clan of the person indicated is not generally given, though it is often
used in other kinds of records, but instead, a pictorial representation
of his name, which their selection of proper names rendered
practicable. The clans are divisions relating to consanguinity, and
neither coincide with the political tribal organizations nor are
limited by them. The number of the clans, or distinctive totemic
groups, of the Dakota is less than that of their organized bands, if
not of their tribes, and considerably less than that of the totems
appearing on the charts. Although it has been contended that the
clan-totem alone was used by Indians, there are many other specimens of
picture-writings among the Dakota where the name-totem appears, notably
the set of fifty-five drawings in the library of the Army Medical
Museum narrating the deeds of Sitting-Bull. A pictured message lately
sent by a Dakota at Fort Rice to another at a distant agency, and
making the same use of name-signs, came to the writer’s notice. Captain
Carver, who spent a considerable time with these Indians (called by him
Nadowessies) in 1766-’77, explains that “besides the name of the animal
by which every nation or tribe [clan] is denominated, there are others
that are personal, which the children receive from their mother. * * *
The chiefs are distinguished by a name that has either some reference
to their abilities or to the hieroglyphic of their families, and these
are acquired after they have arrived at the age of manhood. Such as
have signalized themselves either in their war or hunting parties, or
are possessed of some eminent qualification, receive a name that serves
to perpetuate the fame of their actions or to make their abilities
conspicuous.” The common use of these name-signs appears in their being
affixed to old treaties, and also to some petitions in the office
of Indian Affairs. Their similarity in character, use, and actual
design, either with or without clan designation, affords an instructive
comparison with the origin of heraldry and of modern surnames. Further
remarks about the name system of Indians appear on page 169.
With reference to the Winter Counts, it is well known that the Dakotas
count their years by winters (which is quite natural, that season
in their high levels and latitudes practically lasting more than
six months), and say a man is so many snows old, or that so many
snow seasons have passed since an occurrence. They have no division
of time into weeks, and their months are absolutely lunar, only
twelve, however, being designated, which receive their names upon the
recurrence of some prominent, physical phenomenon. For example, the
period partly embraced by February is intended to be the “raccoon
moon”; March, the “sore-eye moon”; and April, that “in which the
geese lay eggs.” As the appearance of raccoons after hibernation, the
causes inducing inflamed eyes, and oviposition by geese vary with the
meteorological character of each year, and as the twelve lunations
reckoned do not bring back the point in the season when counting
commenced, there is often dispute in the Dakota tipis toward the end
of winter as to the correct current date. In careful examination of
the several Counts it does not appear to be clear whether the event
portrayed occurred in the winter months or was selected in the months
immediately before or in those immediately after the winter. No
regularity or accuracy is noticed in these particulars.
The next following pages give the translated interpretation of the
above-mentioned charts of The-Flame, designated as No. I; of Lone-Dog,
designated as No. II; and of The-Swan as No. III; and are explanations
of Plates VII to XXXIII. As The-Flame’s count began before the other
two and ended later than those, Plates VII, VIII, and XXXIII are
confined to that count, the others showing the three in connection. The
red color frequently mentioned appears in the corresponding figures in
Plate VI of Lone-Dog’s chart as reproduced, but black takes its place
in the series of plates now under consideration. Mention of the charts
of Mato Sapa and of Major Bush is made where there seems to be any
additional information or suggestion in them. When those charts are not
mentioned they agree with that of Lone-Dog. Reference is also made to
the counts in the Corbusier system when correspondence is to be noted.
* * * * *
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VII
1786-’87.
1787-’88.
1788-’89.
1789-’90.
1790-’91.
1791-’92.
1792-’93.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1786-’87.--No. I represents an Uncpapa chief who wore an “iron” shield
over his head. It is stated that he was a great warrior, killed by
the Rees. This word is abbreviated from the word Arikaree, a corrupt
form of Arikara. This year in the Anno Domini style is ascertained by
counting back from several well-known historical events corresponding
with those on the charts.
Battiste Good’s count for the same year says:
“Iron-hand-band-went-on-war-path winter,” and adds, “They formerly
carried burdens on their backs hung from a band passed across their
forehead. This man had a band of iron which is shown on his head.”
1787-’88.--No. I. A clown, well known to the Indians; a mischief-maker.
