The Otoe Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee and Balduin Möllhausen
May 4, 2014 5:16:52 GMT -5
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Post by gregor on May 4, 2014 5:16:52 GMT -5
In August 1851, the German traveler Baldwin Möllhausen (1825-1905) went with his employer Duke Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg on an expedition from Kansas to Nebraska. On October 1 the Duke and Möllhausen reached Fort John at the “Scott Bluffs” . Now began the real adventure . They were both alternately sick and had to maintain each other, the carriage of the Duke got stuck in the river, they escaped a prairie fire and they had to pass various confrontations with hostile Indians [ Oglala Lakotas ].
They lost draft animals by cold and exhaustion , were caught in a snowstorm and got lost. On November 19 they reached then the Sandy Hill Creek, their final stop . The last horse died , and they sat in a small leather tent in a snow desert.
After 6 days, a stagecoach from Fort Laramie passed their camp. The duke succeeded to buy a place for himself for $ 100. He left his companion shamefully in the lurch (with the promise to send help). But the Duke assumed that Möllhausen had not survived . In his diaries he has never mentioned him from then on .
Möllhausen was rescued after 6 weeks by Oto Indians.
The leader of the Otoe - hunting party was Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee, who freed Möllhausen in January 1852 from his desperate situation at Sandy Hill Creek and so saved his life. His whole lifetime Baldwin Möllhausen thought in gratitude and friendship of the Otoe Indians.
In his second book of travels "Trips to the Rocky Mountains of North America up to the high plateau of New Mexico , Leipzig, 1861 " Möllhausen wrote the following about
Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee [roughly translated]:
„….this ... was a man of gigantic size, and as I could perceive, although he sat there huddled , of strong stature beyond reproach . His hair was cut quite short and brought to stand upright through careful care, while the braided scalp - lock (on the vertex of the head ) hang down his bare back. His face was decorated with black stripes and despite the wild expression in his face, I thought I had never seen a more good looking Indian. His name was Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee , or Thick Soldier [?] ; he was one of the most respected warriors of the Ottoes and some scalps that adorned his shield , gave testimony of his brave deeds . With the traits of a feared warrior he also joined the name of a great medicine man , that is a doctor and magician. My unfortunate situation , but especially the wolf meat, seemed to rouse a feeling of compassion in him, for as the old Wo-nes-hee handed me the pipe , Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee stretched his hand under the curtain into the open , and pulled in the fresh bloody quarter of a deer, which he had laid there on his arrival and now threw with good-natured nod to my side . now A banquet was held, as I did not enjoy in a long time. …………While we ate , we smoked and ate again , little words and signs were exchanged; with every juicy strip I cut , I blessed my red savior in my thoughts. without any prospect of further profit he said in plain English: "You're hungry , here's to eat ; You have to go down here , go with us ; You are sick, we want to maintain yourself and dress " and yet before the eyes of the pious missionaries [Möllhausen means here "Christians" like Duke Paul] they were only rejected heathens, not good enough to live as the lowest servant by their side ! ...
Here's a link for german members:
www.moellhausen.de/bio/personen/herzog.htm
Has anybode more on Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee or Wo-nes-hee? Or are there Otoe traditions about this event?
They lost draft animals by cold and exhaustion , were caught in a snowstorm and got lost. On November 19 they reached then the Sandy Hill Creek, their final stop . The last horse died , and they sat in a small leather tent in a snow desert.
After 6 days, a stagecoach from Fort Laramie passed their camp. The duke succeeded to buy a place for himself for $ 100. He left his companion shamefully in the lurch (with the promise to send help). But the Duke assumed that Möllhausen had not survived . In his diaries he has never mentioned him from then on .
Möllhausen was rescued after 6 weeks by Oto Indians.
The leader of the Otoe - hunting party was Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee, who freed Möllhausen in January 1852 from his desperate situation at Sandy Hill Creek and so saved his life. His whole lifetime Baldwin Möllhausen thought in gratitude and friendship of the Otoe Indians.
In his second book of travels "Trips to the Rocky Mountains of North America up to the high plateau of New Mexico , Leipzig, 1861 " Möllhausen wrote the following about
Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee [roughly translated]:
„….this ... was a man of gigantic size, and as I could perceive, although he sat there huddled , of strong stature beyond reproach . His hair was cut quite short and brought to stand upright through careful care, while the braided scalp - lock (on the vertex of the head ) hang down his bare back. His face was decorated with black stripes and despite the wild expression in his face, I thought I had never seen a more good looking Indian. His name was Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee , or Thick Soldier [?] ; he was one of the most respected warriors of the Ottoes and some scalps that adorned his shield , gave testimony of his brave deeds . With the traits of a feared warrior he also joined the name of a great medicine man , that is a doctor and magician. My unfortunate situation , but especially the wolf meat, seemed to rouse a feeling of compassion in him, for as the old Wo-nes-hee handed me the pipe , Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee stretched his hand under the curtain into the open , and pulled in the fresh bloody quarter of a deer, which he had laid there on his arrival and now threw with good-natured nod to my side . now A banquet was held, as I did not enjoy in a long time. …………While we ate , we smoked and ate again , little words and signs were exchanged; with every juicy strip I cut , I blessed my red savior in my thoughts. without any prospect of further profit he said in plain English: "You're hungry , here's to eat ; You have to go down here , go with us ; You are sick, we want to maintain yourself and dress " and yet before the eyes of the pious missionaries [Möllhausen means here "Christians" like Duke Paul] they were only rejected heathens, not good enough to live as the lowest servant by their side ! ...
Here's a link for german members:
www.moellhausen.de/bio/personen/herzog.htm
Has anybode more on Wa -ki- ta -mo -nee or Wo-nes-hee? Or are there Otoe traditions about this event?
