Part 13
Battiste Good says: “Sung-over-each-other-while-on-the-war-path winter.” He adds: “The war party while out made a large pipe and sang each other’s praises.” A memorandum is also added that the pipe here seems to indicate peace made with some other tribe assisting in the war. But see pages 118 and 139.
1805-’06.--No. I. Eight Dakotas killed by Crows.
No. II. The Crows killed eight Dakotas. Again the short parallel black lines, this time eight in number, united by a long stroke. The interpreter, Fielder, says that this character with black strokes is only used for grave marks.
No. III. Eight Minneconjou Dakotas killed by Crow Indians at the mouth of Powder River.
Battiste Good says: “They-came-and-killed-eight winter.” The enemy killed eight Dakotas.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Eight-Dakotas-killed winter.”
Mato Sapa says: Eight Minneconjous killed by Crows at mouth of Powder River.
Major Bush same as last.
1806-’07.--No. I. Many eagles caught. This is done by digging a hole and baiting the eagles to the hole in which the Indian is concealed, who then catches the eagle.
No. II. A Dakota killed an Arikara as he was about to shoot an eagle. The sign gives the head and shoulders of a man with a red spot of blood on his neck, an arm being extended, with a line drawn to a golden eagle. The Arickaras, a branch of the Pawnee (Pani) family, were at the date given a powerful body, divided into ten large bands. They migrated in recent times from southeast to northwest along the Missouri River.
No. III. A Ree Indian hunting eagles from a hole in the ground killed by the Two Kettle Dakotas.
Battiste Good says: “Killed-them-while-hunting-eagles winter.” Some Dakota eagle-hunters were killed by enemies.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Killed-while-hunting-eagles winter.”
Mato Sapa says: A Ree hunting eagles from a hole in the ground was killed by Two Kettles.
Major Bush says the same without the words “hole in the ground.”
There is no doubt that the drawing represents an Indian in the act of catching an eagle by the legs, as the Arickaras were accustomed to catch eagles in their earth-traps. They rarely or never shot war eagles. The enemies probably shot the Arikara in his trap just as he put his hand up to grasp the bird.
1807-’08.--No. I. Red-Shirt killed by Rees.
No. II. Red-Coat, a chief, was killed. The figure shows the red coat pierced by two arrows, with blood dropping from the wounds.
No. III. Uncpapa Dakota, named Red-Shirt, killed by Ree Indians.
Battiste Good says: “Came-and-killed-man-with-red-shirt-on winter.”
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Red-shirt-killed winter.”
Mato Sapa says: Red-shirt, an Uncpapa Dakota, was killed by Rees.
Major Bush same as last.
1808-’09.--No. I. Broken-Leg (Dakota) killed by Rees.
No. II. The Dakota who had killed the Ree shown in this record for 1806-’07 was himself killed by the Rees. He is represented running, and shot with two arrows; blood dripping. These two figures, taken in connection, afford a good illustration of the method pursued in the chart, which was not intended to be a continuous history, or even to record the most important event of each year, but to exhibit some one of special peculiarity. War then raging between the Dakotas and several tribes, probably many on both sides were killed in each of the years; but there was some incident about the one Ree who was shot as in fancied security he was bringing down an eagle, and whose death was avenged by his brethren the second year afterward. Hence the selection of those occurrences. It would, indeed, have been impossible to have graphically distinguished the many battles, treaties, horse-stealings, big hunts, etc., so most of them were omitted and other events of greater individuality and better adapted for portrayal were taken for the calendar, the criterion being not that they were of national moment, but that they were of general notoriety, or perhaps of special interest to the recorders.
No. III. A Blackfeet Dakota, named Broken-Leg, killed by Ree Indians.
Mato Sapa says: Broken-Leg, a Blackfeet Dakota, was killed by Rees.
Major Bush same as last.
1809-’10.--No. I. Little-Beaver, a white trapper, is burnt to death by accident in his house on the White River. He was liked by Indians.
No. II. A chief, Little-Beaver, set fire to a trading store, and was killed. The character is simply his name-totem. The other interpretations say that he was a white man, but he probably had gained a new name among the Indians.