A Minneconjou. The interpreter could not learn how he was connected
with this year. His accoutrements are fantastic. The character is
explained by Battiste Good’s winter count for the same year as follows:
“Left-the-heyoka-man-behind winter.” A certain man was heyoka, that
is, in a peculiar frame of mind, and went about the village bedecked
with feathers singing to himself, and, while so, joined a war party. On
sighting the enemy the party fled, and called to him to turn back also,
but as he was heyoka, he construed everything that was said to him as
meaning the very opposite, and, therefore, instead of turning back he
went forward and was killed. The interpreter remarked if they had only
had sense enough to tell him to go on, he would then have run away, but
the idiots talked to him just as if he had been an ordinary mortal,
and, of course, were responsible for his death.
The figure by Battiste Good strongly resembles that in this chart,
giving indications of fantastic dress with the bow. The independent
explanations of this figure and of some on the next page referring to
dates so remote have been of interest to the present writer.
1788-’89.--No. I. Very severe winter and much suffering among the
Indians. Crows were frozen to death, which is a rare occurrence. Hence
the figure of the crow.
Battiste Good says: “Many-crows-died winter.”
Cloud Shield says: The winter was so cold that many crows froze to
death.
White-Cow-Killer calls the preceding year, 1787-’88,
“Many-black-crows-died winter.”
For the year 1789-’90, American-Horse says: “The cold was so intense
that crows froze in the air and dropped dead near the lodges.”
This is an instance of where three sets of accounts refer to the same
severe cold, apparently to three successive years; it may really not
have been three successive years, but that all charts referred to
the same season, the fractions of years not being regarded, as above
explained.
1789-’90.--No. I. Two Mandans killed by Minneconjous. The peculiar
arrangement of the hair distinguishes the tribe.
The Mandans were in the last century one of the most numerous and
civilized tribes of the Siouan stock. Lewis and Clarke, in 1804, say
that the Mandans settled forty years before, _i. e._, 1764, in nine
villages, 80 miles below their then site (north of Knife River), seven
villages on the west, and two on the east side of the Missouri. Two
villages, being destroyed by the small-pox and the Dakotas, united and
moved up opposite to the Arickaras, who probably occupied the same site
as exhibited in the counts for the year 1823-’24.
Battiste Good says: “Killed-two-Gros-Ventres-on-the ice winter.”
1790-’91.--No. I. The first United States flag in the country brought
by United States troops. So said the interpreter. No special occasion
or expedition is noted.
Battiste Good says: “Carried-flag-about-with-them winter,” and
explains; they went to all the surrounding tribes with the flag, but
for what purpose is unknown.
White-Cow-Killer says: “All-the-Indians-see-the-flag winter.”
1791-’92.--No. I. A Mandan and a Dakota met in the middle of the
Missouri; each swimming half way across, they shook hands, and made
peace.
Mulligan, post interpreter at Fort Buford, says that this was at Fort
Berthold, and is an historic fact; also that the same Mandan, long
afterwards, killed the same Dakota.
Cloud-Shield says: The Sioux and Omahas made peace.
1792-’93.--No. I. Dakotas and Rees meet in camp together, and are at
peace.
The two styles of dwellings, viz., the tipi of the Dakotas, and the
earth lodge of the Arickaras, are apparently depicted.
Battiste Good says: “Camp-near-the-Gros-Ventres winter,” and adds:
“They were engaged in a constant warfare during this time.” The Gros
Ventres’ dirt-lodge, with the entry in front, is depicted in Battiste
Good’s figure, and on its roof is the head of a Gros Ventre.
See Cloud-Shields’s explanations of his figure for this year, page 133.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. VIII
1793-’94.
1794-’95.
1795-’96.
1796-’97.
1797-’98.
1798-’99.
1799-1800.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1793-’94.--No. I. Thin-Face, a noted Dakota chief, was killed by Rees.
Battiste Good says: “Killed-a-long-haired-man-at-Raw-Hide-Butte
winter,” adding that the Dakotas attacked a village of fifty-eight
lodges, of a tribe [called by a correspondent the Cheyennes], and
killed every soul in it. After the fight they found the body of a man
whose hair was done up with deer-hide in large rolls, and on cutting
them open, found it was all real hair, very thick, and as long as a
lodge-pole. (Mem.: Catlin tells of a Crow called Long-Hair, whose
hair, by actual measurement, was 10 feet 7 inches long.) The fight
was at Raw-Hide Butte, now so-called by the whites, which they named
Buffalo-Hide Butte because they found so many buffalo hides in the
lodges.
According to Cloud-Shield, Long-Hair was killed in 1786-’87; and,
according to American-Horse, Long-Hair (a Cheyenne) was killed in
1796-’97.
White-Cow-Killer says: “Little-Face-kill winter.”
Battiste Good says in his count for the succeeding year, 1794-’95,
“Killed-little-face-Pawnee winter.” The Pawnee’s face was long, flat,
and narrow like a man’s hand, but he had the body of a large man.
