Spirit Eagle

Walking with her two young sons on each side of her, their hands in hers, the Native American woman approached the two black women. She stopped in front of the first young woman and peered into her eyes. In a quiet, but firm voice she said, “My first born needs a mother”. With that, she passed her son’s hand into the hand of the woman. Without hesitation, she turned her head towards the second young woman who was standing beside the first woman. She led her youngest son of five years over to the woman and gazed into her eyes. Here, she said, “My baby boy needs a mother.” She then passed his little hand into the hand of the second woman. Unflinching, she gave her children away to the two young women. Then she turned slowly in the direction from which she came and walked away. She did not look back but seemed to move in slow motion. She willed herself to stroll in what seemed like a painful dream. No one staring at her back would know that this quiet stoic woman cried herself to sleep that night and for many more nights thereafter. Both youngsters, looked after their mother confused, but knew, instinctively, not to cry. They went with the two young women without a fuss. All four left with the other black people who were waiting for them on the trail. They were on their way north to Canada. The year was 1856 along a ridgeline in the Appalachian Mountains, land of tomorrow, known as Kentucky territory.

Spirit Eagle was of the Shawnee tribe and the wife of a runaway slave, named Lazarus. She was reserved, determined and a serious woman. She was fearless and invited challenges. Before Lazarus came to her tribe, he had escaped the plantation where he was the property of another human. For years, he told his fellow slaves that he was in captivity temporarily. Jokingly, they would call him the “free slave”. Lazarus did not accept his nickname because the words were oxymorons. In jest, he would tell them to call him “Frazarus”, which meant “Free Lazarus”. The word “free” was forbidden on the plantation, so they used Frazarus as a ruse when necessary. Everyone thought he was crazy because he constantly talked of freedom. Lazarus was methodical and cautious about his escape, so he studied all that it encompassed. He learned from those who had escaped and were recaptured. So, when the opportunity presented itself, he took it and ran.

He was headed north but did not know how far “free north” was, nor did he care. He was on a mission. He traveled for weeks going deep into the woods and staying off main roads. His food had run out, so he ate wild fruits, nuts and berries. He fought through underbrush, forded rivers and battled low hanging tree branches. The undergrowth was unforgiving, but he was careful until it happened. He stepped in a deep hole covered by brush, fracturing his ankle and spraining his left knee. He could barely walk, but he trudged on for days. Due to the lack of food and his injuries, Lazarus’ strength was depleted and he became feverish. The primitive splint he made to compensate for his injuries was inadequate. He became disoriented and hallucinated. A group of Shawnee men came across his path and realized he would not survive alone. They carried him back to their village. The women nursed him from the brink of death. Since Spirit Eagle was a young single medicine woman, she was put in charge of completing his healing and care. She was also assigned to teaching him the ways of their culture.

Native Americans were used to having slaves show up at their campsites. They were escaping their white owners. Most tribes allowed them to come in; others only fed them and gave them temporary shelter. Still other tribes enslaved them like they enslaved other native Americans. However, Spirit Eagle’s tribe abhorred slavery and helped every slave who crossed its path. Some slaves wanted to stay with them, but most wanted only to rest, get food and head north to freedom.

Spirit Eagle nursed Lazarus back to complete health. He stayed with the tribe for several years, learning their language and their ways. The two young people spent a lot of time together, so naturally they fell in love. The tribe celebrated their union. Lazarus hunted with the men, and they taught him how to be quiet and invisible in the woods and other terrain. They taught him how to track animals and people, as he became a valuable member of their society. He had proven himself to be an asset, but he was anxious. He had come to value his freedom, so much that it troubled him to know other people were enslaved. His spirit would not rest, and it continued to nag him.

