Sherman Coolidge (February 22, 1862January 24, 1932), an Episcopal Church priest and educator, helped found and lead the Society of American Indians (1911–1923). That first national American Indian rights organization run by and for Native Americans pioneered twentieth-century Pan-Indianism, the philosophy and movement promoting unity among American Indians regardless of tribal affiliation.
Coolidge spent twenty-six years preaching and teaching Shoshone and Arapaho people at the Wind River Reservation at Fort Washakie, Wyoming. He traveled throughout United States lecturing on behalf of Native Americans. In 1923, Coolidge served on President Calvin Coolidge's "Committee of One Hundred" to review and advise on American Indian policy. In the 1920s, Coolidge was transferred to Colorado where he served as Canon at the Cathedral of St. John in the Wilderness in Denver, Colorado, and in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Early life
On February 22, 1862, Coolidge was born near present-day Sheridan, Wyoming. His family was camped near the upper waters of the Bighorn River. Banasda (Big Heart) and Ba-ahnoce (Turtle Woman), both Arapaho, gave their newborn son the name Doa-che-wa-a (Runs-on-Top). They moved with the seasons to hunting grounds and to places where they gathered food, while in competition with Eastern Shoshone for the resources.
When Coolidge was a young boy, Shoshone warriors attacked the camp that he lived in. They came in the middle of the night and slaughtered the Arapaho until they resisted the fight. Another tragedy occurred when American soldiers mistook the Arapaho for Lakota, which resulted in the death of his aunt, uncle, and grandmother.
In the spring of 1867, Coolidge and his family were camped by a stream. They were awakened by war cries. While his family ran for safety, Banasda stayed to fight the attackers and was shot through the chest and was killed.
As pioneers traveled through Wyoming on the Oregon Trail and Bozeman Trail, there were escalating violence between the military and Native Americans of the Great Plains—Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Lakota. The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) created the Great Sioux Reservation in Dakota Territory. The Northern Arapaho, left without their own land, settled with the Lakota or with the Southern Arapaho.
Coolidge was among a group of Arapaho that were camped along the Popo Agie stream, about two miles from Camp Brown (now Lander, Wyoming). It was the spring of 1870, when men were away on their winter's hunt, leaving women, children, and old men at the camp. In 1870, a white mob attacked Arapaho at Camp Brown (now Fort Washakie). They were aided by the Shoshone and Bannocks, who captured Coolidge. He was nearly executed and he saw an elderly man brutally killed as he begged for his life. Coolidge went to Camp Brown where he was cared for by the camp surgeon, Dr. Shapleigh, and two army officers. He had two younger brothers who were also taken to Army officers.
Adoption and education
Dr. Shapleigh, the boy's guardian, took in the boys, who were heartbroken to be separated from their mother. He-Runs-on-Top was renamed William Tecumseh Sherman after the Union Army general. The 7th U.S. Infantry, which had been based in Utah, traveled through Camp Brown. Lt. Charles A. Coolidge, and his wife, Sofie, adopted "Sherman" and brought to New York City. He attended a segregated school for African American children. He was baptized at the Grace Episcopal Church in lower Manhattan by Rev. Horatio Potter. His adoptive parents treated him like a member of their family and stressed their viewpoints about religion and patriotism.
The Coolidges lived in New York until 1873 when Charles Coolidge was assigned to the Montana Territory. They were posted in a northern part of the territory at Fort Shaw. Coolidge attended the post school.
In 1876, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer was killed during the Battle of Little Big Horn against the Lakota. Charles Coolidge's unit buried the dead. His adoptive father had hoped that Coolidge would take on a military career and brought him along on expeditions against the Lakota. His experiences during the Great Sioux War convinced Coolidge that he did not want to become a soldier. He studied at the Shattuck-Saint Mary's, an Episcopalian-run institution, in Faribault, Minnesota from 1877 to 1880.
Upon the advice of Henry Benjamin Whipple, he enrolled in the Seabury Divinity School. He graduated in 1884 with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. Bishop Whipple ordained him to the diaconate in 1884. On May 25, 1885, Bishop John Franklin Spalding of the Colorado Diocese ordained him a priest.