knee in 1890. She was taken in by General Leonard W. Colby (more like kidnapped) and his wife, Clara B. Colby. Mrs. Colby ended up divorcing her husband and raised the Lakota child as her white daughter. This was well-meaning by Mrs. Colby but this destroyed the poor girl and she ended up running away, joining Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and even fell into prostitution. Lost Bird died at the young age of 29 on Valentine's Day.
The General comes off in a very poor light in this book. He kidnapped the Lakota child because he wanted her as a keepsake and saw her as a trophy, something to be showed off, as opposed to a innocent child. To him, "the infant was a living symbol of white victory" (page 70). He also is a bad husband, which is why Mrs. Colby divorces him.
Clara also does not come off well in this book since she was the person who raised Lost Bird and forced her to live as a white child, even though she was Lakota Indian. She even renamed her Margaret Elizabeth.
The author does a good job in telling Lost Bird's tragic story but she focuses a great deal more on her "adoptive" parents rather than on Lost Bird herself. The reader ends up knowing everything about the Colby's and even the reason for their divorce. Lost Bird's story is basically told through their story, which isn't surprising since most of the available research was from the Colby's (letters, public records, etc).
Even though the author clearly dislikes and disagrees with the way the Colby's raised Lost Bird (ie. destroyed her heritage), the author sees this as a well-meaning mistake and that it was their "ethnocentric ignorance" that caused the unhealthy environment for Lost Bird (page 118). The author clearly is using this book to make a political point and that point is that Native American children have been forced to lose their heritage through adoption into white families.
This is a good book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.
The General comes off in a very poor light in this book. He kidnapped the Lakota child because he wanted her as a keepsake and saw her as a trophy, something to be showed off, as opposed to a innocent child. To him, "the infant was a living symbol of white victory" (page 70). He also is a bad husband, which is why Mrs. Colby divorces him.
Clara also does not come off well in this book since she was the person who raised Lost Bird and forced her to live as a white child, even though she was Lakota Indian. She even renamed her Margaret Elizabeth.
The author does a good job in telling Lost Bird's tragic story but she focuses a great deal more on her "adoptive" parents rather than on Lost Bird herself. The reader ends up knowing everything about the Colby's and even the reason for their divorce. Lost Bird's story is basically told through their story, which isn't surprising since most of the available research was from the Colby's (letters, public records, etc).
Even though the author clearly dislikes and disagrees with the way the Colby's raised Lost Bird (ie. destroyed her heritage), the author sees this as a well-meaning mistake and that it was their "ethnocentric ignorance" that caused the unhealthy environment for Lost Bird (page 118). The author clearly is using this book to make a political point and that point is that Native American children have been forced to lose their heritage through adoption into white families.
This is a good book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.
January 9, 2008
I knew the military history of The Wounded Knee Massacre. However, I had no idea of the complexity of the times and its impact on this horrific, genocidal act. I gained a much better understanding of the 1890-early 1900 society's opinions and knowledge of the Lakota. Previous to reading this book, I had always asked, "How could this have happened? What did people in the East think about this event? What happened after the massacre?" This book answers those questions and gives a clear picture of not just this poor child's life, but of the times that created it. Good for understanding the intricacies of politics. Also good insight to the early women's movement.
March 5, 2014
I thought this was a well researched book. The author did a lot of work compiling the facts of this sad but true story. What happened to Zintakala Nuni was a tragedy. Like someone before me stated, just when I didn't think the Wounded Knee Massacre could be any more tragic we read about another innocent victim of this criminal act. I think there are a lot of lessons in this story for how we proceed to treat anyone that might come from a different culture than our own and expect them to be just like us. It was definitely for me a good read.
January 27, 2013
Very sad, we needed to learn from the American indians, not kill them...
January 13, 2014
Interesting, but I wanted more about Lost Bird, not her mother. Got bored, but still plan to read the end.
July 4, 2021
Zintkala Nuni's story was fascinating and tragic and needs to be told. Unfortunately, the actual writing left something to be desired, I think part of it is because the author isn't actually an historian.
February 7, 2019
Library Book Club Read - Having been to Wounded Knee several times, very interesting story of a young child survivor and her life after
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews