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Post by kingsleybray on Jun 15, 2011 4:58:49 GMT -5
The following is edited from a message I placed on the Chief Smoke and his family thread (Oglala). Since it is on a Cheyenne issue I've placed it here too. Anyone with ideas or facts on the Masikota and other early Cheyenne bands, it would be fun to kick them about. So here is my take on one of the four primary bands of the Cheyenne tribe. According to Mooney, those primary bands were
1. Heviqsnipahis 2. Hevataniu 3. Masikota 4. Omisis.
The autonomous Suhtai 'tribe' joined the Cheyennes forming a fifth primary band.
The book by John H. Moore on the Cheyennes, THE CHEYENNE NATION (Uni. Nebraska Press, 1987) is a landmark work, full of provocative interpretations and a Big Picture Awareness of the sorts of social change that the Plains Indians went through as they adapted to a changing world, both of new opportunities and new challenges. We need that sort of long perspective when sorting through the minutiae of band histories and genealogies.
After Grinnell and a few remarks in the Bent-Hyde letters, Moore's treatment is about all we have. I don't see quite eye-to-eye with some of his use of the colonial period documentary sources. What I think is clear, and I agree with Moore, is that the Masikota were the last band to cross the Missouri and join the emerging Cheyenne nation out near the Black Hills; and that before that the Masikota had a kind of joint-ethnic status as both Cheyenne and Lakota.
My dating for the Masikota unequivocally joining the Cheyenne nation would be somewhat earlier than Moore's, however. He suggests it is somewhere between the Lewis & Clark expedition (1804-06) and the battle with the Kiowas and Comanches on Wolf Creek in 1838, at which Grinnell and Bent allude to Masikota involvement. However, by Moore's own statement elsewhere in THE CHEYENNE NATION (sorry copy not to hand with page ref's!) he mentions that chief High-Back Wolf I, killed 1833 and by evidence of Catlin's portrait probably born in the 1780s, was by birth a Masikota, the son of a chief in the Council of 44. That strongly suggests that the Masikota were a part of the Cheyenne tribe by the 1780s. Karl Schlesier, in his paper on the Sun Dance, also suggests a date in the 1780s for Masikota incorporation into the Cheyenne nation.
I am working on a study of the history of the Lakota bands and the creation of the seven Teton tribes, and I don't want to preempt too much. Also as said my ideas on the Masikota are only now crystalising, but I would see them as living on the coteau des prairies of sw Minnesota and ne South Dakota through the mid-18th c. They may have been the band with a village on Big Stone Lake that was abandoned in about the 1720s (the fences and plots were still visible when the Miniconjou took them over about 1740-J.Waggoner papers). Like Moore I see them in a kind of symbiosis with certain Lakota groups. I would propose that the link was mainly with the Miniconjou and proto-Sans Arc. As pressures grew in this region through the middle 1700s, climaxing with a raid by the Red Lake Chippewas about the early 1780s, the attractions of permanently joining the Cheyenne nation (horses, abundant buffalo etc.) became irresistible. Grinnell has a story about the founding of the Cheyenne tribal Council of 44 that dates it to the 1780s. I'm sure the chiefs' council existed in some form before that date, but may we see its formalisation as reflecting the incorporation of the last primary band to join the Cheyenne nation?
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Post by Dietmar on Jun 24, 2011 8:50:02 GMT -5
Kingsley,
thanks for digging in the Cheyenne history.
I read Mooney´s list (the Cheyenne spelling differs from source to source) as:
1. Aorta band 2. Hair Rope Men 3. Flexed Legs People 4. Eaters (Northern Eaters) 5. Suhtai
When I read your post I wondered if the bond between the Cheyenne and Lakota forming the Masikotas could have been born out of the same reason the Dog Soldiers have transformed into a Cheyenne/Lakota band, memberships in a warrior society.
Then I looked in John Moore´s book (page 238/239) and, voila, he speculates the same way. He argues that the Masikotas in the beginning were a military society that later grew to an own band (like the Dog Men). He names the Kit Fox Society as the group continuing from the same source among the Lakotas.
Also interesting, the Masikotas had at least two sub-groups, the older Oktogena (Bare-legged) band, and the Hownowas or Poor People (aka Red Lodges).
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Post by Dietmar on Jun 24, 2011 9:20:30 GMT -5
Here´s one of those many charts from Moore´s book (page 87): Not easy to interpret, but as I see it there were several times in Cheyenne history when bands were formed between Lakota and Cheyenne people.
