Post by conz on Aug 6, 2009 8:31:24 GMT -5
I believe this was the FIRST Plains Indians delegation to go see Washington DC, other eastern cities, and the American President.
Some notes out of The Osage in Missouri, by Kristie Wolfeman:
"Captain Lewis...asked Chouteau to escort an Osage delegation to visit President Jefferson. U.S. officials had planned to meet with the Osage even before the Louisiana Purchase had been made. Now that the Osage were on U.S. territory, it seemed extremely important that the federal government develop a good relationship with them.
"Both the Osage bound for Washington, D.C., and the Lewis and Clark expedition prepared to embark in May of 1804...in July,...Chouteau and the Osage chiefs arrived in Washington. President Jefferson and Secretary of War Henry Dearborn met with the Osage delegation..."
"Trying to win the Osage trust, Jefferson asked the chiefs what the U.S. government could do for them. Chief Cheveux Blancs told Jefferson that their biggest problem was the division within the Big Osage tribe: two years before, he said, four hundred warriors and their families - around one thousand Osage - had left their native land on the Osage River and moved to Arkansas. Cheveux Blancs said they needed help to bring their tribe back together. Jefferson assured the chief that the U.S. government wanted the Osage to live in peace and harmony and that his representatives would do what they could to help reunite their tribe."
"Reuniting the Osage was just one of the jobs given to Pierre Chouteau when President Jefferson appointed him Indian agent for the tribes of upper Louisiana. Besides trying to heal the breach in the Big Osage nation, Jefferson's government hoped that the Osage and other tribes could be converted into farmers. Jefferson told Chouteau to furnish the Osage with 'ploughs, hoes, axes, spinning wheels, looms, and other necessary materials' to help them change their Indian way of life. Not recognizing that the Osage were a seminomadic, hunting, and warring nation, Jefferson thought they could become peaceful and 'civilized."
So began our American involvement with the Plains Indians.
Clair
Some notes out of The Osage in Missouri, by Kristie Wolfeman:
"Captain Lewis...asked Chouteau to escort an Osage delegation to visit President Jefferson. U.S. officials had planned to meet with the Osage even before the Louisiana Purchase had been made. Now that the Osage were on U.S. territory, it seemed extremely important that the federal government develop a good relationship with them.
"Both the Osage bound for Washington, D.C., and the Lewis and Clark expedition prepared to embark in May of 1804...in July,...Chouteau and the Osage chiefs arrived in Washington. President Jefferson and Secretary of War Henry Dearborn met with the Osage delegation..."
"Trying to win the Osage trust, Jefferson asked the chiefs what the U.S. government could do for them. Chief Cheveux Blancs told Jefferson that their biggest problem was the division within the Big Osage tribe: two years before, he said, four hundred warriors and their families - around one thousand Osage - had left their native land on the Osage River and moved to Arkansas. Cheveux Blancs said they needed help to bring their tribe back together. Jefferson assured the chief that the U.S. government wanted the Osage to live in peace and harmony and that his representatives would do what they could to help reunite their tribe."
"Reuniting the Osage was just one of the jobs given to Pierre Chouteau when President Jefferson appointed him Indian agent for the tribes of upper Louisiana. Besides trying to heal the breach in the Big Osage nation, Jefferson's government hoped that the Osage and other tribes could be converted into farmers. Jefferson told Chouteau to furnish the Osage with 'ploughs, hoes, axes, spinning wheels, looms, and other necessary materials' to help them change their Indian way of life. Not recognizing that the Osage were a seminomadic, hunting, and warring nation, Jefferson thought they could become peaceful and 'civilized."
So began our American involvement with the Plains Indians.
Clair