No. III. White French trader, called Little-Beaver, was blown up by powder on the Little Missouri River.
Battiste Good says: “Little-Beaver’s-house-burned winter.” Little-Beaver was an English trader, and his trading house was a log one.
White-Cow-Killer says: Little-Beaver’s house was burned.
1810-’11.--No. I. Black-Rock, a Minneconjou chief, killed. See page 135.
No. II. Black-Stone made medicine. The “medicine men” have no connection with therapeutics, feel no pulses, and administer no drugs, or, if sometimes they direct the internal or external use of some secret preparation, it is as a part of superstitious ceremonies, and with main reliance upon those ceremonies they “put forth the charm, of woven paces and of waving hands,” utter wild cries, and muddle in blood and filth until they sometimes work themselves into an epileptic condition. Their incantations are not only to drive away disease, but for many other purposes, such as to obtain success in war, avert calamity, and very frequently to bring within reach the buffalo, on which the Dakotas depended for food. The rites are those known as Shamanism, noticeable in the ethnic periods of savagery and barbarism. In the ceremonial of “making medicine,” a buffalo head, and especially that of an albino, held a prominent place among the plains tribes. Many references to this are to be found in the Prince of Wied’s Travels in the interior of North America; London, 1843; also see _infra_, pages 118, 122 and 195.
The device in the chart is the man-figure, with the head of an albino buffalo held over his own.
No. III. A Minneconjou Dakota, named Little-Tail, first made “medicine” with white buffalo cow-skin.
Mato Sapa says: A Minneconjou, named Little-Tail, first made medicine with white buffalo cow-skin.
Major Bush same as last.
American-Horse gives for the preceding year, 1809-’10: Black-Rock was killed by the Crows.
1811-’12.--No. I. Twenty-seven Mandans surrounded and killed by Dakotas.
No. II. The Dakotas fought a battle with the Gros Ventres, and killed a great many. Device, a circle inclosing three round objects with flat bases, resembling heads severed from trunks, which latter the copy shows too minute in this device for suggestion of what they probably represent; but they appear more distinct in the record for 1864-’65 as the heads of enemies slain in battle. In the sign-language of the plains, the Dakotas are always denoted by drawing a hand across the throat, signifying that they cut the throats of their enemies. The Dakotas count by the fingers, as is common to most peoples, but with a peculiarity of their own. When they have gone over the fingers and thumbs of both hands, one finger is temporarily turned down for _one ten_. At the end of the next ten another finger is turned, and so on to a hundred. _Opawinge_ [_Opawi^nxe_], one hundred, is derived from _pawinga_ [_pawi^nxa_], to go around in circles, to make gyrations, and contains the idea that the round of all the fingers has again been made for their respective tens. So the circle is never used for less than one hundred, but sometimes signifies an indefinite number greater than a hundred. The circle, in this instance, therefore, was at first believed to express the killing in battle of many enemies. But the other interpretations remove all symbolic character, leaving the circle simply as the rude drawing of a dirt lodge, being an instance in which the present writer, by no means devoted to symbolism, had supposed a legitimate symbol to be indicated, which supposition full information on the subject did not support.
There are two wholly distinct tribes called by the Canadians Gros Ventres. One, known also as Hidatsa and Minnetari, is classed in the Siouan family, and numbered, in 1804, according to Lewis and Clarke, 2,500 souls. The other “Big Bellies,” properly called Atsina, are the northern division of the Arapahos, an Algonkin tribe, from which they separated in the early part of this century, and, wandering eastward, met the Dakotas, by whom they were driven off to the north. It is probable that this is the conflict recorded, though the Dakotas have also often been at feud with their linguistic cousins, the Minnetari.
No. III. Twenty of the Gros Ventres killed by Dakotas in a dirt lodge. They were chased into a deserted Ree dirt lodge and killed there.
Mato Sapa says: Twenty Gros Ventres were killed by the Dakotas in a dirt lodge. In this record there is a circle with only one head.
Major Bush’s interpretation is the same as the last.
1812-’13.--No. I. Many wild horses caught.
