Post by Historian on Apr 28, 2009 10:17:45 GMT -5
In the early 1800s, the Ponca were still a semi-sedentary tribe living in earthlodges that the Arikara taught they and the Omaha how to construct. They planted corn and other crops, hunted buffalo occasionally and traded for many of their goods.
However, they were vulnerable from attack by larger nomadic tribes as evidenced by an event that took place in 1824. Peter Wilson, acting on behalf of Maj. Benjamin O'Fallon, visited a group of Ponca at the mouth of the Niobrara River. Upon arriving, he learned that a party of 30 Ponca men had been returning home from a friendly visit with the Oglala Lakota to the north, when they were attacked by a group of Brule or Sicangu Lakota. Of the 30 Ponca, only 12 returned alive. Among the 18 killed was the famous Ponca Chief, Shu-de-ga-xe or "Smoke Maker," as it was translated. (Report of P. Wilson to B. O'Fallon, 1824, National Archives, St. Louis Superintendency)
During the 1830s the Ponca were generally thought to be allies with elements of the Yankton Dakota and the Teton Lakota and frequently joined with them in warfare against the Pawnee. This was believed to be a means of self-preservation for the now smaller tribe of Ponca, whose lands were in-between the Lakota and Pawnee territories.
However, the larger tribe of Pawnee frequently made war on the Ponca when their northern allies were not around.
Occasionally, small elements of the Lakota would sometimes raid the Ponca as well, taking horses or stealing corn they had grown.
As time progressed, the Ponca and other semi-sedentary tribes along the upper Missouri River, such as the Omaha, Arikara, Pawnee, Mandan and Hidatsa, who were attached to their earthlodge villages and cornfields, were no match for the nomadic Dakota and Lakota, who were very mobile, well-armed and always knew the exact strength and precise location of these tribes.
In the summer of 1846, an advanced party of 400 Mormons were heading west to find a route through the Rocky Mountains after being driven from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois earlier that year.
At the direction of Brigham Young, who stayed with the main group of Mormons in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area, this advance party traveled along the north side of the Platte River to a deserted Pawnee village on the Loup River near present day Genoa, Nebraska. (Tibbitts, 2003, p. 1)
While the Mormons were there, nine Ponca Chiefs and sub-Chiefs arrived on the 8th of August 1846, intending to seek peace negotiations with the Pawnee. These Chiefs were documented by the Mormons as:
Buffalo Bull - Head Chief, also know as Little Bear.
Two Bulls - son of Buffalo Bull, who becomes Head Chief when his father dies in September 1846.
Black Warrior - a Chief of the 2nd Rank, and nephew of Buffalo Bull.
Buffalo Chip - a Chief of the 2nd Rank when Black Warrior dies in August 1846.
Iron Whip - Principle Chief of Gray Blanket Village, and brother of Two Bulls.
White Eagle - son of Iron Whip, with hereditary rites.
Drum - Principle Chief of Fish Smell Village.
Smoke Maker - a Chief of the 2nd Rank, and son of the Chief of the same name who was killed by the Sicangu Lakota in 1824.
Little Chief - son of Smoke Maker, with hereditary rites.
Finding that the Pawnee had deserted the village, the nine Ponca Chiefs invited the Mormons to spend the winter with them. The Mormons were given some provisions to tide them over and assigned a camp near the Gray Blanket Village near the junction of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers. (Tibbitts, 2003, p. 4)
There were many Mormons who wrote journals about their life and enjoyable experiences among the Ponca. The Ponca Chief Iron Whip indicated the best route for the Mormons to follow when they continued on their journey west in April of 1847. Later in 1847 the Mormons settled in the Rocky Mountains in what is now Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the Fall of 1855, according to an account recorded by Rev. James O. Dorsey, an unusual large scale conflict took place between the Ponca and their old enemies the Pawnee.
It seems that both tribes were out on their tribal buffalo hunts and the encounter was accidental.
The Ponca were divided into two hunting groups, those from the Gray Blanket village and those from the Fish Smell village.
The hunters from the Fish Smell village were the first to see the Pawnee from a distance in their hunting camp, and charged to attack. However, by the time they entered the camp, the Pawnee had fled. The Fish Smell Poncas contented themselves with looting the deserted Pawnee hunting camp, taking such things as dried meat, moccasins, leggings, and rawhide lariats left behind.
