Since 2003

LEGENDS OF AMERICA
Home

American History

Legends-Lore

Legends Store

Destinations
Legends Photos

Social

Notable Native Americans - Page 2

<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next >>

Adoeette, aka: Big Tree (1845?-1929) Known as Adoeette to his Kiowa tribe, he was
known to the white man, as "Big Tree. In
consequence of George A. Custer's vigorous
campaign on the Washita in the fall of 1868 the
Kiowa and confederated tribes were forced to
move to a reservation in southwest Oklahoma.
However, by 1871, Big Tree, along with Chiefs
Satanta and Setangya, and other Kiowa
warriors were dissatisfied with the reservation
system began to make a number of attacks on
wagon trains in Texas.
In May, 1871, Big Tree accompanied a large
party of warriors led by Satanta, and attacked a
wagon train, killing 7 men and taking 41 mules.
For their part in this attack, the three chiefs
were arrested at Fort Sill, Oklahoma to stand
trial in Texas.
Satank was killed while resisting a guard and
Big Tree and Satanta were tried in Texas and
sentenced to death; but Texas Governor
Edmund Davis, overruled the court and the
punishment was changed to life imprisonment.
However, Kiowa Chief Lone Wolf negotiated for
their early release and the pair were allowed to
leave prison in October, 1873, conditional upon
the good behavior of their people.

Adoeette, aka: Big Tree (1845?-1929)

Search

The following year, Satanta and his warriors were back on the warpath, attacking buffalo
hunters and engaging in the what is known as the Second Battle of Adobe Walls which
occurred on June 27, 1874. He was later captured and committed suicide in prison. Big Tree,
with other chiefs believed to be secretly hostile, were confined as prisoners at Fort Sill,
Oklahoma. After his release, he continued to live on an allotment from the reservation until his
death in 1929. Big tree was one of the models for the Indian Head Nickle.
American Horse (1800-1876) - Born to Old Smoke, chief of the
Ogallala Sioux, American Horse was opposed to white settlement
in Sioux lands his entire life. The cousin of Red Cloud, he fought in
many of the skirmishes and battles of Red Cloud'swar to keep white
settlers off of the Bozeman Trail, which was used by settlers and
miners to illegally cross Sioux and Cheyenne lands. Even after the
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, the Sioux War Chief continued to
oppose the white settlers, traveling with Red Cloudto Washington to
meet with government officials. However, when gold was
discovered in the Black Hills in 1874, all talks were abandoned and
miners roved freely over the Sioux lands. He was one of the
principal war chiefs during the Battle of the Little Bighorn, after
which the bands broke up. American Horse made the decision to
go to an agency assigned by the United States. As he and about 40
family groups were traveling peacefully to the agency and camped out on land guaranteed
them by treaty, they were attacked by General George Crook's troops at Slim Buttes, South
Dakota on September 8, 1876. Taken by surprise, the village was destroyed and American
Horse was killed. More ...
Big Elk (1765-1846) - Known as Ongpatonga to the Omaha tribe, Big Elk earned a reputation
as a warrior when he was still very young, primarily in skirmishes against the Pawnees. When
Omaha Chief Washinggusaba (Black Bird), who was known as a tyrant, died in 1800, Big Elk,
who had gained a reputation for fairness in making decisions, became the principal chief.
Afterwards, the Euro-Americans began to pass through Omaha Territory. In 1821 and 1837, he
traveled to Washington, D.C. to negotiate treaties and became known as a spellbinding orator.
He continued to lead the Omaha Indians until died of fever in 1846. He was buried in Bellevue,
Nebraska, at a site called Elk Hill, but to the Omahas, called Onpontonga Xiathon, meaning,
"the Place Where Big Elk Is Buried."

