Individuals of Note

Known in Kansas

ARAPAHO. Little Raven. A member of a roaming tribe, Little Rven (circa 1817-1889) began his life in the great northern lakes, and then went to the Black Hills, the Kansas plains and Colorado, and ended in Oklahoma, according to the Canton Record (January 2, 1941). A long-ago correspondent said Little Raven, 67 at the time, dressed in moccasins, ornamented leggings, buckskin hunting shirts and “would have been taken for a man of 40 or 45. He is a tall, well-formed man with large-featured, strongly-marked face noting great intelligence. There is not a gray hair in the long black locks that fall so gracefully on his shoulders.” The correspondent relayed that the Indianapolis Leader (January 22, 1881) reported that Little Raven said: “I always tried to keep peace with the white man and when the young Chiefs put on their war-paint, I would talk with them, and tell them it was not wise to fight with the palefaces who come to our hunting grounds to make friends with the Indian, and to trade with him, and to teach his children all the wise things where were written in the wonderful books. But they would not heed my words, for they were young and hot-headed and their blood was as fire in their veins, and they rode over the prairie to scalp and to kill, and I would sit alone in my wigwam and weep, for I knew that the paleface was my friend.” Understanding encroaching white settlement, Little Raven signed an 1861 treaty but fought along with other Plains Indians when the treaty was broken. He also signed the 1867 Medicine Lodge Treaty. In 1871, he went with other tribal leaders to eastern cities to present their problems and seek peace. Newspapers commented on his power of language. The Edmond Sun (August 29, 1889) described him as the “Daniel Webster of his tribe.” He died in Cantonment, Oklahoma, where his tribe had been relocated and he had been given a stone house and acreage.

CREEK. Opothle Yahola. Born in Alabama to a Creek mother, Opothle “Laughing Fox” Yahola (1798-1863) fought in the Creek War of 1813-1814; protested the illegality of an 1825 treaty in Washington, D.C.; led 1,500 of his warriors against Creek allied with Seminole; and led 8,000 of his people from Alabama to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. During the Civil War, Opothle Yahola and thousands of other Muscogee Creek found their alliance with Union side caused ire from Confederates so they sought refuge in Kansas in November 1861. They battled opposition on their Trail of Blood on Ice to Fort Row, in Wilson County, and then on to Fort Belmont in southern Woodson County, and later the Sac and Fox Agency at Quenemo where Opothle Yahola died but was returned to Fort Belmont area to be buried by his daughter.

DELAWARE. Charles Journeycake. After the Delaware came to Kansas in 1829, Charles Journeycake (1817-1894) began preaching and lived by present-day Linwood. He signed several treaties, including the one removing the Delaware from Kansas to Indian Territory and represented the Delaware 24 times between 1854 and 1894 in Washington, DC. He is buried in the Relocated Cemetery in Nowata, Oklahoma. Sources: Linwood, Kansas Centennial, 1867-1967; The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Image: Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History

