Cutmouth John, also known as Poor Crane and as Ya-Tin-Ee-Ah-Witz, Chief of the Cayuses, was a Native American who served in the

U.S. Army Indian Scouts Native Americans have made up an integral part of U.S. military conflicts since America's beginning. Colonists recruited Indian allies during such instances as the Pequot War from 1634–1638, the Revolutionary War, as well as in War of 1812. ...

. His lineage unclear, some considered him a member of the Umatilla, or

Wasco Wasco is the name of four places in the United States: Places United States * Wasco, California, a city in California ** Wasco State Prison, located in Wasco, California * Wasco, Illinois, a former hamlet (unincorporated town) in Illinois, now pa ...

tribes.

Guide

Poor Crane, as he was known at the time, was a guide and friend of

Thomas J. Farnham Thomas Jefferson Farnham (1804–1848) was an explorer and author of the American West in the first half of the 19th century. His travels included interaction with missionary Jason Lee, and he later led a wagon train on the Oregon Trail. While in O ...

and led him to the Whitman Mission in 1839, three years after it was founded. Poor Crane was described as a kind, middle-aged man who was a devoted father. He loaned Farnham his best saddle and had his two young sons accompany them on the journey to the mission.Michael L. Tate.
Indians and Emigrants: Encounters on the Overland Trails
'. University of Oklahoma Press; 1 January 2006. . p. 65.

Whitman massacre

According to the journal of Lawrence Kip, a U.S. Army lieutenant, Cutmouth John was the guide to the 4th Infantry Regiment when it escorted

Isaac Stevens Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represen ...

to the

Walla Walla Council In American radio, film, television, and video games, walla is a sound effect imitating the murmur of a crowd in the background. A group of actors brought together in the post-production stage of film production to create this murmur is known a ...

in 1855. Kip explained Cutmouth John had previously lived near the Whitman mission prior to the

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

and been disfigured during a fight with

Snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

warriors in 1850 while hunting Marcus Whitman's killers. During the Yakima War, Cutmouth John accompanied American troops at the Battle of Union Gap, during which it is believed he inflicted the only fatality on the Yakama forces during the encounter. Though occasionally popular among the Americans,

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

reports that - in the aftermath of that battle - Cutmouth John paraded through the U.S. camp waving the scalp of the Yakama he'd killed and dressed in the Catholic

vestments Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this w ...

of Father Pandoza, the priest of St. Joseph's Mission which had been ransacked by territorial militia the day before. According to Sheridan, this "ghastly" demonstration "turned opinion against him." Nonetheless, Cutmouth John would later fight alongside U.S. troops at the Battle of Four Lakes.

Legacy

In 1891 sculptor

Olin Levi Warner Olin Levi Warner (April 9, 1844August 14, 1896) was an American sculptor and artist noted for the striking bas relief portrait medallions and busts he created in the late 19th century. Life Warner was born in Suffield, Connecticut. Warner's gre ...

made an 11-inch bronze sculpture plaque of Poor Crane, ''Ya-Tin-Ee-Ah-Witz,'' Chief of the Cayuses. It was one of six legendary Northwest Native Americans that Warner portrayed.''Poor Crane, Ya-Tin-Ee-Ah-Witz, Chief of the Cayuses'' by Olin Levi Warner.
Lure of the West, Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved May 24, 2014. Warner met Poor Crane in 1891 when he was the Chief of the Cayuses, living in northeastern Oregon on the

Umatilla Reservation The Umatilla Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. It was created by The Treaty of Walla Walla, Treaty of June 9, 1855 between the United States and members of the Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla t ...

. He was described as "the embodiment of the wilderness, a creation of nature... He still keeps to the simple wants of the savage, still lives as he has always lived, accepting the good and evil of his life with fortitude, and above all things insists that a man needs only two virtues - bravery and truth."Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.); Thayer Tolles.
American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A catalogue of works by artists born before 1865
'. Metropolitan Museum of Art; 1999. . p. 232.

Guide

Whitman massacre

Legacy

References

Further reading