Great Warriors II

William Clark wore many hats on the frontier, explorer, military officer, trader, Indian agent, planter and businessman.  Like many people who lived in close proximity with Native Americans, his attitude toward them and dealings with them were conflicted many times over.  Clark, 1770-1838, is best known as one of the co-leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806.  That expedition and all that it accomplished are out of the scope of this blog and beyond encapsulating in a single post.  The point here is to look at Clark's dealings with Native peoples post-expedition, when his position as Indian Agent ad Missouri governor made him responsible for implementing United States policy toward them. Clark was born in Ladysmith, Virginia to a large plantation family on the edge of the Virginia frontier.  Though he was too young to fight in the American Revolution, he was a remote witness to it.  His older half-brother was George Rogers Clark, renowned i...

Some Native tribes were powerful enough to stake their claims to their hunting and home range such that trespassers knew they were risking their lives to pass through it.  The Comanche protected Comancheria, in what is now Texas and New Mexico.  Likewise, the various Apache bands staked out their own territory, from north of the Arkansas River through the northern border states of Mexico, from central Texas into what is now New Mexico and Arizona. Like most tribes, the Apache were not a centralized entity, but a collection of nomadic bands who depended primarily on hunting and raiding for their subsistence.  A hunting range of adequate size to provide game was absolutely essential to their existence.  Warriors spent a great deal of time and energy patrolling their band's territory and fending off trespassers, whether from other tribes or European trappers, traders and settlers.  The most effective Apache bands were the Plains Apache or Kiowa-Apache, whose port...

Following the loss of France's territories in North America in 1763, what is now Missouri was ceded to Spain.  Spain and France remained allies after the French and Indian War, which allowed many French traders and trappers on the frontier to continue with business as usually.  Auguste Chouteau, ancestor of mixed-race Shawnee ballerina Yvonne Chouteau, and his stepson Pierre LaClade moved to what is now St. Louis and set up their trading business.  The Spanish realized the possibilities of a trade route accessing the Mississippi River and, in 1792, began tracing a route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to St. Louis, in some parts using well-worn Native trading and hunting trails.  The Santa Fe to St. Louis trail is better known to Americans as the Santa Fe Trail. In the days of the early frontier and during the settlement of the American west, St. Louis remained the staging area for immigrants heading into the unknown.  It was also a trading hub and a natural focal p...

Settlement and exploration of the west not only disrupted the home and hunting ranges of Native tribe and dismantled their society and culture, it also disrupted relations between tribes themselves, causing further damage to Native society.  The Arikara War of 1837 is a prime example.  This War serves as a backdrop to the story of trapper Hugh Glass, told in the 2015 movie The Revenant . Trappers who spent their lives in the wilderness were constantly at risk of attack from Natives.  The Natives were not only defending their home and hunting range from trespassers, but also defending their livelihoods in other ways.  Many tribes had become partially dependent on the fur trade with Europeans in North America.  A freelancing trapper, or one working for a rival company, was a threat that had to be dealt with severely.  In 1823, Arikara warriors assaulted a trapping party working for the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, killing 15.  The U.S. responded with a ...

Mixed race people in the west bridged the gap between the Native and White worlds.  Many of these people, known as Metis, were skilled interpreters and guides who provided access to trade, and served as go-betweens for both Natives and Whites.  One of these talented men was Michel "Mitch" Bouyer, a mixed=race Lakota and French Canadian.  Mitch, 1837-1876, was the son of Jean-Baptiste Bouyer, a French-Canadian who worked for Astor's American Fur Company.  He and his Santee Sioux wife had several children.  Mitch had three sisters and at least two half-brothers.  His father would be killed in 1863 while trapping in the wilderness.  By 1869, Mitch had found work as an interpreter at Fort Phil Kearney.  He married a Crow Woman named Magpie Outside, who sometimes went by the English name Mary.  Their daughter, Mary, was born in 1869.  They also had a son, Tom, who was taken in by a foster family after Mitch's death.  Mitch was later em...