DELAWARE. Isaac Newton Journeycake. Several accounts report that Journeycake (1813-1875) lived 10 miles west of Wyandot after arriving in present-day Kansas. John Charles Fremont employed him to with 10 others to guide Fremon’s expedition over the Rocky Mountains. In response to Fremont’s request to battle Mexicans in California, Journeycake enlisted 30 Delaware to aid Fremont. The Los Angeles Daily Herald (July 3, 1875) reprinted an article from the Coffeyville [Kansas] Courier about the “murder of Isaac Journeycake, vulgarly called Johnnycake, a prominent Delaware Indian, who formerly lived with his tribe in the Diminished Delaware Reserve, in Wyandotte county, Kansas, near the Leavenworth county line. He was an educated and energetic man, universally respected for his ability and integrity. We extract the following items: Last Saturday afternoon, Isaac Journeycake, a prominent Delaware at Lightning Creek, thirty miles south of the city, was murdered while riding peacefully along the road on his way home from a neighbor's house, by one Calvin Coker, a half-breed Cherokee. Coker and some friends had been drinking, it seems, and seeing Journeycake, accompanied by Daniel Anderson, a colored man, going by, got on their horses and met them. Coker told Mr. J. to ride outside of the road, as he wished to speak to him. Journeycake replied that if he had anything to say, he could ride along the road and say it. Coker then struck at him with a revolver and at the same time took hold of him and tried one shot, but missed his aim. Both men fell from their horses, and, as Joumeycake attempted to rise up, Coker fired again, striking his victim in the breast and killing him instantly. The weapon was held so close to the ill-fated man that a large hole was burnt in his vest. Coker then turned to the negro and said, '’Daniel Anderson, I will fix you in some way soon,’ and Anderson started on the run. Coker then mounted his horse and disappeared. This man, Coker is said to be a hard case, having some years ago killed a man named Charles Hicks, and made himself obnoxious generally for some time. His wife is a Delaware Indian, and it is said his hatred for Mr. Journeycake grew out of a refusal of the Delaware Council to allow him to draw his wife's annuity without the necessary order. Isaac Journeycake was born in the year 1819, and was consequently 58 years old. He has, by his honorable conduct, endeared himself to every member of his tribe, and at the time of bis death enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He was a member of the Delaware Council and has been for many years the official tribal interpreter. At last accounts, the murderer had not been captured, though a posse of about 40 men were in pursuit and were determined to capture him and make him pay the penalty he so richly deserves.”

DELAWARE. Sally Olivia Williams Journeycake. The daughter of Mary Castleman, a white captive adopted by Delaware who married Abraham Williams, son of a white trader and a Wyandot, Sally (circa 1797-1873) and her brother George were left with their father when Castleman returned to her former life. Sally married Solomon Journeycake (circa 1795-1855), a Delaware, in Greentown, a Delaware village near Perrysville in Ohio. “In the local histories, Sally was described as a rather romantic figure, pretty, athletic, and quite capable of keeping a cabin that met the approval of her visiting white neighbors,” wrote Peggy Mershon in News-Journal September 2, 2012 article. Before coming to Kansas, Sally converted to Christianity and would read the Bible and sing hymns apart from tribal religious ceremonies, according to a Kansas City Times June 14, 1967 article. Her faith influenced her sons, Charles and John, to be Baptist preachers. She died in Oklahoma and is buried at the Relocated Cemetery in Nowata, Oklahoma.

DELAWARE. Tonqua-Oxie. When the Delaware relocated to an area that would be Leavenworth County, Tonqua-Oxie, (1794-1864), an honorary leader of the Turkey Clan, built a small log cabin by a creek in the early 1930s. While Michael Heim wrote in his 2007 Exploring Kansas Highways that this Delaware’s name commonly spelled as Tonganoxie meant “shorty,” other translated it as meaning, “the one who walks small” or “little man,” because as Fred Leimkuhler once said “Tonganoxie was a man while he was still a child.” Another account said his name refers to the fact that he inherited the clan leadership role after his father died. In the later lodge built by the U.S. government north of U.S. 24-40 on County Route 5, according to Lisa Scheller in her February 28, 2001 Delaware Footprints article in the Tonganoxie Mirror, Tonganoxie operated a stage stop and inn with his wife Qua-E-Noxie (1802-1863) and niece (or sister), Ne-Car-Le-Tah (1825-1853). The November 19, 1974 Leavenworth Times stated: “One account of the chief found in a historical publication ‘Sunflower Petals,’ described the character of the man. ‘His hospitality, a legend in the days of violence and lawlessness, was in contrast to the many noted warriors of Indian history. He was a man of peace, friendly to the white and a recipient of unusual favors from the federal government.’ This army officer who spoke to the group about the chief said he wore frontier garb=flannel shirt and jacket with one single feather to distinguish himself as an Indian.. . . The Army officer, Col. (ret) George Griffith, in a 1905 talk said he was “large of heart, large of stature, a noble man and a noble citizen.’ When the Delaware were forced to move again, Tonganoxie left this area in 1863 to live with a nephew in the Bonner Springs area on his nephew’s allotted land. On a visit to Coffey County, he died and was buried on the site he requested about eight miles southeast of Tonganoxie. Sandra Thomas wrote of the 1992 dedication of his grave in The Bonner Springs Chieftan (October 15, 1992). According to Thomas, a small group placed a concrete slab and bronze plaque on his gravesite on land owned by Clarence Kelly who had known about the site from his grandfather who knew Tonganoxie. Image: Tonganoxie Public Library

