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Osage Nation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2006) |
| Osage |
|---|
 |
| Total population |
|
16,000 [4] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| United States (Oklahoma) |
| Language(s) |
| English, Osage |
| Religion(s) |
| Christianity, other |
| Related ethnic groups |
| other Siouan peoples |
The Osage Nation is a tribe in the United States, which is mainly based in Osage County, Oklahoma, but can still be found throughout America.
The Osage were originally known by Ni-U-Kon-Ska, which means meaning "Children of the Middle Waters." Today they call themselves Wazházhe, which was translated by French explorers as Ouazhigi, which later became the English name Osage.[1] Early settlers have said that the Osages were the largest Native people in North America, with the Osage men averaging over 6 feet tall. in war, they were feared by neighboring tribes.
The Osage language belongs to the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan stock of Native American languages, now spoken in Nebraska and Oklahoma. They originally lived among the Kansa, the Ponca, the Omaha, and the Quapaw in the Ohio Valley.
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Many of the Osage had migrated to the Osage River in western Missouri by 1673, living near the Missouri River. Alongside the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, they dominated western Oklahoma. They also lived with the Quapaw and Caddo in Arkansas.
The Osage held high rank among the old hunting tribes of the Great Plains. From their traditional homes in the woodlands of present-day Missouri and Arkansas, the Osage would make semi-annual buffalo hunting forays out into the Great Plains to the West as well as hunt deer, rabbit, and other wild game in the central and eastern parts of their domain. But, also they would grow corn, squash, and other vegetables near their villages as well as harvest nuts and wild berries. So, in this sense, the Osage's lifestyle did not conform to either a strictly woodland Native American tribe nor a Great Plains people.
The French encountered the tribe in Missouri during the late 1600s. As experienced warriors, the Osage allied with the French against the Illiniwek during the early 1700s.
Friendly relations with the Osage enabled French fur trader René Auguste Chouteau to extend his business, and he monopolized trade with the tribe from 1794 to 1802.
Lewis and Clark reported that in 1802, the tribe comprised the Great Osage on the Osage River, the Little Osage upstream, and the Arkansas band on the Vermillion River, a tributary of the Arkansas River. The tribe then numbered some 5,500.
Wealthy fur trader Jean Pierre Chouteau, a half-brother of René Auguste Chouteau, became the United States agent for the tribe in 1804. He founded the Saint Louis Missouri Fur Company in 1809 with a family member, Auguste Pierre Chouteau. The Spanish imprisoned Auguste in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1817, but released him after several months. He actively traded with the Osage and made his home at Salina, Oklahoma.
The Osage prohibited the Kickapoo from entering onto their Missouri reservation, keeping them in ceded lands in Illinois. Choctaw chief Pushmataha had a notable career as a warrior against the Osage tribe. The Five Civilized Tribes removed to the Indian Territory clashed briefly with the Osage after arriving on the Trail of Tears.
In 1833, the Osage clashed with the Kiowa near the Wichita Mountains in modern day south central Oklahoma in an incident known as the Cutthroat Gap Massacre. The Osage cut off the heads of their victims and arranged them in rows of brass cooking buckets. Not a single Osage died in this attack. Later, Kiowa warriors, allied with the Comanche, raided the Osage and others.
In 1867, due to their scouting expertise, excellent terrain knowledge, and military prowess, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer employed Osage scouts in his campaign against Chief Black Kettle and his band of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in western Oklahoma near the Washita river. Chief Black Kettle and his band were taken by surprise in the early morning by Custer and his soldiers, believed to have been led there by Osage scouts. Chief Black Kettle was killed, along with others from both sides. This incident became known as the Battle of Washita River.
The Osage began treaty-making with the United States in 1808 with the first cessation of lands in Missouri (Osage Treaty). Subsequent treaties and laws through the 1860's reduced the lands of the Osage and finally provided for a reservation in the Cherokee Outlet in 1870. The Osage moved from their homelands on the Osage River in 1808 and moved to western Missouri. The major part of the tribe had moved to the Three-forks region of what would become Oklahoma soon after the arrival of Lewis and Clark. Since this part of the tribe did not participate in the negotiations for the treaty of 1808, their assent was obtained in 1809.