No. II. The wild horses were first run and caught by the Dakotas. The device is a lasso. The date is of value, as showing when the herds of prairie horses, descended from those animals introduced by the Spaniards in Mexico, or those deposited by them on the shores of Texas and at other points, had multiplied so as to extend into the far northern regions. The Dakotas undoubtedly learned the use of the horse and perhaps also that of the lasso from southern tribes, with whom they were in contact; and it is noteworthy that notwithstanding the tenacity with which they generally adhere to ancient customs, in only two generations since they became familiar with the horse they have been so revolutionized in their habits as to be utterly helpless, both in war and the chase, when deprived of that animal.
No. III. Dakotas first used lariat (_sic_) for catching wild horses.
Battiste Good says for the preceding year, 1811-’12: “First-hunted-horses winter.” He adds: “The Dakotas caught wild horses in the sand-hills with braided lariats.”
American-Horse also, for 1811-’12, says: They caught many wild horses south of the Platte River.
White-Cow-Killer calls 1811-’12 “Catching-wild-horses winter.”
Major Bush says: Dakotas first made use of lariat in catching wild horses.
1813-’14--No. I. Many Indians died of cold (consumption).
No. II. The whooping-cough was very prevalent and fatal. The sign is ludicrously suggestive of a blast of air coughed out by the man-figure.
No. III. Dakotas had whooping-cough, very fatal.
The interruption in the cough is curiously designed. An attempt at the same thing is made in Chart 1, and a less marked attempt appears in No. II.
1814-’15--No. I. Hunchback, a Brulé, killed by Utes.
No. II. A Dakota killed an Arapaho in his lodge. The device represents a tomahawk or battle-ax, the red being blood from the cleft skull.
The Arapahos long dwelt near the head-waters of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers, and in 1822 numbered by report 10,000.
No. III. A Wetapahata (a stranger Indian, whose nationality was not identified by the interpreter) Indian killed by a Brulé Dakota, while on a visit to the Dakota.
Mato Sapa says: a Wetopahata Indian was killed by a Brulé Sioux while on a visit to the Dakotas.
Major Bush says the same, but spells the word Watahpahata.
Riggs gives Wí-ta-pa-ha, the Kiowas, and Ma-qpí-ya-to, the Arapahos, in the Dakota Dictionary.
1815-’16.--No. I. Large dirt lodge made by Sans Arcs. The figure at the top of the lodge is a bow.
No. II. The Sans Arcs made the first attempt at a dirt lodge. This was at Peoria Bottom, Dakota Territory. Crow-Feather was their chief, which fact, in the absence of the other charts, seemed to explain the fairly-drawn feather of that bird protruding from the lodge top, but the figure must now be admitted to be a badly drawn bow, in allusion to the tribe Sans Arc, without, however, any sign of negation. As the interpreter explained the figure to be a crow feather, and as Crow-Feather actually was the chief, Lone-Dog’s chart with its interpretation may be independently correct.
No. III. Sans Arc Dakotas built dirt lodges at Peoria Bottom. A dirt lodge is considered a permanent habitation. The mark on top of the lodge is evidently a strung bow, not a feather.
Battiste Good says: “The-Sans-Arcs-made-large-house winter.”
White-Cow-Killer calls it: “Made-a-house winter.”
Major Bush’s copy also shows a clearly drawn figure of a bow, strung.
1816-’17.--No. I. Buffalo very plenty.
No. II. “Buffalo belly was plenty.” The device rudely portrays a side or perhaps hide of buffalo.
No. III. Dakotas had unusual quantities of buffalo.
1817-’18.--No. I. Trading store built at Fort Pierre.
No. II. La Framboise, a Canadian, built a trading store with dry timber. The dryness is shown by the dead tree. La Framboise was an old trader among the Dakotas. He once established himself in the Minnesota Valley. His name is mentioned by various travelers.
No. III. Trading post built on the Missouri River 10 miles above Fort Thompson.
Battiste Good says: “Chozé-built-a-house-of-dead-logs winter.”
Mato Sapa says: A trading house was built on the Missouri River 10 miles above Fort Thompson.