Lazarus knew he could no longer go north. He had found his purpose. He had also found the love of his life in Spirit Eagle, and he did not want to leave her. She completed him and he could not fathom living life without her. The nagging spirit engulfed him, and he tried to shake it off, but it persisted. Prior to his escape, his mind was on his individual freedom. Now, it had shifted to the freedom of others. Lazarus did not see this coming and certainly, did not see himself as a hero. Lazarus fully grasped that he had been burdened by the Creator with helping others to freedom. As such, he began to leave his family to carry out his missions of freedom. Some he freed would stay with the native people because they could be closer to those they left behind, but most continued north. Once he brought home two small girls, five and six years old. Both of their desperate enslaved mothers had pushed them into his arms and told him to take their daughters to the free land. Their mothers did not try to escape because they had other children. Lazarus took the girls and seven other runaway men with him. Due to the little ones, travel was slow. The slave hunters had tracked them for days, but he wasn’t afraid because he knew where he was going and knew the woods better than anyone. He had learned from the best on how to stay invisible in the mountains, woods and among the rocks. However, he heard grumblings from the others that he should have left the girls. All were frustrated and afraid of being caught. They did not want to linger in one spot for too long, so they asked Lazarus for directions north and a few separated from the group. Lazarus tried to reassure them and talk them out of it, but they left. He never knew their fate, but the men who stayed made it to free north.

Upon his return, Spirit Eagle was overjoyed to see her husband. However, she was confused when he put the girls’ hands into her hands and told her to raise them. Lazarus explained the situation and she named them Bright Eyes and Quiet Gaze. She raised them as native American and taught them the ways of her people. The girls settled in with Spirit Eagle and, like their surrogate mother, they became serious, determined and kind. Of course, Lazarus continued his freedom missions, and a bounty was placed on his head. For this reason, he lessened his travels and was content being at home. When the girls were adolescents, Lazarus and Spirit Eagle had two sons, named Sun Eagle and Black Raven. The girls lovingly nicknamed them, Bird I and Bird II. They were adorable and the spitting image of their father.

When it appeared that Lazarus had settled in, he once again became anxious. Having laid low for a few years, he felt compelled to renew his mission. He knew he was risking his life because of the bounty on his head. So, he discussed in detail every rescue expedition with his wife. She listened attentively and suggested modifications as necessary. Spirit Eagle understood his restless energy. Each time, she whispered to him “just come back”. If he did not, Lazarus asked her to promise that she would live life to the fullest and take care of their four children. She could easily do that because he came back each time, except when he did not.

When their sons were two and four, Spirit Eagle begged him not to go on a particular mission, which she had never requested before. She felt troubled because her sixth sense told her he would never return. Lazarus also felt this mission was different, but he was compelled to go so he departed.

He was gone longer than usual, but Spirit Eagle refused to accept his fate, so she waited. Then months turned into several years as she carried on raising their four children. The boys were taught by her tribesmen, and she persisted in teaching her daughters. Whenever, slaves came looking for respite, her heart leaped because she thought Lazarus would be among them. He never was, but she continued to wait. After some years, Spirit Eagle was advised that her husband wasn’t coming back so, she needed to get on with living. That reminded her of the last words her husband told her. Her heart celebrated his life and she remarried. The boys grew and were fathered by Spirit Eagle’s second husband. As they and the girls came of age, life in America changed.

The tribe had been having trouble with the white people nearby. There were claims that the tribe was taking in runaway slaves. The army required them to stop and relocate. As long as they could, they had resisted pressure from the authorities to no avail. So, the tribe council agreed to move. Spirit Eagle was intuitive, and her spirit was disturbed. She knew she had to get her boys and young adult girls to freedom before the enemy came closer and snatched them away. She had to give them up physically and direct them toward freedom. Consequently, she did as any mother would do and pushed her four children toward freedom.

She convinced her girls to leave for the underground railroad and take her young boys with them. Reluctantly, they prepared to leave with other slaves heading north to Canada. Spirit Eagle had taught her daughters well. The young women knew how to survive and how to take care of their young wards. They were equipped with all they needed to stay hidden and alive in the wilderness. When the group left, tribesmen, led by their stepfather, followed them until they were safe. They wanted to be certain they made it over the Mason-Dixon line to free territory. Once they made it to Canada, Spirit Eagle knew her daughters would protect her sons with their lives. She knew they would be loved and raised well.

They made it to Canada, and the boys were given English names, Weymond and Raymond. The young women raised the boys and taught them as their mother had instructed. The boys were educated and became professionals. They never forgot their parents in part because the young women did not let them. For years, the boys yearned for their mother. Although, the young women kept nothing from the boys and answered their questions in earnest, they still had questions of why Spirit Eagle sent them away. Both sons had the hope of one day reuniting with their mother.