Behind or alongside every strong man is an equally strong woman.  Chipeta, or White Singing Bird, the wife of Chief Ouray of the Uncompahgre Ute was one such example. Chipeta, 1843-1924, was born a Kiowa-Apache.  Shortly after her birth, she was taken in by the Uncompahgre Ute tribe and raised as one of them.  In 1859, she married Ouray.  She quickly became his most respected confidant and advisor.  A kindly and intelligent woman who was perceptive to the people and situations around her, she often sat with her husband in tribal council meetings.  A beautiful woman who was renowned for her beadwork, she could also step in when matters threatened to get out of hand.  When her brother attempted to assassinated Ouray, he grabbed his knife to defend himself.  Chipeta seized the sheath and the knife out of her husband's hand, saving her brother's life, but also saving Ouray from any possible repercussions from her family.  Chipeta acted t...

Despite popular legends to the contrary, when Col. George Armstrong Custer's body was found after the Battle of the Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass in June 1876, he wasn't scalped or mutilated.  However, the corpses of many of the men nearby, including George's brother Thomas, were mutilated.  Although some White commentators at the time believed the lack of mutilation might have been the Natives way of showing respect to a brave enemy anyone who had rode and fought with Custer knew this idea held no water whatsoever.  No Native respected George Custer.  He had the blood of the Washita Massacre of 1868 on his hands.  There would have been plenty of Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors on the battlefield who would have taken the chance to show their disdain for him.  Other specular insists that it was because Custer wasn't in military dress, or that he'd cut his famous long, curly yellow hair prior to battle.  Still, someone could've recognized him and pointed him...

Throughout the 18th century, North America was a pawn in the hands of European colonial powers, who frequently fought wars over how land an ocean away was to be divided up.  What we in America know as the French and Indian War (1755-1762), the American Revolution (1775-1783) and even the War of 1812 (1812-1814), were actually parts of wider conflicts regarding division of land.  When each war concluded, treaties were drawn up.  While they disposed of which European power got what chunks of real estate, the treaties rarely dealt with the needs or desires of the people most involved, the Natives who actually lived here. The Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812 required the signatories, principally the United States, to "restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the possessions, rights and privileges which they may have enjoyed or being entitled to in 1811."  With such ambiguity, the treaty left the aforesaid rights, possessions and privileges open to ...

The wilderness that became the American west wasn't as trackless as people would think.  True, there were no established roads and European-American information about the area was superficial at best.  However, the Native people had long established trails for trading, hunting, warfare and other needs and used landmarks such as rocks, rivers and mountain passes as we would use modern road signs.  One of these surviving areas is a National Historic Place known as the Lewis and Clark Trail-Travois Road. When Lewis and Clark set out to return to Missouri and civilization in 1805-06, they would have to recross the Rocky Mountains.  To do so they would have to connect with one of the Native tribes on the western slopes.  The Nez Perce were as hospitable and willing to trade horses as the Shoshone had been.  Lewis and Clark used a portion of a path long known to the Nez Perce tribe.  Portions of the Lewis and Clark Trail run along an established Nez Perce ...

To look at some battle sites today, it's hard to believe that scenes of unspeakable tragedy once took place there.  The site of the Battle of the Washita, near Cheyenne, Oklahoma, is now a grassland, with a museum, but on November 27, 1868, it was hell on earth where over 100 Cheyenne men, women and children perished in the dead of winter. In 1867, the Cheyenne and other major Plains tribes had agreed to a series of treaties known as the Medicine Lodge Treaties, which severely restricted their home and hunting ranges.  Hunting range was the most important, as all Natives knew that the rations supplied on reservations were never enough, and that disease and death followed starvation.  For this reason, many Cheyenne bands disavowed the treaties and continued to use their hunting ranges.  In 1868, the Army resolved on punitive strikes at winter encampments to force the Natives to go to the reservations.  On November 27, 1868, almost four years to the day after hi...

Some people's lives are one tragedy after another.  Black Kettle of the Southern Cheyenne was a capable leader and warrior who tried his best to deal with the realities of White incursion into his people's home and hunting range.  And he would face two of the most horrific incidents to happen in the west, the Sand Creek Massacre and the Battle of the Washita. Black Kettle was born in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  By birth, he was a member of a band of Northern Cheyenne, but he would marry into the Southern Cheyenne and achieve leadership among them.  He eventually became the leader of the Council of Forty Four, the governing body of the entire Cheyenne tribe, a testament to his skills as a leader and warrior.  In 1851, the Cheyenne had signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie, which set the boundaries for their land and guaranteed that the U.S. would prevent trespassers.  The Settlers kept coming and conflicts between Cheyenne war and hunting parties an...

