John Gregory Bourke

For other people with the same name, see John Bourke (disambiguation).

John Gregory Bourke (/bɜːrk/; June 23, 1846 – June 8, 1896) was a captain in the United States Army and a prolific diarist and Reconstruction Era author; he wrote several books about the American Old West, including ethnologies of its indigenous peoples. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions while a cavalryman in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Based on his service during the war, his commander nominated him to West Point, where he graduated in 1869, leading to service as an Army officer until his death.

John Gregory Bourke
John Gregory Bourke
Born	(1846-06-23)June 23, 1846 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Died	June 8, 1896(1896-06-08) (aged 49) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service / branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1862–1896
Rank	Captain
Unit	15th Pennsylvania Cavalry 3rd U.S. Cavalry
Commands	Chief of Scouts during the Apache Wars
Battles / wars	American Civil War Stones River Chickamauga Great Sioux War of 1876 Battle of Powder River Battle of Prairie Dog Creek Battle of Rosebud Battle of Slim Buttes Apache Wars Garza Revolution
Awards	Medal of Honor
Other work	writer

Biography

John G. Bourke was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Irish immigrant parents, Edward Joseph and Anna (Morton) Bourke. His early education was extensive and included Latin, Greek, and Gaelic. When the Civil War began, John Bourke was fourteen. At sixteen he ran away and lied about his age; claiming to be nineteen, he enlisted in the Fifteenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry, in which he served until July 1865. He received a Medal of Honor for "gallantry in action" at the Battle of Stones River, Tennessee, in December 1862.^[1] He later saw action at the Battle of Chickamauga.

His commander, Major General George H. Thomas, nominated Bourke for West Point. He was appointed cadet in the United States Military Academy on October 17, 1865. He graduated on June 15, 1869, and was assigned as a second lieutenant in the Third U.S. Cavalry. He served with his regiment at Fort Craig, New Mexico Territory, from September 29, 1869 to February 19, 1870.

He served as an aide to General George Crook in the Apache Wars from 1872 to 1883. As Crook's aide, Bourke had the opportunity to witness every facet of life in the Old West—the battles, wildlife, the internal squabbling among the military, the Indian Agency, settlers, and Native Americans.

Portrait of Bourke that accompanied a eulogy published in American Anthropologist (July 1896)

Work

Observer

Bourke kept a diary in sequential journals throughout his adult life, documenting his observations in the West. He used these notes as the basis for his later monographs and writings.

During his time as aide to General Crook during the Apache Wars, Bourke kept journals of his observations that were later published as On the Border with Crook. This book is considered one of the best firsthand accounts of frontier army life, as Bourke gives equal time to both the soldier and the Native American. Within it, Bourke describes the landscape, Army life on long campaigns, and his observations of the Native Americans. His passages recounts General Crook's meetings with Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Geronimo as the General attempted to sign peace treaties and relocate tribes to reservations. Bourke provides considerable detail of towns and their citizens in the Southwest, specifically the Arizona Territory.

In 1881 Bourke was a guest of the Zuni Indians, where he was allowed to attend the ceremony of a Newekwe priest. His report of this experience was published in 1888 as The use of human odure and human urine in rites of a religious or semi religious character among various nations.

While in Washington he was on the board of the Anthropological Society.

Scatalogic Rites of All Nations

Several subsequent studies led in 1891 to the completion of his major work Scatalogic Rites of All Nations: A Dissertation upon the Employment of Excrementicious Remedial Agents in Religion, Therapeutics, Divination, Witch-Craft, Love-Philters, etc. in all part of the Globe. This work was distributed only among selected specialists. A revised German translation by Friedrich S. Krauss was published posthumously in 1913,^[2] with a preface by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud who wrote:

He was recognized in his own time for his ethnological writings on various indigenous peoples of the North American Southwest, particularly Apachean groups.