After the Civil War and during reconstruction, Sun Eagle and Black Raven returned to America. The tribe had moved, so the young men had paid trackers to find them. They were found and the sons visited their tribe. As the boys were now men, they had changed, but Spirit Eagle knew them immediately. After all greetings and celebrations were over, it was late and the young men were exhausted from their travels. Thery settled in for the night and were content that they had made it back home.

They woke early the next morning to find their mother sitting in her dwelling with breakfast ready. She had not slept all night in anticipation of talking to her sons. Through the night, Spirit Eagle had doubted her decision to send them away, but only for a fraction of a second. She knew she had done the right thing. At the time, her sons could not have known the slave catchers were coming closer to their camp. They could not have known they were catching little dark boys and girls as runaways and returning them to slavery. They could not have known that a civil war was looming. They could not have known the army was pressuring the tribe’s elders to move to another area. Finally, they could not have known that she shared their father’s nagging spirit to ensure freedom at any cost.

Spirit Eagle knew her sons had lots of questions and she was ready. As she watched her boys, she saw how much they looked like Lazarus. She almost succumbed to the sadness of losing him, but she knew it was dangerous to reach back in the past. She shook it off and embraced living in the present with her adult sons. They wanted to know why they were sent away, what happened to their father, what did their father do when he went away for weeks, did she love them and many more questions.

Spirit Eagle looked at her boys carefully. She realized now what she had known then that her young sons had been terribly confused. Hence, she started by explaining that their father was a brave and honorable man. She told them how he came to the tribe and how he brought her daughters to her. She told them of how his desire to help others eventually cost him his life. Spirit Eagle had been told by runaways that Lazarus had been lynched for helping slaves to escape. She said he had made it his life’s mission, and he took the risk because his spirit would not allow him to do otherwise. She told them that his lost was the beginning of her despair. The assurance of freedom for her sons and daughters had become an obsession. Subsequently, she looked toward Canada to ensure her four beloved children remained free.

With the realization that she had to let them go, she expressed the pain that cut deep into her soul and never healed. Spirit Eagle told them she was willing to do whatever it took to keep slavery from snatching her children from out of her hands. Slave catchers had started snooping around and getting closer and closer to their tribe. She told them that this was the time the tribe’s council had agreed that the children had to get out of danger. She told them if they had been caught by the bounty hunters, there would have been bloodshed. She explained that making their sisters responsible for their upbringing was the best gift that she could have given them. Spirit Eagle had raised and taught her girls the ways of her people. They knew how to survive in the wilderness and be invisible as necessary. They were adaptable and could measure any given situation. They were quick learners and most of all they were kind and patient. Lazarus had taught them to read, so Spirit Eagle was confident that the girls could transform from one society into another. She also knew her girls would stand guard over her boys’ lives and sacrifice all to keep them safe. Spirit Eagle started to cry. She softly echoed how broken she was for years after they left. However, she explained that her decision to release them was made of love for them and hatred for slavery.

Several years before the civil war, Native Americans, black and white people alike were sensitive to the uncertainty that loomed in the nation concerning slavery. She told them as children, they were unaware of the social and political climates of the day. There were rumors of whites moving more into native territories. There were rumors of slave uprisings and slave owners’ willingness to do whatever it took to keep their human chattel. More importantly, there were rumors of war between the north and south. Spirit Eagle confessed that she was afraid for her children. She was afraid of slave catchers who came to her in her dreams to steal her children. Their mother told them that being a slave was the most horrendous condition on earth, and she would not have been able to live life if one of her children had been placed in bondage.

The three enjoyed each other’s company for weeks, but then Spirit Eagle’s sons had to return to their lives in Canada. The asked their mother to join them. She wanted to so she could get the time that she missed with them, but she knew it was impossible. Her second husband had died by this time, but she had other children. Her people were here in America, so she declined to go with them. They understood but informed her that they would visit yearly. They said their goodbyes and returned to Canada to the mothers they were gifted.