objects, like several heads, shown in 1825-’26, but these are bloody,
thus distinguishing them from the cases of drowning.
No. III. Four Crow Indians killed by the Minneconjou Dakotas. Necks
shown.
1865-’66.--No. I. Many horses died.
No. II. Many horses died for want of grass. The horse here drawn is
sufficiently distinct from all others in the chart.
No. III. Dakotas lost many horses in the snow.
See Corbusier’s Winter Counts, No. II for same year, page 144.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXI
1866-’67.
1867-’68.
1868-’69.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1866-’67.--No. I. Little Swan, a great warrior.
No. II. Swan, father of Swan, chief of the Minneconjous in 1877,
died. With the assistance of the name the object intended for his
totem may be recognized as a swan swimming on the water.
No. III. Minneconjou Dakota chief, named Swan, died.
Mato Sapa’s record has a better representation of a swan.
Interpreter Lavary says: Little-Swan died in this year on Cherry Creek,
75 miles northwest of Fort Sully.
Major Bush says this is historically correct.
1867-’68.--No. I. Much medicine made.
No. II. Many flags were given them by the Peace Commission. The flag
refers to the visit of the Peace Commissioners, among whom were
Generals Sherman, Terry, and other prominent military and civil
officers. Their report appears in the Annual Report of the Commissioner
of Indian Affairs for 1868. They met at Fort Leavenworth, August 13,
1867, and between August 30 and September 13 held councils with the
various bands of the Dakota Indians at Forts Sully and Thompson, and
also at the Yankton, Ponka, and Santee Reservations. These resulted in
the great Dakota treaty of 1868.
No. III. Made peace with General Sherman and others at Fort Laramie.
Mato Sapa says: Made peace with General Sherman and others at Fort
Laramie.
Major Bush agrees with Mato Sapa.
See Corbusier’s Winter Counts, No. II, page 144.
1868-’69.--No. I. First issue of beef by Government to Indians.
No. II. Texas cattle were brought into the country. This was done by
Mr. William A. Paxton, a well-known business man, resident in Dakota in
1877.
No. III. Dakotas had plenty of white men’s cattle (the result of the
peace).
Mato Sapa agrees with No. III.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXII
1869-’70.
1870-’71.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1869-’70.--No. I. Eclipse of the moon.
No. II. An eclipse of the sun. This was the solar eclipse of August 7,
1869, which was central and total on a line drawn through the Dakota
country. This device has been criticised because the Indians believe an
eclipse to be occasioned by a dragon or aerial monster swallowing the
sun, and it is contended that they would so represent it. An answer is
that the design is objectively good, the sun being painted black, as
concealed, while the stars come out red, _i. e._, bright, and graphic
illustration prevails throughout the charts where it is possible to
employ it. In addition, it is learned that Prof. Cleveland Abbé, who
was famed as an astronomer before he became so as a meteorologist,
was at Sioux Falls, with a corps of assistants, to observe this very
eclipse, and explained the subject to a large number of Indians there
at that time, so that their attention was not only directed specially
to that eclipse, but also to the white men as interested in it, and to
its real appearance as apart from their old superstition.
In addition to this fact, Dr. Washington Matthews, assistant surgeon
United States Army, communicates the statement that the Indians had
numberless other opportunities all over their country of receiving the
same information. He was at Fort Rice during the eclipse and remembers
that long before the eclipse occurred the officers, men, and citizens
around the post told the Indians of the coming event and discussed it
with them so much that they were on the tip-toe of expectancy when
the day came. Two-Bears and his band were then encamped at Fort Rice,
and he and several of his leading men watched the eclipse along with
the whites and through their smoked glass, and then and there the
phenomenon was thoroughly explained to them over and over again. There
is no doubt that similar explanations were made at all the numerous
posts and agencies along the river that day. The path of the eclipse
coincided nearly with the course of the Missouri for over a thousand
miles. The duration of totality at Fort Rice was nearly two minutes
(1^m 48^{s}.)
No. III. Dakotas witnessed eclipse of the sun; frightened terribly.
It is remarkable that the Corbusier Winter Counts do not mention this
eclipse.