DELAWARE. White Turkey. Known to sport an eagle's feather dangling from his hat, White Turkey led many hunts to the western prairies. In one account, he led a party Delaware on August 23, 1863 to pursue Quantrill Raid stragglers and may have killed and possibly scalped one, Larkin Skaggs.

IOWAY. Shon-ta-yi-ga [Little Wolf]. In 1844 and 1855, Shontayiga journeyed with 13 other Iowa with George Catlin to London and Paris in 1844 and 1855. The journey purpose was to showcase Catlin’s art and display the Iowa. Joseph B. Herring in his article “Noble Savage” Myth: George Catlin and the Iowa Indians in Europe, 1843–1845, wrote that upon viewing Shontayiga, the novelist George Sand wrote: “This noble warrior,” Sand wrote, whose Herculean appearance and large, accentuated features at first frightened me, but who, at the side of his sick wife, his heart full of sadness because of the recent death of his child, seemed to me the most gentle and best of men. When he was the first to jump forth in the dance . . . .my friends compared him to Diomedes. When he resumed his calm and gentle countenance to accept the congratulations of the audience, we called him the Jupiter of the virgin forest; but. . .when we heard his story, we saw only a noble and honest figure, characterized by courage and goodness, and we named him 'the generous one,' a name that would suit him much better than Little Wolf, for nothing in his powerful and sweet constitution expresses ferocity or ruse.” Patrick Gray, Gray's Doniphan County history, wrote: “The Iowas had four principal chiefs, White Cloud, Nohart, Walk-in-the-Rain, and Walking Cloud. One of the common warriors was Shoontunga (Little Wolf) but he was no common man, as Commissioner Manypenny discovered, when he came to treat with the Iowas. While the chiefs and other Indians were anxious to trade their lands to the whites whatever price offered, Little Wolf, patriotic as he was wise, fought the treaty and demanded an impossible price for the land. ‘We are willing to exchange our land for your gold," declared the eloquent redskin, with many a wild gesture of the right arm, and with the lightning of defiance flashing in his eye, "but you must give us pound for pound.’"

KANSA. Mon-chonsia. Also known as Nom-pa-wa-rah, Manshenscaw, or White Plume, Mon-chonsia (circa 1765—1838) signed a treaty in 1825 ceding millions of acres of Kansa land to the United States in exchange for 3,500 dollars per year for 20 years plus livestock and assistance. More conservative Kansa lived by Manhattan at the time while his group moved near Williamstown in 1827. At the time, he was one of several Kansa leaders and one thought to be most friendly to the government. George Catlin described him as "a very urbane and hospitable man of good, portly size, speaking some English, and making himself good company for all persons who travel through his country and have the good luck to shake his liberal and hospitable hand." Source: Catlin, George. (1841). Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians, 2. New York: Wiley & Putnam. Image: Charles Bird King

