Brule Sioux Tribe

Brulé Sioux Indians, Brulé One Nation, Brulé Tribes (‘burned,’ the French translation of, Sichángχu, ‘burnt thighs,’ their own name, of indefinite origin). A subtribe of the Teton division of the great Dakota tribe. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark (1804) as the Tetons of the Burnt Woods, numbering about 300 men, “who rove on both sides of the Missouri, White, and Teton rivers.” In 1806 they were on the east side of the Missouri from the mouth of the White to Teton river. Hayden 1 describes the country inhabited by them in 1850 as on the headwaters of the White and Niobrara, extending down these rivers about, half their length, Teton River forming the north limit. He also says they were for a number of years headed by a chief named Makozaza, very friendly to the whites, who by uniformly good management and just government kept his people in order, regulated their hunts, and usually avoided placing them in the starving situations incident to hands led by less judicious chiefs. They were good hunters, usually well clothed and supplied with meat, and had comfortable lodges and a large number of horses. They varied their occupations by hunting buffalo, catching wild horses, and snaking war expeditions against the Arikara, then stationed on the Platte, or the Pawnee, lower down on that river. Every summer excursions were made by the young men into the Platte and Arkansas country in quest of wild horses, which abounded there at that time. After emigrants to California and Oregon began to pass through the Dakota country, the Brulé suffered more from diseases introduced by them than any other division of the tribe, being nearest to the trail. The treaty of Apr. 29, 1868, between the Sioux bands and the Government was in a large degree brought about through the exertions of Swift Bear, a Brulé chief. Nevertheless, it was about this time or shortly after that a band of Brulé took part in the attack on Maj. Forsyth on Republican river. Hayden gives 150 as the number of their lodges in 1856. In 1890 the Upper Brulé on Rosebud reservation, South Dakota, numbered 3,245; the Lower Brulé at Crowcreek and Lower Brulé agency, South Dakota, 1,026. Their present number as distinct from the other Teton is not given.

The group is divided geographically into the Kheyatawichasha or Upper Brulé, the Kutawichasha or Lower Brulé, and the Brulé of the Platte.
The subdivisions are given by different authorities as follows:

Lewis and Clark 2 :

1. Esahateaketarpar (Isanyati?),
2. Warchinktarhe,
3. Choketartowomb (Chokatowela),
4. Ozash (see Wazhazha),
5. Menesharne (see Minisala).

In 1880 Tatankawakan, a Brulé, gave to J. O. Dorsey the names of 13 bands of the Brulé, Upper and Lower:

1. Iyakoza
2. Chokatowela
3. Shiyolanka
4. Homna
5. Shiyosubula
6. Kanghiyuha,
7. Pispizawichasha,
8. Waleghaunwohan,
9. Wacheunpa,
10. Shawala,
11. Ihanktonwan,
12. Nakhpakhpa,
13. Apewantanka.

Rev. W. J. Cleveland 3 enumerates the modern divisions as:

1. Sichanghu
2. Kakeglia
3. • (a) Hinhanshunwapa
   • (b) Shunkahanapin
4. Hihakanhanhanwin,
5. Hunkuwanicha,
6. Miniskuyakichun
7. • (a) Kiyuksa
   • (b) Tiglabu
8. Wacheunpa
9. Waglukhe
10. Isanyati
11. Wagmezayuha
12. • (a) Waleghaonwohan
    • (b) Wakhna
13. Oglalaichichagha
14. Tiyochesli
15. Wazhazha
16. Ieskachincha
17. Ohenonpa
18. Okaghawichasha

The Brulé of the Platte, not included in the above lists, are a part of the Brulé 4 formerly connected with Whetstone.

Sichanghu (‘burnt thighs’) A band of the Brulé Teton Sioux.

Citations:

1. Ethnog. and Philol. 1 fo. Valley, 372, 1862[↩]
2. Discov., 34, 1806[↩]
3. Cleveland, MS. list, 1884[↩]
4. Stanley in Poole, Among the Sioux, 232, 1881[↩]