1870-’71.--No. I. The-Flame’s son killed by Rees. The recorder,
The-Flame, evidently considered his family misfortune to be of more
importance than the battle referred to by the other recorders.
No. II. The Uncpapas had a battle with the Crows, the former losing,
it is said, 14 and killing 29 out of 30 of the latter, though nothing
appears to show those numbers. The central object in the symbol is not
a circle denoting multitude, but an irregularly rounded object, clearly
intended for one of the wooden inclosures or forts frequently erected
by the Indians, and especially the Crows. The Crow fort is shown as
nearly surrounded, and bullets, not arrows or lances, are flying. This
is the first instance in which any combat or killing is portrayed where
guns explicitly appear to be used by Indians, though nothing in the
chart is at variance with the fact that the Dakotas had for a number of
years been familiar with fire arms. The most recent indications of any
weapon were those of the arrows piercing the Crow squaw in 1857-’58 and
Brave-Bear in 1854-’55, while the last one before them was the lance
used in 1848-’49, and those arms might well have been employed in all
the cases selected for the calendar, although rifles and muskets were
common. There is also an obvious practical difficulty in picturing by
a single character killing with a bullet, not arising as to arrows,
lances, dirks, and hatchets, all of which can be and are in the chart
shown projecting from the wounds made by them. Pictographs in the
possession of the Bureau of Ethnology show battles in which bullets
are denoted by continuous dotted lines, the spots at which they take
effect being sometimes indicated. It is, however, to be noted that the
bloody wound on the Ree’s shoulder (1806-’07) is without any protruding
weapon, as if made by a bullet.
No. III. A Crow war party of 30 were surprised and surrounded in the
Black Hills by the Dakotas and killed. Fourteen of the Dakotas were
killed in the engagement.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIII
1871-’72.
1872-’73.
1873-’74.
1874-’75.
1875-’76.
1876-’77.
THE DAKOTA WINTER COUNTS.]
1871-’72.--No. I. The-Flame’s second son killed by Rees.
1872-’73.--No. I. Sans-Arc-John killed by Rees.
1873-’74.--No. I. Brulés kill a number of Pawnees.
Cloud-Shield says they killed many Pawnees on the Republican River.
1874-’75.--No. I. A Dakota kills one Ree.
1875-’76.--No. I. Council at Spotted Tail Agency.
1876-’77.--No. I. Horses taken by United States Government.
White-Cow-Killer calls it
“General-Mackenzie-took-the-Red-Cloud-Indians’-horses-away-from-them
winter.”
In the account of Lone-Dog’s chart, published in 1877, as above
mentioned, the present writer, on the subject of the recorder’s
selection of events, remarked as follows:
“The year 1876 has furnished good store of events for his choice,
and it will be interesting to learn whether he has selected as the
distinguishing event the victory over Custer, or, as of still greater
interest, the general seizure of ponies, whereat the tribes, imitating
Rachel, weep and will not be comforted, because they are not.”
It now appears that two of the counts have selected the event of the
seizure of the ponies, and none of them yet seen make any allusion to
the defeat of Custer.
After examination of the three charts it will be conceded that, as
above stated, the design is not narrative, the noting of events being
subordinated to the marking of the years by them, and the pictographic
serial arrangements of sometimes trivial, though generally notorious,
incidents, being with special adaptation for use as a calendar. That in
a few instances small personal events, such as the birth or death of
the recorder or members of his family, are set forth, may be regarded
as in the line of interpolations in or unauthorized additions to the
charts. If they had exhibited a complete national or tribal history
for the years embraced in them, their discovery would have been, in
some respects, more valuable, but they are the more interesting to
ethnologists because they show an attempt, before unsuspected among the
tribes of American Indians, to form a system of chronology.
THE CORBUSIER WINTER COUNTS.
While the present paper was in preparation, a valuable and elaborate
communication was received from Dr. William H. Corbusier, assistant
surgeon, United State Army, styled by him the Dakota Winter Counts,
which title was adopted for the whole subject-matter, including the
charts with their interpretations which had before been known to
the present writer, and those from Dr. Corbusier, which furnish a
different system, are distinguished by his name. It is necessary to
explain that all references in the text to colors, other than black,
must be understood as applicable to the originals. Other colors could
not be reproduced in the plates without an expense disproportionate to
the importance of the colors for significance and comprehension.
