Post by gregor on Sept 19, 2015 11:25:58 GMT -5
White Swan Yankton
(1813 – 1898 ?)
Maga Ska
Maga Ska or White Swan was leader of a Yankton band called Iha Isdaye or the Mouth Greasers. He was known for his prowess in war, his skills while hunting and for his intelligence, wit and humor. There is only little known about this leader. In 1858 he was one of the signatories of the Yankton Treaty of April 19. From December 1858 to April 1859 and in 1867 he visited Washington, where he was photographed by Antonio Zeno Shindler.
In 1867 a large delegation of Yankton leaders had traveled to Washington, where they signed a treaty ceding land on which the city of Yankton was later built. Charles L. Hamilton, the photographer of Fort Randall (D.T.), made portraits of many of these Yankton chiefs, either on the outward journey or on their return.
White Swan’s camp was 15 miles above Yankton Agency on the northern bottomlands of the Missouri. The Yanktons called this bottomland Pte ta-tiopa (“Gate of the Buffalo”), because this corridor between the river and the rolling hill lands was used by migrating bison.
White Swans tiyospaye grew corn and vegetables in these fertile bottomlands. In later years deer and rabbits or waterfowl and fish replaced the bison as bag. Abundant trees provided lumber for building and wood for fuel, as well as shade and shelter for both tribal members and their livestock to protect them from South Dakota's hot summers and intensely cold winters. The camp would temporarily move to upland areas, often living in tents until the water subsided. Even by the 1940s, only three or four families had cars and there was no indoor plumbing or electricity. Although the community was primitive, resembling something closer to the 1800s, the tribe was accustomed to this way of life. This village of White Swan (and the Yankton Agency) died with the abandonment of Fort Randall in 1933; the Yankton Sioux were transferred to the Rosebud Agency. After a disastrous flood in 1927 the US Government decided to build dams and levees. The Corps of Engineers acquired the land in 1948 and the community was completely inundated by the early 1950s. Saswe - also known as Francois, Francis or Frank Deloria - , a famous medicine man and chief of the Yankton Half-breed band was member of the Maga Ska wicoti (White Swan Camp).
About 1864 his village was visited by father Pierre Jean DeSmet, who preached to the Yanktons and baptized a lot of them. Unfortunately DeSmet had not the means to establish a permanent catholic mission on the reservation. So a lot Yanktons changed to other churches. White Swan became a strong supporter of education and a faithful follower of the Protestant Episcopal Church. And in May 1872 “Grey Hat” (wapaha hota) - the noted Indian rights activist William Welsh of Philadelphia - reported, that in White Swan’s village 7 children and 21 adults had been baptized. And with regard to the converted Yanktons he quoted White Swan as follows:
''I seem to have found a great stake, set deep in the earth, to which I can cling, and from which storms cannot 'wrench me away. I know it is planted by the Great Spirit, and that it will hold me up in this life, and secure me heaven at last."
In 1881 White Swan was the first native leader who visited Sitting Bull and his Hunkpapa at Fort Randall, where they were confined. White Swan’s camp was directly across the Missouri river opposite to the fort – today called Pickstown. He was followed by Struck-By-the-Ree and Medicine Cow, who presented the Hunkpapa with a wagon-load of food.
This White Swan should not be mixed up with the Mnikowoju White Swan.
What more is known?
CU Gregor
(1813 – 1898 ?)
Maga Ska
Maga Ska or White Swan was leader of a Yankton band called Iha Isdaye or the Mouth Greasers. He was known for his prowess in war, his skills while hunting and for his intelligence, wit and humor. There is only little known about this leader. In 1858 he was one of the signatories of the Yankton Treaty of April 19. From December 1858 to April 1859 and in 1867 he visited Washington, where he was photographed by Antonio Zeno Shindler.
In 1867 a large delegation of Yankton leaders had traveled to Washington, where they signed a treaty ceding land on which the city of Yankton was later built. Charles L. Hamilton, the photographer of Fort Randall (D.T.), made portraits of many of these Yankton chiefs, either on the outward journey or on their return.
White Swan’s camp was 15 miles above Yankton Agency on the northern bottomlands of the Missouri. The Yanktons called this bottomland Pte ta-tiopa (“Gate of the Buffalo”), because this corridor between the river and the rolling hill lands was used by migrating bison.
White Swans tiyospaye grew corn and vegetables in these fertile bottomlands. In later years deer and rabbits or waterfowl and fish replaced the bison as bag. Abundant trees provided lumber for building and wood for fuel, as well as shade and shelter for both tribal members and their livestock to protect them from South Dakota's hot summers and intensely cold winters. The camp would temporarily move to upland areas, often living in tents until the water subsided. Even by the 1940s, only three or four families had cars and there was no indoor plumbing or electricity. Although the community was primitive, resembling something closer to the 1800s, the tribe was accustomed to this way of life. This village of White Swan (and the Yankton Agency) died with the abandonment of Fort Randall in 1933; the Yankton Sioux were transferred to the Rosebud Agency. After a disastrous flood in 1927 the US Government decided to build dams and levees. The Corps of Engineers acquired the land in 1948 and the community was completely inundated by the early 1950s. Saswe - also known as Francois, Francis or Frank Deloria - , a famous medicine man and chief of the Yankton Half-breed band was member of the Maga Ska wicoti (White Swan Camp).
About 1864 his village was visited by father Pierre Jean DeSmet, who preached to the Yanktons and baptized a lot of them. Unfortunately DeSmet had not the means to establish a permanent catholic mission on the reservation. So a lot Yanktons changed to other churches. White Swan became a strong supporter of education and a faithful follower of the Protestant Episcopal Church. And in May 1872 “Grey Hat” (wapaha hota) - the noted Indian rights activist William Welsh of Philadelphia - reported, that in White Swan’s village 7 children and 21 adults had been baptized. And with regard to the converted Yanktons he quoted White Swan as follows:
''I seem to have found a great stake, set deep in the earth, to which I can cling, and from which storms cannot 'wrench me away. I know it is planted by the Great Spirit, and that it will hold me up in this life, and secure me heaven at last."
In 1881 White Swan was the first native leader who visited Sitting Bull and his Hunkpapa at Fort Randall, where they were confined. White Swan’s camp was directly across the Missouri river opposite to the fort – today called Pickstown. He was followed by Struck-By-the-Ree and Medicine Cow, who presented the Hunkpapa with a wagon-load of food.
This White Swan should not be mixed up with the Mnikowoju White Swan.
What more is known?
CU Gregor