Marker Monday: Ponca Trail of Tears – White Buffalo Girl

Our Historical Markers across Nebraska highlight the important stories in our state’s past.

Today, we’re focusing on a sad story: the death of White Buffalo Girl during the forced removal of the Ponca from their homeland and the promise that the people of Neligh made to her father, Black Elk.

Marker Text


A marker, 200 feet to the south, recalls the death of White Buffalo Girl of the Ponca tribe. The death of this child, daughter of Black Elk and Moon Hawk, symbolizes the tragic 1877 removal of the Ponca from their homeland on the Niobrara River to Indian Territory in present Oklahoma.

 

Treaties in 1858 and 1865 greatly reduced the size of the original Ponca Reservation, yet the tribe remained peaceful. An 1868 error in the Treaty of Fort Laramie ceded Ponca lands to their enemy the Dakota Sioux, resulting in eight years of repeated raids against the Ponca and ending with the forced removal of the tribe to the new reservation.

 

The journey to Indian Territory was plagued by muddy roads and floods caused by heavy spring rains. Most of the tribe suffered from disease and hardship. Several children like White Buffalo Girl perished and were buried along this route that became known as the Ponca “Trail of Tears.” The people of Neligh provided a Christian funeral for the child and an oak cross was erected at the gravesite. Black Elk’s last request was that the grave of his daughter would be honored and cared for by the people of the town. In 1913 a marble monument was erected and the grave has been maintained and decorated in memory of White Buffalo Girl and the Ponca. 

 

Marker Location


County Road 198, Neligh, Antelope County, Nebraska

View this marker’s location.

White Buffalo Girl gravestone

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The Nebraska State Historical Society was founded in 1878 by citizens who recognized Nebraska was going through great changes and they sought to record the stories of both indigenous and immigrant peoples. It was designated a state institution and began receiving funds from the legislature in 1883. Legislation in 1994 changed NSHS from a state institution to a state agency. The division is headed by Interim Director Cindy Drake. They are assisted by an administrative staff responsible for financial and personnel functions, museum store services, security, and facilities maintenance for NSHS.

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