1794-’95--No. I. A Mandan chief killed a noted Dakota chief with
remarkably long hair, and took his scalp.
White-Cow-Killer says: “Long-Hair-killed winter.”
1795-’96--No. I. While surrounded by the enemy (Mandans) a Blackfeet
Dakota Indian goes at the risk of his life for water for the party.
The interpreter states that this was near the present Cheyenne Agency,
Dakota Territory. In the original character there is a bloody wound at
the shoulder showing that the heroic Indian was wounded. He is shown
bearing a water vessel.
Battiste Good gives a figure for this year recognizably the same
as that in The-Flame’s chart, but with a different explanation.
He calls it “The Rees-stood-the-frozen-man-up-with-the-buffalo
stomach-in-his-hand winter,” and adds: “The body of a Dakota who had
been killed in an encounter with the Rees, and had been left behind,
froze. The Rees dragged it into their village, propped it up with a
stick, and hung a buffalo stomach filled with ice in one hand to make
sport of it. The buffalo stomach was in common use at that time as a
water-jug.”
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Water-stomach-killed winter.”
1796-’97--No. I. A Mandan chief, “The-Man-with the-Hat,” becomes noted
as a warrior. The character is precisely the same as that often given
for white man. Some error in the interpretation is suggested in the
absence of knowledge whether there actually was a Mandan chief so
named, in which case the pictograph would be consistent.
Battiste Good says: “Wears-the-war-bonnet-died winter,” adding: He did
not die this winter, but received a wound in the abdomen from which the
arrow head could not be extracted, but he died of the belly-ache years
after.
White-Cow-Killer says: “War-Bonnet-killed winter.”
The translated expression, “killed,” has been noticed to refer often to
a fatal wound, though the death did not take place immediately.
1797-’98.--No. I. A Ree woman is killed by a Dakota while gathering
“pomme-blanche,” a root used for food. Pomme-blanche, or Navet de
prairie, is a white root somewhat similar in appearance to a white
turnip, botanically _Psoralea esculenta_ (Nuttal), sometimes _P.
argophylla_. It is a favorite food of the Indians, eaten boiled down
to a sort of mush or hominy. A forked stick is used in gathering these
roots.
It will be noticed that this simple statement about the death of the
Arikara woman is changed by other recorders or interpreters into one of
a mythical character.
Battiste Good says: “Took-the-god-woman-captive winter,” adding: a
Dakota war party captured a woman of a tribe unknown, who, in order to
gain their respect, cried out, “I am a ‘Waukan-Tanka’ woman,” meaning
that she feared or belonged to God, the Great Spirit, whereupon they
let her go unharmed.
A note is added: This is the origin of their name for God
[Waka^n-Tañka], the Great Holy, or Supernatural One, they having never
heard of a Supreme Being, but had offered their prayers to the sun,
earth, and many other objects, believing they were endowed with spirits.
White-Cow-Killer says: “Caught-a-medicine-god-woman winter.”
1798-’99.--No. I. Blackfeet Dakotas kill three Rees.
1799-1800.--No. I. Uncpapas kill two Rees. The figure over the heads
of the two Rees is a bow, showing the mode of death. The hair of the
Arickaras in this and the preceding character is represented in the
same manner.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. IX
1800-’01.
1801-’02.
1802-’03.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1800-’01.--No. I. Thirty-one Dakotas killed by Crows.
No. II. Thirty Dakotas were killed by Crow Indians.
The device consists of thirty parallel black lines in three columns,
the outer lines being united. In this chart, such black lines always
signify the death of Dakotas killed by their enemies.
The Absaroka or Crow tribe, although classed by ethnographers as
belonging to the Siouan family, has nearly always been at war with the
Dakotas proper since the whites have had any knowledge of either. The
official tables of 1875 give the number of Crows then living as 4,200.
They are tall, well-made, bold, and noted for the extraordinary length
of their hair.
No. III. Thirty Dakotas killed by the Gros Ventres Indians between
Forts Berthold and Union, Dakota.
Mato Sapa’s record has nine inside strokes in three rows, the
interpretation being that thirty Dakotas were killed by Gros Ventres
between Forts Berthold and Union, Dakota.
Major Bush says the same, adding that it was near the present site of
Fort Buford.
1801-’02.--No. I. Many died of small-pox.
No. II. The small-pox broke out in the nation. The device is the head
and body of a man covered with red blotches.
No. III. All the Dakotas had the small-pox very bad; fatal.
Battiste Good’s record says: “Small-pox-used-them-up-again winter.”
White-Cow-Killer says: “All-sick winter.”
