Delegation
of 1851/1852
After
the first treaty of Fort Laramie a delegation set out
from the council grounds on September, 23rd 1851. According
to Father De Smet eleven chiefs and subchiefs of Sioux,
Cheyenne and Arapaho were to go to Washington. In their
company was also agent Thomas Fitzpatrick, former and
famous mountain man. Other sources speak of 19 delegates,
adding some Oto and Iowa chiefs.
Anyway, they stayed in Washington from November 1851
to January 1852, met President Fillmore and did some
sight-seeing.
Some
daguerreotypes were made during their stay, possibly
by Philadelphia photographers like James E. McClees
or Marcus Aurelius Root, and later copied by Antonio
Zeno Shindler.
De
Smet gave the names of the delegates as followed:
White Antelope, Red Skin
and Rides on the Clouds of the Cheyennes
Friday, Eagle's Head
and Tempest of the Arapaho
One Horn, Little Chief,
Shellman, Watchful Elk
and Goose of the Sioux
Although
these names were given, it is not certain that they
are all correct. The Cheyenne Rides on the Clouds is
of course Alights-on-a-Cloud, the famous warrior who
died shortly after his return to the Southern Plains
by a Pawnee arrow. But Little Chief, also a Cheyenne,
is listed as a Sioux. He is in the famous photo together
with White Antelope and Alights-on-a-Cloud. The Arapaho
names seem correct, although Tempest is better known
as Storm. I wonder if all Sioux names are!?
Now
on to my questions. I know the portraits of the Cheyennes,
Friday and Goose. Are there more?
Friday,
Arapaho
Goose,
Sioux
There
is also a photo of Red Plume, a Blackfoot Sioux, from
the same delegation. He is not listed by De Smet. I
doubt that this name is correctly identified because
in another photo, usually identified as Big Rib, an
Oglala, you see that both pictures show obviously one
and the same individual. Which name is the right one?
Red Plume, Blackfoot Sioux?
Chief
Big Rib or Fought-by-the-War-Eagle
To
me it is obvious that it is the same man as in the Red
Plume photo, whatever his name may be. Look at the unusual
headdress and the decoration of the war-shirt.
Finally,
on their way to Washington, the delegates stopped at
St. Louis. Here they were photographed the first time.
Two portraits (of the Cheyennes) are in Powell's “People
of the Sacred Mountain”. A group photo is in Remi Nadeau´s
“Fort Laramie and the Sioux”.
—
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
I
now thankfully have received the answer from the librarian
of the NPS of Fort Laramie Historic Site about the photo
above:
We
have the following information:
Photo of Arapaho and Cheyenne members of the delegation
that may have been
taken October 24, 1851. That evening the delegates were
the honored guests
of the Jesuits at St. Louis University.
The
photo is credited to the Jesuit Missouri Province Archives
4517 West Pine Blvd.
St. Louis, Mo 63108
Arapaho
Indian list on the left list:
The Tempest
Eagle Head
Friday
Interpreters: Smith and ? (looks like Cepson, but that
isn't right [It] is
possibly Tesson)
Sheyennes:
listed on the right side (Cheyenne Indians)
White Fawn
Red Skin
Mounts the Clouds
I
did try to track down the name of the other interpreter,
but couldn't
find it in what we had here. I hope that this helps.
Sandra
Lowry
Librarian
Many
thanks to Sandra Lowry for answering my e-mail.
—
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
Friday
is definitely the one far left, so the order of the Arapaho
is somewhat twisted.
White Fawn is more likely White Antelope and Mounts the
Clouds is just another interpretation of Alights-of-the-Clouds.
—
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
I
think Little chief is the second from left, take out the
warbonnet from the other photo and you'll see, plus the
white necklace.
—
Shatonska
Those
men are mixed, one arapaho one cheyenne one arapaho one
cheyenne one arapaho one cheyenne.
Little Chief (Southern Cheyenne) is not missing; Father
DeSmet called him also RED SKIN and told that he died
in 1858. Then, Little Chief and Red Skin are the same
person.
— Charlie
Some
more information about the 1851 delegation:
After the Fort Laramie Treaty talks the Arapahoes chose
two Northern Arapahoe chiefs and one Southern Arapaho
chief to go east with the treaty commissioners. These
were:
Friday,
Northern Arapahoe
Eagle Head (Ne-hu-nu-tha), Northern Arapahoe
and
Storm aka Tempest (No-co-bo-thu),
Southern Arapaho
Eagle
Head was mentioned by Powell in 1866, when he
and Black Coal ware leading the Arapahoes in the fights
around Fort Phil Kearny and especially in the Fettermann
fight. Eagle Head had a son of the same name, who later
was also a headman of the Northern Arapahoe and was closely
associated with Black Coal and Sharp Nose.
There also was a Southern Cheyenne chief by that name.
Storm
or Tempest was a fellow chief of Little
Raven, the most important chief of the Southern Arapaho.
He fought with an allied force of Cheyenne, Arapaho and
Kiowa against the Shawnee and Pawnee in 1854. He signed
the treaty of Fort Wise in 1861. Camping alongside with
Little Raven, he prevented to be at Sand Creek in 1864.
In 1865 he signed the Treaty of the Little Arkansas and
in 1867 the Treaty at Medicine Lodge Creek.
—
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
May
be this is the definitive collocation of the Indian's
Chiefs in the image "Delegation of 1851/52"
From L to R: FRIDAY (N. Arapaho) - LITTLE CHIEF (S. Cheyenne)
- EAGLE HEAD (N. Arapaho) - WHITE ANTELOPE (S. Cheyenne)
- STORM (S. Arapaho) - ALIGHTS ON A CLOUD (S. Cheyenne).
—
Charlie
Horned Elk (Oglala?):
Copyrighted
Shindler in 1869, but it looks like it belongs with the
series Dietmar's posted above.
High/Big
Toe, Cheyenne - again, copyrighted Shindler, 1869:
There's
also a photo of one of the Cheyennes (I forget who) and
Lola Montez, who was in New York in 1851.
—
Grahame Wood
That
would be Alights-on-a-Cloud. He and High/Big Toe must
be the same man.
—
Buffaloman
These
1851 photos are all pretty much confused... The photos
that Grahame posted as Horned Elk and Big Toe are the
ones mentioned above as published in "People of the
Sacred Mountain". Powell identified Horned Elk as
Little Chief and Big Toe as Alights-on-a-Cloud. If you
compare the pictures with the group photo of the three
Cheyennes this makes sence. Their clothings look the same.
Cathy A. Smith, an artist from New Mexico, who made the
costumes for the NA actors in "Dances with Wolves",
also reproduced some regalia and clothing of historical
indian leaders. One of them is Little Chief, the Cheyenne
chief of the 1851 delegation.
http://www.cathyasmith.com/home.html
Little
Chief's regalia
Little
Chief's pipe and pipe-bag
Little
Chief's leggings
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring