Post by Dietmar on Dec 28, 2014 9:15:06 GMT -5
Oglala Chief Long Wolf (Shunkmanitu Hanska) had been historically forgotten for about a hundred years, before in 1997 his name was mentioned in several newspaper articles. He died in 1892 as a member of “Buffalo Bill´s” Wild West show in London, England and had been buried there, but in the 1990s his descendants managed to get his remains re-buried at his home on the Pine Ridge reservation.
Long Wolf´s name first was recorded in 1870, when he was part of the delegation led by Red Cloud to Washington, probably a member of the Bad Face contingent.
In his earlier days he must have been in many battles, because it was later noted that his body was scarred by many wounds he received. Hence while he later was with William Cody´s Wild West show he was called “Lame Warrior” : “He was an Indian chief called Shug-a-man-a ´o-Haska or Long Wolf, nicknamed by the tribe of Ogalallas, Lame Warrior.“ (according to Dr. Maitland Coffin, 1892)
The Birmingham Daily Post stated in 1892: “Long Wolf is an “old-time warrior”, with a great record, which served him in good stead as a conciliator of the rebels.”
Some sources state that he was in the Battle at the Little Bighorn as well.
He started as a performer in the Buffalo Bill troupe as early as 1886 and continued to work for Cody until his death in 1892. At least in 1886 he took his family along, his wife Wants, his daughter Lizzie and two younger children.
Although he worked for white men, he continued to keep his traditions as a Lakota Indian. There is a short note, possibly by New York photographer D.H. Anderson or a fellow member of the Wild West show, on Long Wolf in 1886:
“When indians were sent back to reservation at end of season civilian clothes were given to all indians. This chief took the clothes but would not wear them or allow any of his family to wear them. He rolled all the clothes up in a blanket and went home as a real indian. Chief Long Wolf had very little to say to any of the Indians and could not speak English. This was in fall of 1886.”
(hand-written on back of a photo card by David H. Anderson, photographer of New York)
He already was acknowledged as a chief among the Wild West performers in 1886, alongside American Horse and Rocky Bear. Although later Lakotas like No Neck and Rocky Bear were more often cited as leaders of the show Indians, there are other sources that say that Long Wolf was the leading man of the Lakotas with Cody.
When he was not on tour with the show, he was a prominent man on the Pine Ridge reservation, being mentioned as a leading member in the Indian Police service.
According to Sam Maddra´s excellent book “Hostiles?: The Lakota Ghost Dance and Buffalo Bill´s Wild West” (Oklahoma Press) he had been admitted to the West London Hospital on 5 June 1892. He died there six days later, 59 years of age, on June 11th. While some sources say he caught a serious fever or of pneumonia , Maddra´s cites he died “due partly to old age, and partly to trouble caused by his numerous old wounds received in battle”.
He was buried in West Brompton Cemetery on June 13, 1892.
Read the story of his re-burial here:
www.independent.co.uk/news/london-to-wounded-knee-custers-conqueror-goes-home-1240689.html
London to Wounded Knee: Custer's conqueror goes home
An American Indian's dying wish that his body be returned to his tribal homeland is being granted more than a century later. Yesterday a colourful band of his relatives from several generations of the Oglala Sioux nation gathered in Brompton Cemetery, west London, to collect his remains and take them home so his spirit can finally rest. Who was Long Wolf, asks Clare Garner, and why was he buried in London?
Clare Gardner, Tuesday 23 September 1997
The tragic tale of how Long Wolf went to London and never came home is legendary among members of the Oglala Sioux nation. Now, more than a century later, this modern folk story has found a happy ending.
Long Wolf was among the warriors who wiped out General Custer's 7th Cavalry at the battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Retribution from the US forces was swift and the Sioux suffered a shattering defeat. Rather than be rounded up with other survivors, Long Wolf decided to enlist in Colonel "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West Show.
The show, which re-enacted Indian fights, stage coach robberies and buffalo hunts, was a runaway success across the US and Europe, and the audience at the Earl's Court Arena included Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales.