Major Bush adds “very badly” to “small-pox broke out.”
1802-’03.--No. I. First shod horses seen by Indians.
No. II. A Dakota stole horses with shoes on, _i. e._, stole them either
directly from the whites or from some other Indians who had before
obtained them from whites, as the Indians never shoe their horses. The
device is a horseshoe.
No. III. Blackfeet Dakotas stole some American horses having shoes on.
Horseshoes seen for the first time.
Mato Sapa says: Blackfeet Dakota stole American horses with shoes on,
then first seen by them.
Major Bush agrees with Mato Sapa.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Brought-in-horseshoes winter.”
Battiste Good says: “Brought-home-Pawnee-horses-with-iron shoes-on
winter.”
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. X
1803-’04.
1804-’05.
1805-’06.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1803-’04.--No. I. A Blackfeet steals many curly horses from the
Assinaboines.
No. II. They stole some “curly horses” from the Crows. Some of
these horses are still seen on the plains, the hair growing in
closely-curling tufts, resembling in texture the negro’s woolly pile.
The device is a horse with black marks for the tufts. The Crows are
known to have been early in the possession of horses.
No. III. Uncpapa Dakotas stole five woolly horses from the Ree Indians.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Plenty-woolly-horses winter.”
Mato Sapa says: Uncpapa stole from the Rees five horses having curly
hair.
Major Bush same as last, using “woolly” instead of “curly.”
Battiste Good says:
“Brought-home-Pawnee-horses-with-their-hair-rough-and-curly winter.”
1804-’05.--No. I. Calumet dance. Tall-Mandan born.
No. II. The Dakotas had a calumet dance and then went to war. The
device is a long pipe-stem, ornamented with feathers and streamers.
The feathers are white, with black tips, evidently the tail feathers
of the adult golden eagle (_Aquila chrysaëtos_), highly prized by
all Indians. The streamers anciently were colored strips of skin or
flexible bark; now gayly colored strips of cloth are used. The word
calumet is a corruption of the French _chalumeau_, and the pipe among
all the Mississippi tribes was a symbol of peace. Captain Carver, in
his Three Years’ Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America,
Philadelphia, 1796, which travels began in 1766, after puzzling over
the etymology of the word calumet (that honest “captain of Provincial
troops” obviously not understanding French), reports it as “about 4
feet long, bowl of red marble, stem of a light wood curiously painted
with hieroglyphics in various colors and adorned with feathers. Every
nation has a different method of decorating these pipes and can
tell at once to what band it belongs. It is used as an introduction
to all treaties, also as a flag of truce is among Europeans.” The
event commemorated in the figure was probably a council of some of
the various tribes of the nation for settlement of all internal
difficulties, so as to act unitedly against the common enemy. J. C.
Beltrami, who visited the Dakotas not long after this date, describes
them in his Pilgrimage, London, 1828, as divided into independent
tribes, managing their separate affairs each by its own council,
and sometimes coming into conflict with each other, but uniting in a
general council on occasions affecting the whole nation.
No. III. Danced calumet dance before going to war.
Battiste Good says: “Sung-over-each-other-while-on-the-war-path
winter.” He adds: “The war party while out made a large pipe and sang
each other’s praises.” A memorandum is also added that the pipe here
seems to indicate peace made with some other tribe assisting in the
war. But see pages 118 and 139.
1805-’06.--No. I. Eight Dakotas killed by Crows.
No. II. The Crows killed eight Dakotas. Again the short parallel
black lines, this time eight in number, united by a long stroke. The
interpreter, Fielder, says that this character with black strokes is
only used for grave marks.
No. III. Eight Minneconjou Dakotas killed by Crow Indians at the mouth
of Powder River.
Battiste Good says: “They-came-and-killed-eight winter.” The enemy
killed eight Dakotas.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Eight-Dakotas-killed winter.”
Mato Sapa says: Eight Minneconjous killed by Crows at mouth of Powder
River.
Major Bush same as last.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XI
1806-’07.
1807-’08.
1808-’09.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1806-’07.--No. I. Many eagles caught. This is done by digging a hole
and baiting the eagles to the hole in which the Indian is concealed,
who then catches the eagle.
No. II. A Dakota killed an Arikara as he was about to shoot an eagle.
The sign gives the head and shoulders of a man with a red spot of blood
on his neck, an arm being extended, with a line drawn to a golden
eagle. The Arickaras, a branch of the Pawnee (Pani) family, were at the
date given a powerful body, divided into ten large bands. They migrated
in recent times from southeast to northwest along the Missouri River.
No. III. A Ree Indian hunting eagles from a hole in the ground killed
by the Two Kettle Dakotas.
