Red Track (Oye Luta) and Good Cow (Pte Wastela)

[nukemm33]

My 2nd great grandmother is Margarita Lujan Maes (an enrolled Oglala), who has been documented in the book, "Following in the Footsteps of our Ancestors from Santa Fe to Maes Creek" (Arthur Maes, 1995). The family history is documented through various family stories and historical documents. Margarita's mother is Makigle(Resting on Ground)/Francisca Baca 1842-1882 and her parents are said to be Oye Luta (Red Track)1808-1856 and Pte Wastela (Good Cow) 1815-1862. In their later years they are noted as being called Flying Man and Grey Woman. 

Oye Luta and Pte Wastela also had the following children:

Female - Resting on Ground (noted above) married to Jose Antonio Lujan
Female - Hail/Mary 1829 married unknown
Male - Yellow Dress (1843-1872) married Her Horses
Male - Bone Necklace (1847-1883)
Female - Camilla(Mary) 1849-1912 married Jose Armijo (Brown Owl)
Female - Rattler/Rattles (Ruth) 1853-1920 married His Fight and married Plenty Wounds

Although the family seems to be well documented, I have some issues with the original ancestors Red Track and Good Cow. The first issue is that Yellow Dress (in a medical record marked October 21st 1872) was killed by two traders ("Reddy and Dutch Bill") and noted to be a family member of Red Cloud at the Red Cloud agency. This caused a scene and the Agent barricaded himself inside and troops were sent for, but it seems to have blown over. So my question is how Yellow Dress would have been related to Red Cloud, whether it was through his wife Her Horses or through his father Oye Luta. I also know Sunka Oye Luta (Red Dog) was supposed to be the brother-in-law of Red Cloud and the earlier Smithsonian drawings place Red Dog on horseback as early as 1939 (which aligns somewhat with the birth of Oye Luta). Is it possible these are the same person?

As Oye Luta was supposed to have died in 1856 there would not be any census records for him, however, I did find an 1885 Pine Ridge census record with an Oye Luta/Red Track at the age of 81. 

It's entirely possible that Oye Luta and Pte Wastela don't exist anywhere else in history and these are their real names, however, this does not explain the connection between Red Cloud and Yellow Dress. Any thoughts, observations, or suggestions are welcomed!

[nukemm33]

I wanted to add to all of this that it appears they were all living in Fort Laramie under the Red Cloud agency. I'm not sure if there are any rolls prior to 1856 that can be used to figure out if Oye Luta or Pte Wastela were mentioned in any notes at Fort Laramie.

As previously mentioned, Yellow Dress is mentioned in Fort Laramie historical records, but not until 1872. Although I know the family was there from the 1850s as they were married in 1853 and Jose Antonio Lujan was a trader at Fort Laramie.

[nukemm33]

I've been looking at several other threads on Chief Smoke and Red Cloud and there are a lot of similarities with my family tree. The only real historical evidence I had of Yellow Dress being family to Red Cloud was the Medical Histories of the Post Surgeon at Fort Laramie who described Yellow Dress as a family member of Red Cloud. But I've notice several other things based on this relation:

1) Yellow Dress is married to Her Horses, however, his brother Bone Necklace marries her after his death.
2) Bone Necklace is marked as being son of Red Track and Good Cow in the Maes book, however, Bone Necklace is marked as being the son of White Cow in the Myers site as well. White Cow is daughter to Chief Smoke, uncle to Red Cloud.
3) Brown Eyes (wife of Chief Smoke) is on the census rolls being married to Sunka Oye Luta, which is also the original name of Red Dog (who is said to also be related to Red Cloud).Their daughter is noted as Hattie Brings Spotted (Gleska Agli)

I only mention this to show that there seems to be some kind of skewed informational relation between these people and I'm not sure if it's just wishful thinking or if maybe the Maes Book just has incorrect names for the two original ancestors (as the book mainly focuses on the Lujan/Maes families and their migrations between Colorado and New Mexico. Hopefully someone will come along with information that clears some of this up.

[nukemm33]

The Arthur Maes book also states that:

"These were Oglala Sioux, the family of Oyi Luta (Red Track) and Good Cow. Oyi Luta had two wives at the same time. It was common practice to have more than one wife with the Oglalas. The wives were sisters, the older sister's name is unknown. She did have six children which all died when they were young. It was not known which band they belonged to. Red Track and Good Cow were known as Flying Man and Grey Woman in their later years. Red Track died in 1856 and Good Cow died in 1862 at the age of 48 years old."

[nukemm33]

On Yellow Dress, the Arthur Maes book points to a Post General Communication which states:

"The following are log entries found in the Medical Histories kept by the Post Surgeon at Fort Laramie, Wyoming dated October, 1872.

Record for the month of October, 1872

21st. A messenger from the Red Cloud Agency arrived at the post about 2:00PM bring news that the Indians were in a highly excited state. It appears that two men known as "Reddy" and "Dutch Bill" had gone to the Reservation to trade whiskey. They had made Yellow Dress drunk & then killed him, after which they had stolen eighteen horses from the Cheyennes and has escaped with them. The body of Yellow Dress (who was one of Red Cloud's family) was found by the Indians about 3 A.M. They began to collect in the neighborhood of the agency buildings & made threatening demonstrations. Red Cloud endeavored to pacify them and while he was standing in company with the Agent & Interpreter a shot was fired just over the Agent's head. A messenger was immediately sent her for troops but up to 11 P.M. had not arrived. The one who reached here started after two hours interval and & reached here safely. Col. who in in command immediately sent Wells and Egan's Cos (2 Cavy) with a mountain howitzer to the Agency & Monahan's Co. of the 3d Cavy was ordered into the post."