KANSA. Allegawaho. A member of the Small Hanga or Chicken-hawk people among the Kansa, Allegawaho [Big Elk in Pawnee] (circa 1818-1887) became a tribal leader in 1861. He lived near the present town of Dunlap in a lodge shared by two wives, Wawgobah and Hoyah, and six others. Ronald D. Parks, in The Darkest Period: The Kanza Indians and Their Last Homeland, 1846–1873, wrote: Joab Spencer thought that Allegawaho was the only Kanza worthy of the position as head chief. ‘He was not a strong man intellectually, but he was honest, sober and truthful—the best man in the tribe. Physically, he was tall, straight, and in every way a typical Indian.’ Describing Allegawaho as ‘tall and stately,’ George Morehouse called him “a remarkable character, long trusted as the wisest leader of the tribe’ and its most eloquent orator, a chief ‘considered safe and honest in his dealings.’ Addison Stubbs also remarked on Allegawaho’s fierce oratory and powerful physical presence, remembering him as a ‘tall, rawboned, Roman-nosed Indian.’ He met in 1867 with government officials in Washington, D.C. to protect Kansa land that was taken by an 1872 federal act. Allegawaho criticized the Union Pacific railroad for taking Kansa land and told of Kansa daily living needs. 'Great father, you whites treat us Kaws like a flock of turkeys. You chase us to one stream, then you chase us to another stream. Soon you will chase us over the mountains and into the ocean, and we will have no place to live.'" He moved with the 553 Kansa to a 100,137-acre reservation in present Kay County, Oklahoma, and served as a tribal leader till his death. Source and image: Kansas State Historical Society

KANSA. Old Fool Chief. A hereditary chief, Old Fool Chief or Kah-he-gah-wa-ti-an-gah, “When sober he was peaceable, but always felt his authority and coveted the attention of younger braves, who brought him choice portions of game,” wrote Perl Morgan in her 1911 History of Wyandotte County Kansas. “The Methodists, who had a mission near the mouth of Mission creek near the other two villages of the tribe, once took him to the general conference at Baltimore, where he embarrassed them by appearing, as was customary at home, stark naked on the streets one hot, sultry morning. Afterward he fell further from grace, and when under the influence of drink always became crazy." Frederick Chouteau recounted in the Westmoreland Recorder (June 21, 1906): “The Fool Chief was killed in one of his drunken sprees a few years after I went up there. About the year 1848, after I had moved on the hill near where Chouteau Station now is, Fool Chief came along with nearly all his band, going to Missouri on a begging and stealing expedition. They camped near my place and remained there two or three days. After while an Indian, Wa-ho-be-ke, by name, came along, along, from up the river. I gave him something to eat, when he inquired where the Fool Chief was camping. I told him and he went over there. Entering the chief’s lodge, the women gave him something to eat. When he was eating, the Fool Chief came in and slapped him. Fool Chief had been drinking and was half crazy. Then the chief took out his knife and took off Wa-ho-ba-ke’s scalp. When Wa-ho-ba-ke saw the blood running from his head, he jumped up, took out his knife, seized the chief’s hands and cut the tendons of his wrist so that his knife fell to the ground, both hands becoming powerless. He then took a club of wood, a rough, split stick, and smashed the Foot Chief’s head, scattering the brain all around the lodge, killing him at once. Wa-ho-ba-ke then ran away to the Osages for fear that he would be killed by Fool Chief’s relatives. The body of Fool Chief was buried right there on the prairie near my house." [Six miles northwest of Shawnee, a village in Shawnee township, Johnson County]

KANSA. Wah-Shun-Gah. After the Kansa relocated to Kay County, Oklahoma, Washunga (1830-1908) still visited Kansas as seen by reports in various Kansas newspapers. He succeeded AI-Ie-ga-wa-ho as the Kansa leader. When he went to Washington, D.C., to meet with President McKinley, Washunga wore tribal garb and a blanket upon returning to the nation’s capital two years later agreeing to Kansa member land allotment. The 1905 Winfield Tribune (October 27) wrote: "The death of Washunga, chief of the Kaw Indian tribe, at the Kaw agency, at Washunga, ended the life of one of the most notable and picturesque old-time Indians in Oklahoma. Washunga was ninety years old, but almost to the last maintained great bodily and mental strength. He was fully six feet tall and as active as most men at fifty. In appearance he was a typical Indian warrior, strong and rugged of countenances."