A more important explanation is due on account of the necessity to
omit from Dr. Corbusier’s contribution the figures of Battiste Good’s
count and their interpretation. This count is in some respects the most
important of all those yet made known. As set down by Battiste Good, it
begins in a peculiar cyclic computation with the year A. D. 900, and
in thirteen figures includes the time to A.D. 1700, all these figures
being connected with legends and myths, some of which indicate European
influence. From 1700-’01 to 1879-’80 a separate character for each
year is given, with its interpretation, in a manner generally similar
to those in the other charts. Unfortunately all of these figures are
colored, either in whole or in large part, five colors being used
besides black, and the drawing is so rude that without the colors it is
in many cases unintelligible. The presentation at this time of so large
a number of colored figures--in all one hundred and ninety-three--in
addition to the other illustrations of the present paper, involved
too great expense. It is hoped that this count can be so far revised,
with the elimination of unessential coloration and with more precision
in the outlines, as to allow of its publication. Several of its
characters, with references also to its interpretation when compared
with that of other counts, are given in various parts of the present
paper. Where it was important to specify their coloration the heraldic
scheme has been used.
The pages immediately following contain the contribution of Dr.
Corbusier, diminished by the extraction of the parts comprising
Battiste Good’s count. Its necessary omission, as above explained,
is much regretted, not only on account of its intrinsic value, but
because without it the work of Dr. Corbusier does not appear to all the
advantage merited by his zeal and industry.
* * * * *
The Dakotas reckon time by winters, and apply names to them instead of
numbering them from an era. Each name refers to some notable occurrence
of the winter or year to which it belongs, and has been agreed upon
in council on the expiration of the winter. Separate bands have often
fixed upon different events, and it thus happens that the names are
not uniform throughout the nation. Ideographic records of these
occurrences have been kept in several bands for many years, and they
constitute the Dakota Winter-Counts (waníyetu wówapi) or Counts Back
(hékta yawapi). They are used in computing time, and to aid the memory
in recalling the names and events of the different years, their places
in the count, and their order of succession. The enumeration of the
winters is begun at the one last recorded and carried backward. Notches
on sticks, war-shirts, pipes, arrows, and other devices also serve a
mnemonic purpose. The Counts were formerly executed in colors on the
hides of animals, but the present recorders make use of paper, books,
pens, pencils, and paints obtained from the whites. The alignment of
the ideographs depends to some extent upon the material on which they
are depicted. On robes it is spiral from right to left and from the
center outward, each year being added to the coil as the snail adds to
its whorl. The spiral line, frequently seen in etchings on rocks, has
been explained to me as indicating a snail shell. On paper they are
sometimes carried from right to left, sometimes from left to right, and
again the two methods are combined as in Battiste Good’s winter-count,
which begins at the back of the book and is carried forward, _i. e._,
from right to left, but in which the alignment on each page is from
left to right. The direction from right to left is that followed in
many of their ceremonies, as when tobacco is smoked as incense to the
sun and the pipe is passed around, and when the devotees in the dance
to the sun enter and leave the consecrated lodge in which they fulfill
their vows.
Among the Oglálas and the Brulés there are at least five of these
counts kept by as many different men, each man seeming to be the
recorder for his branch of the tribe. I obtained copies of three of
them in 1879 and 1880, while stationed at Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, near
the Pine Ridge Agency, Dakota. One winter count was made for me by
Battiste Good, a Brulé Dakota, at the Rosebud Agency, Dakota, being a
copy of the one of which he is the recorder. He explained the meaning
of the pictographs to the Rev. William J. Cleveland, of the Rosebud
Agency, to whom I am indebted for rendering his explanations into
English. Several Indians and half-breeds had informed me that his count
formerly embraced about the same number of years as the other two, but
that Battiste Good gathered the names of many years from the old people
and placed them in chronological order as far back as he was able to
learn them.
Another winter count is a copy of the one in the possession of
American-Horse, an Oglála Dakota, at the Pine Ridge Agency, who asserts
that his grandfather began it, and that it is the production of his
grandfather, his father, and himself. I received the explanations from
American-Horse through an interpreter.