Meanwhile, the Ponca hunting party from the Gray Blanket village ran into the fleeing Pawnee and after an intense running fight, killed them to a man.
To commemorate the victory over the Pawnee, Chief Smoke Maker's newborn son was carried to the battlefield by an old woman and caused him to put his feet on two of the Pawnee corpses, whereupon he was given the name NoN-ba-a-toN meaning "Treads On Two." (Dorsey, 1890, pp. 377-383) (Fletcher & LaFlesche, 1911, p. 54)
The tribal buffalo hunt in 1855 was the last successful big hunt. Beginning in 1856, although the Ponca tried to hunt in the Spring and the Fall in the traditional way, they were frequently turned away by Teton Lakota war parties.
Cut off from the buffalo and fearful of leaving their villages to farm outlying fields, the Ponca were often at the point of starvation.
To make matters worse, white settlers had been slowly filtering into Ponca territory and squatting on valuable bottom land fields.
Bending to their inevitable situation, the Ponca Chiefs signed a Treaty with the U.S. Government on 12 March 1858 which ceded to the Government all 2.3 million acres of land which the Ponca owned or claimed "except for a small portion on which to colonize or domesticate them." In return, the Federal Government promised to "protect the tribe in the possession of the remainder of their domain as their permanent home and to secure them in their persons and property." (Royce, 1899, p. 818)
In the spring of the following year, in 1859, the Ponca tried to make their customary tribal buffalo hunt, but encountered a combined party of Sicangu Lakota, Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne at the headwaters of the Elkhorn River. The combined party attacked the Ponca hunting camp, killing a Ponca sub-Chief named Heavy Cloud and 14 others in retaliation for selling their lands to the U.S. Government the previous year. (Howard, 1965, p. 31)
Dorsey, Rev. James Owen.
1890. "The defeat of the Pawnees by the Ponkas in 1855" in The Cegiha Language. Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. 6, Washington, D.C.
Fletcher, Alice C. and Francis LaFlesche.
1911. The Omaha Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, 27th Annual Report 1905-06, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Howard, Dr. James H.
1965. The Ponca Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 195, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Royce, Charles C.
1899. Indian Land Cessions in the United States. Bureau of American Ethnology, 18th Annual Report 1896-97, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Tibbits, G. Michael.
2003. The Ponca Tribe and The Mormons: Shared History and Dedication, Desktop Pub.
However, they were vulnerable from attack by larger nomadic tribes as evidenced by an event that took place in 1824. Peter Wilson, acting on behalf of Maj. Benjamin O'Fallon, visited a group of Ponca at the mouth of the Niobrara River. Upon arriving, he learned that a party of 30 Ponca men had been returning home from a friendly visit with the Oglala Lakota to the north, when they were attacked by a group of Brule or Sicangu Lakota. Of the 30 Ponca, only 12 returned alive. Among the 18 killed was the famous Ponca Chief, Shu-de-ga-xe or "Smoke Maker," as it was translated. (Report of P. Wilson to B. O'Fallon, 1824, National Archives, St. Louis Superintendency)
During the 1830s the Ponca were generally thought to be allies with elements of the Yankton Dakota and the Teton Lakota and frequently joined with them in warfare against the Pawnee. This was believed to be a means of self-preservation for the now smaller tribe of Ponca, whose lands were in-between the Lakota and Pawnee territories.
However, the larger tribe of Pawnee frequently made war on the Ponca when their northern allies were not around.
Occasionally, small elements of the Lakota would sometimes raid the Ponca as well, taking horses or stealing corn they had grown.
As time progressed, the Ponca and other semi-sedentary tribes along the upper Missouri River, such as the Omaha, Arikara, Pawnee, Mandan and Hidatsa, who were attached to their earthlodge villages and cornfields, were no match for the nomadic Dakota and Lakota, who were very mobile, well-armed and always knew the exact strength and precise location of these tribes.
In the summer of 1846, an advanced party of 400 Mormons were heading west to find a route through the Rocky Mountains after being driven from their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois earlier that year.
At the direction of Brigham Young, who stayed with the main group of Mormons in the Council Bluffs/Omaha area, this advance party traveled along the north side of the Platte River to a deserted Pawnee village on the Loup River near present day Genoa, Nebraska. (Tibbitts, 2003, p. 1)
While the Mormons were there, nine Ponca Chiefs and sub-Chiefs arrived on the 8th of August 1846, intending to seek peace negotiations with the Pawnee. These Chiefs were documented by the Mormons as:
Buffalo Bull - Head Chief, also know as Little Bear.
