![Mochi Southern Cheyenne](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Mochi_Southern_Cheyenne.jpg)
Mochi ("Buffalo Calf"; c. 1841 – 1881) was a
Southern Cheyenne
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are a united, federally recognized tribe of Southern Arapaho and Southern Cheyenne people in western Oklahoma.
History
The Cheyennes and Arapahos are two distinct tribes with distinct histories. The Cheyenne (Tsi ...
woman of the ''Tse Tse Stus'' band and the wife of Chief Medicine Water. Mochi, then a 24-year-old, was a member of
Black Kettle
Black Kettle (Cheyenne: Mo'ohtavetoo'o) (c. 1803November 27, 1868) was a prominent leader of the Southern Cheyenne during the American Indian Wars. Born to the ''Northern Só'taeo'o / Só'taétaneo'o'' band of the Northern Cheyenne in the Black ...
's camp and was present on the morning of November 29, 1864, when
John Chivington
John Milton Chivington (January 27, 1821 – October 4, 1894) was an American Methodist pastor and Mason who served as a colonel in the United States Volunteers during the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War. He led a rear action ...
and over 650 troops of the
First Colorado Cavalry,
Third Colorado Cavalry
The 3rd Colorado Cavalry Regiment was a Union Army unit formed in the mid-1860s when increased traffic on the United States emigrant trails and settler encroachment resulted in numerous attacks against them by the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The Hung ...
and a company of the
1st Regiment New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry
The 1st Regiment New Mexico Cavalry was a volunteer cavalry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Service Civil War
In August 1861, Ceran St. Vrain and Kit Carson organized the 1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry Regiment. This ...
attacked Black Kettle's winter camp at
Sand Creek on the plains of eastern
Colorado Territory
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado.
The territory was organized in the w ...
(referred to as the
Sand Creek Massacre).
During the unprovoked attack, Mochi witnessed her mother being shot in the forehead and killed by a U.S. soldier who had entered their
tipi
A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan languages, Siouan, and in use in Dakot ...
. According to her account, he then attempted to rape her, prompting her to shoot and kill him with her grandfather's rifle. She then fled the camp with the other survivors trying to evade Chivington's men. After the massacre, she became a warrior and engaged in raiding and warfare for the next 11 years.
Mochi fought alongside her husband in numerous battles and raids and was the only
Native American woman to be incarcerated by the United States Army as a
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
.
Lone Tree massacre
On August 24, 1874, in present day
Meade County, Kansas
Meade County (standard abbreviation: ME) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 4,055. The largest city and county seat is Meade. The county was created in 1873 and named in honor of G ...
, Mochi, Medicine Water and the other members of their band were involved in the massacre of a surveying party led by Capt. Oliver Francis Short, who had fought in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Short, his 14-year-old son Truman, and four other members of the party were killed, with three of them being scalped.
German family massacre
On the morning of September 11, 1874, in
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
, Chief Medicine Water and his band, including Mochi, attacked John German and his family as they were breaking camp. The family had camped along the
stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
route which followed the
Smoky Hill River
The Smoky Hill River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through Colorado and Kansas.Smoky Hill River. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.br ...
while en route to
Fort Wallace
Fort Wallace ( 1865–1882) was a US Cavalry fort built in Wallace County, Kansas to help defend settlers against Cheyenne and Sioux raids. All that remains today is the cemetery, but for a period of over a decade Fort Wallace was one of the most ...
.
German, his wife Liddia (Cox), son Stephen Wise, and daughters Rebecca Jane and Joanna Cleveland were killed and
scalped
Scalping is the act of cutting or tearing a part of the human scalp, with hair attached, from the head, and generally occurred in warfare with the scalp being a trophy. Scalp-taking is considered part of the broader cultural practice of the tak ...
, with Mochi killing Liddia with a
tomahawk
A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Europ ...
blow to the skull. After plundering the camp and setting fire to the wagon, the band took German's four youngest daughters captive. They were Catherine Elizabeth, age seventeen; Sophia Louisa, twelve; Julia Arminda, seven; and Nancy Addie, five.
Julia and Nancy were traded to Grey Beard's band and were liberated after an attack on his camp on November 8, 1874, by a column led by Lieut.
Frank Baldwin
Frank Dwight Baldwin (June 26, 1842 – April 22, 1923), a native of Constantine, Michigan, and born in Manchester, Michigan, is one of only 19 servicemen to receive the Medal of Honor twice. Baldwin received his first award for his actions dur ...
. Catherine and Sophia were released in March when Chief Stone Calf and most of the Southern Cheyenne surrendered at
Fort Leavenworth
Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...
, in Kansas.
Fort Marion
Mochi and her husband Medicine Water were among 35 Cheyenne singled out for incarceration in the east. They were among a larger contingent of Plains tribe members to be sent east; in addition to the Cheyenne, there were 27
Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
, 11
Comanche
The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...
, and 1
Caddo
The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language.
The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, wh ...
. Two of the Cheyenne died en route, including Grey Beard, who was thwarted in a suicide attempt only to be shot and killed trying to escape.
After being incarcerated at
Fort Sill
Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost .
The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...
in
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
, they were taken in eight prison wagons to Fort Leavenworth and then loaded in a special train for the journey to
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine ( ; es, San Agustín ) is a city in the Southeastern United States and the county seat of St. Johns County on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorers, it is the oldest continuously inhabit ...
. In St. Augustine, Mochi and the others were incarcerated in an old
coquina
Coquina () is a sedimentary rock that is composed either wholly or almost entirely of the transported, abraded, and mechanically sorted fragments of the shells of mollusks, trilobites, brachiopods, or other invertebrates. The term ''coquina'' ...
stone fort built by the Spanish in the 17th century. The fort, originally named the
Castillo de San Marcos
The Castillo de San Marcos (Spanish for "St. Mark's Castle") is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States; it is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in the city of St. Augustine, Florida.
It was designed by the Spanish ...
, was renamed Fort Marion by the Americans.
Mochi and the others would remain in captivity at the fort under the supervision of
Captain Richard Pratt until 1878. Upon her release, she returned to Oklahoma and died in 1881, in what is present day
Clinton, Oklahoma
Clinton is a city in Custer County, Oklahoma, Custer and Washita County, Oklahoma, Washita counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 9,033 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census.
History
The community began in 1899 when ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mochi
1840s births
1881 deaths
Cheyenne people
Native Americans imprisoned at Fort Marion
19th-century Native American women