To most people today, the name Texas Rangers conjures up images of law enforcement and indeed today's Texas Ranger Division is made up of sworn peace officers who do exactly that.  However, they began life in Texas as a paramilitary unit and their first enemies were Natives, principally the Cheyenne.  This post covers the early period of the Rangers.  It would be impossible to do their entire history justice here. Rangers and ranging are as old as the frontier in America.  Some of the first ranger-type companies were gathered in Plymouth and other Massachusetts towns in response to the unrest along the frontier in the east.  Beginning in 1823, Stephen F. Austin appointed ten men to protect the settlers who arrived in Texas following Mexico's independence from Spain.  The Rangers were formally constituted in 1835 and comprised over 300 men.  After Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836, Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second President of the Republic of Te...

With the lands of the Louisiana Purchas bought (1803) and explored (1804-1806), it was time to decide how to deal with the various tribes who inhabited them.  Due to their experience with many of the tribes in the region, both William Clark and Meriwether Lewis were among the first Indian Agents appointed west of the Mississippi.  It was Meriwether Lewis who, working through French trader Pierre Chouteau, conducted the first treaty parleys with the Osage.  Pierre Chouteau had taken a delegation of Osage leaders to meet with President Jefferson in Washington in 1804, while Lewis and Clark were still gearing up for their expedition.  Jefferson recognized that Individual tribes would be subject to exploitation by the burgeoning fur trade business and moved to take control of the situation.  He wanted to establish a trading post to conduct trade with the Osage.  In 1808, Meriwether Lewis led a party of soldiers to what became Fort Osage and later Fort Clark n...

One of the more formidable tribes with whom early explorers had to contend in what is now Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma were the Osage.  The Osage are a Midwestern tribe, a Dhegihan-Siouan-speaking people.  Their name in English comes from a French word meaning war-like.  Their name for themselves refers to People of the Middle Waters.  Their home range extended between the Missouri and Red Rivers, the Ozarks to the Wichita Mountains.  They were both buffalo hunters and did practice agriculture. Like many tribes who later migrated to the Plains, the Osage, along with the Kansa, Quapaw, Omaha and Ponca, who also speak Dhegihan languages, came from the lower Ohio Valley.  Pressure from the Iroquois caused their early ancestors to migrate during the 17th century Beaver Wars, at which point the various Dhegihan-speaking people spread out and split up.  They were encountered in their present homelands by the French in 1673 near the Omaha River i...

People who rise to prominence in any society are often not without controversy.  Sarah Winnemucca, 1844-1891, a Northern Paiute/Shoshone woman who was the first Native woman to publish her autobiography and who represents Nevada in Statuary Hall is no exception. Sarah was born c 1844 near what is now Humboldt Lake in Nevada, to a Northern Paiute mother and Shoshone father.  Her father, Winnemucca/Poito, had been adopted into the Paiute tribe as a young man and married a Paiute woman, rising to prominence within their society.  Sarah's Paiute name, Thocmentony, meant Shell Flower.  Sarah herself later claimed that her father was principal chief of the Paiute when, in fact, the Paiute had no such office.  He was a war chief of a band of about 150 Paiute warriors.  Sarah's grandfather was Paiute leader Trukizo or Truckee, for whom Truckee (now Donner) Lake and the town of Truckee, Nevada are named.  When Sarah was still young, the family traveled t...

As long as people have had a need to move household goods and other possessions from place to place in an efficient manner, they have come up with ingenious ways of doing so.  For the Plains tribes of North America, the travois was a handy way of moving tipis, poles and hides, as well as household goods, trade goods, furs and other necessities from one campsite to another.  The word travois comes from a French Canadian word referring to a harness used for beasts of burden, which is essentially what a travois is.  It's two poles lashed together in an A-frame and placed across the back of an animal.  A third pole or piece of hide is sometimes strung toward the bottom of the frame both to hold it steady and to accommodate the load.  The first beasts of burden were dogs, which could only carry small bundles, due to their size and weight.  Once horses became part of Plains culture, Native families could construct larger travois, sometimes in a H-form...