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Post by kingsleybray on Jun 24, 2011 10:03:05 GMT -5
Yes, Dietmar, men's societies must have constituted one important vector for the transmission of cultural traits between related and 'hybridised' bands. I am busy working out some of the implications of the Kit Fox society in this role, but the process continued on into the 19th c. The aftermath of the cholera epidemic of 1849 led to significant changes for the Masikota band. Famously, they became assimilated to the Cheyenne Dog Soldier society - less famously, they tightened their links to Lakota groups via the Kit Fox channel. Here are my working notes on this last (?) c. 1850 manifestation of the ancient link:
Building on John Moore (Cheyenne Nation, and John Moore email to KMB 17/06/2006) I suggest that in 1849-50, after the cholera epidemic of summer 1849, the Masikota band were seriously depleted in population. Their sub-bands (Oktogona and Hownowa) were almost wiped out, and the main band lost many families. Consequently, possibly at the Sun Dance season of 1850, the surviving Masikota made a number of strategic alliances with fellow tribesfolk and with Lakota allies. It is important to understand that these alliances were marked by sustained intermarriages by generational cohorts from respective bands; and moreover that these marriages were articulated through membership in men’s societies. The Masikota band featured many Kit Fox society members. At a great gathering that included probably both Brule and Oglala Lakota besides Cheyenne, a significant number of Cheyenne Kit Fox men married Lakota women (Moore e-mail). This intermarriage probably followed warrior society membership, linking Cheyenne families to Lakota families identified with their tribal Kit Fox societies, reflected in the ongoing “special relationship” between the Kit Fox societies of each tribal nation (Moore CN p. 238). Its net result was a significant influx of Lakota women into the Cheyenne (Masikota band).
Just want to say, I'm leaving on vacation for a couple of weeks, and will be out of e-contact. Looking forward to seeing the dvelopments on American-tribes. com when I return. Best wishes to all
Kingsley
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Post by Dietmar on Jun 24, 2011 10:18:45 GMT -5
Peter J. Powell gives the name of the Poor People band´s chief, member of the council of the 44, in the 1850s and 1860s as Big Head aka Curly Hair. He died in 1869.
Have a nice vacation, Kingsley!
P.S.: Big Head or Curly Hair was probably the chief who was seized by George A. Custer in the spring of 1869. He shortly after was killed along with Lean Face by soldiers in Ft. Hayes, Kansas. (see: Powell, People of the Sacred Mountain, page 205)
After the cholera epidemic described in Kingsley´s post , at the renewing of the Council of the 44 in 1854, Buffalo Chief was the chief representing the Masikota band, then already part of the Dog Men. (see: Powell, page 187)
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Mike
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Former name was Ghost Eagle
Posts: 50
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Post by Mike on Mar 25, 2018 0:58:59 GMT -5
...I am busy working out some of the implications of the Kit Fox society in this role, but the process continued on into the 19th c.... Hi kingsleybray, Did you ever come to a conclusion on this? I've just recently learned of the Kit Fox ties to the Moiseyu band and Moore's eyeopening way of looking at the tribal circle, including the societies in it with their traditional places. Add to that the mentions of the Lakota and Cheyenne Kit Foxes as if they were in the same society, I have a ton of questions. I'll only pose a few here though. I'd love to see you elaborate on these inter-acting relationships. Was this 'brotherly' connection with Lakota and Cheyenne Kit Foxes unique or are there any other two societies with cross-tribal ties? One last question, on Moore's drawing of the tribal circle with the societies placed alongside the bands, he has the Bowstrings closest to the opening (on the east side) and the Kit Foxes are in the SW. I have always understood the Kit Fox Society to be the oldest and senior society. I've read of them giving orders to other societies even when not acting as camp police. Then the Dog Soldiers are alongside the Omisis near the end of the circle, should they not be alongside the Masikota?
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Post by kingsleybray on Mar 25, 2018 4:11:19 GMT -5
well Ghost Eagle the Cheyenne and Lakota Kit Foxes were definitely related. Their songs were the same -- melodically; and, I think, in the meaning of some of the lyrics. The Lakota Miwatani society (also known as Owl Feather Headdress society and the Iyuptala) was the Lakota version of the Dog society, which is found in most of the Plains tribes. So the Miwatani society was connected to the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. In 1849 the Brule, Oglala and Cheyenne (or elements of them) held a great gathering on the North Platte river (near forks of Platte) in which the Dog-Miwatani society held renewal ceremonies. There were marriages linking the Cheyenne and Lakota society members (marrying each others' sisters, for instance), and also hunka adoptions. An example: Two Strike, the Brule Miwatani headman, was made a Shirt Wearer (with Spotted Tail) at this gathering. He adopted a couple of Cheyenne girls as his hunka relatives, then agreed the marriage of one of them to his comrade Spotted Tail. This information is from friends at Rosebud Reservation -- pilamayaye, mitakolapi.
