The Liberty Gazette
August 4, 2020
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely
This is a story of family and heritage, of choices and convictions. It’s the story of Black Beaver, Christian name, Lawrence Hart.
Afraid of Beavers and Walking Woman were survivors of the massacre of the village of the great Peace Chief Black Kettle on the Washita River in Oklahoma in 1868. Three years later, their son, Peak Heart, was born. Although taken from their home and forced to live in Pennsylvania, Peak Heart (whose name was changed to John P. Hart) returned to Oklahoma and became a leader in the Cheyenne nation, and a Christian pastor.
Chief Peak Heart married Cornstalk and through their son, Homer Hart, and his wife, Jennie, became grandparents to Black Beaver.
Black Beaver was close to his grandfather, who taught him the Cheyenne ways. They spent many summers together, traveling, as Peak Hart was a peacemaker between tribes and missionary of the Native American Church.
Black Beaver enrolled at Bethel College, but he had always dreamed of flying. With the Navy’s aviation cadet program, he could become a jet fighter pilot when jets were new. Lt. Lawrence Hart achieved his dream as a U.S. Marine fighter pilot, but when his grandfather died, he was called out of the military to become a Peace Chief of the Cheyenne, and a Mennonite pastor.
For years, Black Beaver struggled with the pacifist beliefs of the Mennonite. But the untimely death of his college friend and missionary to Congo, with whom he had many discussions on the subject, made him realize he would rather die as a peacemaker.
What brought it all home for him was a re-enactment on the 100th anniversary of the Washita massacre in 1868 which his great-grandparents survived. The Cheyenne would participate on the condition that they could remove Cheyenne remains from the local museum and return them to the earth in traditional burial. Museum officials agreed, but no one told them the Grandsons of General Custer’s Seventh Cavalry was also participating. Thundering hooves and gunshots frightened unexpecting children. When Custer’s battle tune, “Garry Owen” was played, it stung the hearts of the unprepared Cheyenne.
When it was over, the tribe headed to the museum to claim the remains. There would be traditional ceremonial songs and dignity in the burials. Just as a small casket was brought forth, in came the Seventh Cavalry, encroaching on sacred ground. But they had come to salute, not to scare.
By Cheyenne tradition, the blanket over the casket must be given to someone significant in attendance before burial. Someone like the governor, who was present. But the old chiefs instructed young Black Beaver, that is, Chief Lawrence Hart, to hand the blanket to the commander of the Custer Grandsons. I can imagine the lump in every throat during the exchange. The commander took the “Garry Owen” pin from his uniform and handed it to Chief Hart to accept for his people, promising the Cheyenne people they would never hear the battle song again.
While Black Beaver loved flying, he loved peacemaking more.
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