Major Bush says the same as last, but that it was built by Louis La Conte.
1818-’19.--No. I. Many Indians died of cholera [_sic_].
No. II. The measles broke out and many died. The device in the copy is the same as that for 1801-’02, relating to the small-pox, except a very slight difference in the red blotches; and though Lone-Dog’s artistic skill might not have been sufficient to distinctly vary the appearance of the two patients, both diseases being eruptive, still it is one of the few serious defects in the chart that the sign for the two years is so nearly identical that, separated from the continuous record, there would be confusion between them. Treating the document as a mere _aide-de-mémoire_, no inconvenience would arise, it probably being well known that the small-pox epidemic preceded that of the measles; but such care is generally taken to make some, however minute, distinction between the characters, that possibly the figures on Lone-Dog’s robe show a more marked difference between the spots indicating the two eruptions than is reproduced in the copy. It is also to be noticed that the Indian diagnosis makes little distinction between small-pox and measles, so that no important pictographic variation could be expected. The head of this figure is clearly distinguished from that in 1801-’02.
No. III. All the Dakotas had measles, very fatal.
Battiste Good says: “Small-pox-used-them-up-again winter.” They at this time lived on the Little White River, about 20 miles above the Rosebud Agency. The character in Battiste Good’s chart is presented here in Figure 41, as a variant from those in the plates.
Cloud-Shield says: Many died of the small-pox.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Little-small-pox winter.”
In Mato Sapa’s drawing the head of the figure is distinguished from that of 1801-’02.
1819-’20.--No. I. Another trading store built.
No. II. Another trading store was built; this time by Louis La Conte, at Fort Pierre, Dakota. His timber, as one of the Indians consulted specially mentioned, was rotten.
No. III. Trading post built on the Missouri River above Farm Island (near Fort Pierre).
Battiste Good says: “Chozé-built-a-house-of-rotten-wood winter.”
White-Cow-Killer calls it: “Made-a-house-of-old-wood winter.”
1820-’21.--No. I. Large dirt lodge made by Two-Arrow. The projection at the top extends downward from the left, giving the impression of red and black cloth streamers.
No. II. The trader, La Conte, gave Two-Arrow a war-dress for his bravery. So translated an interpreter, and the sign shows the two arrows as the warrior’s totem; likewise the gable of a house, which brings in the trader; also a long strip of black tipped with red streaming from the roof, which possibly may be the piece of parti-colored material out of which the dress was fashioned. This strip is not intended for sparks and smoke, as at first sight suggested, as the red would in that case be nearest the roof, instead of farthest from it.
No. III. A Minneconjou Dakota, named Two-Arrows, built himself a dirt medicine-lodge. This the interpreter calls, rather inaccurately, a headquarters for dispensing medicines, charms, and nostrums to the different bands of Dakotas. The black and red lines above the roof are not united and do not touch the roof.
White-Cow-Killer calls it: “Two-Arrows-made-a-war-bonnet winter.”
Battiste Good says: They made bands of strips of blankets in the winter.
Major Bush says: A Minneconjou, named Two-Arrow, made medicine in a dirt-lodge.
It will be observed that the interpreters vary in the details.
1821-’22.--No. I. Large ball of fire with hissing noise (aërolite).
No. II. The character represents the falling to earth of a very brilliant meteor, and though no such appearance is on record, there were in 1821 few educated observers near the Upper Mississippi and Missouri who would take the trouble to notify scientific societies of the phenomenon.
No. III. Dakota Indians saw an immense meteor passing from southeast to northwest which exploded with great noise (in Dakota Territory).
Red-Cloud said he was born in that year.
Battiste Good says: “Star-passed-by-with-loud-noise winter.” His device is shown in Figure 42, showing the meteor, its pathway, and the clouds from which it came.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “One-star-made-a-great-noise winter.” See also Cloud-Shield’s count, page 136.
1822-’23.--No. I. Trading store built at Little Missouri, near Fort Pierre.
No. II.--Another trading house was built, which was by a white man called Big-Leggings, and was at the mouth of the Little Missouri or Bad River. The drawing is distinguishable from that for 1819-’20.