Some of the first Europeans to explore the west and make contact with Native tribes were trappers and guides, known to history as mountain men, who worked for large fur companies, including Hudson's Bay Company (British) and American Fur Company (American).  Due to the sheer size of the territories over which they roamed, there had to be a means for the companies to collect the furs and distribute supplies to keep the men in the field for the coming year.  Because many of the early trappers were French Canadian in origin, much of the jargon associated with their work was French, hence the rendezvous. Between 1825-1840, fur companies would arrange to transport large supplies of liquor and trade goods to a set meeting point, usually in Utah, Wyoming or Idaho.  Trappers would flock to the rendezvous, bringing their annual catch of beaver and other pelts to trade for supplies.  Natives attended these gatherings, too, often bringing their own furs to trade for liquor, f...

Bandits weren't as common in the Old West as Hollywood would have us believe but they were common enough, and they came from every nationality and ethnic group.  Haskay-bay-nay-ntayl, better known as the Apache Kid, proved the equal of any White or Mexican bandito when it came to cattle rustling, murder, staying hidden and fading into legend. The Kid was born around 1860 as a White Mountain Apache, but taken captive at an early age by a Yuma war party.  He was later freed by the U.S. Army and spent his youth as an orphan hanging around army camps looking for handouts.  He was eventually adopted by Al Sieber, Chief of Apache Scouts and, in 1881, enlisted as a scout during General George Crook's campaign against Geronimo.  By 1882, he had proved so good at his job of tracking and skirmishing that he was promoted to Sergeant and trusted by both Sieber and Army commanders.  During a raid into Mexico, the Kid was involved in a riot and arrested by Mexican federales...

As with the incident at Camp Grant, this tragedy follows a similar part, Natives counting on the protection of White authorities becoming victims in a perfect storm of greed, hatred and prejudice.  The Cheyenne and Arapaho both claimed Colorado as part of their traditional home and hunting range.  Per the terms of the Treaty of Fort Laramie, both tribes had given up substantial land in exchange for a reduced range between the North Platte and Arkansas River, the Rocky Mountains to western Kansas.  This area encompassed southeastern Wyoming, southwestern Nebraska, all of eastern Colorado and portions of western Kansas.  Then in 1858, gold was discovered in the Rocky Mountains and prospectors flocked to the region to take part in the Pikes Peak Gold Rush.  Soon ranchers, farmers and townspeople followed, all trying to cash in on the fortune. Colorado territorial officials demanded that the federal government reassess Native presence in the re...

On the morning of November 29, 1864, a 15-year-old Cheyenne warrior saw hell on earth unfold for his people.  He, along with his father Eagle Head, were in a camp headed by Cheyenne leader Black Kettle along Sand Creek in what is now Kiowa County, Colorado.  Black Kettle had been guaranteed safety by the local garrison commander and flew an American flag outside his lodge as a gesture of goodwill.  Most of the warriors had gone hunting for the day.  As John Chivington and the men of the 1st Regt. Colorado Volunteers rode down on them, Eagle Head and the other men scrambled to make a defense.  When it was over, 137 men, women and children, mostly non-combatants were dead.  The scene burned itself into Howling Wolf's memory for life. Howling Wolf, like many Cheyenne and Arapaho men, would spend the next decade in constant conflict with the Army and the Settlers encroaching on their land, killing buffalo and other game, and slowly eroding their way of l...

We've already run across two women who've often been called Indian Princesses.  Owl Woman of the Cheyenne, daughter of a Cheyenne chief and wife of William Bent.  Also Adeline, daughter of Chief Seattle of the Duwamish/Suquamish.  These were strong, capable women, respected by Natives and Whites alike, and we'll meet many more of them in future posts, but none of them were princesses.  The wives and daughters of chiefs did not bear titles.  There was no such thing as a Native royal family.  With some exceptions, the only women who carried any type of position or authority in a village were the clan matriarchs.  They could, in some tribes, choose and depose chiefs, veto actions of the council, or dispose of property and prisoners.  For these reasons, women often carried great authority in their tribes and could be perceived by outsiders as queens or princesses, but they weren't.  The Indian Princess stereotype began in the nineteen...

Like many Native tribes, strife first arose between the Modoc of California and Americans around the time of the California Gold Rush.  Unknown assailants, believed to be Native, attacked and killed some Settlers.  The Settlers retaliated against the first Natives they came across, which happened to be a band of Modoc.  A young Modoc known to his people as Kintpuash, or to Whites as Captain Jack, lost relatives during this raid.  In 1852, a Modoc war party attacked a wagon train and the skirmishing between Settlers and Natives continued.  By 1864, the United States government signed a treaty with three tribes, the Klamath, Yahooskin and Modoc, though most of the signatories were Klamath, a traditional enemy of the Modoc.  The three tribes agreed to cede millions of acres of land in California and Oregon in exchange for a reservation in Oregon.  Kintpuash, now a young warrior, refused to be bound by the treaty and left the Oregon reservation with a few ...

