John Gregory Bourke

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.{{Cite web|title=Medal of Honor recipients, Civil War (A–L)|publisher=United States Army Center of Military History|url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html|access-date=2009-04-04|archive-date=2012-09-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120902081051/http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/civwaral.html|url-status=dead}} He later saw action at the Battle of Chickamauga.

Bourke's commander, Major General George H. Thomas, nominated him for a position as a cadet at West Point, and hence Bourke was appointed to 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.

Bourke also 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.

File:John Gregory Bourke.jpg (July 1896)]]

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 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33834478-on-the-border-with-crook 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.

Several subsequent studies led in 1891 to the completion of his major work {{sic|hide=y|Scat|alogic}} 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,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. with a preface by Viennese psychiatrist Sigmund Freud who wrote:

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

File:Medal of Honor recipient gravestone in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia in the 2020s - 158.jpg]]

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.[https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/#/arlington-national/search/results/1/CgZib3Vya2USBGpvaG4aAWc-/ Burial Detail: Bourke, John G (Section 1, Grave 32-A)] – ANC Explorer His wife was buried with him after her death in 1927

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite book |title=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 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2x3QAAAAMAAJ |others=U.S. Bureau of Ethnology |year=1884 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |access-date=2007-07-08}}
• {{Cite book |title=An Apache Campaign in the Sierra Madre: An Account of the Expedition in Pursuit of the Hostile Chiricahua Apaches in the Spring of 1883 |url=https://archive.org/details/anapachecampaig01bourgoog |year=1886 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |access-date=2007-07-08}} Full-text version also available [https://archive.org/details/apachecampaignin001869mbp via Internet Archive].
• {{Cite book |title=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 |url=https://archive.org/details/compilationnote00bourgoog |year=1888 |publisher=U.S. War Department |access-date=2007-07-08}}
• {{Cite book |title=Mackenzie's Last Fight with the Cheyennes: A Winter Campaign in Wyoming and Montana |year=1890 }} (See also Ranald Slidell Mackenzie.)
• {{Cite book |title={{sic|hide=y|Scat|alogic}} Rites of All Nations |year=1891 |publisher=Lowdermilk |location=Washington, D.C. }}
• {{Cite book |title=On the Border with Crook |url=https://archive.org/details/onborderwithcro00bourgoog |year=1892 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |access-date=2007-07-08}} Full-text version also available [https://archive.org/details/onborderwithcroo00bourrich via Internet Archive].
• {{Cite book |title=Medicine-Men of the Apache |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K6cpAAAAYAAJ |others=U.S. Bureau of Ethnology |year=1892 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington |isbn = 9780598284655|access-date=2007-07-08}} Full-text version also available [https://archive.org/details/medicinemenofapa00bourrich via Internet Archive].
• {{Cite book |title=The Laws of Spain in their Application to the American Indians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GHsqAAAAYAAJ |year=1894 |publisher=Judd & Detweiler, Printers |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=2007-07-08}}
• {{Cite book |title=Folk-Foods of the Rio Grande Valley and of Northern Mexico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eiIaAAAAYAAJ |year=1895 |access-date=2007-07-08|last1 = Bourke|first1 = John Gregory}}, reprinted from the Journal of American Folk-lore, April–May 1895
• {{Cite book |title=Notes on the Language and Folk-Usage of the Rio Grande Valley (With Especial Regard to Survivals of Arabic Custom) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EDwCAAAAYAAJ |year=1896 |access-date=2007-07-08|last1 = Bourke|first1 = John Gregory}}, reprinted from Journal of American Folk-lore, April–June 1896
• {{Cite book |title=The Urine Dance of the Zuni Indians of New Mexico |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MC5DAAAAIAAJ |year=1920 |access-date=2007-07-08|last1 = Bourke|first1 = John Gregory}} Full-text version also available [https://archive.org/details/urinedanceofzuni00bourrich via Internet Archive].
• {{Cite book |title=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 |editor1=Charles M. Robinson III |editor-link=Charles M. Robinson III }}
• {{Cite book |title={{sic|hide=y|Scat|alogic}} Rites of All Nations |url=https://archive.org/details/101486300.nlm.nih.gov }}

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{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}

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

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• {{cite journal|jstor=658692 |title=John Gregory Bourke by F. W. Hodge |journal=American Anthropologist |date=July 1896 | volume=9 | pages=245–248 |doi=10.1525/aa.1896.9.7.02a00030|doi-access=free }}

{{ACMH}}

• 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.

{{Commons category}}

• {{Gutenberg author | id=41777}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=John Gregory Bourke}}
• {{Librivox author |id=16030}}
• [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jgbourke.htm John Gregory Bourke] at ArlingtonCemetery.net, an unofficial website

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Category:1846 births

Category:1896 deaths

Category:United States Army Medal of Honor recipients

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Category:People of Pennsylvania in the American Civil War

Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery

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Category:American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor

Category:19th-century American diarists

Category:Presidents of the American Folklore Society