Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

THE DISPOSSESSION OF THE PAWNEE

1979; American Association of Geographers; Volume: 69; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1467-8306.1979.tb01263.x

1467-8306

David Wishart,

American History and Culture

ABSTRACT The Pawnee evolved an adapted system of occupance in the central Great Plains based on horticulture and the exploitation of the bison herds. From the 1830s on, great pressure was exerted on the Pawnee to change their way of life in accordance with Euro-American concepts of civilization. This involved the attempt to change the Pawnee into yeoman farmers, complete with a work ethic and a sense of private property. The Pawnee resisted, convinced of the validity of their own norms. After 1854, however, when the settlement frontier pushed into Nebraska, the Pawnee were confined to a small reservation and subjected to enforced acculturation, encroachment by settlers, and persistent Dacotah raids. Their decision to leave Nebraska in 1873–74 was a last, desperate effort to preserve a way of life. Notes 1 The dispute over whether the Pawnee were indigenous inhabitants of Nebraska since prehistoric times or immigrants in protohistoric and historic times is largely a conflict between two forms of evidence. Archaeological evidence points to a considerable depth of occupance, whereas Pawnee traditions indicate more recent migrations from a homeland in the southwestern or southern United States. The archaeological case is presented in R. T. Grange Jr., Pawnee and Lower Loup Pottery, Nebraska State Historical Society Publications in Anthropology, No. 3 (Lincoln: State Historical Society, 1968). The folk traditions are given in G. B. Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961), pp. 223–31. Other, more inclusive, interpretations are found in W. R. Wedel, An Introduction to Pawnee Archeology, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 112 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1936); and G. E. Hyde, The Pawnee Indians (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974). Hyde's provocative book is the main point of departure for any study of the Pawnee. 2 R. G. Thwaites, ed., Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804–1806 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1905), Vol. 6, pp. 85–87. Considering later figures, these estimates are probably too low, but Indian populations fluctuated with the occurrence of disease. 3 A. L. Kroeber, “Nature of the Landholding Group,”Ethnohistory, Vol. 2 (Fall, 1955), pp. 303 14. 4 Thwaites, op. cit., footnote 2, pp. 85, 87. 5 A. F. C. Wallace, “Political Organization and Land Tenure Among the Northeastern Indians, 1600–1830,”Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 13 (1957), pp. 301 21. Also, R. Linton, “Land Tenure in Aboriginal America,” in O. LaFarge, ed, The Changing Indian (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1943), pp. 42–52. 6 G. A. Dorsey, Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee, Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. 8 (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1904), xx. The sacred places housed the Nahurac, animals and birds which served as intermediaries between the Pawnee and their Diety. 7 The annual cycle of the Pawnee is vividly depicted in G. Weltfish, The Lost Universe (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1977). 8 In 1819 Stephen Long estimated that the Pawnee owned 6,000 to 8,000 horses. E. James. An Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, in R. G. Thwaites, ed., Early Western Travels (Cleveland: A. H. Clark Co., 1905), Vol. 15, p. 215. 9 This information was recorded by John Dunbar, the first missionary to the Pawnee. From the “Records of the Pawnee Mission Church,”Dunbar Collection (Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society). 10 This restrained attitude toward hunting is explicitly stated in the Pawnee folktale entitled “Ti-Ke-Wa-Kush: The Man who called the Buffalo,” in Grinnell, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. 132–41. In 1846, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Thomas Harvey, noted the Plains Indians' respect for the bison: “Notwithstanding that the Indians kill great numbers of the buffalo, they do not kill them wastefully, and are exceedingly careful not to alarm them when they have no use for them.”Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1846 (Washington, D.C.: Ritchie and Hess, 1846), p. 75. 11 Chittenden claimed that “The relation of the trader to the Indian was the most natural and congenial of any which the two races have ever sustained toward each other.” H. M. Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Far West (New York: F. D. Harper, 1902), Vol. 1, p. 8. 12 J. Dougherty to L. Cass, Nov. 19, 1831. John Dougherty Papers, 1823–45 (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society). 13 J. P. Cabanne to P. Chouteau Jr., Oct. 10, 1831. Chouteau Collection (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society). 