A third winter count is a copy of one kept by Cloud-Shield. He is
also an Oglála Dakota at the Pine Ridge Agency, but of a different
band from American-Horse. I also received his explanations through an
interpreter. The last two counts embrace nearly the same number of
years. I have added the dates to both of them, beginning at the last
year, the date of which was known, and carrying them back. Two dates
belong to each figure, as a Dakota year covers a portion of two of our
calendar years.
I have seen copies of a fourth winter count which is kept by
White-Cow-Killer at the Pine Ridge Agency. I did not obtain a copy of
it, but learned most of the names given to the winters.
On comparing the winter counts, it is found that they often correspond,
but more frequently differ. In a few instances the differences are in
the succession of the events, but in most instances they are due to
an omission or to the selection of another event. When a year has the
same name in all of them, the bands were probably encamped together or
else the event fixed upon was of general interest; and, when the name
is different, the bands were scattered or nothing of general interest
occurred. Differences in the succession may be due to the loss of
a record and the depiction of another from memory, or to errors in
copying an old one.
The explanations of the counts are far from complete, as the recorders
who furnished them could in many instances recall nothing except the
name of the year, and in others were loth to speak of the events or
else their explanations were vague and unsatisfactory, and, again,
the interpreters were sometimes at fault. Many of the recent events
are fresh in the memory of the people, as the warriors who strive to
make their exploits a part of the tribal traditions proclaim them
on all occasions of ceremony--count their _coups_, as it is called.
Declarations of this kind partake of the nature of affirmations made in
the presence of God. War-shirts on which scores of the enemies killed
are kept, and which are carefully transmitted from one generation
to another, help to refresh their memories in regard to some of the
events. By testing many Indians I learned that but few could interpret
the significance of the figures; some of them could point out the year
of their birth and that of some members of their families; others could
not do so, or pretended that they could not, but named the year and
asked me to point it out and tell their age.
In the following explanation of the winter counts, [figured on Plates
XXXIV-LI,] No. I refers to that of American-Horse and No. II to that of
Cloud-Shield.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXIV
1775-’76.
1776-’77.
1777-’78.
1778-’79.
1779-’80.
1780-’81.
THE CORBUSIER WINTER COUNTS.]
1775-’76.--No. I. Standing-Bull, the great-grandfather of the present
Standing-Bull, discovered the Black Hills. He carried home with him a
pine tree of a species he had never seen before. (In this count the
Dakotas are usually distinguished by the braided scalp-lock and the
feather they wear at the crown of the head, or by the manner in which
they brush back and tie the hair. It will be noticed that the profile
of most of the faces is given, whereas Battiste Good gives the full
face. The Dakotas have of late years claimed the Black Hills, probably
by right of discovery in 1775-’76; but the Crows were the former
possessors.)
This is also the first winter of White-Cow-Killer’s count and is called
“Two-warriors-killed winter.”
1776-’77.--No. I. Many of their horses were killed by some of their own
people, who were jealous because they were fatter than their own.
1777-’78.--No. I. It was an intensely cold winter, and the
Man-who-has-no-skin-on-his-penis froze to death. The sign for snow or
winter, i. e., a cloud with snow falling from it, is above his head.
A haka-stick, which, in playing that game, they cast after a ring, is
represented in front of him.
Battiste Good’s record is that a Dakota named Skinned-Penis was killed
in a fight with the Pawnees, and his companions left his body where
they supposed it would not be found, but the Pawnees found it, and as
it was frozen stiff, they dragged it into their camp and played haka
with it.
No. II. A war party brought in the lone pine tree from the enemy’s
country. They met no enemies while out. This event is also the first in
No. I, in which it marks the winter of 1775-’76.
1778-’79.--No. I. The Ponkas came and attacked a village,
notwithstanding peace had just been made with them. The people repulsed
and followed them, killing sixty. Some elk-hair and a feather represent
Ponka. Horse tracks are used for horses. Attack is indicated by signs
which were said to represent bullet marks, and which convey the
idea that the bullet struck. The sign seems to be derived from the
gesture-sign for “it struck.”