Battiste Good says: “Killed-them-while-hunting-eagles winter.” Some
Dakota eagle-hunters were killed by enemies.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Killed-while-hunting-eagles winter.”
Mato Sapa says: A Ree hunting eagles from a hole in the ground was
killed by Two Kettles.
Major Bush says the same without the words “hole in the ground.”
There is no doubt that the drawing represents an Indian in the act
of catching an eagle by the legs, as the Arickaras were accustomed
to catch eagles in their earth-traps. They rarely or never shot war
eagles. The enemies probably shot the Arikara in his trap just as he
put his hand up to grasp the bird.
1807-’08.--No. I. Red-Shirt killed by Rees.
No. II. Red-Coat, a chief, was killed. The figure shows the red coat
pierced by two arrows, with blood dropping from the wounds.
No. III. Uncpapa Dakota, named Red-Shirt, killed by Ree Indians.
Battiste Good says: “Came-and-killed-man-with-red-shirt-on winter.”
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Red-shirt-killed winter.”
Mato Sapa says: Red-shirt, an Uncpapa Dakota, was killed by Rees.
Major Bush same as last.
1808-’09.--No. I. Broken-Leg (Dakota) killed by Rees.
No. II. The Dakota who had killed the Ree shown in this record for
1806-’07 was himself killed by the Rees. He is represented running,
and shot with two arrows; blood dripping. These two figures, taken
in connection, afford a good illustration of the method pursued in
the chart, which was not intended to be a continuous history, or even
to record the most important event of each year, but to exhibit some
one of special peculiarity. War then raging between the Dakotas and
several tribes, probably many on both sides were killed in each of the
years; but there was some incident about the one Ree who was shot as
in fancied security he was bringing down an eagle, and whose death was
avenged by his brethren the second year afterward. Hence the selection
of those occurrences. It would, indeed, have been impossible to have
graphically distinguished the many battles, treaties, horse-stealings,
big hunts, etc., so most of them were omitted and other events of
greater individuality and better adapted for portrayal were taken
for the calendar, the criterion being not that they were of national
moment, but that they were of general notoriety, or perhaps of special
interest to the recorders.
No. III. A Blackfeet Dakota, named Broken-Leg, killed by Ree Indians.
Mato Sapa says: Broken-Leg, a Blackfeet Dakota, was killed by Rees.
Major Bush same as last.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XII
1809-’10.
1810-’11.
1811-’12.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1809-’10.--No. I. Little-Beaver, a white trapper, is burnt to death by
accident in his house on the White River. He was liked by Indians.
No. II. A chief, Little-Beaver, set fire to a trading store, and
was killed. The character is simply his name-totem. The other
interpretations say that he was a white man, but he probably had gained
a new name among the Indians.
No. III. White French trader, called Little-Beaver, was blown up by
powder on the Little Missouri River.
Battiste Good says: “Little-Beaver’s-house-burned winter.”
Little-Beaver was an English trader, and his trading house was a log
one.
White-Cow-Killer says: Little-Beaver’s house was burned.
1810-’11.--No. I. Black-Rock, a Minneconjou chief, killed. See page 135.
No. II. Black-Stone made medicine. The “medicine men” have no
connection with therapeutics, feel no pulses, and administer no drugs,
or, if sometimes they direct the internal or external use of some
secret preparation, it is as a part of superstitious ceremonies, and
with main reliance upon those ceremonies they “put forth the charm,
of woven paces and of waving hands,” utter wild cries, and muddle in
blood and filth until they sometimes work themselves into an epileptic
condition. Their incantations are not only to drive away disease,
but for many other purposes, such as to obtain success in war, avert
calamity, and very frequently to bring within reach the buffalo, on
which the Dakotas depended for food. The rites are those known as
Shamanism, noticeable in the ethnic periods of savagery and barbarism.
In the ceremonial of “making medicine,” a buffalo head, and especially
that of an albino, held a prominent place among the plains tribes. Many
references to this are to be found in the Prince of Wied’s Travels in
the interior of North America; London, 1843; also see _infra_, pages
118, 122 and 195.
The device in the chart is the man-figure, with the head of an albino
buffalo held over his own.
No. III. A Minneconjou Dakota, named Little-Tail, first made “medicine”
with white buffalo cow-skin.
Mato Sapa says: A Minneconjou, named Little-Tail, first made medicine
with white buffalo cow-skin.
Major Bush same as last.
American-Horse gives for the preceding year, 1809-’10: Black-Rock was
killed by the Crows.
1811-’12.--No. I. Twenty-seven Mandans surrounded and killed by Dakotas.