Pretty
Weasel (Itunkasan Waste) was a long time member
of He Dog's band called the Cankahuhan (Soreback)
Band, where he was a prominent member of that band's
akicita. His age varies widely in the agency census
records, but he appears to have been born sometime between
1845 and 1850. Agnes already included several references
to him from the Hinman interviews. Pretty Weasel was
at the Little Big Horn. He probably surrendered at the
Red Cloud Agency with Crazy Horse in May 1877, though
his name does not appear in the Crazy Horse surrender
ledger (possibly gave a different name). He escaped
into Canada with He Dog in January 1878 and eventually
returned to surrender at Fort Keogh either 1879 or 1880.
He was transferred to Standing Rock in 1881 where he
is listed in the census. Transferred to Pine Ridge Agency
in 1882, Pretty Weasel settled in the White Clay District.
One of his warrior stories is preserved in Beckworth
(1930). According to Colhoff, Pretty Weasel died about
1938 on Grass Creek, though I have not yet confirmed
that in agency records. —
Ephriam Dickson
I
was reading the report, Seizure Location & date [1]
Summary of Departmental adjudication, March 26, 1891 (I.D.
42-1891), of claims for value of ponies seized in 1876 by
military authorities at Camp Robinson, Nebraska, from Indians
of the Red Cloud and Red Leaf Bands of Sioux, Act of March
2, 1889 (25 Stat. 888, 899), and noticed that Good Weasel
is listed as one of the claimants.
(
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mikestevens/SiouxPropertyClaims.htm)
Now, supposing that this is the same man, would this mean
it's less likely that Good Weasel was at Little Bighorn,
especially considering he's not mentioned in the Crazy Horse
Surrender Ledger? — Grahame
Wood
I
think the evidence for Good Weasel/Pretty Weasel being at
the Little Bighorn is fairly strong, though admittedly it
is circumstantial. He was a member of the Soreback Band
(Oglala) and was at the Battle of the Rosebud as noted by
Short Bull. I gave a history of the Soreback band and a
reconstruction of its members at the Little Bighorn in an
issue of Greasy Grass [magazine]. Witnesses did not specifically
mention Good Weasel as being present, given his leadership
position within the Soreback Band (who were at the LBH)
and his close affinity with Crazy Horse (also at the LBH),
I find it improbable that he was absent from the LBH.
But you to bring up a good point that I think needs additional
digging to see if the Good Weasel identified in the Pony
Lists is the same man. Please note that the list to which
you refer includes both those who lost ponies when the army
surrounded Red Cloud's and Red Leaf's villages in the fall
of 1876 (marked with a "1" in the first column)
and those who lost ponies at Standing Rock and Cheyenne
River to the army's surrounds of those villages (marked
with a "2"). The list you refer to indicates that
Good Weasel lost his horses at Standing Rock or Cheyenne
River, not at Red Cloud.
I have a later document in which the claims are further
examined. I can not find Good Weasel listed in this later
document, raising the possibility that his claim was later
rejected.
The Pony Files are perhaps one of those last great sets
of documents that have not yet been mined for their information
on the Great Sioux War and I think will offer a great deal
in reconstructing who was out during the summer and fall
of 1876. I understand that each claim is backed up by an
affidavit from the individual together with three witnesses
who attest to how many horses he lost. These files also
include claims that were rejected because the individual
had been out with the "hostiles". Should have
lots of great information. I am looking forward to digging
into these on my next trip to the National Archives and
will keep an eye out for Good Weasel's file.
Given
that the ponies were seized at Cheyenne River or Standing
Rock, I checked the census records for both agencies for
the 1876-77 period.
A
man named Pretty Weasel is listed at Standing Rock in Thunder
Hawk's band (Hunkpapa) from 1877 through 1887.
There
is also a Pretty Weasel among the Blackfeet Lakota at Cheyenne
River in 1876, listed as "a woman" (uncertain
whether this was her name or her
husband's name).
— Ephriam Dickson