There seem to me to be some links between the Cheyenne Elk or Crooked Lance society and the Wiciska society, but I'm only beginning to unravel some of this stuff. Hope this helps.
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Mike
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Former name was Ghost Eagle
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Post by Mike on Mar 26, 2018 23:37:27 GMT -5
It certainly does help. I’d always thought the dog societies connections were just insofar as the initial borrowing of the dress, customs and songs, I never imagined it was an ongoing connection with the Lakota/Cheyenne. Knowing that they held a joint renewal ceremony is eyeopening for me, that is a big change in how I see the societies now. Thanks for that. I had this bookmarked but had forgotten about it, so it does sound like the Elkhorns and Wiciska had a similar relationship as you said, or does this sound like he was a member of the actual Cheyenne Elkhorns?: "I belonged to the Crooked Lances, of which society Young-They-Fear-Even-His-Horses, a Sioux, was also a member.” Hyde, George E.. Life of George Bent: Written from His Letters (pp. 200-201) *Yes I changed the misinterpretation ‘Young-Man-Afraid-Of-His-Horses' to his correct name I wonder if an especially large number of Miwatani joined the Dog Soldiers autonomous faction because of this added connection? Based on what I read that the Dogs were roughly 1/4 Lakota anyway, does that many sound about right or was it less? The Dog Soldier band seized the Four Arrows after Sand Creek and gave the Kit Foxes the role of 'special protectors', this is an indicator of how much of an influence the Kit Foxes still had in the Dog Soldier band/proto-nation. So with the Masikota having a Lakota bloodline within it, the Miwatani having a special society based relationship with the Dog Soldiers, I wonder how many Lakota lodges there were in the Dog Soldier faction? Do you know how many of the Oglala and Brulé joined up with the Dog Soldiers? Or how many of the Masikota Lodges were Lakota? I want to share these quotes from the Major Wynkoop testimony during the Sand Creek commission, as they relate to the merged Dog Soldier/Masikota band size and its Sioux contingent, as evidence in trying to find out how much of it was Lakota (apologies if it is an already known thing, I've just never seen it before) "I questioned One-Eye further, and he said that the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, and forty lodges of Sioux, were congregated together on the headwaters of the Smoky Hill, at a place known as "The bunch of timber;" that they numbered about two thousand." "After four days' march I came in sight of the Indians, who were located on a tributary of the Smoky Hill. I found about seven hundred or eight hundred warriors drawn up in line of battle, and judged, from their appearance at the time, that they were making hostile demonstrations." "On the 28th day of November, while on the plains, I was overtaken by three Indians, namely, No-ta-ne (an Arapahoe) and two others. No-ta-ne stated that he had been sent by Black Kettle to overtake me and warn me that some two hundred Sioux had left the headwaters of the Smoky Hill, and had gone down to strike the road between where I was and Fort Larned, for the purpose of making war upon the whites; that, if I had not a sufficient escort, I had better return to Fort Lyon." "I also told Black Kettle that I wanted him to bring me in the three remaining white captives as soon as possible, which he promised to do, but said it would take some time; as they were off at a distance, but that he would send Bull Bear (a portion of whose band they were with) after them, with instructions to return as soon as possible." "JOHN W. PROWERS called in by the commission to give evidence. The oath being administered according to law, he (Prowers) testified as follows: Question. What are known among the Cheyennes as "Dog soldiers?" Answer. A band that ranges on the Platte. I never have seen them but once at this place. They came here in 1856, and drew their presents from Major Robert Miller, Indian agent, and have not been back here since. They live most of the time on the Smoky Hill and Republican, and have done their trading altogether on the Platte, sometimes on the North and sometimes on the South Platte. They have done no trading on this river, nor with any one from here, to my knowledge, since 1856. They have been sent for often, but would never come into this place, for some reason of difficulty between themselves and other bands of Cheyennes. They have drawn off from Black Kettle's band, and refused to have anything to do with him, and have appointed their own trading man. They do not claim any connection to Black Kettle's band whatever. They have often tried to persuade Black Kettle's band to go north of the Platte to their old lands between the Platte and the Missouri river. Black Kettle always refused and never would go. They (the Dog soldiers) being a large band, have often threatened to take all the Indians north of the Platte by force. They (the Dog soldiers) have always been very mean to white traders, always wanting to make the traders trade as they (the Dog soldiers) pleased. They have often thrown the traders' goods into the fire." "Question. What portion of the Cheyenne Indians are known as Dog soldiers? Answer. A strong band, in the neighborhood of a hundred lodges. Question. Where were the Dog soldiers last summer and fall? Answer. On the Smoky Hill and the Republican, I understood; I don't know positively. A portion of them I understood were over there when Wynkoop went over, but only a portion." So only a 'portion' of Bull Bear's Dog Soldiers were present and it has 40 Sioux lodges with them in one case and 200 Sioux warriors possibly in another case. I have read that Oglala and Brulé camped with them at times, so that may be part of the 200. However if John W. Prowers (who was a white married to One-eyes' daughter) says that they were a 100 lodge band and if 40 Sioux lodges were with them, that's pretty significant.
