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Brown Thunder and the
Metal Hair Ornaments Band

Sans Arc

 

Returning to the list of surrendered Sans Arcs in the SITTING BULL SURRENDER CENSUS, Ephriam and I feel that the first twenty or so families in the list probably correspond with the Red Cloth Earring band. This was one of seven Sans Arc camps (wichoti) listed in the contemporary tribal camp-circle by Sans Arc headman Martin Charger (statement to Rev. H. Swift).

Another of the seven camps was the Mazpegnake or Metal Hair Ornaments. My friend Chris Ravenshead interviewed many Cheyenne River elders for me in the early 1990s to try and identify the old Miniconjou and Sans Arc bands, their leading families and early history. He told me that one of the leading tiwahe (extended families) on which this camp was cored was that of Brown Thunder. The Lakota name is Wakinyan-zhi. The colour-term zhi is translated both yellow and brown.

This man, born ca. 1856+, is listed as head of Family no. 268 in the SURRENDER CENSUS. Family no. 273 is that of Running Bull, born ca. 1834. According to Chris Ravenshead, this man belonged to still another Sans Arc band, the Bull Dung (Tatanka Chesli). His wife Cane, born ca. 1831, was the sister of Brown Thunder's maternal grandfather and namesake Brown Thunder I. It therefore looks to me that Running Bull married in to the Metal Hair Ornaments band and lived there - what the Lakotas called a wicha-woha or buried man, because he lived with his wife's relatives.

It therefore seems possible that the cluster of families following the Red Cloth Earring band in the SURRENDER CENSUS equates with the Metal Hair Ornaments band. The tally of Sans Arcs returned to Cheyenne River Agency in spring 1882 shows the clustering of certain families around Brown Thunder, similar to the pattern in the September 1881 listing. Co-occurring families in the two clusters, perhaps to be equated with the Metal Hair Ornaments, include:

Brown Thunder
Running Bull
Bobtail Dog/Horse
Many Holes/Plenty Holes by Wounding
Bear Eagle/Eagle Bear
Red Eyes
Thunder Elk/Buck Elk Thunder

The latter is another relative of the Brown Thunders. Born ca. 1850 he was one of three sons of Charging Hawk, a brother of Brown Thunder I. Thunder Elk's full brother was First Eagle, who married Lame Deer's daughter (Miniconjou, Wakpokiyan band) and is noted in the CENSUS as living in Fool Heart's band. His half-brother (by a different mother) was Beautiful Bald Eagle. This whole family traced their origins back to a man named Builds Fire, who was probably born about 1795. He was the father of Charging Hawk, Brown Thunder I, Cane Woman, and others. He (and several of his descendants, specifically Charging Hawk and Beautiful Bald Eagle) were identified with the Ashke (Lock of Hair) band, an ancient Miniconjou band that had effectively split up by the period under consideration. Key families had become identified with the Sans Arcs Metal Hair Ornaments band. It looks to me that another cluster of families in the Sans Arc CENSUS list, centring on the sequence No's 268-282, correspond to the Metal Hair Ornaments.

— Kingsley Bray

Brown Thunder I was born about 1820. According to Chris Ravenshead information, he became the family head of the Wakinyan-zhi tiwahe, one of the constituent extended families within the Metal Hair Ornaments camp.

His name, as Yellow Thunder, is listed as one of the braves or head-soldiers of the tribe in a list of Sans Arc Chiefs and Braves, ca. 1855, part of the family papers of chief Crow Feather, now in the South Dakota State Historical Society.

Chris named one of the brothers of Brown Thunder II as Charley In Amongst, born ca. 1865. He is listed in the family of his elder brother 'Yellow Thunder' in the SURRENDER CENSUS. His name is given in Lakota as Wicegna inyanke, and translated as Running Amidst.

I think the man named Plenty Holes By Wounding, SURRENDER CENSUS Family no. 269, must be the same as Brown Thunder I. His wife is given as Red Old Woman. Chris Ravenshead told me that Brown Thunder I had two wives, Old Red Woman and White Buffalo Woman. The latter was the mother of Brown Thunder I's children Her Iron Shield (born ca. 1845 - a little late?) and Joseph Little Dog (born ca. 1859). Old Red Woman's children included Little. Her Iron Shield was the mother of Brown Thunder II, the head of family no. 268

— Kingsley Bray

There's a bit on Brown Thunder in the Ziebach County book, page 300, which also can be found online:

BROWN THUNDER
by Faye Longbrake

According to a relative of the Brown Thunder family, the name Brown Thunder was acquired through an incident with the Crow Indians. A Crow war party came to raid a Sioux encampment of the Wakinyangi band. In the ensuing battle the Sioux killed two Crow braves and for his act of bravery, was given the name of Brown Thunder. He married Old Red Woman, who died September 17, 1912. They had a son, also named Brown Thunder, who was born about 1853. This Brown Thunder was married to Rosie Holy Leaf and they had seven children. They camped along the Cheyenne River around 1888-89, later settling at Cherry Creek about 1890, after being moved out from Fort Bennett. One of their sons was Raymond Brown Thunder of this generation. Raymond was born in 1887 or 1889.

This is a portrait of Brown Thunder, probably Brown Thunder II:

Brown Thunder
Brown Thunder (edited from a group photo)

Brown Thunder
Brown Thunder in 1908

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring



 

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