KANSA. Charles Curtis. Born to a white father and a mother one-quarter Kansa, Charles Curtis (1860-1936) lived on the Kansa reservation and spoke Kanza and French before he learned English. When the Kansa were forced to move to Indian Territory (later known as Oklahoma), Curtis wanted to join them. His Kansa grandmother convinced him to stay and continue his education. He later wrote: “I took her splendid advice and the next morning as the wagons pulled out for the south, bound for Indian Territory, I mounted my pony and with my belongings in a flour sack, returned to Topeka and school. No man or boy ever received better advice; it was the turning point in my life.” Curtis became an attorney and later was the U.S. vice-president under Herbert Hoover. Source: Gershon, Livia. (2021, 13 January). Who was Charles Curtis, the first Vice President of color? Smithsonian. Image: Library of Congress

KICKAPOO. Kennekuk. Some reports say Kennekuk [said to mean “Drunkard’s Son or ‘Putting His Foot Down”] (1790-1852) was a drunkard who killed his uncle. Banished, Kennekuk (also spelled Kanekaka, Kenakuk, Kaanakuk, Kannekuk, Kenekuk) who signed his name "Ka-ana-kuk learned about Christianity and was influenced by Tenskatawa, the Shawnee prophet. Kennekuk returned to the Kickapoo as a prophet and led a couple of hundred followers to establish their own village in Illinois. His Vermillion Band of the Kickapoo dressed and farmed like the settlers around them, which U.S. officials praised and was scorned by the other Kickapoo. George Catlin painted his portrait in 1831 and wrote: “He was a very shrewd and talented man. When he sat for his portrait, he took his attitude as seen in the picture, which was that of prayer. As I soon learned, he was a very devoted Christian regularly holding meetings for his tribe on the Sabbath, preaching to them and exhorting them to a belief in the Christian religion and to an abandonment of the habit of whisky drinking.” The followers of Kennekuk came to Kansas in 1832 after he signed the Treaty of Castor Hill. According to Isaac McCoy, a Baptist missionary, with the Kickapoos in Kansas, wrote in 1835: "Kalukuk (Kannekuk), or the Kickapoo Prophet, one of the Kickapoo chiefs, is a professed preacher of an order which he himself originated some years ago. He teaches abstinence from the use of ardent spirits, and some other good morals. He appears to have little knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity only as his dogmas happen to agree with them. Congregational worship is performed daily and lasts from one to three hours. It consists of a kind of prayer, expressed in broken sentences, often repeated in a monotonous sing-song tone, equaling about two measures of a common psalm tune. All in unison engage in this; and in order to preserve harmony in words each holds in his or her hand a small board, about an inch and a half broad and eight or ten inches long, upon which is engraved arbitrary characters, which they follow up with the finger until the prayer is completed. Whipping with a rod is one article of their creed, and is submitted to as an atonement for sin.” John T. Irving, Jr., in his "Indian Sketches" wrote: "the Prophet was a tall, bony Indian, with keen black eye, and face beaming with intelligence. . . There is an energy of character about him which gives much weight to his words and has created for him an influence greater than that of any (other) Indian in the town,". . .. In 1852, Kennekuk died of smallpox and was buried a few miles north of Fort Leavenworth. Source: Kansas City Times, December 18, 1954; Custer, Milo. (1918, April). Kannekuk or Keeanakuk: The Kickapoo prophet. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984), 11 (1), 48-56. Image: Gray's Doniphan County History.

KIOWA. Dohasan. War chief of the Kiowa Arikara band and later chief of Kiowa, Dohasn (also spelled Dohate, Tauhawsin, Tohausen, or Touhason) [Little Mountain, Little Bluff, or Top-of-the-Mountain] (circa 1790-1866) was one of four chiefs with the same name. He led Kiowa bands and allied Comanches in 1851 against the Pawnees by Medicine Lodge Creek in Kansas. Dohasan kept the Kiowa calendar and added a Sun Dance image in his winter count. He also introduced coup count images on teepees. George Catlin wrote about Dohasan: “A very gentlemanly and high minded man, who treated the dragoons and officers with great kindness while in his country. His long hair, which was put up in several large clubs, and ornamented with a great many silver broaches, extended quite down to his knees." Source: Texas State Historical Association; The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