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Post by frenchman on May 12, 2018 8:17:16 GMT -5
Greetings from France , the tread about the bands of the Cheyenne tribe ,especially Masikota group , is very interesting and I have learn very much about their relations with the Lakota ! I knew since a long time the main bands of that tribe but I always want to learn more because I have read elsewhere different stories that I would understood : 1)It seems that sometimes some families used to camp apart of the main band of which they were members ; these groups , maybe sub-bands , had their own name and I would like to know to what main band they belonged and possibly their headmen and their history . These groups are (but maybe there are others ): -NAKOIMANA (the Bear People ) -WOKPOTSIS (the White Cunning ) -NOTAMIN (the Northward Facing ) -TATOIMANA (the Shy People) of which chief was Buffalo Chief I had also heard about a White Wolf band ? 2)In 1850 Thadeus.A.Culbertson said that the tribe was divided in 3 bands : -Dog Soldiers band -Half Breed Band -Yellow Wolf Band What bands (except for the Dog Soldiers) composed the two others bands ? Many thanks !
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Mike
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Former name was Ghost Eagle
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Post by Mike on May 20, 2018 1:52:18 GMT -5
Frenchman, The following books will answer those questions better than I and many many more, I'm still learning from them. I continually look to them for information about the Cheyenne. I can tell you that the Cheyenne gradually separated into the Northern Cheyenne and the Southern Cheyenne, by the 1840's this was geographically complete, but they still came together for battle and ceremonies. The Dog Soldier/Masikota became essentially another division of the tribe, so yes ultimately there were 3, Northern, Southern and Dog Soldiers. We can continue this in the Cheyenne thread if you like.
The Cheyenne Indians Vol. 1 and 2, Grinnell Life of George Bent: Written From His Letters, Hyde The Fighting Cheyenne, Grinnell The Cheyenne Nation: A Social and Demographic History, Moore Bent's Fort, Lavender
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eric
New Member
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Post by eric on Aug 19, 2018 11:18:31 GMT -5
well Ghost Eagle the Cheyenne and Lakota Kit Foxes were definitely related. Their songs were the same -- melodically; and, I think, in the meaning of some of the lyrics. The Lakota Miwatani society (also known as Owl Feather Headdress society and the Iyuptala) was the Lakota version of the Dog society, which is found in most of the Plains tribes. So the Miwatani society was connected to the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. In 1849 the Brule, Oglala and Cheyenne (or elements of them) held a great gathering on the North Platte river (near forks of Platte) in which the Dog-Miwatani society held renewal ceremonies. There were marriages linking the Cheyenne and Lakota society members (marrying each others' sisters, for instance), and also hunka adoptions. An example: Two Strike, the Brule Miwatani headman, was made a Shirt Wearer (with Spotted Tail) at this gathering. He adopted a couple of Cheyenne girls as his hunka relatives, then agreed the marriage of one of them to his comrade Spotted Tail. This information is from friends at Rosebud Reservation -- pilamayaye, mitakolapi. There seem to me to be some links between the Cheyenne Elk or Crooked Lance society and the Wiciska society, but I'm only beginning to unravel some of this stuff. Hope this helps. According to Wissler the Wiciska was brought by Man Afraid from a northern tribe. Most likely the Crow since 2 of the lances are shown in several ledger drawings as being side by side blue and red double lances as the Crow had. The Wiciska was thus of relatively recent date, possibly adopted during the period you named "Lone horn's peace"
Regaliawise they have straight and crooked otterskin wrapped lances in common with the Elkhorn scrapers but then so did many other plains societies. Wissler also states that the Wiciska was closely related to the Ihoka and sotka yuha which were als credited as having northern tribes origins. What they all have in common is marshals (with or without the notched whips) that govern the dance from horseback and no special body or face paint.
