KNIFE
CHIEF - Mina Naca or Mila Yatapika
(c. 1837-1920). Oglala.
He married both of his wives, presumably sisters, about
1857 and together, they had a large family with either
18 or 19 children. Among his children were Eagle Bear
and Fools Crow who told their versions of the Little
Bighorn. Knife Chief was considered to be one of the
great Oglala fighters. He was severely wounded at the
Little Bighorn. According to another son, Thomas Steals
Horses, the wounds were so severe that they "had
to carry him off the battle field on a travois drawn
by a pony."
The Knife Chief family surrendered with Crazy Horse
at the Red Cloud Agency in May 1877 and that fall, slipped
away from the agency with the other northern bands to
join Sitting Bull in Canada. They probably surrendered
at Fort Keogh in the summer or fall of 1880 and were
transferred to the Standing Rock Agency in June 1881.
The family was transferred to the Pine Ridge Agency
in May 1882 where Knife Chief served as headman of the
Wacunpa Band, one of the subdivisions of the larger
Wajaje Tiyospaye that had settled among the Oglala (part
of the Wajaje settled among the Brule at Rosebud).
Knife Chief died April 18, 1920.
— Ephriam Dickson
He
married Stands By Him CA 1880. She was born 1850.
At 14 years of age he became the father of Runs For the
Hill Runs For The Mountains 1864. He became the father
of Eagle Bear 1870. My father was given two names, which
he later bestowed upon me; Eagle Bear and Fools Crow.
He was a big man, about six inches taller than I today,
which would make hime at least six feet, four inches.
He was very handsom, and had extremely long hair, which
he always wore in braids. He was a quiet person who usually
kept to himself. He lived the old Indian ways, and did
not particiapate in many tribal activities, even though
he was the Porcupine District leader. I compare him in
some ways to the great war-leader Crazy Horse, who also
spent much off his time alone. But unlike Crazy Horse,
Eagle Bear never believed in hurting his fellow man, even
if the person was of a different nationality. So he never
fought in any battles against Indians or whites.
He served in the military during war time 1876 in Little
Big Horn.
Knife Chief and Stands By Him had the following child:
Runs For The Mountains Runs For the Hill Runs For The
Mountains was born 1864. She married Iron Cloud 1884.
He was born 1857. He was the son of Saves The Bear and
Follows. He died 8/20/1917 at 60 years of age.
She was listed as Iron Cloud's wife in a census 1886 on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, USA. Runs became the
mother of Emily Iron Cloud CA 1900.
Knife Chief had the following child:
Eagle Bear was born 1870.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mikestevens/2010-p/p186.htm#i35113
In
Frank Goodyear's book about Red Cloud (U. o. Nebraska
Press) there is a group photograph of Knife Chief, Red
Cloud, Jack Red Cloud and Baptiste Garnier. The inscription
of that photo says Knife Chief was a Chief of the Indian
Police at that time (ca. 1890s).
A photo of one of his sons, Andrew Knife, is in Donovin
Sprague´s book "Pine Ridge Reservation"/Arcadia
Publishing.
— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
Here is the group photo with Knife Chief:
—
Dietmar Schulte-Möhring
