The Hunkpapa (
Lakota
Lakota may refer to:
* Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes
*Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples
Place names
In the United States:
* Lakota, Iowa
* Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County
* La ...
: ) are a
Native American group, one of the seven council fires of the
Lakota tribe. The name ' is a
Lakota
Lakota may refer to:
* Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes
*Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples
Place names
In the United States:
* Lakota, Iowa
* Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County
* La ...
word, meaning "Head of the Circle" (at one time, the tribe's name was represented in European-American records as ''Honkpapa''). By tradition, the set up their lodges at the entryway to the circle of the Great Council when the Sioux met in convocation.
["Hunkpapa Sioux Indian Tribe History"](_blank)
''Handbook of American Indians'', 1906, carried in Access Genealogy, accessed 9 Dec 2009 They speak
Lakȟóta, one of the three dialects of the
Sioux language.
History in the 19th century
Seven hundred and fifty mounted
Yankton,
Yanktonai
The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...
and Lakota joined six companies of the Sixth Infantry and 80 fur trappers in an attack on an
Arikara Indian village at
Grand River (now South Dakota) in August 1823, named the
Arikara War
The Arikara War was an armed conflict between the United States, their allies from the Sioux (or Dakota) tribe and Arikara Native Americans that took place in the summer of 1823, along the Missouri River in present-day South Dakota. It was the ...
. Members of the Lakota, a part of them "Ankpapat", were the first Native Americans to fight in the
American Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
alongside US forces west of the Missouri.
They may have formed as a tribe within the Lakota relatively recently, as the first mention of the Hunkpapa in European-American historical records was from a treaty of 1825.
By signing the 1825 treaty, the Hunkpapa and the United States committed themselves to keep up the "friendship which has heretofore existed". With their x-mark, the chiefs also recognized the supremacy of the United States. It is not certain whether they really understood the text in the document. The US representatives gave a medal to Little White Bear, who they understood was the principal Hunkpapa chief; they did not realize how decentralized Native American authority was.
With the
Indian Vaccination Act of 1832, the United States assumed responsibility for the inoculation of the Indians against
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
. Some visiting Hunkpapa may have benefitted from Dr. M. Martin's vaccination of about 900 southern Lakota (no divisions named) at the head of Medicine Creek that autumn. When smallpox struck in 1837, it hit the Hunkpapa as the northernmost Lakota division. The loss, however, may have been fewer than one hundred people. Overall, the Hunkpapa seem to have suffered less from new diseases than many other tribes did.
The boundaries for the Lakota Indian territory were defined in the
general peace treaty negotiated near
Fort Laramie
Fort Laramie (founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading-post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte rivers. They joined ...
in the summer of 1851. Leaders of eight different tribes, often at odds with each other and each claiming large territories, signed the treaty. The United States was a ninth party to it. The
Crow Indian
The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation locate ...
territory included a tract of land north of the Yellowstone, while the
Little Bighorn River ran through the heartland of the Crow country (now Montana). The treaty defines the land of the Arikara, the
Hidatsa
The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent ...
and the
Mandan
The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...
as a mutual area north of Heart River, partly encircled by the Missouri (now North Dakota).
Soon enough the Hunkpapa and other Sioux attacked the Arikara and the two other so-called village tribes, just as they had done in the past. By 1854, these three smallpox-devastated tribes called for protection from the U.S. Army, and they would repeatedly do so almost to the end of inter-tribal warfare. Eventually the Hunkpapa and other Lakota took control of the three tribes' area north of Heart River, forcing the village people to live in
Like a Fishhook Village outside their treaty land. The Lakota were largely in control of the occupied area to 1876–1877.
The
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
General Warren estimated the population of the Hunkpapa Lakota at about 2920 in 1855. He described their territory as ranging "from the
Big Cheyenne up to the
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
, and west to the
Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...
. He states that they formerly intermarried extensively with the
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
." He noted that they raided settlers along the
Platte River
The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itsel ...
.
In addition to dealing with warfare, they suffered considerable losses due to contact with Europeans and contracting of
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...
n
infectious disease
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...
s to which they had no
immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity desc ...
.
The Hunkpapa gave some of their remote relatives among the Santee Sioux armed support during a large-scale battle near
Killdeer Mountain in 1864 with U.S. troops led by General A. Sully.
The
Great Sioux Reservation
The Great Sioux Reservation initially set aside land west of the Missouri River in South Dakota and Nebraska for the use of the Lakota Sioux, who had dominated this territory. The reservation was established in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 ...
was established with a new treaty in 1868. The Lakota agreed to the construction of "any railroad" outside their reservation. The United States recognized that "the country north of the North Platte River and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains" was unsold or unceded Indian territory. These hunting grounds in the south and in the west of the new Lakota domain were used mainly by the
Sicangu (Brule-Sioux) and the
Oglala
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live o ...
, living nearby.
The "free bands" of Hunkpapa favored campsites outside the unsold areas. They took a leading part in the westward enlargement of the range used by the Lakota in the late 1860s and the early 1870s at the expense of other tribes. In search for buffalo, Lakota regularly occupied the eastern part of the Crow Indian Reservation as far west as the Bighorn River, sometimes even raiding the
Crow Agency
Crow Agency ( cro, awaasúuchia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment produced by the Real Bird family known as Ba ...
, as they did in 1873. The Lakota pressed the Crow Indians to the point that they reacted like other small tribes: they called for the U.S. Army to intervene and take actions against the intruders.
