South Dakota Archives – Page 8 of 10

Two Kettles Sioux Tribe

Two Kettle Indians, Two Kettle Lakota, Oohenonpa Tribe, Oohenonpa Indians, (‘two boilings’ ). A division of the Teton Sioux, commonly known as Two Kettle Sioux, or Two Kettles; also a subdivision thereof. No mention of it is made by Lewis and Clark, Long, or other earlier explorers. It is stated in a note to De Smet’s Letters (1843) that the band was estimated at 800 persons. Culbertson (1850) estimated them at 60 lodges, but gives no locality and says they have no divisions. Gen. Warren (1856) found them much scattered among other bands and numbering about 100 lodges. Gumming places … Read more

Sisseton Sioux Tribe

Sisseton Sioux Indians, Sisseton Indians, Sisseton Tribe (‘lake village’). One of the seven original tribes of the Dakota. They appear to have formed a link between the eastern and western tribes, though generally included in the eastern division, with which they seem to have the closest affinity. Riggs says that the intercourse between the Mdewakanton on the Mississippi and lower Minnesota rivers. and the Wahpeton, Wahpekute, and a part of the Sisseton has been so constant that but slight differences are discoverable in their manner of speaking, though the western Sisseton show greater difference in their speech. This tribe was in existence … Read more

Sioux Indians

Siouan Family, Siouan Tribe, Sioux Tribe. The most populous linguistic family North of Mexico, next to the Algonquian. The name is taken from a ‘term applied to the largest and best known tribal group or confederacy belonging to the family, the Sioux or Dakota, which, in turn, is an abbreviation of Nadowessioux, a French corruption of Nadowe-is-iw, the appellation given them by the Chippewa. It signifies ‘snake,’ ‘adder,’ and, by metaphor, ‘enemy.’ Before changes of domicile took place among them, resulting from contact with whites, the principal body extended from the west bank of the Mississippi northward from the Arkansas … Read more

San Arcs Tribe

San Arcs Indians, San Arcs Indian Tribe (French trans. of Itazipcho ‘without bows,’ from itazipa, ‘bow,’ and cho, abbrev of chodan, ;without;). A band of the Teton Sioux, Hayden about 1860, says that they and the Hunkpapa and Sihasapa “occupy nearly the same district and are so often camped near each other, and are otherwise so connected in their operations as scarcely to admit of being treated separately.” On the other hand, Warren (Dacota Country) indicates that their closest relations were with the Miniconjou. San Arcs Divisions Their divisions as given by Swift in a letter to Dorsey (1884) are: Itazipcho … Read more

Oglala Sioux Tribe

Oglala Indians, Oglala Sioux Tribe (‘to scatter one’s own’). The principal division of the Teton Sioux. Their history recounts incessant contests with other tribes and depredations on the whites.

Hunkpatina Tribe

Array

Dakota Indian Divisions

Early explorers usually distinguished the Dakota Indians into an Eastern or Forest and a Western or prairie division. A more complete and accurate classification, one which is also recognized by the people themselves, is the following: Mdewakanton Wahpeton Wahpekute Sisseton Yankton Yanktonai Teton Each of these are again subdivided into bands and subbands. These seven main divisions are often known as “the seven council fires.” The first four named together constitute the Isanyati, Santee, or eastern division, of which the Mdewakanton appear to be the original nucleus, and speak one dialect. Their home was in Minnesota prior to the outbreak of 1862. … Read more

Blackfoot Tribe

Sihasapa (‘black feet’, so called because they wore black moccasins). A small division of the Teton Sioux. The name, like the names of some other Teton tribes, does not appear to have come into notice until a recent date, no mention being made of it by Lewis and Clark, Long, or earlier authorities. Catlin in his Letters and Notes, written during his stay among the northwestern Indians (1832-39), mentions the Blackfoot Sioux. In a note to De Smet’s Letters they were estimated to number 1,500. Culbertson estimated the tribe at 450 lodges, an exaggeration, and mentions five bands or subtribes, … Read more

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 describes the country inhabited by them in 1850 as on the headwaters of the White and Niobrara, … Read more

South Dakota Indian Reservations

Ponca Tribe

Ponca Indians. One of the five tribes of the so-called Dhegiha group of the Siouan family, forming with the Omaha, Osage, and Kansa, the upper Dhegiha or Omaha division. The Ponca and Omaha have the same language, differing only in some dialectic forms and approximating the Quapaw rather than the Kansa and Osage languages. The early history of the tribe is the same as that of the other tribes of the group, and, after the first separation, is identical with that, of the Omaha. After the migration of the combined body to the mouth of Osage river the first division of the Omaha group … Read more

Omaha Tribe

The Village of the Omahas - Photograph by W. H. Jackson, 1871.

Omaha Tribe – Omaha Indians (‘those going against the wind or current’ ). One of the 5 tribes of the so called Dhegiha group of the Siouan family, the other 4 being the Kansa, Quapaw, Osage, and Ponca. Hale and Dorsey concluded from a study of the languages and traditions that, in the westward migration of the Dhegiha from their seat on Ohio and Wabash rivers after the separation, at least as early as 1500, of the Quapaw, who went down the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio, the Omaha branch moved up the great river, remaining awhile near … Read more

Mandan Tribe

Mandan Indians. A Siouan tribe of the northwest. The name, according to Maximilian, originally given by the Sioux is believed by Matthews to be a corruption of the Dakota Mawatani. Previous to 1830 they called themselves simply Numakiki, ‘people’ (Matthews). Maximilian says “if they wish to particularize their descent they add the name of the village whence they came originally.” Hayden gives Miah’tanēs, ‘ people on the bank,’ as the name they apply to themselves, and draws from this the inference that “they must have resided on the banks of the Missouri at a very remote period.” According to Morgan … Read more

Cheyenne Tribe

Cheyenne Tribe – An exhaustive resource for anyone researching the history, culture, genealogy, names, towns, treaties or ethnology of the Choctaw Nation.

South Dakota Indian Agencies and Schools

Agencies and Schools listed below are what were listed for the state. Slight indent after an Agency list all schools in that jurisdiction. Canton Insane Asylum, South Dakota Post-office: Canton, South Dakota Telegraph address: Canton, South Dakota; Postal and Western Union, 2 miles from asylum; thence telephone. Railroad station: Canton, South Dakota, on Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rwy.; distance, 2 miles. Cheyenne River Agency and School, South Dakota Post-office: Cheyenne Agency, South Dakota Telegraph address: Gettysburg, South Dakota; Western Union, 20 miles from agency; thence telephone. Railroad station: Gettysburg, South Dakota, on Chicago and Northwestern Rwy.; hence stage daily, … Read more

South Dakota Indian Tribes

Canton Asylum, 1910, List of Patients

The Indian Asylum in Canton, South Dakota in 1905

In 1898, Congress passed a bill creating the only ‘Institution for Insane Indians’ in the United States. The Canton Indian Insane Asylum, South Dakota (sometimes called Hiawatha Insane Asylum) opened for the reception of patients in January, 1903. Many of the inmates were not mentally ill. Native Americans risked being confined in the asylum for alcoholism, opposing government or business interests, or for being culturally misunderstood. A 1927 investigation conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that a large number of patients showed no signs of mental illness. The asylum was closed in 1934. While open, more than 350 … Read more