Big Foot, aka: Sithanka, Spotted Elk (1826?-1890) - A Hunkpapa Sioux Chief, he was known as Sithanka or Spotted Elk to
his people. He was the son of Chief Lone Horn and became chief of the Cheyenne River Reservation upon his father's death.
A much respected warrior and a negotiator, he received the name of "Big Foot" from the white man, a derogatory name to him
and his people. During the 1870s, he aligned himself with Sitting Bulland Crazy Horse, but saw no major action during the war
of 1876-77. Following the Sioux War, he and his band were placed on the Cheyenne River Reservation, where he encouraged
his people to adapt. However, short on rations and poor living conditions, he encouraged his people to join the "Ghost Dance"
movement. Alarmed by this unknown religion, the government outlawed the practice, but it quickly spread through through a
number of Indian camps including the Cheyenne River Reservation. After Sitting Bull was killed on the Standing rock
Reservation in 1890, his followers fled to seek refuge with Chief Spotted Elk. In December, 1890, fearing reprisals against his
band, Spotted Elk led some 300 men, women, and children from the reservation intending to join other Sioux bands in the
Badlands. Having no intention of fighting and flying a white flag, the group was intercepted by troops on Wounded Knee Creek
and surrendered. However, in an attempt to disarm the Indians a conflict occurred which resulted in the killing of almost the
entire band by U.S. Troops. Big Foot, along with hundreds of others died on December 29, 1890 in what has become known
as the Wounded Knee Massacre.
Big Mush (??-1839) - Though little is known of Chief Big Mush, or Gatun-wa-li to his people, he was known to exercise
authority in civil matters during the time that some Cherokee bands made their home in northeast Texas. Thought to have lived
in the northwestern part of Rusk County, he was closely associated with Chief Bowles in 1827 and was one of the signers in
the treaty made with General Sam Houston to assign the lands to the Cherokee; however the Texas Senate refused to ratify
the treaty which soon led to the Cherokee War. Big Mush was killed in the Battle of the Neches, along with Chief Bowles on

July 16, 1839

Black Elk (1863-1950) - Known as Hehaka Sapa to his people, Black Elk was a famous Lakota holy man. He participated in
the Battle of the Little Bighorn when he was just 12 years-old. In 1886 Black Elk joined Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West Show and
toured eastern cities and even Europe. In 1890, he was wounded in the massacre that occurred in Wounded Knee in 1890.
Living on the reservation, he was baptized as a Catholic and took the name Nicholas Black Elk. Serve as a spiritual leader
among his people, he saw no contradiction in what he found valid in both his tribal traditions and those of Christianity. He then
began to travel helping to convert Arapaho, Winnebago, Omaha and others to Christianity. In later years he combined his
missionary work with showmanship at various tourist attractions in South Dakota, using his reputation as a Lakota holy man to
draw visitors. He died in August, 1950.
Chief Bowles - Known to the Cherokee as Diwal'li, Bowles was born in North Carolina around 1756. He was the son of a
Scottish father and a Cherokee mother. In 1810, his band moved to better hunting grounds near New Madrid, Missouri and
then two years later to northwestern Arkansas. In 1819, they relocated to what they hoped would be their permanent home in
northeastern Texas . There, he became the "peace chief" of a council that united several Cherokee villages. The Cherokee
were welcomed by the Mexican government, who saw them as a barrier to white settlement and Bowles began to negotiate
with them to obtain permanent title to the land, but were never finalized. After the Texas Revolution, Bowles once again began
to negotiate with Sam Houston for possession of the lands. On February 23, 1836, in a treaty made by Houston signed a
treaty that, though substantially reducing the Cherokee landholdings, would give them permanent title. Unfortunately for the
Cherokee, the Texas Senate would not ratify it. Houston's successor, Mirabeau B. Lamar, opposed all Indians in the new
republic and ordered Bowles and his people to leave Texas. This led to what is known as the Cherokee War. On July 16, 1839,
Chief Bowles was killed in the Battle of the Neches, the last engagement between the Cherokees and whites settlers in Texas.
Crazy Horse (1842-1877) - A brave and skilled warrior, Crazy
Horse started demonstrating his strength at a young age,
determined to stop anyone wanting to encroach upon Lakota
lands. In 1864, after the Sand Creek Massacre of the
Cheyenne in Colorado, the Lakota joined forces with the
Cheyenne against the U.S. Army. He was present at the Battle
of Red Buttes and the Platte River Bridge Station in 1865 and
due to his superior fighting ability, he was made a war leader in
1865. He then fought with Red Cloud in the 1865-68 war,
playing a key role in destroying William J. Fetterman's brigade
at Fort Phil Kearny in 1867. However, that victory did not stop
the settlers from coming and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
opened the door of Lakota land to all that Crazy Horse fought
to prevent. Crazy Horse continued to fight, leading the
resistance and attacking the survey party sent into the Black
Hills by General George Armstrong Custer in 1873. When the
U.S. War Department ordered all Lakota bands onto
reservations in 1876, Crazy Horse took it upon himself to lead
the resistance, fighting in the War for the Black Hills of 187677.
On June 17, 1876, he fought at the Battle of the Rosebud and
a week later, joined forces with Sitting Bull and Chief Gall in the
attack that destroyed Custer's Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of
the Little Bighorn. General Nelson Miles pursued Crazy Horse
and his allies relentlessly throughout the winter of 1876-77
eventually leading to his surrender on May 6, 1877.
Alleged photo of Crazy Horse
This image is available for photographic prints HERE.