In the late summer of 1873, the Hunkpapa boldly attacked the
Seventh Cavalry in United States territory north of the Yellowstone. Custer's troops escorted a railroad surveying party here, due to similar attacks the year before. Battles such as
Honsinger Bluff and
Pease Bottom took place on land purchased by the United States from the Crow tribe on May 7, 1868. These continual attacks, and complaints from American Natives, prompted the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to assess the full situation on the northern plains. He said that the unfriendly Lakota roaming the land of other people should "be forced by the military to come in to the Great Sioux Reservation". That was in 1873, notably one year before the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, but the US government did not take action on this concept until three years later.
The Hunkpapa were among the victors in the
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nort ...
in the
Crow Indian Reservation
The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe. Established 1868, the reservation is located in parts of Big Horn, Yellowstone, and Treasure counties in southern Montana in the United States. The Crow Tribe has an enrolled member ...
in July 1876.
Since the 1880s, most Hunkpapa have lived in the
Standing Rock Indian Reservation (in North and South Dakota). It comprises land along the Grand River which had been used by the Arikara Indians in 1823; the Hunkpapa "won the west" half a century before the whites.
During the 1870s, when the Native Americans of the
Great Plains were fighting the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, the Hunkpapa were led by
Sitting Bull in the fighting, together with the
Oglala Lakota. They were among the last of the tribes to go to the reservations. By 1891, the majority of Hunkpapa Lakota, about 571 people, resided in the
Standing Rock Indian Reservation of
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north ...
and
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
. Since then they have not been counted separately from the rest of the Lakota.
Population in the 19th century
The Hunkpapa population was estimated to be around 1,600 men, women and children in 1805, corresponding to 160 tipis. Shihasapa and Sans Arc migration to Hunkpapa camps in the 1840s had doubled their number of tipis in 1849. From a height in 1855 with 360 lodges, the next decades were marked by a small decline. The decline was higher in percentage of the total Lakota population. In 1855, the total number of lodges were nearly 2,000. Fifteen years later only 315 tipis out of 2,400 were set up in Hunkpapa camps.
Notable Hunkpapa Lakota people
*
Bear's Rib, 19th-century chief
*
Dana Claxton
Dana Claxton (born 1959) is a Hunkpapa Lakota filmmaker, photographer, and performance artist. Her work looks at stereotypes, historical context, and gender studies of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, specifically those of the First Nation ...
(born 1959), Hunkapa Lakota filmmaker, photographer and performance artist
* ''
Robert "Tree" Cody
Robert Tree Cody (born April 20, 1951) is an American musician, dancer, and educator. He graduated from John Marshall High School in 1969. Robert is an adopted son of Hollywood actor Iron Eyes Cody.
Early life
Robert Tree Cody is the adopted son ...
'', flutist; enrolled member of the
Maricopa
Maricopa can refer to:
Places
* Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city
** Maricopa Freeway, a piece of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix
** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona
* Maricopa County, Arizona, United States
* Marico ...
tribe
*
Zahn McClarnon
Zahn Tokiya-ku McClarnon (born October 24, 1966) is an American actor known for his performances in the Western crime drama series '' Longmire'', the second season of '' Fargo'', and the second season of ''Westworld''. In 2022, he played the le ...
, actor, whose mother is Hunkpapa Lakota; has had a continuing role on the series ''
Longmire'', among other work
*
Athena LaTocha, painter
*
Annie Little Warrior (1895–ca. 1966), ledger artist from Standing Rock, North Dakota
* ''Phizí'' (
Gall), one of the commanders in the
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nort ...
* ''Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake'' (
Sitting Bull), chief and leader of the Lakota in fighting against the US Army to remain off the reservations in the 19th century
* ''Tȟatȟóka Íŋyaŋke'' (
Running Antelope
Running Antelope or Tȟatȟóka Íŋyaŋke (1821–1896) became a head chief of the Húŋkpapȟa in 1851. Known for his bravery in war, and skills in oratory and diplomacy, Running Antelope was one of four Huŋkpapȟa principal chiefs who acted ...
), Hunkpapa chief and advisor to Sitting Bull
*
Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart is a Native American social worker, associate professor and mental health expert. She is best known for developing a model of historical trauma for the Lakota people, which would eventually be expanded to encompass ...
, Hunkpapa social worker responsible for developing historical trauma models and interventions for American Indian people
*
William "Hawk" Birdshead, Founder Indigenous Life Movement, Philanthropist
* Waŋblí Ayútepiwiŋ (
Eagle Woman
Eagle Woman That All Look At ( lkt, Waŋblí Ayútepiwiŋ, also known as Matilda Picotte Galpin; 1820 – December 18, 1888) was a Lakota activist, diplomat, trader, and translator, who was known for her efforts mediating the conflicts between ...
) (1820–1888), Two Kettle and Hunkpapa diplomat, trader, and peace activist
* Ćehu′p
Jaw (Ćehu′pa) (ca. 1853–1924), Hunkpapa
Winter count
Winter counts (Lakota: ''waníyetu wówapi'' or ''waníyetu iyáwapi'') are pictorial calendars or histories in which tribal records and events were recorded by Native Americans in North America. The Blackfeet, Mandan, Kiowa, Lakota, and other Pla ...
keeper and
Ledger Art
Ledger art is a term for narrative drawing or painting on paper or cloth, predominantly practiced by Plains Indian, but also from the Plateau and Great Basin. Ledger art flourished primarily from the 1860s to the 1920s. A revival of ledger art b ...
artist
Amidon Ledger,
Macnider Ledger
* Tȟašína Máni (
Moving Robe Woman), fought in the
battle of Little Big Horn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...
References
External links
*
"Native American Tribes: Sioux (Second Part)" 1997, summarized by Willow Branch from "Through Indian Eyes", ''Reader's Digest'' (originally hosted by GeoCities; most links are dead)
{{authority control
First Nations in Saskatchewan
Native American tribes in North Dakota
Native American tribes in South Dakota
Great Sioux War of 1876