The two bonnets of the Wiciska do not fit with either Elk's, Ihoka or Sotka but are closer to the Cante tinza complex (in my opinion closer related to the Dog/Miwatanni society). The Wiciska, Ihoka and sotka also share songs.
Since we can assume that the adoption was in the 50's, if there is a connection with the Elkhorn scrapers it is probably af an even later than it's adoption.
Young man Afraid was a member of the Elkhorn scrapers so if there is a connection it may be more through this family tie than anything else.
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Post by hreinn on Aug 30, 2019 20:15:42 GMT -5
We have: 1. Red Lodges as a sub-band in Masikota band among Cheyenne 2. Red Lodge as a sub-band in Hunkpatila band among Oglala Lakota
Possible explanations: 1. It was a coincidence that two different sub-bands had the same name 2. There was a relation between these two Red Lodges sub-bands 3. This was the same group of people who fluctuated between Masikota and Hunkpatila
In either posibility 2 or 3, it just happened that these people visited their relatives or stayed among Hunkpatila, when Culbertson gathered his information in 1850.
Culbertson lists Yellow Eagle as a principal man among Red Lodge (who was known belong to Hunkpatila band). Culbertson lists Red Lodge as a band among Oglala. Culbertson does not give Hunkpatila as a band name among Oglala, even though that was the case. Kingsley Bray listed Red Lodge as a sub-band of Hunkpatila band in the thread Oglala Band Structure.
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Post by hreinn on Aug 31, 2019 8:11:56 GMT -5
In 1849, Masikota suffered heavily from the cholera bacteria epidemic. Following that, the surviving Masikota people moved to Dog Soldiers and took a shelter there. Perhaps part of Masikota, the sub-band Red Lodges, moved temporarily/permanently to Hunkpatila Oglala ? And therefore in 1850, Culbertson wrote down Red Lodge band among Oglala ?
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Mike
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Former name was Ghost Eagle
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Post by Mike on Sept 8, 2019 19:23:40 GMT -5
well Ghost Eagle the Cheyenne and Lakota Kit Foxes were definitely related. Their songs were the same -- melodically; and, I think, in the meaning of some of the lyrics. The Lakota Miwatani society (also known as Owl Feather Headdress society and the Iyuptala) was the Lakota version of the Dog society, which is found in most of the Plains tribes. So the Miwatani society was connected to the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. In 1849 the Brule, Oglala and Cheyenne (or elements of them) held a great gathering on the North Platte river (near forks of Platte) in which the Dog-Miwatani society held renewal ceremonies. There were marriages linking the Cheyenne and Lakota society members (marrying each others' sisters, for instance), and also hunka adoptions. An example: Two Strike, the Brule Miwatani headman, was made a Shirt Wearer (with Spotted Tail) at this gathering. He adopted a couple of Cheyenne girls as his hunka relatives, then agreed the marriage of one of them to his comrade Spotted Tail. This information is from friends at Rosebud Reservation -- pilamayaye, mitakolapi. There seem to me to be some links between the Cheyenne Elk or Crooked Lance society and the Wiciska society, but I'm only beginning to unravel some of this stuff. Hope this helps. According to Wissler the Wiciska was brought by Man Afraid from a northern tribe. Most likely the Crow since 2 of the lances are shown in several ledger drawings as being side by side blue and red double lances as the Crow had. The Wiciska was thus of relatively recent date, possibly adopted during the period you named "Lone horn's peace"
Regaliawise they have straight and crooked otterskin wrapped lances in common with the Elkhorn scrapers but then so did many other plains societies. Wissler also states that the Wiciska was closely related to the Ihoka and sotka yuha which were als credited as having northern tribes origins. What they all have in common is marshals (with or without the notched whips) that govern the dance from horseback and no special body or face paint.
The two bonnets of the Wiciska do not fit with either Elk's, Ihoka or Sotka but are closer to the Cante tinza complex (in my opinion closer related to the Dog/Miwatanni society). The Wiciska, Ihoka and sotka also share songs.