In reaction to a rumor that Crazy Horse was plotting an escape

from his reservation, the Red Cloud Agency, Army troops and
Indian police seized the famous chief. When he discovered he
was being taken to the post jail, Crazy Horse began pulling
away from his guards and was either accidentally stabbed with
a knife or was bayoneted by an army sentry, Private William
Gentles. Mortally wounded, Crazy Horse died that night on
September 5, 1877. After his death, his remains were given to
his elderly parents, who secretly buried the renowned Sioux
leader somewhere in the wilds near Nebraskas Red Cloud
Agency. More ...

Crow Dog (1833-1910) - Born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory, Crow Dog was from a family of esteemed
warriors and he, too, would grow to build his own reputation in numerous battles. Crow Dog was present when Crazy Horse
was killed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska in 1877 and helped prevent a retaliatory attack on U.S. Army soldiers at the fort. From
1879 to 1880, he became the police chief at the Rosebud Reservation. In the meantime, Crow Dog developed a serious
animosity with Chief Spotted Tail, who had been accused by Red Cloud of taking proceeds from the sale of tribal land and had
been roundly rebuked by Crazy Horse, before he was killed, for signing away the freedom of his people. When Crow Dog
heard rumors that Spotted Tail was selling Lakota land to the railroads and building himself an enormous white-styled mansion
with the proceeds, Spotted Tail was called before the general council by Crow Dog's White Horse Group.
Spotted Tail denied the charges and the council voted to retain him as head chief, but Crow Dog continued to assert the chief's
complicity in various crimes against the people. Frustrated, Crow Dog carried out his own death sentence on Spotted Tail on
August 5, 1881 and Crow Dog was convicted of murder in Dakota Territory. However, he was later freed when the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that the territorial government had no jurisdiction over the crime. Later, Crow Dog was one of the leaders
in popularizing the Ghost Dance among the Lakota. He was adamantly opposed to U.S. Army occupation of the Indian
reservations and became one of the last holdouts after the massacre at Wounded Knee in December, 1890. Crow Dog spent
the last years of his life in relative peace on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.
Continued Next Page
<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next >>
From Legends' General Store
Fine Art and Canvas Prints - Legends of America has recently acquired a new Fine
Art printer, where we can provide Gicle prints with three different finishes, as well as
Gallery Wrapped Canvas displays. You'll find our pricing extremely competitive and
the quality as high as you can find anywhere. Choose any image from our Photo
Store and select Gicle Prints or Canvas from the product list. Our vintage images,
current scenes, and Photo Art are beautiful when printed with a fine art process on
paper or canvas. Makes great gifts!!

About Us

Contact Us
Article/Photo Use
Guestbook
Legends Of Kansas
Links
Photo Blog
Site Map Writing Credits
Copyright 2003-Present, Legends of America