On September 6, 1879, the Omaha Committee sent Standing Bear, Bright Eyes, and Thomas to Boston. The trio made many appearances as guest speakers. They spoke at receptions, hotels, and in front of the Boston city council.
“Boston now was really stirred up. Endless people stopped me on the streets to shake hands.” - T. Tibbles There, they met Helen Hunt Jackson, a journalist who was eager to write articles on their cause. Following the publishing of her first articles, the Boston Committee took control over the group’s funding and traveling. |
“Practically two years had gone by since the dawn when General Crook and I had walked together out of the Omaha Herald building, pledged to give the Poncas back their land. From the start even the Department of the Interior admitted that an error had been made and that the Poncas had been cruelly treated, yet from the first to the very last moments it had fought with incredible stubbornness against the simple, obvious idea of undoing that wrong, so far at it ever could be undone, in the way the Poncas wished.
By using the courts, the press, the aroused public opinion of a nation, the eloquence of statesmen, clergy, Indians, philanthropists, and businessmen we at last had beaten down that obstinate, reasonless resistance. The outcome had justified us, and we not only had reinstated the Poncas, but we had established the rights of all Indians to turn to the law for protection. Also we had weakened the power of a horde of minor but absolute monarchs over a helpless race.” - T. Tibbles |