Omaha

Biography of Alice C. Fletcher

Fletcher credited Frederic Ward Putnam for stimulating her interest in American Indian culture. She studied the remains of the Indian civilization in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, became a member of the Archaeological Institute of America in 1879, and worked and lived with the Omahas as a representative of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. These times marked the beginning of her 40-year association with an Omaha named Francis La Flesche. They collaborated professionally and also had an informal mother-son relationship. They lived together in Washington, D.C., beginning in 1890. In 1883 she was appointed special agent … Read more

Omaha Tribe History in Nebraska

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The Omaha, so far as known, formerly dwelt in villages composed of dwellings made of sod and timber. The illustration gives the outward appearance of these dwellings, which are built by setting carefully selected and prepared posts closely together in a circle and binding them firmly with willows, then backing them with dried grass and covering the entire structure with closely packed sods. The roof is made in the same manner, having an additional support of an inner circle of posts, with crotches to hold the cross logs which act as beams to the dome-shaped roof. A circular opening in … Read more

Treaty of March 6, 1865

Articles of treaty made and concluded at Washington, D. C., on the sixth day of March, A. D. 1865, between the United of America, by their commissioners, Clark W. Thompson, Robert W. Furnas, and the Omaha tribe of Indians by their chiefs, E-sta-mah-za, or Joseph La Flesche, Gra-ta-mah-zhe, or Standing Hawk; Ga-he-ga-zhinga, or Little Chief; Tah-wah-gah-ha, or Village Maker; Wah-no-ke-ga, or Noise; Sha-da-na-ge, or Yellow Smoke; Wastch-com-ma-nu, or Hard Walker; Pad-a-ga-he, or Fire Chief; Ta-su, or White Cow; Ma-ha-nin-ga, or No Knife. Article 1.The Omaha tribe of Indians do hereby cede, sell, and convey to the United States a tract … Read more

Treaty of October 15, 1836

Articles of a convention entered into and concluded at Bellevue Upper Missouri the fifteenth day of October one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, by and between John Dougherty U. S. agt. for Indian Affairs and Joshua Pilcher U. S. Ind. s. agt being specially authorized therefor; and the chiefs braves head men &c of the Otoes Missouries Omahaws and Yankton and Santee bands of Sioux, duly authorized by their respective tribes. Article 1. Whereas it has been represented that according to the stipulations of the first article of the treaty of Prairie du Chien of the fifteenth of July eighteen … Read more

Treaty of July 15, 1830

Articles of a treaty made and concluded by William Clark Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Willoughby Morgan, Col. of the United States 1st Regt. Infantry, Commissioners on behalf of the United States on the one part, and the undersigned Deputations of the Confederated Tribes of the Sacs and Foxes; the Medawah-Kanton, Wahpacoota, Wahpeton and Sissetong Bands or Tribes of Sioux; the Omahas, Ioways, Ottoes and Missourias on the other part. The said Tribes being anxious to remove all causes which may hereafter create any unfriendly feeling between them, and being also anxious to provide other sources for supplying their wants … Read more

Omaha Indians

Omaha Indians. Meaning “those going against the wind or current”; sometimes shortened to Maha. Also called: Ho’-măn’-hăn, Winnebago name. Hu-úmiûi, Cheyenne Dame. Onǐ’hä°, Cheyenne name, meaning “drum beaters” (?). Pŭk-tǐs, Pawnee name. U’-aha, Pawnee name. Connections. The Omaha belonged to that section of the Siouan linguistic stock which included also the Ponca, Kansa, Osage, and Quapaw, and which was called by J. O. Dorsey (1897) Dhegiha. Location. Their principal home in historic times was in northeastern Nebraska, on the Missouri River. (See also Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and South Dakota.) History. According to strong and circumstantial traditions, the Omaha and others … Read more

Treaty of 16 March 1854

Articles of agreement and convention made and concluded at the city of Washington this sixteenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, by George W. Manypenny, as commissioner on the part of the United States, and the following-named chiefs of the Omaha tribe of Indians, viz: Shon-ga-ska, or Logan Fontenelle; E-sta-mah-za, or Joseph Le Flesche; Gra-tah-nah-je, or Standing Hawk; Gah-he-ga-gin-gah, or Little Chief; Ta-wah-gah-ha, or Village Maker; Wah-no-ke-ga, or Noise; So-da-nah-ze, or Yellow Smoke; they being thereto duly authorized by said tribe. Article 1. The Omaha Indians cede to the United States all their lands west of the … Read more

Houses of the Omaha Tribe

Page of Kurz's sketchbook showing interior of an Omaha lodge, May 16, 1851

When Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri in 1804 they found the Omaha village not far from the Missouri, in the present Dakota County, Nebraska. On the 13th of August the expedition reached the mouth of a creek entering the right bank of the Missouri. Just beyond they encamped on a sandbar, “opposite the lower point of a large island.” From here Sergeant Ordway and four men were sent to the Omaha village and returned the following day. “After crossing a prairie covered with high grass, they reached the Maha creek, along which they proceeded to its three forks, which … 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

The Supernatural Among the Omaha Tribe of Indians

To comprehend the ideas of a people concerning the preternatural and the manifestations of the supernatural among them, it is needful to know something of their beliefs relating to the origin and the future of mankind; their notions pertaining to the natural world and their religious ceremonies. A clearly defined cosmogony does not exist among the Omaha tribe of Indians. Myths tell of water animals being engaged in forming the earth, but how water was created, or how life began, is left in definite. The general belief of the Omaha Indians is, that in some way man has been developed … Read more

Map of Omaha Indian Reservation, Nebraska

Showing portion thereof appraised for sale, and portion retained and allotted the Omaha Indians in severalty for the years 1905-1906. The map of the Omaha Indian Reservation in Thurston Nebraska was split into 9 pages in the original manuscript and is presented as they had it split. The numbers listed on the maps below are only a rough idea.  Find the name of the person you are searching for and then look on the map to find the location. All land is is Thurston County, Nebraska. Map 1 31 45 47 48 104 122 144-150  197 418 485 497 545 547 … Read more

Omaha Indians in Nebraska

Omaha Indian at Work

The Omaha tribe of Indians live in the State of Nebraska about 80 miles north of the city of Omaha, on a reservation 12 miles in length north and south, and bounded on the east by the Missouri River and on the west by the Sioux City and Omaha Railroad. Of the various tribes living in Nebraska when the white settlers first entered the Territory the Omaha are the only Indians remaining upon their ancient home lands.

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

Plains Indian Culture

Fig. 34. The Cheyenne Camp Circle. (Dorsey).

Museum collections cannot illustrate this important phase of culture; but since no comprehensive view of the subject can be had without its consideration, we must give it some space. It is customary to treat of all habits or customs having to do with the family organization, the community, and what we call the state, under the head of social organization. So, in order that the reader may form some general idea of social conditions in this area, we shall review some of the discussed points. Unfortunately, the data for many tribes are meager so that a complete review cannot be … 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