But Long Wolf, then 59, was ailing and, realising his death was imminent, he drew a picture of a wolf and asked for it to be carved on his gravestone. Now, 105 years later, that wolf image still survives. In fact, it turned out to be the vital clue when Elizabeth Knight, a housewife from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, set out six years ago to trace his grave.
When Mrs Knight picked up a dog-eared book in a local antiques market and read a lament on Long Wolf's tragic life and burial, she was so touched that she felt she "just had to do something". Having located his grave, neglected in a lone corner of the crowded cemetery, she set about tracing his descendants. With the help of George Georgeson, the founder of Britain's own American Indian Support Group, Twin Light Trail, she traced Long Wolf's great-grandchildren and discovered that among his own people he was far from forgotten.
In 1993, John Black Feather, 60, a great-grandson of Long Wolf, responded to an advertisement placed by Mrs Knight in a South Dakota newspaper. He was anxious to assist - for "Medicine Men and Holy Men say that the spirit doesn't rest until the body is brought home".
Yesterday, bedecked in an eagle feather head-dress and beaded slippers, he stood in Brompton Cemetery, west London, and spoke of his happiness. "I've been hearing about Long Wolf since I was a little boy. It's sort of like a fairytale story. He's someone I never knew, but my mum talked about - and here I am 60 years later."
His mother, Jessie Black Feather, 87, is Long Wolf's senior surviving descendant. She has always wanted to find her grandfather, but had never known where to begin. Her mother, Lizzie Long Wolf, was 12-years-old when Long Wolf was performing in London. She heard him say, as he lay dying of pneumonia, how much he yearned to go home. And now he is. Generations of relatives, as well as a Medicine Man named Wilmer Mesteth, have flown to Britain to oversee the exhumation of their ancestral chief, as well as those of his 17-month-old daughter, Star Ghost Dog, who was buried with him.
The remains will be taken back home to the Black Hills of Dakota, where they will be wrapped in buffalo hide and laid to rest in his ancestral burial ground, on the open plains of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Wounded Knee.
Yesterday they gathered near his graveside to sing songs: "Takala kun miye ca/ ohitiye waun kun/ wana henamala yelo" ("My people, take courage/ a warrior I have been/ Now I am no more").
another article:
cgi.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/25/chief.long.wolf/
Portraits of Long Wolf:
Please add anything more you have about Long Wolf. Thanks.
Long Wolf´s name first was recorded in 1870, when he was part of the delegation led by Red Cloud to Washington, probably a member of the Bad Face contingent.
In his earlier days he must have been in many battles, because it was later noted that his body was scarred by many wounds he received. Hence while he later was with William Cody´s Wild West show he was called “Lame Warrior” : “He was an Indian chief called Shug-a-man-a ´o-Haska or Long Wolf, nicknamed by the tribe of Ogalallas, Lame Warrior.“ (according to Dr. Maitland Coffin, 1892)
The Birmingham Daily Post stated in 1892: “Long Wolf is an “old-time warrior”, with a great record, which served him in good stead as a conciliator of the rebels.”
Some sources state that he was in the Battle at the Little Bighorn as well.
He started as a performer in the Buffalo Bill troupe as early as 1886 and continued to work for Cody until his death in 1892. At least in 1886 he took his family along, his wife Wants, his daughter Lizzie and two younger children.
Although he worked for white men, he continued to keep his traditions as a Lakota Indian. There is a short note, possibly by New York photographer D.H. Anderson or a fellow member of the Wild West show, on Long Wolf in 1886:
“When indians were sent back to reservation at end of season civilian clothes were given to all indians. This chief took the clothes but would not wear them or allow any of his family to wear them. He rolled all the clothes up in a blanket and went home as a real indian. Chief Long Wolf had very little to say to any of the Indians and could not speak English. This was in fall of 1886.”
(hand-written on back of a photo card by David H. Anderson, photographer of New York)
He already was acknowledged as a chief among the Wild West performers in 1886, alongside American Horse and Rocky Bear. Although later Lakotas like No Neck and Rocky Bear were more often cited as leaders of the show Indians, there are other sources that say that Long Wolf was the leading man of the Lakotas with Cody.
When he was not on tour with the show, he was a prominent man on the Pine Ridge reservation, being mentioned as a leading member in the Indian Police service.
