Post by delaneyapple on Jan 7, 2019 0:44:55 GMT -5
Biographical Summary:
Fast Thunder Wakinyan Luzahan (c1840-1914).
Fast Thunder was born about 1840 or 1841, probably in a camp along the Cheyenne River according to interpreter William Garnett. He appears to have been born into one of the bands of the Oyuhpe Oglala. Fast Thunder went on his first war party at age 19 against the Crow, with Black Shield serving as the war party leader. He married his first wife, Cane (later known as Wounded Horse) about March 1866.
Fast Thunder participated in a number of battles with the Oglala against U.S. troops in the Powder River region, including the Fetterman Fight in Dec. 1866 and in the Wagon Box fight in Aug. 1867. George Sword noted that he was considered the bravest in this fight "as he went nearer the wagons than any other man." He married a second wife, Louisa Eagle Feather about 1872, however, they separated about two months later.
Fast Thunder's name first appears in the Red Cloud Agency records in 1874 when he is recorded in the census/issue list. He is the first name under a band labeled "Stabber No. 1". During this period, Stabber was a member of the Wajaje, suggesting that Fast Thunder had moved from the Oyuhpe to the Wajaje by this time. Not having apparently come from a well connected ("honored") family, Fast Thunder had earned his reputation through his akicita connections. Kingsley has suggested that he was among the warrior society Wichiska (White Packstrap) that supported Indian Agent J. J. Saville during the 1874-75 period; this seems likely though I have not found any documents that specifically mentions his name. He was selected to travel to Washington, D.C. in 1875 to discuss the Black Hills issue.
During the Sioux War of 1876-77, Fast Thunder remained at the Red Cloud Agency. He is listed in Col. Merrit's March 1876 list of families at the agency. A recently published book states that he was present at the Little Bighorn, however, this was a misunderstanding of the secondary sources. Fast Thunder himself stated that "he was not in the Custer Battle."
In October 1876, Fast Thunder and his band of 40 people transferred to the Spotted Tail Agency together with the other Wajaje bands, including Old Stabber. Several weeks later, he enlisted in the Indian Scouts and accompanied the Army on the expedition that struck Dull Knife's village on the Powder River in Nov. 1876. Two of Fast Thunder's speeches have survived from the expedition. He reenlisted in March 1877 and again in July and October of that year.
Fast Thunder's "father," Lance Owner, surrendered at the Red Cloud Agency in March 1877 as part of No Water's band; they then joined the family at Spotted Tail Agency.
According to a grandson, Fast Thunder was part of "the third group" of peace delegates (probably referring to the Spotted Tail delegation) that traveled out to visit the northern bands in the spring of 1877 in an effort to persuade them to surrender. In September 1877, Fast Thunder was among those who accompanied Crazy Horse back to Camp Robinson where he was fatally bayoneted that evening.
Fast Thunder reenlisted in the Indian Scouts at Camp Sheridan/Spotted Tail Agency in October 1877 just as they agencies were being moved, however, he does not appear in the Dec. 1877 Spotted Tail Agency census, suggesting that he had returned to the Oglala/Red Cloud Agency during this period of the move. He appears in several Pine Ridge Agency census and issue records for the 1878, 1879 and 1880 period, all listed in Daylight's band of Wajaje.
By the time we glimpse Fast Thunder again in the 1886 census, he appears to be living among the Oyuhpe, judging from the names of other families around him in the document. This suggests that some time between 1880 and 1886, Fast Thunder had returned to his original or home tiyospaye. He is listed in the Makaha or Skunk Hide Band in the 1890 census; I suspect that this is his original parent band into which he had been born.
Fast Thunder married another wife, a cousin of his first, about 1888. He made the trip to Washington D.C. again in 1888 and he participated in the 1889 Crook land negotiations. He was apparently instrumental in settling the boundary between the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations. Fast Thunder was among the progressive band leaders who attempted to tap down the excitement during the Ghost Dance period and was part of the 1891 delegation to D.C. to discuss conditions on the reservation.
In 1895, Fast Thunder's son, Luke Plenty Birds, killed an Oglala tribal policeman named John Red Hose near Rushville in which Fast Thunder apparently had some role. Both Plenty Birds and Fast Thunder were arrested and then released on bail pending the trial. Ultimately, Fast Thunder was cleared but his son was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in the Nebraska Penitentiary.
By 1904, Fast Thunder had been selected as a tribal judge. That year, he accompanied a small delegation to Washington D.C. for the fourth time.
Fast Thunder died at Manderson, SD, on March 4, 1914.