14 W. Gordon to L. Cass, Nov. 19, 1831. Fur Trade Envelope (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society). 15 R. Crooks to P. Chouteau Jr., July 28, 1838. American Fur Company Letterbooks (New York: New York Historical Society). 16 The estimate for the 1830s is from Dunbar, op. cit., footnote 9. The later figure is from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1855 (Washington, D.C.: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1856), p. 256. 17 R. B. Hassrick, The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964). 18 This transition is explained in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1849 (Washington, D.C.: Gideon and Co., 1850), p. 8. The horticultural Indians were vulnerable because they were tied to their villages and weakened by disease and other damaging effects of culture contact. The equestrian nomads, on the oher hand, strengthened by the acquisition of the horse and gun, and remote from many of the destructive aspects of culture contact, experienced a surge of power during the first half of the nineteenth century. 19 Dunbar, op. cit., footnote 9. 20 S. Allis, “Manuscript,”Allis Collection (Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society). 21 Dunbar, op. cit., footnote 9. 22 The terms of the treaties are given in C. J. Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904), Vol. 2, pp. 158–59, 258–60, 416–18, 571–72, and 764–67. 23 Dunbar, op. cit., footnote 9. 24 Report of J. Barrow, Indian Agent, in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1850 (Washington, D.C.: Gideon and Co., 1850), p. 40. 25 There was no blanket acceptance of Euro-American products, however, and some proven items, such as the bow and arrow, were retained. 26 Allis, op. cit., footnote 20. 27 Weltfish, op. cit., footnote 7, p. 3. 28 This intensification of ceremonial life also occurred in Mandan society, which was still intact in 1862 despite the near-extinction of the nation as a result of the 1837–38 smallpox epidemic. 29 The St. Joseph Gazette (Missouri), Feb. 25, 1852. 30 D. Jackson and M. L. Spence, ed., The Expeditions of John Charles Fremont (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970), Vol. 1, p. 179; L. W. Hastings. The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California (Princeton: Yale University Press, 1932), p. 135; and J. Ware. The Emigrant's Guide to California (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1932), p. 16. Hastings's and Ware's guides were first published in 1845 and 1849, respectively. 31 The Bellevue Gazette (Bellevue, Nebraska), Oct. 22, 1857. 32 C. H. Richardson, Early Settlement of Eastern Nebraska Territory: A Geographical Study based on the Original Land Survey, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska, 1968. 33 J. L. Gillis, “Statement of Claims against the Pawnee Indians,” in Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs from the Pawnee Agency, 1859–80 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives). 34 J. Sterling Morton to President J. Buchanan, July 7, 1859, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 35 The Nebraskian (Omaha City), Nov. 25, 1856. 36 Report of W. W. Dennison, Sept. 22, 1858, in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1858 (Washington, D.C.: W. A. Harris, 1858), p. 104. 37 Report of S. Allis, Oct. 28, 1856, in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1856 (Washington, D.C.: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1856), p. 106. 38 A. M. Robertson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to A. B. Greenwood, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, July 26, 1859, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 39 The Nebraska Advertiser (Brownville), July 12, 1856. Wood River empties into the Platte near Grand Island. 40 The Nebraskian, op. cit., footnote 35. 41 Information on the situation of the Pawnee at this time is from The Huntsman's Echo (Wood River Center), Feb. 21, 1861; and from the Report of H. W. DuPuy, Pawnee Agent, to H. B. Branch, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, July 30, 1861, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 42 The Agency buildings—dilapidated log and frame structures—had been purchased from a group of Mormon families who had settled the area in 1857, then had been ejected to make room for the Pawnee. 43 I. N. Taylor, History of Platte County, Nebraska (Columbus: Columbus Republican Print, 1876), p. 8. 44 From 1866 to 1868 settlement was legally prohibited on all land, even the public domain, in the Union Pacific land grant. S. J. Bellovich, A Geographic Appraisal of Settlement within the Union Pacific Land Grant in Eastern Nebraska, 1869–1890, unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska, 1974. 45 The Dacotah also burned the prairie to force the herds to the west, beyond the reach of the Pawnee. W. DuPuy to W. P. Mix, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Jan. 2, 1862, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 46 The annuity goods were mainly for winter use, but they were generally delivered in spring, and the Pawnee often traded them before the onset of the winter. B. F. Lushbaugh, Pawnee Agent, to W. P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Jan. 4, 1863, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 47 Allis, op. cit., footnote 20. This represents about one-tenth of the nonadult Pawnee population. 