The Dakota are mentioned in the Jesuit Relations as early as 1639-40; the
tradition is noted that the Ojibwa, on arriving at the Great Lakes in an
early migration from the Atlantic coast, encountered representatives of
the great confederacy of the plains. In 1641 the French voyageurs met the
Potawatomi Indians flying from a nation called Nadawessi (enemies); and
the Frenchmen adopted the alien name for the warlike prairie tribes. By
1658 the Jesuits had learned of the existence of thirty Dakota villages
west-northwest from the Potawatomi mission St Michel; and in 1689 they
recorded the presence of tribes apparently representing the Dakota
confederacy on the upper Mississippi, near the mouth of the St Croix.
According to Croghan’s History of Western Pennsylvania, the "Sue" Indians
occupied the country southwest of Lake Superior about 1759; and Dr T.S.
Williamson, "the father of the Dakota mission," states that the Dakota
must have resided about the confluence of the Mississippi and the
Minnesota or St Peters for at least two hundred years prior to 1860.
According to traditions collected by Dorsey, the Teton took possession of
the Black Hills region, which had previously been occupied by the Crow
Indians, long before white men came; and the Yankton and Yanktonnai, which
were found on the Missouri by Lewis and Clark, were not long removed from
the region about Minnesota river. In 1862 the Santee and other Dakota
tribes united in a formidable outbreak in which more than 1,000 whites
were massacred or slain in battle. Through this outbreak and the
consequent governmental action toward the control and settlement of the
tribes, much was learned concerning the characteristics of the people, and
various Indian leaders became known; Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse,
Sitting Bull, American Horse, and Even-his-horse-is-feared (commonly
miscalled Man-afraid-of-his-horses) were among the famous Dakota chiefs
and warriors, notable representatives of a passing race, whose names are
prominent in the history of the country. Other outbreaks occurred, the
last of note resulting from the ghost-dance fantasy in 1890-91, which
fortunately was quickly suppressed. Yet, with slight interruptions, the
Dakota tribes in the United States were steadily gathered on reservations.
Some 800 or more still roam the prairies north of the international
boundary, but the great body of the confederacy, numbering nearly 28,000,
are domiciled on reservations (already noted) in Minnesota, Montana,
Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
The separation of the Asiniboin from the Wazi-kute gens of the Yanktonai
apparently occurred before the middle of the seventeenth century, since
the Jesuit relation of 1658 distinguishes between the Poualak or Guerriers
(undoubtedly the Dakota proper) and the Assiuipoualak or Guerriers de
pierre. The Asiniboin are undoubtedly the Essanape (Essanapi or Assinapi)
who were next to the Makatapi (Dakota) in the Walam-Olum record of the
Lenni-Lenape or Delaware. In 1680 Hennepin located the Asiniboin northeast
of the Issati (Isanyati or Santee) who were on Knife lake (Minnesota); and
the Jesuit map of 1681 placed them on Lake-of-the-Woods, then called "L.
Assinepoualacs." La Hontan claimed to have visited the Eokoro (Arikara) in
1689-90, when the Essanape were sixty leagues above; and Perrot’s Mémoire
refers to the Asiniboin as a Sioux tribe which, in the seventeenth
century, seceded from their nation and took refuge among the rocks of
Lake-of-the-Woods. Chauvignerie located some of the tribe south of
Ounipigan (Winnipeg) lake in 1736, and they were near Lake-of-the-Woods as
late as 1766, when they were said to have 1,500 warriors. It is well known
that in 1829 they occupied a considerable territory west of the Dakota and
north of Missouri river, with a population estimated at 8,000; and Drake
estimated their number at 10,000 before the smallpox epidemic of 1838,
which is said to have carried off 4,000. From this blow the tribe seems
never to have fully recovered, and now numbers probably no more than
3,000, mostly in Canada, where they continue to roam the plains they have
occupied for half a century.
¢EGIHA
According to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the
Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling
on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first
separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down
the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who
ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This
separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded
De Soto’s discovery of the Mississippi.
The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet
separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where
they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the
country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these
pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some
of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many
traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across
the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence
of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and
finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the
middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the
Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka
pushed into the Black Hills country.
The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite
the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground
extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along
the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and
in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the
end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox,
their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300
when they were visited by Lewis and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird
being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they
increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are
now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of
the United States and of the state of Nebraska.
Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have
been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation
connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret
societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka
were indicated on De l’Isle’s map, though they were not then segregated
territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the
smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only
about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800
in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered
747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute
grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the
Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took
place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost
their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in
fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by
President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission,
consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and
Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the
Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the
tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian
Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.
When the ¢egiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the
Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the
mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending
the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in
1673 as the "Ouchage" and "Autrechaha," and by Penicaut in 1719 as the
"Huzzau," "Ous," and "Wawha." According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on
"White creek, a branch of the Mississippi," with the "Grand Tuc;"
but"White creek" (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river,
and "Grand Tuc" is, according to Mooney, a corruption of "Grandes Eaux,"
or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for
supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the
eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and
perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward;
and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were
chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter
described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line
and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he
gave their number as 5,000. According to Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758
in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch
known as Black Dog’s band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river.
In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous
small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by
Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma.
In 1890 they numbered 158.
The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of
the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged
westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like
the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not
fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large
village of "Quans" located on a small river flowing northward thirty
leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana
to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were
then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back
from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and
occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the
Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they
were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes,
through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they
again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in
Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was
assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890
their population was reduced to 214.
The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth
of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette’s map, they were partly
east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three
villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty
mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = Uʞaqpaqti, "Real Kwapa") on the
Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-jiʞa, "Small Village"; Toriman =
Ti-uad¢iman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was
verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in
use. In early days the Kwapa were known as "Akansa," or Arkansa, first
noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an
Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of
affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix "a" being a common one in
Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the
tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being
on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe
died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l’Isle placed the principal
"Acansa" village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to
Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha),
being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the "Arkensa" in
three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles
above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the
country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of
the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the
Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock;
according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As
reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877
were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of
them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they
were found to number 232.
ʇƆIWE’RE
The ancestry and prehistoric movements of the tribes constituting this
group are involved in considerable obscurity, though it is known from
tradition as well as linguistic affinity that they sprung from the
Winnebago.
Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country
between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota
(formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth
of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi
and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of
the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and
the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha
(Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river,
forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them
in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated
by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the
Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some
15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them
on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great
Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100
warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country
settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on
reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to
the last census their population was 273.
The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near
the Mississippi on Marquette’s map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit,
probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the
characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by
Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30
leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the
Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river
opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are
somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the
Mississippi about the mouth of the Missouri, and that they gradually
ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and
Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri
near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who
built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of
the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed
by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from
smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or
three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated
with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering
about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were
with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village
stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and
they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.
According to Winnebago tradition, the ʇɔiwe’re tribes separated from that
"People of the parent speech" long ago, the Iowa being the first and the
Oto the last to leave. In 1673 the Oto were located by Marquette west of
Missouri river, between the fortieth and fortyfirst parallels; in 1680
they were 130 leagues from the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the
Miskoncing (Wisconsin), and in 1687 they were on Osage river. According to
La Hontan they were, in 1690, on Otontas (Osage) river; and in 1698
Hennepin placed them ten days’ journey from Fort Crève Cœur. Iberville, in
1700, located the Iowa and Oto with the Omaha, between Wisconsin and
Missouri rivers, about 100 leagues from the Illinois tribe; and
Charlevoix, in 1721, fixed the Oto habitat as below that of the Iowa and
above that of the Kansa on the western side of the Missouri. Dupratz
mentions the Oto as a small nation on Missouri river in 1758, and Jefferys
(1761) described them as occupying the southern bank of the Panis (Platte)
between its mouth and the Pawnee territory; according to Porter, they
occupied the same position in 1829. The Oto claimed the land bordering the
Platte from their village to the mouth of the river, and also that on both
sides of the Missouri as far as the Big Nemaha. In 1833 Catlin found the
Oto and Missouri together in the Pawnee country; about 1841 they were
gathered in four villages on the southern side of the Platte, from 5 to 18
miles above its mouth. In 1880 a part of the tribe removed to the Sac and
Fox reservation in Indian Territory, where they still remain; in 1882 the
rest of the tribe, with the remnant of the Missouri, emigrated to the
Pouka, Pawnee, and Oto reservation in the present Oklahoma, where, in 1890
they were found to number 400.