Sioux

Dahcotah, Or Life and Legends of the Sioux around Ft. Snelling

Teton Dakota

The text provides an insightful overview of the Teton Dakota (or Sioux) tribe, derived from observations during a seven-year period near Fort Snelling. This fort, built in 1819 and strategically placed at the Mississippi and St. Peter’s rivers, resembles an old German castle and played a key role in local native interactions. Noteworthy is the account of the Sioux chief Wabashaw, who successfully halted the resettlement of the Winnebago tribe by swaying them to stay near his land. This situation escalated to the involvement of Fort Snelling personnel to resolve the delay caused. The contents also cover a broad range of topics on Dakota customs, ceremonies, significant individuals, and cultural narratives, enriching the understanding of this nearly extinct tribe’s heritage and societal structure.

The Indian in a Trance

About forty years ago, Ahak-tah, “The Male Elk,” was taken sick with a sore throat. It was in the winter too, and sickness and cold together are hard to bear. Want was an evil from which they were suffering; though the Dahcotahs were not so poor then as they are now. They had not given so much of their lands to the white people; and they depended more upon their own exertions for support than they do at present. The medicine men did all they could to cure Ahaktah; they tried to charm away the animal that had entered into … Read more

Haokah Ozape, The Dance to the Giant

The dance to the Giant is now rarely celebrated among the Dahcotahs. So severe is the sacrifice to this deity, that there are few who have courage to attempt it; and yet Haokah is universally reverenced and feared among the Sioux. They believe in the existence of many Giants, but Haokah is one of the principal. He is styled the anti-natural god. In summer he feels cold, in winter he suffers from the heat; hot water is cold to him, and the contrary. The Dahcotah warrior, however brave he may be, believes that when he dreams of Haokah, calamity is … Read more

Address of Hon. William A. Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs

I asked General Whittlesey to read to you the resume of the work done by the Indian Office during the last year, as he had already been furnished by the office with data bearing on the subject. However, upon listening to the reading of his paper I notice one important omission of what has been done, and that is the inauguration of a system for keeping records of marriages, births, and deaths. This I consider one of the most important steps taken for some time, and it was largely owing to the persistent efforts of Dr. Gates, secretary of the … Read more

Dr. Lucien C. Warner, New York

Dr. Lucien C. Warner, New York. It has been my privilege to spend about two weeks in traveling through the Sioux Reservation, and I want to speak especially of the Standing Rock Agency, where there are about 4,000 Indians. It is a grazing country, where it is impossible to raise any crops. Grain and vegetables do not succeed oftener than once in three years. There is no water outside the river and wells, and the water of the wells is often so mineral that it destroys the grass. If you were to give land in severalty and fence off the … Read more

Dakota or Sioux Indian Tribe Photo Descriptions

The word Dakota means united, confederated, or many in one, and designates the tribe from which the family takes its name. They seldom or never willingly acknowledge the title Sioux first given them by the French, and now by all whites. There are many theories as to the origin of this latter name, the most acceptable of which is that it is a corruption of the word Nadouessioux a general Chippewa designation for enemies which was gradually applied by missionaries and traders, through an imperfect understanding of the language, to the tribes thus designated. Governor Ramsey, of Minnesota, thought that … Read more

Mission Services at Two Kettle Village

Rev. S. G. Wright

By Miss M. M. Lickorish The church at Two Kettle Village on the Cheyenne was dedicated May 19th. I was delighted to receive an invitation from Mr. Riggs to accompany the party from Oahe. We crossed the Missouri River in a boat, and on the other side took the carriage that had to be sent around by Pierre, an extra distance of thirty-two miles, in order to cross on the bridge. Doctor and Mr. Frederick Riggs, from Santee, now joined us, and the day being pleasant, the prairie covered with the wild flowers so abundant here, we had a most … Read more

Missionary Life Among the Dakota Indians

By Mrs. J.F. Cross It is hard to get the most interesting experiences of a missionary’s life, because they belong to the daily routine and so are often unmentioned. But here is a description of life and travel among the Indians, by the wife of a missionary just going to the Dakotas: The land of the Dakotas—what a distance! How long the miles seemed from my home! How frightful the land seemed to me, from the tales of blizzards and cyclones! How strange to go to live among the Sioux Indians, known to me principally for the Minnesota, Fort Fetterman … Read more

Story of the Sioux Indians

Sioux Chief Sitting Bull

Of all the Indians on the long journey into the wilderness that the United States had just acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark found the Sioux the most quarrelsome, the most menacing of future trouble. In this first encounter at the mouth of the stream they called Teton River, the chiefs accepted the gifts and hospitality of the white men, then strove to detain them and demanded further tribute. Intimidation had been their rule with the traders who had hitherto given them their only contact with the white race; and they did not realize that behind this new group lay the power of a young and growing nation that was spreading over the land that had once been the red man’s alone. Arrows were fixed in their bow’s for flight, and swords were drawn; but the incident passed over without an actual conflict, and the boat that was making its way up the almost unknown reaches of the Missouri went on a space to the island thus named in commemoration of the incident…

Sioux Indian Wars

Sioux Indian Wars The Sioux Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and various subgroups of the Sioux people that occurred in the latter half of the 19th century. The Teton Sioux tribes were comprised of Oglala, Hunkpapa, Brule, Miniconjou, Blackfoot, San Arc, Two Kettle in the nineteenth century. Santee, Lakota, 1854 – 1890 The earliest conflict came in 1854 when a fight broke out at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, when Indian warriors killed 29 U.S. soldiers after their chief was shot in the back, in what became known as the Grattan Massacre. The U.S. exacted revenge … Read more

Sioux Indian Bands, Gens and Clans

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. Bad Arms. A Brule band. Culbertson in Smithson. Rep. 1850, 141, 1851. Anoginajin A band of the Wakpaatonwedan division of the Mdewakanton, named from its chief. Bakihon A band of the Upper Yanktonai Sioux. Band that Don’t Cook. A band of Yankton Sioux under Smutty Bear (Matosahitchiay). Culbertson in Smithson. Rep. 1850, 141, 1851. Band that Eats no Geese. A band of Yankton Sioux under Padaniapapi. Culbertson in … Read more

Iroquoian Peoples resulted in the separation of the Siouan and Algonquian Tribes

Iroquoian Peoples resulted in the separation of the Siouan and Algonquian Tribes

Many of the protected sites may have been constructed and occupied by the Iroquoian tribes during the movement northward, and consequently a comparative study of the archeological material recovered from them should prove to be of the greatest interest. If this hypothesis is correct, it is probable that before the Iroquoian tribes had reached the left bank of the Ohio the Siouan peoples were living in security in the upper valley of the stream. The great majority were north of the river, but others, including the Catawba, may have been south of the Ohio in the mountains to the eastward. The region … Read more