No. II. Many of their horses were killed, but by whom is not known. The
same event is recorded in No. I, 1776-’77.
1779-’80.--No. I. Long-Pine was killed in a fight with the Crows. The
absence of his scalp denotes that he was killed by an enemy. The wound
was made with the bow and arrow.
No. II. Skinned-his-penis was used in the ring-and-pole game.
1780-’81.--No. I. Many died of small-pox.
No. II. “The policeman” was killed by the enemy.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXV
1781-’82.
1782-’83.
1783-’84.
1784-’85.
1785-’86.
1786-’87.
THE CORBUSIER WINTER COUNTS.]
1781-’82--No. I. Many died of small-pox.
No. II. Many people died of small-pox. They all record two successive
winters of small-pox, but No. I makes the first year of the epidemic
one year later than that of Battiste Good, and No. II makes it two
years later.
1782-’83.--No. I. A Dakota named Stabber froze to death. The sign for
winter is the same as before.
No. II. Many people died of small-pox again.
1783-’84--No. I. The Mandans and Rees made a charge on a Dakota
village. The Dakotas drove them back, killed twenty five of them, and
captured a boy. An eagle’s tail, which is worn on the head, stands for
Mandan and Ree.
No. II. The-Stabber froze to death. The man’s name is suggested by the
spear in the body over his head, which is connected with his mouth by
a line.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Big-fire winter,” possibly because big fires
were required to keep them warm.
1784-’85.--No. I. A young man who was afflicted with the small-pox,
and was in his tipi, off by himself, sang his death-song and shot
himself. Suicide is more common among Indians than is generally
suspected, and even boys sometimes take their own lives. A Dakota boy
at one of the agencies shot himself rather than face his companions
after his mother had whipped him, and a Pai-Ute boy at Camp McDermit,
Nevada, tried to poison himself with the wild parsnip because he was
not well and strong like the other boys. The Pai-Utes usually eat the
wild parsnip when bent on suicide.
No. II. An Omaha woman who was living with the Oglálas attempted to run
away from them, and they killed her. A war between the two tribes was
the result.
1785-’86.--No. I. Bear’s-Ears, a Brulé, was killed in an Oglála village
by the Crows.
No. II. The Oglálas killed three lodges of Omahas.
1786-’87.--No. I. Broken-Leg-Duck, an Oglála, went to a Crow village to
steal horses and was killed. A line connects the name with the mouth.
No. II. Long-Hair was killed. To what tribe he belonged is not known.
[Illustration:
BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXXVI
1787-’88.
1788-’89.
1789-’90.
1790-’91.
1791-’92.
1792-’93.
THE CORBUSIER WINTER COUNTS.]
1787-’88.--No. I. They went out in search of the Crows in order to
avenge the death of Broken-Leg-Duck. They did not find any Crows, but,
chancing on a Mandan village, captured it and killed all the people in
it.
No. II. A year of famine. They lived on roots, which are represented in
front of the tipi.
1788-’89.--No. I. Last-Badger, an Oglála, was killed by the Rees.
No. II. The winter was so cold that many crows froze to death.
White-Cow-Killer calls 1787-’88 “Many-black-crows-died winter.”
1789-’90.--No. I. The cold was so intense that crows froze in the air
and dropped dead near the lodges.
No. II. White-Goose was killed in an attack made by some enemies.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “Goose-Feather-killed winter.”
1790-’91.--No. I. They could not hunt on account of the deep snow, and
were compelled to subsist on anything they could get, as herbs (pézi)
and roots.
No. II. Picket-Pin went against the Cheyennes. A picket-pin is
represented in front of him and is connected with his mouth by the
usual line. The black band across his face denotes that he was brave
and had killed enemies. The cross is the symbol for Cheyenne. The
mark used for Cheyenne stands for the scars on their arms, or stripes
on their sleeves, which also gave rise to the gesture sign for this
tribe, given in Sign Language among the North American Indians, etc.,
First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 465, viz.: Draw the
extended right index, or the inner edge of the open right hand, several
times across the base of the extended left index or across the left
forearm at different heights.
White-Cow-Killer calls it “All-the-Indians-see-the-flag winter.”