48 J. W. Williamson, “History of the Pawnee Indians,”Williamson Collection (Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society). 49 This was explained by Commissioner Mix, in the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1867 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1867), p. 1. 50 Report of B. F. Lushbaugh, Pawnee Agent, Sept. 15, 1862, in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1862 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1863), pp. 122–24. 51 S. M. Janney, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to E. S. Parker, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Feb. 17, 1870, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. The agent and the chiefs opposed the use of Pawnee warriors as army scouts, because it exposed them to alcohol and other bad influences. 52 Report of R. B. Gillis, Farmer, Pawnee Agency, in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1860 (Washington, D.C.: G. W. Bowman, 1860), p. 95. 53 Williamson, “Autobiography,” op. cit., footnote 48. 54 In its issue of July 6, 1870, The Platte Journal described the Pawnee Reservation as “400 square miles of as good a land, perhaps, as there is in Nebraska.” 55 These rumors had circulated since 1858, but the Pawnee would not permit exploration. The Platte Journal, Sept. 2, 1874. 56 Reported in The Platte Journal, July 31, 1872. 57 In 1873, Pawnee Agent William Burgess noted that “The tendency is to view the ways of civilized life as an unwelcome innovation on tradition and timehonored customs,” in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1873 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1874), p. 194. 58 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1872 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1872), p. 28. 59 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1872, op. cit., footnote 58, p. 82. 60 W. F. Schmidt, ed., “The Letters of Charles and Helen Wooster: The Problems of Settlement,”Nebraska History, Vol. 46 (June, 1965), pp. 124–25. 61 G. H. Williams, Attorney General, to H. E. Delano, Secretary of the Interior, Jan. 28, 1874, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 62 The Platte Journal, July 31, 1872. 63 B. White, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, to F. A. Walker, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Nov. 11, 1872, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 64 The Platte Journal, Jan. 28, 1874. 65 As early as 1867, Senator Thayer introduced a resolution in Congress “to provide for the permanent location of all Indian tribes west of the Missouri River and east of the Rocky Mountains upon two reservations,” one north of Nebraska, the other south of Kansas. The Congressional Globe, 40th Cong., 1st Session (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Globe Office, 1867), p. 633. This idea of consolidating the Indians in a territory of their own was prevalent in the Indian Office after 1865. 66 The Senate debate was printed in The Platte Journal, June 22, 1870. 67 Recorded in The Platte Journal, Jan. 11, 1871 and Jan. 22, 1873. 68 Commissioner Smith recognized the strength of the Indian's attachment to the homeland, when he wrote “no effort is more unsuccessful than that which proposes to remove him from the place of his birth and the graves of his fathers.”Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1874 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1874), p. 12. 69 In that year, the Pawnee were in such desperate straits that they considered abandoning the reservation and moving east to the Missouri Valley, away from the Dacotah. H. W. DuPuy to W. P. Dole, Dec. 29, 1861, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 70 B. White to E. P. Smith, Sept. 23, 1874, in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1874, op. cit., footnote 68, p. 200. 71 The Platte Journal, Nov. 26, 1873. 72 W. Burgess to B. White, Oct. 10, 1873, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 73 Report of W. Burgess, Sept. 10, 1874, in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1874, op. cit., footnote 68, p. 200. 74 J. Williamson, “The Story of the Pawnee's Removal South,” in Williamson Collection, op. cit., footnote 48. 75 Burgess, op. cit., footnote 68, pp. 207–08. 76 Chiefs of the Pawnee to E. P. Smith, Aug. 21, 1874, in Letters Received … from the Pawnee Agency, op. cit., footnote 33. 77 This was explained by Garland J. Blaine, Hereditary Chief of the Pawnee, in an interview made for KUON-TV, Lincoln, Nebraska, October, 1977. 78 The resolutions of the council were printed in The Platte Journal, Nov. 18, 1874. 79 Blaine, op. cit., footnote 77. 80 Grinnell, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. 389–97. 81 Hyde, op. cit., footnote 1, pp. 322–23. 82 Blaine, op. cit., footnote 77.