Post by Dietmar on Jan 5, 2023 10:05:41 GMT -5
This picture has been intriguing to me for a long time. It shows some men and women of the Kaw Nation (also spelled Kanza, Kansa or Kansas). The photograph also is on the front cover of Ronald D. Parks book “The Darkest Period – The Kanza Indians and their Last Homeland 1846 – 1873” (Univ. of Oklahoma Press).
Obviously, it was taken relatively early, but I was trying to find a specific date and more information about the people in it over the last weeks.
As you can see above, three individuals were already identified in earlier publications. I don´t know who did this, or if there is a complete list of IDs somewhere. But if so, I haven´t found it yet.
The University of Michigan Library holds a fine scan of the photo, which reveals that the picture was taken by John Cadwallader´s Bee Hive Gallery in Indianapolis, Indiana. Moreover, the group was titled “P. T. Barnum´s Indians”.
Actually, from newspaper articles I learned that in April 1873 Barnum, the great showman, and his brothers indeed hired these people at Council Grove Agency in Kansas (soon to be closed) to go with him to Vienna World Exposition in Austria, which lasted from May 1st to 31th October 1873. They should be representing American Plains Indians to the crowds of Europe. The Kaws consented, but only after provided Judge T. S. Huffaker, formerly a teacher at Council Grove, to accompany them.
P. T. Barnum
It was planned to take with them a museum of Indian curiosities, including a “wigwam” and a birch-bark canoe and exhibit them at the exposition. The Kaws would give performances in connection with the museum. The outfit would start for New York first, but while on their way would exhibit in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and other localities previous to their departure to Vienna.
Although they scheduled their departure from New York to Vienna about the 15th of May 1873, it never happened. P.T. Barnum indeed went to Europe, but for whatever reason, the Indians were not with him.
Instead, they showed up in Monmouth Park, New Jersey, in August 1873, war paint upon their faces. According to local newspaper West Jersey Pioneer, they “gave up the voyage” to Europe in the meantime. Still, they were two interpreters with them, “two gentlemen and a lady”. During their visit at the Park, they felt inclined to eat, and took possession of the dining-room attached to one of the stables on the ground, wrote the Pioneer. The waiters and cooks readily gave way to them, and for a while they made free use of all the eatables that were within their reach. To punish them, they were locked up for a while in one of the barns, after which they were released and placed upon the Grand Stand were they seated themselves. To the reporter, they “appeared to be a jovial set”, performing little jokes all the way.
The Kaws, stranded far from home, were soon to be hired again. Col. E. Z. C. Judson, better known under his stage name “Ned Buntline” took them on to incorporate them into his show “Scouts of the Prairie”. From August 11, 1873 to May 1874 they were with Judson, who “bought” them from Barnum for 500 dollars a week. E. E. Barnum, brother of P. T., later sued Judson for nonpayment of the agreed-upon sum.
Ned Buntline (Col. Judson)
So, Buntline hired the Kaws for its theater tour of American cities such as Chicago, Harrisburg and many more. However, they were advertised in newspapers and commercials as "Comanche Indians," presumably because the latter had a wilder and thus more attractive reputation.
One newspaper, the Chicago Evening Post, presented a list of names for the whole group:
Sha-ga-in-gah – Good Father [Sha-ga-in-ka, accordingly the Chief of the group]
Ta-see-hah – Deer Foot
Wo-mo-ko-was-ha – Fearless [Wa-mun-ka-wa-sha]
Shin-ga-was-ha – Little Brave
E-ga-sha-bah - Black Face
Che-ha-sah-wha-di-anga – Ferocious
Wy-ah-uah-sha – Be Quiet
Chip-o-lun-gah – Buffalo Calf
O-bah-me-sha – Can`t See It
No-po-wi-ah – Adventurous
No-bo-ko-wi-ah – Fighter
Wah-kun-da-E-bah-hum-bah –
Wah-sha-ma-che-sha – Wild Margaret [wife of Sha-ga-in-gah, obviously the woman identified as Margaret Ma-hun-gah in the first picture in this thread]
Wah-cos-tah – Rich Woman
Nun-dah-wah-bah – Bashful [wife of Sha-ga-in-gah]
Interpreter for the group at the time was G. W. Munkers. ‘Dashing Charlie’ (possibly Charles Emmett), ‘Arizona Frank’ and Ed Poker (as Captain Bartlett) were also part of the show, which a review of an evening in ‘The Globe, a theater in Chicago, describes as following:
“The house was crowded, especially on the hurricane deck, where the Bedouins of the street and the lovers of undiluted sensationalism gathered in strong force and echoed back the whoops of the red and white savages, as they dodged imaginary blows and reveled in the smoke of the fast exploding revolvers. The sensation is “red-hot” – criticism can go no further.”
Sources:
The Leavenworth Times, 04. 11. 1873
The Weekly Commonwealth, 04. 16. 1873
Chase County Leader, 04. 18. 1873
Quad City Times, 04. 23. 1873
St. Joseph Gazette, 05. 08. 1873
The Leavenworth Times, 05. 08. 1873
The Eaton Democrat, 05. 22. 1873
West Jersey Pioneer, 08. 01. 1873
Chicago Evening Post, 09. 27. 1873
The Chicago Evening Mail, 09. 30. 1873
The Chicago Evening Mail, 10. 03. 1873