KIOWA. Satank. A Kiowa war chief in the Koitsenko warrior society in which only 10 could belong, Satank (also spelled Set-ankeah, Set-angya) [Sitting Bear] (circa 1800-1871) may have been born in Kansas and frequented the Great Bend area where the Kiowa guarded their territory now known as Cheyenne Bottoms. Satank led many raids against the Cheyenne, Sac, and Fox; Santa Fe Trail travelers; and settlers. With Dohasan, he made peace with enemies Cheyenne and Arapaho. In a goodwill gesture, Satank gave 250 horses to both tribes. His leadership diminished when Fort Larned soldiers attacked the Kiowa camp when most Kiowa men were out hunting. Satank escaped but the many of the rest were killed. When moved to a reservation, Satank led a raid on Texas wagon train attack and was arrested. In transport, he sang the Koitsenko death song, assailed his military escorts and was killed. Sources: Alamogordo Daily News (1975, 7 November); Wright, John. (1913). Dodge City, the cowboy capital and the Great Southwest. Wichita, KS: The Wichita Eagle Press; Simons, John. (1971). A history of early day Barton County Kansas. Thesis. Emporia State University.

KIOWA. Satanta. Born on the Kansas or Oklahoma plain, Satanta (Set'tainte) [White Bear] (1815-1878) represented the Kiowa at the Medicine Lodge Treaty and other treaties. Called the “Orator of the Plains,” in part because of his personal magnetism and clever diplomacy, according to C. R. Rister, a Captain Carter described him when they met: “stark naked except for a breech-clout and a pair of embroidered moccasins. Owing to the intense heat, he allowed his blanket to slip down to his saddle and about his loins. His coarse, jet black hair, now thickly powdered with dust, hung tangled around his neck, except for a single scalp lock with but one feather to adorn it. His immense shoulders, broad back, powerful thighs and hips. . .The muscles stood out on his gigantic frame like knots.” A visiting physician in the 1840s said he spent four days in Satanta’s village. He described Satanta as “very energetic, and as sharp as a briar” with a French horn he blew when meals were ready. Convicted of murder after his raid on a 12-wagon train, Satanta died in prison. Sources: Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1868; Holloway, W. L., ed. (1891). Wild life of the Plains; Leeper, Paul (1929, October 13. Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Sunday Record; Rister, C. C. (1932). Satanta: Orator of the Plains. Southwest Review, 17 (1); The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Image: Kansas State Historical Society

PAWNEE. Spotted Horse. While being moved from Nebraska to Indian Territory, Spotted Horse, a U.S. Army scout and of the Skedee Pawnee band, died of typhoid in 1874 three miles northeast of Bunker hill. His father asked that he be given a Christian burial. He was along with his clothes, blankets, and other items. Since that year, his grave has been decorated each year by town citizens. His small burial marker was replaced in 1952. Russell County Historical Society; Salina Journal, Feb. 1, 1997

POTAWATOMI. Nanwishma. Nan-Wesh-Mah [He Who Prays with Plants] (1812-1870) also known as Abram Burnett negotiated several treaties in Washington, D.C. He came from Indiana to Osawatomie with other Potawatomi in 1838. An interpreter and tribe leader, Burnett had a farm and traded horses by Topeka. After he died, his family went to Oklahoma. Image: Kansas State Historical Society

POTAWATOMI. Wah Quah Bosh Kuk. Wahquahboshkuk [Roily Water] led the resistance against Christianity, government schools, and family farms instead of shared land. Agent J. A. Scott in 1893 wrote: "He has so persistently opposed law and regulation, has shown such an evil and malicious disposition, and is so clearly guilty of a purpose to create discord” that he should be removed from the reservation. Source: Herring, Joseph. (1990). The enduring Indians of Kansas: A century and a half of acculturation. Lawrence, KS: University Press.