Since we can assume that the adoption was in the 50's, if there is a connection with the Elkhorn scrapers it is probably af an even later than it's adoption.
Young man Afraid was a member of the Elkhorn scrapers so if there is a connection it may be more through this family tie than anything else.
I have read that Man Whose Horses Are Feared joined the Elk Horn Scrapers of the Northern Cheyenne, but this happened in 1865 in the big Powder River camps after Sand Creek, Platte Bridge and Julesburg, before the Southern Cheyenne returned back to the south in early 1866. Apparently this joining of each other's societies did not affect ones membership in another society and was not uncommon. I've since learned all about the Crazy Dogs and the Strong Hearts having a very close affinity and Red Cloud turned in a Crazy Dog warbonnet (headpiece of ermine tails and strips, two antelope pronghorns and a single, centered eagle feather trailer) as proof that Crazy Horse was willing to surrender. Also Roman Nose was a northern Elk and his leading Dog Soldier warparties didn't affect that status. If Man Whose Horses Are Feared brought this, surely it was the older one, but still that seems late for the Oglala to acquire the Wiciska. Where did he say this at?
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Post by redbear on Sept 26, 2019 0:18:49 GMT -5
The following is edited from a message I placed on the Chief Smoke and his family thread (Oglala). Since it is on a Cheyenne issue I've placed it here too. Anyone with ideas or facts on the Masikota and other early Cheyenne bands, it would be fun to kick them about. So here is my take on one of the four primary bands of the Cheyenne tribe. According to Mooney, those primary bands were 1. Heviqsnipahis 2. Hevataniu 3. Masikota 4. Omisis. The autonomous Suhtai 'tribe' joined the Cheyennes forming a fifth primary band. The book by John H. Moore on the Cheyennes, THE CHEYENNE NATION (Uni. Nebraska Press, 1987) is a landmark work, full of provocative interpretations and a Big Picture Awareness of the sorts of social change that the Plains Indians went through as they adapted to a changing world, both of new opportunities and new challenges. We need that sort of long perspective when sorting through the minutiae of band histories and genealogies. After Grinnell and a few remarks in the Bent-Hyde letters, Moore's treatment is about all we have. I don't see quite eye-to-eye with some of his use of the colonial period documentary sources. What I think is clear, and I agree with Moore, is that the Masikota were the last band to cross the Missouri and join the emerging Cheyenne nation out near the Black Hills; and that before that the Masikota had a kind of joint-ethnic status as both Cheyenne and Lakota. My dating for the Masikota unequivocally joining the Cheyenne nation would be somewhat earlier than Moore's, however. He suggests it is somewhere between the Lewis & Clark expedition (1804-06) and the battle with the Kiowas and Comanches on Wolf Creek in 1838, at which Grinnell and Bent allude to Masikota involvement. However, by Moore's own statement elsewhere in THE CHEYENNE NATION (sorry copy not to hand with page ref's!) he mentions that chief High-Back Wolf I, killed 1833 and by evidence of Catlin's portrait probably born in the 1780s, was by birth a Masikota, the son of a chief in the Council of 44. That strongly suggests that the Masikota were a part of the Cheyenne tribe by the 1780s. Karl Schlesier, in his paper on the Sun Dance, also suggests a date in the 1780s for Masikota incorporation into the Cheyenne nation. I am working on a study of the history of the Lakota bands and the creation of the seven Teton tribes, and I don't want to preempt too much. Also as said my ideas on the Masikota are only now crystalising, but I would see them as living on the coteau des prairies of sw Minnesota and ne South Dakota through the mid-18th c. They may have been the band with a village on Big Stone Lake that was abandoned in about the 1720s (the fences and plots were still visible when the Miniconjou took them over about 1740-J.Waggoner papers). Like Moore I see them in a kind of symbiosis with certain Lakota groups. I would propose that the link was mainly with the Miniconjou and proto-Sans Arc. As pressures grew in this region through the middle 1700s, climaxing with a raid by the Red Lake Chippewas about the early 1780s, the attractions of permanently joining the Cheyenne nation (horses, abundant buffalo etc.) became irresistible. Grinnell has a story about the founding of the Cheyenne tribal Council of 44 that dates it to the 1780s. I'm sure the chiefs' council existed in some form before that date, but may we see its formalisation as reflecting the incorporation of the last primary band to join the Cheyenne nation?
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