Kuruksticaris “Mad Bear”

Sergeant Kurukstičaris, also known as Sergeant Mad Bear, was born in 1847 in an earth-lodge village along the Platte River, west of present-day Fullerton, Nebraska. On 10 June 1869, at age 22, he enlisted in the US Army as a Pawnee Scout with the Pawnee Scout Battalion assigned to the 5th Cavalry Regiment during the Indian Wars of 1865–1877.

Mad Bear, along with Company A and elements of Companies B and C of the Pawnee Scout Battalion, served with the 5th Cavalry in campaigns to pursue and engage hostile bands of warriors. Much of the campaign took place across northern Kansas, including Lincoln, Mitchell, Osborne, Smith, and Phillips counties, with additional fighting occurring throughout the Republican River Valley from Franklin County, Nebraska, to Yuma County, Colorado.

On the night of 8 July 1869, Cheyenne warriors led by Tall Bull attacked the Army camp at Summit Springs in an attempt to capture or drive off the Army’s horses, which would have halted the pursuit and allowed the warriors to escape. During the engagement, Mad Bear mounted his horse and rode into the darkness to attack the enemy and was wounded by a gunshot to the hip in the fight. For his gallantry under fire, Sergeant Mad Bear was awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming the first Indigenous American recipient of the nation’s highest military decoration. His courage, resilience, and service represent a remarkable chapter in the military history of the Pawnee people and the United States. Mad Bear later survived the Battle of Massacre Canyon in 1873, when approximately 400 Pawnees hunting buffalo were attacked by more than 1,000 Oglala and Brulé warriors. Many Pawnee leaders were killed.

Mad Bear settled in Oklahoma in 1875 and was allotted 160 acres in Pawnee County in 1893. Sergeant Mad Bear died on 12 February 1913 and is buried at North Indian Cemetery in Pawnee, Oklahoma.

Note: Sketch is of an unidentified Pawnee Scout