POTAWATOMI. Wiskigeamatyuk. A leader and holy man, Wis-Ki-Ge-Amatyuk (Wish kee gee amtyk [Smoke that Travels/Powerful Wind], also known as Captain John Buckshot, was a spiritual interpreter to spirits and known for his powerful magic. The pipe carrier, he helped oversee sacred events and prayer. He led the refusal to send tribal children to a government school for American assimilation. Image: Kansas State Historical Society

SAC AND FOX. Kee-o-kuk. Leader of the Sac and Fox from 1832-1848, Kee-o-kuk [Watchful Fox] (1783-1848) was asked by another chief to war against white settlers in 1832. Kee-o-kuk responded that the tribes were outnumbered and would fail and signed over lands in the states known today as Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin. George Catlin painted Kee-o-kúk, a Sauk with a mother with French ancestry, in 1835 and described Kee-o-kuk as a “vain man” who wore white buckskin leggings, a red blanket, and a bear-claw necklace. When he came to Kansas in 1845, he was heavy, weighing 200 pounds. When he died three years later, Green wrote: “The warriors wrapped Keokuk in his best blanket and laid him in the grave with his head to the east elevated considerable, (Black Hawk dressed in his Military suit was placed in a grave in a sitting position), into Keokuk's grave they put all his silver ornaments medals war trap and horse mountings, then about a foot of earth was thrown on top. They now led his best war pony up and shot it so that as it whirled around it fell down into the grave, then all was covered with dirt until a mound was raised. . .” Then, he was exhumed 35 years later to be placed in Keokuk, Iowa. Sources: Devick, Susan. (2021, 24 January). The wisdom of Sauk Chief Keokuk; Dippie, Brian. (1990). Catlin and his contemporaries: The politics of patronage. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Green, Charles. (1913). Early days in Kansas in Keokuck’s time on the Kansas Reservation. Topeka, KS: Kansas State Historical Society.

SHAWNEE. Black Bob (Wa-wah-che-pa-e-hai or Wa-wah-che-pa-e-kar). Half Miami and half Shawnee, Black Bob led the Hathawekela division of the Shawnee tribe. He resisted leaving lands given to them by Cape Giradeau and holding Hathawekela band land in common until 1866 about the time of Black Bob’s death. The band did move from Missouri to Arkansas, and then to a Kansas reservation by Olathe, and ultimately northeastern Oklahoma.

WYANDOTTE. Eliza Burton "Lyda" Conley. Daughter of partial Wyandotte mother and an English farmer, Eliza Conley (circa 1868-1946) enrolled in law school to protect the Huron Indian Cemetery in downtown Kansas City, Kansas from developers. Admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1902, she filed a permanent injunction against the 1906 Congress-approved sale of the land and removal of the estimated 500 bodies. She and her sister, Helena, guarded the locked cemetery with a shotgun. The Supreme Court rejected her argument, and Conley and her sister continued to protect the cemetery where Conley was buried in 1946. In the 1990s the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma considered using the land for a gaming casino. However, the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act required agreement by lineal descendants of people interred at the cemetery. The cemetery then was designated a National Historic Landmark, which officially prevents any development on the site.

Attributed Quotes

“Great father, you whites treat us Kaws like a flock of turkeys. You chase us to one stream, then you chase us to another stream. Soon you will chase us over the mountains and into the ocean, and we will have no place to live.” Allegawaho, Kansa

"How smooth must be the languages of the whites. When they can make right look like wrong and wrong like right." Black Hawk, Sac and Fox

“We were once friends with the whites, but you nudged us out of the way by your intrigues and now when we are in council you keep nudging each other. Why don’t you talk, and go straight, and let all be well?” Motavato [Black Kettle], Cheyenne, 1867 Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty

"You think that you are doing a great deal for us by giving these presents to us, but we prefer to live as formerly." Buffalo Chip, Cheyenne, 1867 Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty

