Post by emilylevine on Mar 24, 2011 16:19:03 GMT -5
In another section, someone was asking about Frisking Elk. Here's some of what I have:
from Josephine Waggoner (writing about the trip members of her family took from Fort Buford to Standing Rock in the summer of 1881--the surrender of the Canadian Lakota's):
"The journey down the river in boats was pleasant and without any trouble my grandmother told me, only that a woman drowned near Fort Berthold, also a baby. There were two men tried to escape when the boats landed for dinner: Heȟaka Škalmani, Playing Elk, and Čhetaŋȟota, Gray Hawk. The soldiers shot at them but they kept on running for the woods. Playing Elk was shot in the leg and fell; his leg had to be amputated—he walked with crutches. He died near Wakpala years later. The other man got away. He was Mnikȟowožu. He joined his band down at Cherry Creek."
"My uncle Grasping Eagle told of the trip down the river from Buford to Standing Rock. The boats stopped at noon to cook dinner. Coffee was made in boilers, bread and meat was served by the soldiers to the Indians. Everybody had plenty to eat. North of Bismarck, Hočhoka, or Village Center and another man who had been kept locked up on suspicion broke loose and made a dash for liberty. They ran in plain sight for the timber; the sentries fired shots after them but they continued to run till Village Center was shot in the leg, breaking it. He fell, but his partner disappeared into the timber. The wounded man was brought to the boat; his leg was amputated below the knee at Standing Rock. He lived many years at Standing Rock and died in 1911 at Wakpala. The other man was a Sans Arc and reached his people at the Cheyenne River agency that fall."
please respect: © JOSEPHINE WAGGONER
My notes:
"20. Heȟaka Škalmani translates as Playing or Frisking Elk (Škalmani meaning to act in a playful way; the word škehaŋ is often used to describe a frisky or playful animal). In the following chapter, The Surrender, Waggoner refers to the man who, rather than surrender and face life as a prisoner, risked death in his escape attempt as Village Center (Hočhoka), whom she also states died at Wakpala. Playing or Frisking Elk. We know from advertisements for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1885 that a one legged man named Frisking Elk was part of the show. He was interviewed by the Buffalo Daily Courier who wrote: “Frisking Elk has long been one of Sitting Bull’s most sagacious spies. He was several times captured by government troops and escaped. On one occasion he was surrounded and refusing to surrender was fired at simultaneously by an entire squadron of cavalry under Major Galbraith. His horse was killed instantly and badly riddled. Frisking Elk himself was terribly wounded but he stoically endured the fatigues of a journey. . . on a travois before he reached Standing Rock where his right leg was amputated by Dr. Quinlan. Though he has only one leg, he is yet the best horse man in the Sioux nation” (“Greek Meets Greek: A Thrilling and Romantic Encounter Between Redskin and Pale Face Chieftains,” June 13, 1885). We catch up with Frisking Elk in the 1922-1923 Standing Rock Family Information Surveys and find him, at age sixty-nine, on his allotment three miles southwest of Kenel living with his wife in a one room log house. The couple has eleven horses, seven head of cattle, and nine chickens; they have planted an acre and a half of potatoes. The surveyor recorded: “This man has only one leg but is doing good. He uses his individual money to good advantage and has fenced his entire allotment. He receives an allowance from the sale of lands and therefore lives comfortable” (NARA-KC, Standing Rock Records, Box OS35). In Waggoner’s later account of the escape, she writes that the man who made it safely to the Cheyenne River reservation, Gray Hawk, was Sans Arc, not Mnikȟowožu.
please respect: © Emily Levine
I made this image into a PDF so it would be big enough to read---but now I can't remember how to attach a PDF...
from Josephine Waggoner (writing about the trip members of her family took from Fort Buford to Standing Rock in the summer of 1881--the surrender of the Canadian Lakota's):
"The journey down the river in boats was pleasant and without any trouble my grandmother told me, only that a woman drowned near Fort Berthold, also a baby. There were two men tried to escape when the boats landed for dinner: Heȟaka Škalmani, Playing Elk, and Čhetaŋȟota, Gray Hawk. The soldiers shot at them but they kept on running for the woods. Playing Elk was shot in the leg and fell; his leg had to be amputated—he walked with crutches. He died near Wakpala years later. The other man got away. He was Mnikȟowožu. He joined his band down at Cherry Creek."
"My uncle Grasping Eagle told of the trip down the river from Buford to Standing Rock. The boats stopped at noon to cook dinner. Coffee was made in boilers, bread and meat was served by the soldiers to the Indians. Everybody had plenty to eat. North of Bismarck, Hočhoka, or Village Center and another man who had been kept locked up on suspicion broke loose and made a dash for liberty. They ran in plain sight for the timber; the sentries fired shots after them but they continued to run till Village Center was shot in the leg, breaking it. He fell, but his partner disappeared into the timber. The wounded man was brought to the boat; his leg was amputated below the knee at Standing Rock. He lived many years at Standing Rock and died in 1911 at Wakpala. The other man was a Sans Arc and reached his people at the Cheyenne River agency that fall."
please respect: © JOSEPHINE WAGGONER
My notes:
"20. Heȟaka Škalmani translates as Playing or Frisking Elk (Škalmani meaning to act in a playful way; the word škehaŋ is often used to describe a frisky or playful animal). In the following chapter, The Surrender, Waggoner refers to the man who, rather than surrender and face life as a prisoner, risked death in his escape attempt as Village Center (Hočhoka), whom she also states died at Wakpala. Playing or Frisking Elk. We know from advertisements for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in 1885 that a one legged man named Frisking Elk was part of the show. He was interviewed by the Buffalo Daily Courier who wrote: “Frisking Elk has long been one of Sitting Bull’s most sagacious spies. He was several times captured by government troops and escaped. On one occasion he was surrounded and refusing to surrender was fired at simultaneously by an entire squadron of cavalry under Major Galbraith. His horse was killed instantly and badly riddled. Frisking Elk himself was terribly wounded but he stoically endured the fatigues of a journey. . . on a travois before he reached Standing Rock where his right leg was amputated by Dr. Quinlan. Though he has only one leg, he is yet the best horse man in the Sioux nation” (“Greek Meets Greek: A Thrilling and Romantic Encounter Between Redskin and Pale Face Chieftains,” June 13, 1885). We catch up with Frisking Elk in the 1922-1923 Standing Rock Family Information Surveys and find him, at age sixty-nine, on his allotment three miles southwest of Kenel living with his wife in a one room log house. The couple has eleven horses, seven head of cattle, and nine chickens; they have planted an acre and a half of potatoes. The surveyor recorded: “This man has only one leg but is doing good. He uses his individual money to good advantage and has fenced his entire allotment. He receives an allowance from the sale of lands and therefore lives comfortable” (NARA-KC, Standing Rock Records, Box OS35). In Waggoner’s later account of the escape, she writes that the man who made it safely to the Cheyenne River reservation, Gray Hawk, was Sans Arc, not Mnikȟowožu.
please respect: © Emily Levine
I made this image into a PDF so it would be big enough to read---but now I can't remember how to attach a PDF...
