Yankton bands and leaders

[Dietmar]

Unfortunately there are only a few publications about Yankton Nakota history. I recommend the two volumes of “Remember Your Relatives” by Samson-Flood/Bernie/Brugier, “Peyote and the Yankton Sioux” by Maroukis and “Singing for a Spirit” by Deloria. And don´t forget to visit the Oyate Research Center online.

When Lewis & Clark met the Yanktons in 1804, they recognized Shake Hand (Weuche) aka “Le Liberateur” as head chief. Little Dish was one of his successors until he died in the 1830s. Then the famous War Eagle, who was born as a Mdewakanton Dakota, was chosen to lead the Yanktons through more than 20 years. In 1851, when he died, Struck-by-the-Ree as the most influencial leader succeeded his position.

I have tried to attach some of the leading intancans of the second half of the 19th century to the various Yankton bands, as they were recorded by Stephen R. Riggs in 1878:

Lower Yanktons:
Cagu / Lungs (Struck-by-the-Ree, Running Bull)
Oyate Sica / Bad Nation (Mad Bull II, John Ree/Black Eagle, Frank Jandron)
Waceunpa / Roasters or The Ones that Cook
Igmu / Cat People (Smutty Bear, Jumping Thunder)

Upper Yanktons:
Iha Ishdaye / Mouth Greasers
Wakmuha Oin / Pumpkin Rind Earrings (White Medicine Cow)
Cankute / Shooters at Trees

Wasicun Cinca / Half-breeds (Philip J. Deloria)

I´m not quite sure to which band other well-known leaders like Little White Swan, Feather in his Ear (Feather Necklace), Blue Cloud (William Bean) belonged to. The first two were at least Upper Yanktons.

In 1887, these chiefs lead the eight bands of the Yankton
Struck-by-the-Ree
Jumping Thunder
Medicine Cow (White Medicine Cow That Stands)
White Swan (Little White Swan)
William Bean, Sr. (Blue Cloud)
Feather in his Ear (Feather Necklace)
Frank Jandron, Sr. (Francois Jandreau)
Philip J. Deloria (Tipi Sapa)

[kingsleybray]

In 1857, Agt Redfield reported seven bands grouped in two regional divisions, Lower and Upper Yankton. From various sources I believe that these seven bands, noted under the names of their principal chiefs, match up to the following tiyoshpaye (band) names:

Lower Yankton

Chief/ Location / Tiyospaye
1. Feather in the Ear/ abv. mouth Big Sioux R./ Wacheunpa (Meat-Roasters)
2. Mad Bull/ Vermillion R./ Oyate Sicha (Bad Nation)
3. Struck By the Ree/ abv. mouth James R./ Chagu (Lungs)
4. Smutty Bear/ few miles abv. no.3 / Igmu (Cat)

Upper Yankton

Chief / Location`/ Tiyospaye
5. Standing Medicine Cow / abv. Old Ft. Lookout/ Wakmuha-oin (Pumpkin-Rind Earrings)
6. Little Swan/ Ihaisdaye (Mouth Greasers)
7. Pretty Boy/ Chankute (Shoot in Woods)

Feather in the Ear's name is correctly Feather Necklace (Wiyaka Napin). Acc. to Rev Hinman, Flying Pipe was head soldier for Feather in the Ear’s band (the Waceunpa).

[kingsleybray]

Dietmar posted on Jan. 5, 2009: "In 1887, these chiefs lead the eight bands of the Yankton
Struck-by-the-Ree
Jumping Thunder
Medicine Cow (White Medicine Cow That Stands)
White Swan (Little White Swan)
William Bean, Sr. (Blue Cloud)
Feather in his Ear (Feather Necklace)
Frank Jandron, Sr. (Francois Jandreau)
Philip J. Deloria (Tipi Sapa)"


Dietmar, I've followed up on the Yankton bands and chiefs and think the 'chiefs' from 1887 match up as follows:

Struck-by-the-Ree (Chagu, Lungs band)
Jumping Thunder (Ikmun, Cat band)
Medicine Cow (White Medicine Cow That Stands) (Wakmuha-owin, Pumpkin Rind Earrings band)
White Swan (Little White Swan) (Ihaisdaye, Mouth Greasers band)
William Bean, Sr. (Blue Cloud) (Chankute, Shoot in Trees band)
Feather in his Ear (Feather Necklace) (Wacheunpa, Meat-Roaster band)
Frank Jandron, Sr. (Francois Jandreau) (Oyate Sicha, Bad Nation band)
Philip J. Deloria (Tipi Sapa) (Wasichun-Chincha, White Men's Sons, or 'Half-Breed' band)

The Half-Breed band was created at the Yankton Reservation in the 1860s. It was originally led by Frank Deloria (Saswe).

[Dietmar]

Thank you very much Kingsley,

so these were the leaders of the Yanktons:

Lower Yanktons:

Cagu / Lungs:


Struck-by-the-Ree


Running Bull


Oyate Sica / Bad Nation:

Mad Bull & Mad Bull II (no picture)



John Ree aka Black Eagle


Frank Jandron


Waceunpa / Roasters or The Ones that Cook:


Feather-in-the-Ear aka Feather Necklace


Igmu / Cat People:


Smutty Bear


Jumping Thunder


Upper Yanktons:

Iha Ishdaye / Mouth Greasers:


White Swan aka Little Swan


Wakmuha Oin / Pumpkin Rind Earrings:


White Medicine Cow That Stands


Cankute / Shooters at Trees:

Pretty Boy (no picture)



Pretty Rock aka Felix T. Brunot


William Bean aka Blue Cloud



Wasicun Cinca / Half-breeds:


Francois/Frank Deloria aka Owl Man aka Saswe


Philip J. Deloria

[ladonna]

Thank u for these pictures amazing

[smacmill]

Thanks so much for posting these photos. Found a man that my great aunt did interpretation work with. Wonderful to see.

[siouxchic]

just joined this site and am a direct descendant of struck by the ree and frank jandron, the last name is spelled jandreau now, my father's name was frank jandreau and my grandmother's maiden name was ree, just want to say thank you to whoever put this information up on the site.

[grahamew]

On Cowan's: three C. L. Hamilton photos of Yankton men, all identified on the back:


White Swan


Big Deer

And, perhaps, most significantly, because it's not an image I've seen:

Mad Bull

[wowicake1]

Ihanktunwan Dakh’ota (Western Dakota). The actual Nakota/Nakoda/Nakona are the Assiniboine and Stoney tribes. They are a part of the Iron Confederacy (Plains Cree, Saulteaux [Plains Ojibwe], Assiniboine/Stoney). People tend to forget the Assiniboine (Nakota/Nakoda/Nakona) and the Dakota both eastern and western bands were fierce enemies. Robert Fourstar talks about this and also Peter Bigstone. If I was Ihanktunwanna or Ihanktunwan I would hate to be called by the name of my people’s traditional enemies (Nakota/Nakoda/Nakona).