“The white chief is a fool. He is a coward. His heart is small not larger than a pebble stone. His men are not strong too few to contend against my warriors. They are women. . . .There are three chiefs the white chief, the Spanish chief, and myself. The Spanish chief and myself are men. We do bad toward each other sometimes stealing horses and taking scalps but we do not get mad and act the fool. The white chief is a child, and, like a child, gets mad quick. When my young men, to keep their women and children from starving, take from the white man passing through our country, killing and driving away our buffalo, a cup of sugar or coffee, the white chief is angry and threatens to send his soldiers. I have looked for them a long time, but they have not come.” Dohasan, Kiowa, 1862, when assembled to receive annuities and threatened with punishment if raids did not cease.

“My father, the Great Spirit has placed us all on this earth; he has given to our nation a piece of land. Why do you want to take it away and give us so much trouble?” Kennekuk, Kickapoo, to William Clark, 1827

“I most earnestly warn all intruders, trespassers, and others not citizens of the Osage nation to leave the nation immediately.” Charles Mongrain, Osage

“A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers; but when I go up to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks. These soldiers cut down my timber; they kill my buffalo; and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting; I feel sorry." Satanta, Kiowa, 1867 Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty

"I don't want to settle. I love to roam all over the prairies. There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.” Satanta, Kiowa, 1867 Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty

"The people will know me and always call me Wah-bahn-se" [dawn of day or causer of paleness]. When I kill an enemy he turns pale, resembling the first light of the day." Wabaunsee, Potawatomi

“We will eventually have to surrender this diminished reservation. We will have to give up the graves of our fathers and mother. . .Of course, I will sign these papers, but I sign under protest, knowing in my own heart that there is no good in it for the Indian.” Shaw paw-kah-kah, Sauk and Fox

"We are willing to exchange our land for your gold, but you must give us pound for pound." Shoontunga Little Wolf, Ioway. [Gray's Doniphan County History: A Record of the Happenings of Half a Hundred Years, 1905]

“I want the present boundary line to continue. . .should you cross it. . .I assure you it will be productive of bad consequences.” Tecumseh, Shawnee

"So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing afriend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.” Tecumseh, Shawnee [Note: The Westport Historical Society in Kansas City, Missouri, has a tomahawk purportedly belonging to Tecumseh. See below.]

“But there are things which you have said which I do not like. They were not sweet like sugar but bitter like gourds. You said that you wanted to put us upon reservation, to build our houses and make us medicine lodges. I do not want them. I was born on the prairie where the wind blew free and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no inclosures [sic] and where everything drew a free breath. I want to die there and not within walls. I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country. I lived like my fathers before me, and like them, I lived happily.” Ten Bears, Commanche, 1867 Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty

“The Great Spirit bids me to address you in his own words, which are these:. . . .I am the father of the English, of the French, of the Spanish, and of the Indians. . . .But the Americans I did not make. They are not my children but the children of the Evil Spirit. . . .They are numerous and I hate them.” Tenskwatawa, Shawnee

"Brothers, - We must be united. We must smoke the same pipe; we must fight each others' battles; and more than all, we must love the Great Spirit; he is for us; he will destroy our enemies, and make all his red children happy." Tenskwatawa, Shawnee

"We made peace on the North Fork of the Platte. We have kept it. Every time we meet the whites in council, they have new men to talk to us. They have new roads to open. We do not like it." Woqini [Roman Nose], Cheyenne, Fort Zarah council with Plains tribes in November 1866

“O, tell me not such sad words! We cannot give up this happy home we have loved so long. I’ll never NEVER NEVER put my hand to the paper that says that we must leave here. My own people who follow me shall live here in peace with these good paleface people so long as the moon and stars shine by nigh and the sun illumes the day.” Mokohoko, Sac and Fox, about leaving Kansas

Historic American Indians in Kansas

A site to Explore

Individuals of Note

Known in Kansas

Attributed Quotes

“Kaws were like the cow’s tail, always behind.” [Arkansas City Daily Traveler, November 24, 1894]

Tecumseh tomahawk

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. . . .