No. III. Trading post built at the mouth of Little Missouri River.
1823-’24--No. I. Whites and Dakotas fight Rees.
No. II. White soldiers made their first appearance in the region. So said the interpreter, Clément, but from the unanimous interpretation of others the event portrayed is the attack of the United States forces, accompanied by Dakotas, upon the Arikara villages, the historic account of which is as follows, abstracted from the annual report of J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, November 29, 1823:
General William H. Ashley, lieutenant-governor of the State of Missouri, a licensed trader, was treacherously attacked by the Arickara Indians at their village on the west bank of the Missouri River, about midway between the present Fort Sully and Fort Rice, on June 2, 1823. Twenty-three of the trading party were killed and wounded, and the remainder retreated in boats a considerable distance down the river, whence they sent appealing for succor to the commanding officer at Fort Atkinson, the present site of Council Bluffs. This officer was Col. H. Leavenworth, Sixth United States Infantry, who marched June 22, with 220 men of that regiment, 80 men of trading companies, and two 6-pound cannon, a 5-1/2-inch brass howitzer, and some small swivels, nearly 700 miles through a country filled with hostile or unreliable Indians to the Ree villages, which, after much hardship and some losses, he reached on the 9th of August. The Dakotas were at war with the Arickara or Rees, and 700 to 800 of their warriors had joined the United States forces on the way; of these Dakotas 500 are mentioned as Yanktons, but the tribes of the remainder are not designated in the official reports. The Rees were in two villages, the lower one containing seventy-one dirt lodges and the upper seventy, both being inclosed with palisades and a ditch, and the greater part of the lodges having a ditch around the bottom on the inside. The enemy, having knowledge of the expedition, had fortified and made every preparation for resistance. Their force consisted of over 700 warriors, most of whom were armed with rifles procured from British traders. On the 9th of August the Dakotas commenced the attack, and were driven back until the regular troops advanced, but nothing decisive resulted until the artillery was employed on the 10th, when a large number of the Rees, including their chief, Grey-Eyes, were killed, and early in the afternoon they begged for peace. They were much terrified and humbled by the effect of the cannon, which, though small, answered the purpose. During the main engagement the Dakotas occupied themselves in gathering and carrying off all the corn to be found, and before the treaty was concluded, which, at the supplication of the Rees, Colonel Leavenworth agreed to, the Dakotas all left in great disgust at not being allowed to kill and scalp the surrendered warriors with their squaws and pappooses, take possession of the villages, horses, etc., and in fact to exterminate their hereditary foes. However, the Rees, having become panic-stricken after the treaty and two days of peaceful intercourse with the soldiers, deserted their homes, and the troops, embarking on the 15th to descend the river, shortly saw the villages in flames, which was the work either of the Dakotas or of inimical traders.
The device is believed to represent an Arickara palisaded village and attacking soldiers. Not only the remarkable character and triumphant result of this expedition, but the connection that the Dakotas themselves had with it, made it a natural subject for the year’s totem.
All the winter counts refer to this expedition.
No. III. United States troops fought Ree Indians.
Battiste Good says: “General----- -first-appeared-and-the-Dakotas-aided-him-in-an-attack-on-the-Rees winter,” also “Much-corn winter.” For his character see Figure 69, page 166. The gun and the arrow in contact with the ear of corn show that both whites and Indians fought the Rees.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Old-corn-plenty winter.”
Mato Sapa’s chart gives the human figure with a military cap, beard, and goatee.
1824-’25.--No. I. All the horses of Little-Swan’s father are killed by Indians through spite.
No. II. Swan, chief of the Two Kettle tribe, had all of his horses killed. Device, a horse pierced by a lance, blood flowing from the wound.
No. III. Swan, a Minneconjou Indian, had twenty horses killed by a jealous Indian.
Mato Sapa says: Swan, a Minneconjou chief, lost twenty horses killed by a jealous Indian.
Major Bush says the same.
1825-’26.--No. I. River overflows the Indian camp; several drowned. The-Flame, the recorder of this count, born. In the original drawing the five objects above the line are obviously human heads.