Arikara

Biography of Bloody Knife

Bloody Knife

A famous Arikara warrior and chief, who was long in the Government service. His father was a Hunkpapa Sioux and his mother an Arikara. He was born on the Hunkpapa Reservation, North Dakota, but as he approached manhood his mother determined to return to her people and he accompanied her. Prior to the building of the Northern Pacific R. R. the mail for Ft Stevenson, North Dakota, and other Missouri River points, was carried overland from Ft Totten. The high country east of the Missouri was at that time a hunting ground for hostile Sioux who had been driven west … Read more

Treaty of July 18, 1825

To put an end to an unprovoked hostility on the part of the Ricara Tribe of Indians against the United States, and to restore harmony between the parties, the President of the United States, by Brigadier-general Henry Atkinson, of the United States’ Army, and Major Benjamin O’Fallon, Indian Agent, Commissioners duly appointed and commissioned to treat with the Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi river, give peace to the said Ricara Tribe; the Chiefs and Warriors thereof having first made suitable concessions for the offence. And, for the purpose of removing all further or future cause of misunderstanding as respects trade … Read more

Arikara Indians

Arikara Indians. Signifying “horns,” or “elk,” and having reference to their ancient manner of wearing the hair with two pieces of bone standing up, one on each side of the crest; -ra is the plural suffix. Also called: Ă da ka’ da ho, Hidatsa name. Ah-pen-ope-say, or A-pan-to’-pse, Crow name. Corn eaters, given as their own name. Ka’-nan-in, Arapaho name, meaning “people whose jaws break in pieces.” O-no’-ni-o, Cheyenne name. Padani, Pani, applied to them by various tribes. Ree, abbreviation of Arikara. Sanish, “person,” their own name, according to Gilmore (1927). S’gŭǐes’tshi, Salish name. Stâr-râh-he’ [tstarahi], their own name, according … Read more

Treaty of September 17, 1851

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, in the Indian Territory, between D. D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian affairs, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, Indian agent, commissioners specially appointed and authorized by the President of the United States, of the first part, and the chiefs, headmen, and braves of the following Indian nations, residing south of the Missouri River, east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the lines of Texas and New Mexico, viz, the Sioux or Dahcotahs, Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, Crows, Assinaboines, Gros-Ventre Mandans, and Arrickaras, parties of the second part, on the seventeenth day of September, A. … Read more

Houses of the Arikara Tribe

"Riccaree Village" - George Catlin

When or where the Arikara separated from their kindred tribe, the Pawnee, may never be determined, but during the years which followed the separation they continued moving northward, leaving ruined villages to mark the line of their migration. Sixty years ago it was said: “That they migrated upward, along the Missouri, from their friends below is established by the remains of their dirt villages, which are yet seen along that river, though at this time mostly overgrown with grass. At what time they separated from the parent stock is not now correctly known, though some of their locations appear to … Read more

1837 Smallpox Epidemic

No disease which has been introduced among the tribes, has exercised so fatal an influence upon them as the smallpox. Their physicians have no remedy for it. Old and young regard it as if it were the plague, and, on its appearance among them, blindly submit to its ravages. This disease has appeared among them periodically, at irregular intervals of time. It has been one of the prominent causes of their depopulation. Ardent spirits, it is true, in its various forms, has, in the long run, carried a greater number of the tribes to their graves; but its effects have … Read more

Tipi and Earth Lodges of the Plains Tribes

Fig. 8. Setting up a Crow Tipi. (Tetzold photo.)

One of the most characteristic features of Plains Indian culture was the tipi. All the tribes of the area, almost without exception, used it for a part of the year at least. Primarily, the tipi was a conical tent covered with dressed buffalo skins. A carefully mounted and equipped tipi from the Black-foot Indians stands in the center of the Plains exhibit. Everywhere the tipi was made, cared for, and set up by the women. First, a conical framework of long slender poles was erected and the cover raised into place. Then the edges of the cover were staked down … Read more

Religion and Ceremonies of the Plains Tribes

Blackfoot Medicine Pipe

The sacred beliefs of these Indians are largely formulated and expressed in sayings and narratives having some resemblance to the legends of European peoples. There are available large collections of these tales and myths from the Blackfoot, Crow, Nez Perce, Assiniboin, Gros Ventre, Arapaho, Arikara, Pawnee, Omaha, Northern Shoshoni, and less complete series from the Dakota, Cheyenne, and Ute. In these will be found much curious and interesting information. Each tribe in this area has its own individual beliefs and sacred myths, yet many have much in common, the distribution of the various incidents therein forming one of the important … Read more

Arikara Indian Clans, Bands and Gens

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Foxes. An Arikara band. Culbertson in Smithson. Rep. 1850, 143, 1851. Hachepiriinu (young dogs) A former Arikara band under chief Chinanitu, The Brother. Hia (‘band of Cree’) .A former Arikara band under chief Cherenakuta, or Yellow Wolf. Hosukhaunu (foolish dogs). Given as an Arikara band under chief Sithauche about 1855, but properly a dance society. Hosukhaunukarerihu (little foolish dogs ). Given as an Arikara band under chief Tigaranish … Read more