Marriage and family

Grave at Arlington National Cemetery

Bourke married Mary F. Horbach of Omaha, Nebraska, on July 25, 1883. They had three daughters together. Bourke died in the Polyclinic Hospital in Philadelphia on June 8, 1896, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.^[3] His wife was buried with him after her death in 1927

Writings

• The Snake-Dance of the Moquis of Arizona: Being A Narrative of a Journal from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Villages of the Moqui Indians of Arizona. U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1884. Retrieved 2007-07-08.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• An Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre: An Account of the Expedition in Pursuit of the Hostile Chiricahua Apaches in the Spring of 1883. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1886. Retrieved 2007-07-08. Full-text version also available via Internet Archive.
• Compilation of Notes and Memoranda Bearing Upon the Use of Human Ordure and Human Urine in the Rites of a Religious or Semi-Religious Character Among Various Nations. U.S. War Department. 1888. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
• Mackenzie's Last Fight with the Cheyennes: A Winter Campaign in Wyoming and Montana. 1890. (See also Ranald Slidell Mackenzie.)
• Scatalogic Rites of All Nations. Washington, D.C.: Lowdermilk. 1891.
• On the Border with Crook. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1892. Retrieved 2007-07-08. Full-text version also available via Internet Archive.
• Medicine-Men of the Apache. U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1892. ISBN 9780598284655. Retrieved 2007-07-08.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) Full-text version also available via Internet Archive.
• The Laws of Spain in their Application to the American Indians. Washington, D.C.: Judd & Detweiler, Printers. 1894. Retrieved 2007-07-08.
• Bourke, John Gregory (1895). Folk-Foods of the Rio Grande Valley and of Northern Mexico. Retrieved 2007-07-08., reprinted from the Journal of American Folk-lore, April–May 1895
• Bourke, John Gregory (1896). Notes on the Language and Folk-Usage of the Rio Grande Valley (With Especial Regard to Survivals of Arabic Custom). Retrieved 2007-07-08., reprinted from Journal of American Folk-lore, April–June 1896
• Bourke, John Gregory (1920). The Urine Dance of the Zuni Indians of New Mexico. Retrieved 2007-07-08. Full-text version also available via Internet Archive.
• Charles M. Robinson III (ed.). The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke: Vol. I – November 20, 1872, to July 28, 1876, Vol. II – July 29, 1876 to April 7, 1878, Vol. III – June 1, 1878 to June 22, 1880.
• Scatalogic Rites of All Nations.

See also

• Biography portal
• American Civil War portal

• List of Medal of Honor recipients
• List of American Civil War Medal of Honor recipients: A–F

References

Notes

1. "Medal of Honor recipients, Civil War (A–L)". United States Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 2012-09-02. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
2. Der Unrat in Sitte, Brauch, Glauben und Gewohnheitrecht der Völker, von John Gregory Bourke. Verdeutscht und neubearbeitet von Friedrich S. Krauss und H. Ihm. Mit einem Geleitwort von Prof. Dr. Sigmund Freud. Leipzig: Ethnologischer Verlag, 1913.
3. Burial Detail: Bourke, John G (Section 1, Grave 32-A) – ANC Explorer

Literature

• "John Gregory Bourke by F. W. Hodge". American Anthropologist. 9: 245–248. July 1896. doi:10.1525/aa.1896.9.7.02a00030. JSTOR 658692.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

Further reading

• Bell, William G. (1978). John Gregory Bourke: A Soldier-scientist of the Frontier. Washington: Potomac Corral, The Westerners.
• Bourke, John G; & Condie, Carol J. (1980). Vocabulary of the Apache or 'Indé language of Arizona & New Mexico. Greeley, CO: Museum of Anthropology, University of Northern Colorado.
• Porter, Joseph C. (1980). John Gregory Bourke: Biographical notes. Greeley, CO: University of Northern Colorado, Museum of Anthropology.

External links

• Works by John Gregory Bourke at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Gregory Bourke at the Internet Archive
• Works by John Gregory Bourke at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• John Gregory Bourke at ArlingtonCemetery.net, an unofficial website