According to Sam Maddra´s excellent book “Hostiles?: The Lakota Ghost Dance and Buffalo Bill´s Wild West” (Oklahoma Press) he had been admitted to the West London Hospital on 5 June 1892. He died there six days later, 59 years of age, on June 11th. While some sources say he caught a serious fever or of pneumonia , Maddra´s cites he died “due partly to old age, and partly to trouble caused by his numerous old wounds received in battle”.
He was buried in West Brompton Cemetery on June 13, 1892.
Read the story of his re-burial here:
www.independent.co.uk/news/london-to-wounded-knee-custers-conqueror-goes-home-1240689.html
London to Wounded Knee: Custer's conqueror goes home
An American Indian's dying wish that his body be returned to his tribal homeland is being granted more than a century later. Yesterday a colourful band of his relatives from several generations of the Oglala Sioux nation gathered in Brompton Cemetery, west London, to collect his remains and take them home so his spirit can finally rest. Who was Long Wolf, asks Clare Garner, and why was he buried in London?
Clare Gardner, Tuesday 23 September 1997
The tragic tale of how Long Wolf went to London and never came home is legendary among members of the Oglala Sioux nation. Now, more than a century later, this modern folk story has found a happy ending.
Long Wolf was among the warriors who wiped out General Custer's 7th Cavalry at the battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. Retribution from the US forces was swift and the Sioux suffered a shattering defeat. Rather than be rounded up with other survivors, Long Wolf decided to enlist in Colonel "Buffalo Bill" Cody's Wild West Show.
The show, which re-enacted Indian fights, stage coach robberies and buffalo hunts, was a runaway success across the US and Europe, and the audience at the Earl's Court Arena included Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales.
But Long Wolf, then 59, was ailing and, realising his death was imminent, he drew a picture of a wolf and asked for it to be carved on his gravestone. Now, 105 years later, that wolf image still survives. In fact, it turned out to be the vital clue when Elizabeth Knight, a housewife from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, set out six years ago to trace his grave.
When Mrs Knight picked up a dog-eared book in a local antiques market and read a lament on Long Wolf's tragic life and burial, she was so touched that she felt she "just had to do something". Having located his grave, neglected in a lone corner of the crowded cemetery, she set about tracing his descendants. With the help of George Georgeson, the founder of Britain's own American Indian Support Group, Twin Light Trail, she traced Long Wolf's great-grandchildren and discovered that among his own people he was far from forgotten.
In 1993, John Black Feather, 60, a great-grandson of Long Wolf, responded to an advertisement placed by Mrs Knight in a South Dakota newspaper. He was anxious to assist - for "Medicine Men and Holy Men say that the spirit doesn't rest until the body is brought home".
Yesterday, bedecked in an eagle feather head-dress and beaded slippers, he stood in Brompton Cemetery, west London, and spoke of his happiness. "I've been hearing about Long Wolf since I was a little boy. It's sort of like a fairytale story. He's someone I never knew, but my mum talked about - and here I am 60 years later."
His mother, Jessie Black Feather, 87, is Long Wolf's senior surviving descendant. She has always wanted to find her grandfather, but had never known where to begin. Her mother, Lizzie Long Wolf, was 12-years-old when Long Wolf was performing in London. She heard him say, as he lay dying of pneumonia, how much he yearned to go home. And now he is. Generations of relatives, as well as a Medicine Man named Wilmer Mesteth, have flown to Britain to oversee the exhumation of their ancestral chief, as well as those of his 17-month-old daughter, Star Ghost Dog, who was buried with him.
The remains will be taken back home to the Black Hills of Dakota, where they will be wrapped in buffalo hide and laid to rest in his ancestral burial ground, on the open plains of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Wounded Knee.
Yesterday they gathered near his graveside to sing songs: "Takala kun miye ca/ ohitiye waun kun/ wana henamala yelo" ("My people, take courage/ a warrior I have been/ Now I am no more").
another article:
cgi.cnn.com/WORLD/9709/25/chief.long.wolf/
Portraits of Long Wolf:
Please add anything more you have about Long Wolf. Thanks.