The Tribe began concluding treaties in 1810 that eventually ceded their tribal territory across Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. They first moved onto a southeast Kansas reservation, on which the later city of Independence, Kansas now sits.
During the American Civil War the Osage tribe was split between supporters of the Union and the Confederacy.
See: Indian cavalry
It was at this time that the family of Laura Ingalls Wilder moved to the territories. Laura recalled her family's encounters with the Osage in Little House on the Prairie, especially the visit of a French-speaking Osage chief she calls Soldat du Chêne.
The Nation later bought land in Oklahoma Osage Indian Reservation becoming the only nation to buy their own reservation that comprises Osage County, Oklahoma, in the north-central portion of the state between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Ponca City, Oklahoma. The tribal leaders orchestrated a deal with the Federal government to move onto their own hunting ground on the prairie lands. The Osages had experience with the government and negotiated in 1907 to maintain mineral rights to their new homeland. They were unyielding and held up Statehood for Oklahoma before signing an Allotment Act.
Unlike most other tribes, the Osage prospered on their reservation lands. Substantial oil reserves were discovered in the 1900s.although the osages only got one seventh of the proceeds to the oil on their own land. This new wealth caused many Osages to die as a result of murders for money in increasing numbers between 1921 and 1923, until the FBI stepped in and ended the Osage Indian Murders.
Unlike most other tribes, the Osage unexpectedly stumbled upon a valuable natural resource on their reservation lands that allowed them to financially prosper. In 1894 large quantities of oil was discovered to lie deep beneath the vast prairie the Tribe owned. Due to his recent discoveries of oil in Southern Kansas, Henry Foster, a petroleum developer approached the Bureau of Indian Affairs to request that they allow him exclusive privileges to explore the Osage reservation for oil and natural gas. the BIA granted his request in 1896, with the stipulation Foster was to pay the Osage tribe at that time a 10% royalty on all sales of petroleum produced on the reservation. The rise in production over the next 10 years prompted Congress to pass the Osage Allotment Act on June 28, 1906. This act state all persons listed on tribal rolls prior to January 1, 1906 or born before July, 1907 would be allocated a share of the reservation's subsurface natural resources, regardless of blood quantum. After mineral leases were auctioned by the tribe and explored, the oil business on the Osage reservation boomed. Overnight, Osage share holders became in the words of many the "richest people in the world". When royalties peaked in 1925, annual headright earnings were at $13,000. A family of 4 who were all on the allotment role would be earn $52,800, comparable to approximately $600,000 in todays economy.[2] Although the Osage Allotment Act protected the tribe's petroleum interests, the surface land was sold freely by any adult of a sound mind. In the time between 1907 and 1923, thousands upon thousands of acres of land that was formerly restricted was sold or leased to non-Indian persons. Many Osage at this time did not understand the intricacies or value of these contacts and were promptly swindled by greedy businessmen. Another trick used by non-Indian Americans to cash in on the new found Osage wealth was to marry in to a family that had headrights. This tactic took a shocking and heinous turn in 1921 when a white man Ernest Burkhart married into an alottee family and with the help of his uncle & brother plotted to murder off those that would inherit the headrights. This became known as the Osage Indian Murders and went so far as to received attention from Federal law enforcement. This violence finally invoked Congress to pass legislation limiting inheritance of headrights to only those with Osage Indian blood, and required those with no degree of Osage Indian blood to seel their shares to the tribe. Today, headrights have become split up among the Osage descendants of those who originally possessed them, althogh it is estimated that 25% of headrights are owned by non Osage people.[3] The social consequences of the oil boom for the Osage Nation have been depicted in John Joseph Mathews' semi-autobiographical novel Sundown (1934).
Ballerina Maria Tallchief, an Osage born in 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma, contributed greatly to the success of ballet dance in America. Her younger sister, Marjorie Tallchief, also performed as a dancer.
Today, the Osage Nation claims more than 10,000 members. The Osage Museum in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, the oldest extant tribal museum in the country, documents their history.