13 Facts About John Grass

John Grass fought at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana.

John Grass was born near Grand River in South Dakota in 1836.

When he was three years old, Grass was baptized at a Jesuit mission by Pierre-Jean De Smet, a Jesuit Father.

John Grass married three sisters, including Cecilia Walking Shield in a Lakota ceremony in 1867, and in 1894 he and Cecilia renewed their marriage vows in a Roman Catholic ceremony.

Some sources say John Grass had four children; others give a larger number but many died at a young age.

John Grass attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he learned to read and speak English fluently.

John Grass utilized his knowledge of the English language on behalf of his people, when engaged in negotiations with the United States government.

John Grass was a member of the White Horse Riders Society.

Together with his friend Hunkpapa warrior Gall, John Grass advocated for formal education and agricultural lifestyles for his tribe as a means of survival.

John Grass fought the US government's efforts to take more Lakota lands, and in 1888 led a widespread resistance to Pratt Commission's attempt to break up the Great Sioux Reservation; however, the land was sold under the Crooks Commission's oversight in 1889.

The US government failed to honor its treaty and statutory obligations, and in 1902 John Grass led a delegation to Washington, DC, to convey Lakota grievances to the federal government.

John Grass died on May 10,1918, at his home near Fort Yates, North Dakota, on the Standing Rock Reservation.

John Grass led his warriors at the 1873 battle of Massacre Canyon in Nebraska, in which a Lakota war party attacked a group of Pawnee on a buffalo hunt.