Fort Pierre Council 1856 („The Harney Treaty“)

[gregor]

I just re-read some parts of Terrible Justice: Sioux Chiefs and U.S. Soldiers on the Upper Missouri, 1854–1868, by Doreen Chaky. In this book, in the parts I read based on minutes of the Fort Pierre Council 1856, two chiefs are mentioned so far unknown to me. A Hunkpapa elder called The-One-Who-Uses-His-Heart-For-All (sub chief of Bear Ribs) and an Oglala chief Big Head, who was the only Oglala to travel from Fort Laramie to Pierre (this is not the Yanktonais Chief, who didn't follow Harneys call).

What do we know about these two men?

[kingsleybray]

One Who Uses His Heart For All is a headman who gets a few namechecks through the 1860s and 70s. I can't get at my notes right now, but I think he belonged to the Talonapin (Raw Meat Necklace) band of Hunkpapas.

Big Head was a headman in the Southern or Kiyuksa Oglalas. He belonged to a prominent family of the Kuhinyan sub-band. He is mentioned a few times in the 1850s, then seems to disappear from the scene. The main or most visible player in Kuhinyan is then Whistler, until his death in 1872. A younger Big Head (Nasula Tanka, literally it means Big Brain), born about 1826, was a shirt wearer among the Southern Oglala in the late 1860s-70s. Possibly a son or nephew of the older man.

[gregor]

Kingsley, thanks a lot. You are an incarnate Archive - as usual!
Toksha Gregor

[carlo]

In March 1856 at Fort Pierre, Nebraska Territory (now South Dakota), General William Harney held a council with Lakota, Yanktonais, and Yankton Dakotas to end his campaign against them, and establish a centralized (principle chief) tribal government by which he could hold individual leaders accountable for future 'transgressions' against Americans.The following list was given by the chiefs, transcibed from the original council minutes:

Little Thunder's Brules
Iron Shell
Swift Bear
White Black Bird
The Standing Bear
The Bull Man
The One That Smokes Four Times
The Black Horn
The Stabber
The Medicine Cap

One Horn's Miniconjous
The Elk That Hollows Walking
The One That Makes Room
The One That Flies Away
The Fire Thunder
The One That Shoots The Bear Running
The Standing Bear
No Heart
The Iron Horn
The One That Kills The First

Crow Feather's Sans Arcs
The Big Brain
The Grass Dog
The Yellow Hawk
The Bull Man
The Red War Eagle Feather
The Black Magpie
The Wear Out
The One That Leaves Alone
The High One

Fire Heart's Blackfeet Lakotas
The One That They Use For Their Shield
The One That Runs The Bear
The Stone That Has Horns
The Long Dog
The War Eagle That Is High
The Two Hearts
The One Whose Track Rattles When He Walks
The Black Shield
The Soldier

Bear Rib's Hunkpapas
The Four Horns
The Hawk With A Big Voice
The Tall Soldier
The One That Shoots When He Walks
The One They Have To Run [?]
The One Who Uses His Heart For All
The Iron Wing
The Sitting Bear
The Spotted Elk

Black Catfish's Yanktonais
The Fool Heart
The Red Bull
The One That Paints Himself Red
The Soldier
The Medicine Bear
The Yellow Robe, or, The Nest That Wears A Face
The One Who Has His Lodge Inside Of The RIng
The Black Elk Who Wears The Medicine Face
The One That Runs Close By

Long Mandan's Two Kettles
The Chief
The Red Spear In a Handle
The White Hawk
The White Buffalo War Eagle
The Little Bull
The Red War Eagle
The Long Dog
The Brave
The Four Bears

Two Bear's Yanktonais
Bone Neck-lace
The Man Who Killed The Mandan Chief
The White Bear
The Mad Bear
The Man That Has The Arrow Broke In Him
The Buck
The One That Runs The Bear
The One That's Full Of Lice
The Little Soldier

Struck By Ree's Yanktons
Smutty Bear
The Medicine Standing Cow
The Bear That Lays Down
The Dog's Claw
The Handsome Young Man
The Sitting Crow
The One That Flies Quick
The White Buck Elk
The Sailing Hawk

[carlo]

Interesting to note is that Crow Feather also lists a man named Big Brain among his Sans Arc chiefs.

[carlo]

To round out the list here of Lakota & Dakota chiefs at the Ft. Pierre Council, 1856:
Oglala representatives arrived a month later, in April. Official documents list Mischief Maker as the principle headman, ahead of Man Afraid Of His Horse.
Mischief Maker was Bad Wound's nickname. The Lakota name in the documents ("O-wha-shee-cha") actually spells Bad Wound (Owa Shicha), but for some reason they noted his nickname down in English, which led to some confusion among later historians (eg. Price, "Oglala People: A Political History", 43; Chaky, "Terrible Justice", 67.)