Little Chief

[jinlian]

Hi Gary,

thanks for all the precious information. The Lakota connection seems sure, even if I'm not 100% certain about Little Chief's ties with the No Water family.
If we have to believe the data showed in this document (signatures for the land agreement - Crook commission, 1888), Little Chief was 62 at the time and therefore was born around 1826.



You've probably already familiar with Ms. McGillycuddy's book and her report of the "troubles" caused by Little Chief and his band during their settlement at Pine Ridge.

Best,

Jin

[Gary]

Hi Jinlian

Thanks for that.

I have not read Ms McGillycuddy's book. What's it called? There seem to be two by her on Amazon.

Gary

[kingsleybray]

My source for speculating on Little Chief's relation to No Water (Oglala) and his brothers is a report by Lt. Col. A.J. Slemmer, c/o Ft Laramie, to Adjutant-Gen., Dept of the Platte, Sept. 23, 1868. It is printed in PAPERS RELATING TO TALKS AND COUNCILS HELD WITH THE INDIANS IN DAKOTA AND MONTANA TERRITORIES IN THE YEARS 1866-1869 (Washington: Govt. Printing Office, 1910), pp 120-21.

Slemmer states that on Sept 23 he talked with ten "Northern Cheyennes who came in with 15 lodges of that nation. They were part of 100 lodges that were moving south, and whom they left on the Little Horn." These Cheyennes gave Slemmer extensive intelligence on Lakota and Cheyenne village locations, movements, and the activities of war parties. Slemmer closes by remarking: "This information was given by The Young Chief, brother of Black Twin. He is a Sioux, but has been living many years with the Cheyennes." It isn't conclusive, but I think highly possible that Young Chief is the man later identified as Little Chief.

Kingsley

[Gary]

Hi Kingsley

I agree that the evidence is not conclusive, but I think that the combination of your source with the Stands In Timber comment about Little Chief being half Lakota makes it more than 50% that you are right on this.

Gary

[jinlian]

@kingsley: I didn't mean any offence, nor was I doubting your sources; I was simply expressing a gut feeling of the parentage not being 100% sure. Of course, it's only my personal opinion and on a scale of one to ten, its value would be dangerously near zero

Gary: I've checked on amazon, and I think it's the same book going under different names (McGillycuddy, Agent and Blood on the Moon) - incidentally, what I'd really like to get are Fanny McGillycuddy's diaries (the agent's wife, the book mentioned above has been written by his daughter). Anyway, the chapter on the troubles between Red Cloud&Little Chief and McGillycuddy are described in part II, chapter 16 (Beef and War Drums), it's but a few pages, I can scan and mail them to you in the next days, if you are interested. Unfortunately, this report and the signature in the Crook agreement are the only info I have on Little Chief's activity in his Pine Ridge years.

[kingsleybray]

No offence taken, jinlian. This stuff is all up for discussion and argument! I thought it would be useful to post the source.

Kingsley

[jinlian]

Thank you Kingsley, I was asking because most of my translation work comes and goes on internet-only-channels and I'm sometimes over-careful about how one or more words can be perceived by the other part.

Anyway, back to Little Chief: curiously, Hyde never mentions him in his Sioux Chronicle, but James Olson, in his Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem has some interesting reports about Little Chief. During the works of the Holman Committee, investigating the status of Pine Ridge Agency in July 1885, Little Chief gave this answer when interrogated on the agency and McGillycuddy himself:

I am for the Ogalallas and Red Cloud for the Cheyennes: me and him draw out of the same commissary and both have equal titles; we have our agency together, me and Red Cloud. I want to take the agent quietly away with you

No Water also spoke in that meeting, but he didn't side with Red Cloud and Little Chief, and just stated that he "wanted more food and live like a white man". A similar stance was taken prominent Cheyennes like Wild Hog and Standing Elk.

Little Chief was also included in the 1888 delegation to Washington to discuss the land agreement. This was the first important Lakota delegation Red Cloud wasn't included in - I don't know if Little Chief signing the Crook agreement marked the beginning of a rift in their alliance.

[jinlian]

1888, Lakota-Cheyenne delegation to Washington:



Little Chief sits in the front row, first from left (as usual, as Grahame noticed, he wears the pectoral cross)

[Gary]

It's interesting, seeing the Catlin pictures in the background.

Gary

[Gary]

Casey Barthelmess ("Photographer on an Army Mule") says that Little Chief died in 1906. The SIRIS quote in my first posting on this thread must therefore be wrong.

Gary

[Dietmar]

A wonderful photograph of Little Chief, Northern Cheyenne, taken by Elisabeth Grinnell: