Bone Club

[emilylevine]

I see on our main page that Bone Club (Tomahawk), Hohu Čhaŋȟpi, is listed as being Mnicojou of the Wakpokinyan band.
Waggoner lists him as Huŋkpapa of the Wakpokiŋyaŋ band. (She has a Flying Up the Valley band in both the Hunkpapa and the Mnicojou.)
Any thoughts on this?

Incidentally, she says he was not Lakota by birth, but a Blackfoot captive.

[kingsleybray]

Emily,

Bone Club is named as of the Wakpokiyan band in the biographical profile by Josephine Waggoner in the Waggoner papers at the Museum of the Fur Trade. I had assumed that this was a small extended family group split from the Miniconjou band and which settled among the Hunkpapas.

Alternatively could the Wakpokiyan have originated among the Hunkpapa? This might fit your band information. Could you post the Hunkpapa band list which includes the Wakpokiyan? It might help to make sense of things. Looking at p. 207 of ELLA DELORIA'S THE BUFFALO PEOPLE once more and reading about Weasel Bear "of the Hunkpapaya, of the Wakpokiya sub-band", might point in that direction too. I don't know what to make of the paragraph there about Weasel Bear. Is it connected to the material before and after, about the Tokala (Kit-Fox) society? Is Ella/Makula saying that Weasel Bear was a founder of the Tokala? The statement that he Wakan Tanka ihanbla, 'dreamed of Wakan Tanka' suggests a very powerful holy man. Is he connected to the man in the winter counts (No Ears group, White Bull, etc.) ca. 1770 who also dreamed of Wakan Tanka and evidently went crazy?

On the Miniconjou Wakpokiya: According to F. V. Hayden's band tabulation, ca. 1858, Lone Horn was the chief of the band. According to Chris Ravenshead, who spoke to a lot of old people about Miniconjou tiyoshpaye in the early 90s, it was also the band to which Lame Deer belonged.

Hope this helps

Kingsley

[emilylevine]

Here is the list from JW. She had many band lists, some a little different from others.

Huŋkpapȟaya
The Huŋkpapȟaya were also a big nation with large bands. They were the most northern people of the Sioux. Their hunting expeditions took this tribe as far north as the headwaters of the McKenzie River, Slave Lake, and all over the barrens of Canada.
Their bands are:
1. Icira; the band to which Sitting Bull belonged
2. Cangiska Kȟaŋǧiska
3. Kiglaske
4. Talonapin Talonapiŋ
5. Ceyorna
6. Cankahuran Čhaŋkȟahuȟaŋ
7. Wakan Wakȟaŋ
8. Hunskacantojuha Huŋskačhaŋtožuha
9. Sihasapa
10. Sisicela Wakpokinyan
[I did this cut and paste and the significant thing didn't transfer: Sisicela was crossed out and she, instead, wrote in Wakpokinyan.
I'll have to go back and look at all my original lists to see what else I can discern.]

(Modern orthography is mine)

[ephriam]

In 1910, Bone Club said that his father was Yanktonai and his mother was Skota (which I assume is Skutani, the Lakota name for a Plateau tribe the Kootenai). The Kootenai did fight the Blackfoot. Perhaps it is Bone Club's mother who was the captive?

Bone Club had two wives through the reservation period, both of whom were Minneconjou. Could that be where Waggoner's Wakpokinyan reference comes from?

From what I can see, Bone Club was within Sitting Bull's band. He is listed there in the Sitting Bull Surrender Census and went to Fort Randall as a prisoner of war with Sitting Bull. Upon their return, Agent McLaughlin made him a band leader of a small group in an effort to break up Sitting Bull's influence.

I wonder if Waggoner's listing of the Wakpokinyan among the Hunkpapa at Standing Rock is because of the small portion of Lame Deer's old band that remained there under the leadership of George Flying By (also known as Struck). In later census records, George Flying By's small band are listed with the Hunkpapa. My suspicion is that the Hunkpapa Wakpokinyan was not an old band as Kingsley was speculating, but very new, out of the 1881 surrenders from Canada.

ephriam

[kingsleybray]

Thanks for the new info', Ephriam. Skutani is sometimes glossed as Kutenai, but I'm sure what it originally signified was the Gros Ventres of the Prairie or Atsina, northern relatives of the Arapaho. The Gros Ventres and the Blackfeet were very closely allied until the 1860s. Alternatively, could 'Skota' be a misprint for 'Slota', the Canadian metis?

You could be right on the Occam's razor Wakpokinyan explanation, but I'm wondering if there isn't a connection between the Wakpokinyan and the Siksichela bands, whence possibly Josephine's self-correction? My reasoning, and once again this is speculative of course, is that Lone Horn is identified as of the Wakpokinyan in FV Hayden's band tabulation of 1858. In the Scudder Mekeel 1931 Field Notes is the statement by Peter Stands that Lone Horn, his older namesake, Spotted Elk (Big Foot), and Yellow Hair were all related (allegedly as brothers) and belonged to the Siksichela band. Again there is a Josephine Waggoner statement that One Horn was of the Siksichela.

Bronco LeBeau told me that the Siksichela, found as sister bands in three of the Northern Teton divisions (Miniconjou, Sans Arc, Hunkpapa), were a split-off from the Kiyuksa group, and because of their D-Dakota origin they originally spoke the d-dialect. Elaine Quiver told me that the Wakpokinyan are of Santee origin, came west via the Big Sioux R. and ultimately joined the Miniconjou. These would seem to be early (18th century?) phenomena we're talking about.

How come this stuff just gets more interesting?

Kingsley

[emilylevine]

Ephriam and Kingsley

The two of you are always so thoughtful, knowledgeable and helpful. I don't have answers to any of the questions that you pose... just more food for thought. Waggoner made many band lists; some are slightly different than others---cross outs, erasures,etc., as if she herself was trying to sort some things out.

It would be nice to be able to see Deloria's field notes--but I think all that is saved is her typed ms. (See Deloria archive)

Thanks again,
Emily

[charlie]

Hey friends: no images about this important chief?