Cedar Island Post, 1809-1810

[ephriam]

I wonder if the following two winter count entries relate to Manuel Lisa's Cedar Island fur trading post:

Tradition 4
- Iron Crow, 1805: Wowapi ota oyate okiju. The people came together with many flags. (Walker, 1982:131)
Tradition 5
- Red Horse Owner, 1810: Wowapi ota oyate okiju. Many bands of Indians got together. All had the flags. (Karol, 1969:26, 59)
Tradition 6
- Cloud Shield, 1807: Many people camped together and had many flags flying. (Mallery, 1886)
Tradition 7
- American Horse, 1805: The Dakotas had a council with the whites on the Missouri River, below the Cheyenne Agency, near the mouth of Bad Creek. (Mallery, 1886)

The above entries may relate to the re-establishment of the trading post on Cedar Island by Manuel Lisa in summer of 1809, at the site previously operated by Loisel. The location was below the mouth of Bad River. It was not unusual for early fur trappers to use gifts of flags to headman as part of their business procedures.

Tradition 1:
- No Ears, 1810: Capa ciqa ti ile. Little Beaver's Lodge Burned.
Tradition 3:
- White Cow Killer, 1809: Little Beaver's house burned down.
Tradition 4:
- Iron Crow, 1808: Capa ciqa gu kin. Little Beaver burned.
Tradition 6:
- Cloud Shield, 1809: Little Beaver's house was burned.
Tradition 7:
- American Horse, 1808: Little Beaver's trading house was burned down.

Similar entries are also in Battiste Good, Iron Shell, Rosebud, White Bull, Flame, Lone Dog, Swan, Long Soldier, Major Bush and Swan's wintercounts. This set of entries may relate to the burning of the Cedar Island post in the spring of 1810. The post was rebuilt and reopened in the fall of 1811.

Any thoughts?
ephriam

[kingsleybray]

Ephriam

I think the Many Flags entries refer to the August 1807 gathering of Lakotas near the mouth of White river, more than 300 lodges. The delegation that had gone to St. Louis to counsel with Wm Clark returned here with a military escort and subagent Pierre Dorion. Flags are specifically mentioned as being among the presents given the chiefs in St. Louis. See my 'Singing the Big Belly Song' article, p. 91.

The American Horse entry feels like a conflation of this event and the Lewis & Clark encounter of 1804. Red Horse Owner has it misdated, but several of RHO's entries are scrambled in sequence.

Lisa went up the Missouri in 1807 and may have outfitted Loisel's old Cedar Island post, but that location was above the White river and the Great Bend. At some point in the Lisa years the Cedar Island post and name got relocated downstream to a point nearer White river. I'm not sure when in the sequence it happened, though. Maybe the 1811 rebuild was the opportunity.

[ephriam]

Thank you, Kingsley. Your 1807 delegation reference for the first set of wintercount entries makes more sense.

Incidentally, if you have not read Kingsley's article, it is a masterful piece on early Lakota diplomacy during the years between Lewis and Clark Expedition and the 1825 Treaty. The full citation is: "Singing the Big Belly Song": The Making of the Robe Trade Alliance with the Lakota, Museum of the Fur Trade Quarterly, vol. 43 no. 3/4 (Fall/Winter 2007) pp. 88-99.

Another important reference for this period is Harry H. Anderson's article, "The Diplomacy of Lewis and Clark among the Teton Sioux, 1804-1807," and his following piece, "Transcript of William Clark's Council with the Sioux, 22 May 1807, Saint Louis, Missouri," both in South Dakota History Vol. 35, No. 1 (spring 2005).

If you are interested in early Lakota history, both of these would be important additions to your library!

[kingsleybray]

There has been much controversy about the identity of the early traders identified in the winter counts over period 1790-1810.

Little Beaver has been I think mis-identified as Regis Loisel. In fact according to Edward Curtis's notations to the High Hawk winter count, Dorion family descendants stated that Little Beaver was the name for Pierre Dorion, Jr. (1780-1814).

And although not at the proof level, I think the most plausible id for the Good White Man is Pierre Dorion, Sr (1740-1810). He married a Yankton woman, Holy Rainbow, c. 1780, and their extensive family included Pierre, Jr.