Native American basketry is an art-form today and baskets are often museum or gallery piece or can command hundreds of dollars depending on the artisan.  They are also prized souvenirs in all shapes, sizes and decorations.  Prior to the tourist trade, though, Native baskets served a variety of uses. The most well-known Native baskets were burden baskets.  Usually conical in shape, they were meant to carry anything and everything from water to firewood and everything in between.  The conical shape allowed the basket to rest against the wearer's back, and was attached by a strap that went over the head or forehead, or the shoulders.  Baskets were made of whatever materials that came to hand and meant to be quickly fashioned to meet a need.  Tightly woven baskets could carry water.  Loosely woven baskets could carry fish or shellfish.  Larger baskets were practical for transporting firewood or even trade goods.  Smaller baskets could be carrie...

The northwest coast of the United States is home to a series of breathtaking mountain peaks of the Cascade Mountain Range, covered year-round in caps of snow.  Many of them are active or potentially active volcanoes, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.  Some figure in Native legends.  Mount Shasta, known in the Karuk Language as White Mountain, stands at an elevation of 14,179 feet.  It is the second-highest peak in the Cascades nd the fifth highest in California.  It's a target of hikers and photographers the world over.  However, if Mount Shasta ever does decide to blow, it would be a stratovolcano capable of epic destruction.  Mount Shasta is named for one the Shasta tribe who lived at its base.  Other tribes who lived near the mountain include the Okwanuchu, Modoc, Achomawi, Atsugewi, Karuk, Klamat, Winto and Yana.  The Siskiyou trail which runs along the base of the mountain and is now...

There is a long-running stereotype that daughters of Native chiefs and leaders are royalty entitled to the title of princess.  However, most Native tribes in North America did not have a concept of royalty and royal titles.  While women in a tribe played important roles, and individual chiefs' daughters might have risen to positions of respect with their people, they held no specific title within their tribe.  Seattle, 1786-1866, was a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish people of what is now Washington.  The city of Seattle was named in his honor. Throughout much of his life, he pursued a policy of cooperation and co-existence with Whites.  However, in 1855, he was ordered to take his people to a reservation, something he stalwartly refused to do.  He would later move to Agate Passage, but would frequently visit the town ironically named for him.  Later in life, he converted to Roman Catholicism, as did his daughter, Kikisoblu, who was gi...

During the early years of the American frontier, painters such as Charles Bird King and George Catlin and ethnologists such as Thomas McKinney did much to preserve knowledge of Native tribes and cultures among White Americans.  As the country expanded west and photography became practical, photographers also carried on this important work.  What King and Catlin were to the painting world, Edward S. Curtis would become to the world of photography. Curtis was born in Whitewater, Wisconsin in 1868.  The family were farmers and struggled with constant poverty.  When Curtis was still young, they moved to Minnesota, where Curtis' grandfather ran a grocery store.  Edward Curtis remained in school until the 6th grade, but had to leave.  Soon after, he built his own camera out of odds and ends.  By the age of 17, he'd become apprenticed to a photographer in Minneapolis.  By 1887, the family moved again, to Seattle, Washington.  Curtis took a photogr...

The Bascom Affair in 1861 wasn't the only provocation to the Apache in Arizona.  Ten years later, in April 30, 1871, Settlers in Arizona launched yet another preemptive strike on the Apache that would ratchet up the tensions and the reprisals another notch.   Camp Grant was a U.S. Army installation along the San Pedro River, about 50 miles from Tucson.  In 1870, 1st Lt. Royal Whitman assumed command of the fort.  One day, a group of Apache women came to the fort, looking for a relative who had been taken prisoner.  Whitman fed the women and treated them kindly.  Soon other Apaches happened by the fort, and were also received hospitably.  Whitman soon conceived the idea of creating a refuge for Natives who wanted the Army's protection along Aravaipa Creek.  Eskaminzin, a leader of a band of Aravaipa and Pinal Apache soon settled in with his people and began cutting hay and planting fields, intendi...