Two Bulls - son of Buffalo Bull, who becomes Head Chief when his father dies in September 1846.
Black Warrior - a Chief of the 2nd Rank, and nephew of Buffalo Bull.
Buffalo Chip - a Chief of the 2nd Rank when Black Warrior dies in August 1846.
Iron Whip - Principle Chief of Gray Blanket Village, and brother of Two Bulls.
White Eagle - son of Iron Whip, with hereditary rites.
Drum - Principle Chief of Fish Smell Village.
Smoke Maker - a Chief of the 2nd Rank, and son of the Chief of the same name who was killed by the Sicangu Lakota in 1824.
Little Chief - son of Smoke Maker, with hereditary rites.
Finding that the Pawnee had deserted the village, the nine Ponca Chiefs invited the Mormons to spend the winter with them. The Mormons were given some provisions to tide them over and assigned a camp near the Gray Blanket Village near the junction of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers. (Tibbitts, 2003, p. 4)
There were many Mormons who wrote journals about their life and enjoyable experiences among the Ponca. The Ponca Chief Iron Whip indicated the best route for the Mormons to follow when they continued on their journey west in April of 1847. Later in 1847 the Mormons settled in the Rocky Mountains in what is now Salt Lake City, Utah.
In the Fall of 1855, according to an account recorded by Rev. James O. Dorsey, an unusual large scale conflict took place between the Ponca and their old enemies the Pawnee.
It seems that both tribes were out on their tribal buffalo hunts and the encounter was accidental.
The Ponca were divided into two hunting groups, those from the Gray Blanket village and those from the Fish Smell village.
The hunters from the Fish Smell village were the first to see the Pawnee from a distance in their hunting camp, and charged to attack. However, by the time they entered the camp, the Pawnee had fled. The Fish Smell Poncas contented themselves with looting the deserted Pawnee hunting camp, taking such things as dried meat, moccasins, leggings, and rawhide lariats left behind.
Meanwhile, the Ponca hunting party from the Gray Blanket village ran into the fleeing Pawnee and after an intense running fight, killed them to a man.
To commemorate the victory over the Pawnee, Chief Smoke Maker's newborn son was carried to the battlefield by an old woman and caused him to put his feet on two of the Pawnee corpses, whereupon he was given the name NoN-ba-a-toN meaning "Treads On Two." (Dorsey, 1890, pp. 377-383) (Fletcher & LaFlesche, 1911, p. 54)
The tribal buffalo hunt in 1855 was the last successful big hunt. Beginning in 1856, although the Ponca tried to hunt in the Spring and the Fall in the traditional way, they were frequently turned away by Teton Lakota war parties.
Cut off from the buffalo and fearful of leaving their villages to farm outlying fields, the Ponca were often at the point of starvation.
To make matters worse, white settlers had been slowly filtering into Ponca territory and squatting on valuable bottom land fields.
Bending to their inevitable situation, the Ponca Chiefs signed a Treaty with the U.S. Government on 12 March 1858 which ceded to the Government all 2.3 million acres of land which the Ponca owned or claimed "except for a small portion on which to colonize or domesticate them." In return, the Federal Government promised to "protect the tribe in the possession of the remainder of their domain as their permanent home and to secure them in their persons and property." (Royce, 1899, p. 818)
In the spring of the following year, in 1859, the Ponca tried to make their customary tribal buffalo hunt, but encountered a combined party of Sicangu Lakota, Oglala Lakota and Cheyenne at the headwaters of the Elkhorn River. The combined party attacked the Ponca hunting camp, killing a Ponca sub-Chief named Heavy Cloud and 14 others in retaliation for selling their lands to the U.S. Government the previous year. (Howard, 1965, p. 31)
Dorsey, Rev. James Owen.
1890. "The defeat of the Pawnees by the Ponkas in 1855" in The Cegiha Language. Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. 6, Washington, D.C.
Fletcher, Alice C. and Francis LaFlesche.
1911. The Omaha Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, 27th Annual Report 1905-06, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Howard, Dr. James H.
1965. The Ponca Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 195, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Royce, Charles C.
1899. Indian Land Cessions in the United States. Bureau of American Ethnology, 18th Annual Report 1896-97, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Tibbits, G. Michael.
2003. The Ponca Tribe and The Mormons: Shared History and Dedication, Desktop Pub.
