Native American Biography: Southern California Indians

Juan Antonio Cahuilla  Juan Antonio, powerful chief of the Cahuilla in southern California was a friend of the whites.  What he did, saved hundreds of lives if not more, and made life in the California early days safer.  Early on he helped early White explorer in the area, including Daniel Sexton and Lieutenant Edward F. Beale.  This support included keeping them safe from Ute warriors lead by Walkara who use to invade the area looking for Mexican horses.  He was awarded a pair of military epaulets for him assistance.  He supported the Californios during the Mexican-American War in fighting against Luisenos who had killed several Californios.
Antonio did more for the settlers.  They had greater issues with bandits than Native Americans.  Especially with John Irving and his men.  They were killing locals, raiding the area and stealing cattle.  Juan Antonio and his men tracked them down, and killed John Irving and all his men but one.  White settlers weren't sure what to think however.  Indians killing whites couldn't be a good thing even if it ridded the territory of these bad men.  When Antonio Garra rebelled against white encroachment, he as well as whites asked for Juan Atonio's help.  Antonio was still loyal to the Whites, and helped capture Garra, and gave him over to the whites who tried him and hung him.  the Cahuilla were devastated by small pox, and many died, including Antonio in 1863.

Antonio Garra Cupeno  Garra opposed White expansion into Southern California.  He was upset as miners, ranchers, Mexicans and Mormons came into the area.  He wanted to organize a united revolt of California Indians.  He also said he could transform enemy's bullets to water.  Several bands joined him, and others stayed neutral.  The influential chief Juan Antonio however chose to support the Whites and captures Antonio Garra, turned him over to the Whites, and thus ended the campaign.  The Whites tried and hung Garra.

Native American Biographies: Seneca (Iroquois Confederacy) Leaders

Red Jacket  Seneca  Red Jacket distinguished himself as an orator rather than a fighter.  He received his nickname of Red jacket because of his fondness of wearing red jackets, first given to him by the British.  At the Council of Oswega he and Cornplanter urged Iroquois neutrality during the Revolutionary War.  When the council as a whole voted for aiding the British he joined with this decision and fought with the British.  He did not distinguish himself in battle, leaving the field on a couple of occasions.  However he often served as speaker.  He participated in many treaty conferences, arguing against Indian assimilation.  President George Washington gave him a medal.  He never rose to become a member of the Iroquois Council.  This may have been because of conflict he had with Handsome Lake.  Handsome Lake thought he was a hypocrite.  Red Jacket did not like religious people, and could not see how Christians could not reach agreement on their religion.

Handsome Lake Seneca.  Handsome lake was a Seneca Chief during the Revolutionary War.  However, he is most noted as a Seneca Prophet.  He founded the Long House Religion which is still practiced by Seneca in Canada, Oklahoma and New York.  Practice of this religion started after Handsome Lake had a vision when he was ill.  His vision taught him about the Great Spirit, and was called the Good Word.  He had many subsequent visions.  His visions have similar qualities to Biblical visions.  He prescribed different punishments in hell for different sins.  This is how he excoriated Red Jacket, talking about his future punishments in hell.  He did no use alcohol, and encouraged others to abstain.  When Handsome Lake died the Seneca were divided into two factions, those who followed him and those who wanted the old ways.  By the Civil War those seeking the old ways had disappeared.  They had either become Christian or joined his movement.  By the Civil War almost all the Seneca People were religious, either Christian, or Long House or both. 

Cornplanter Seneca.  Cornplanter was the son of a Seneca woman and a Dutch father.  He has half-brother to the prophet Handsome Lake.   He was teased for having light skin as a child.  He argued for Iroquois neutrality during the Revolutionary War.  However his view did not prevail and he sided with the British as was the Iroquois Council decision.  He fought in several engagements, and at one point came upon his father, but refused to take him prisoner.  After the war he emerged as a proponent of peaceful relations with the Americans.  He did not like their tactics of taking Seneca land, but also maintained that peaceful relations were best.  He promoted America to other tribes.  Cornplanter met George Washington, and requested technical assistance for his people.  Washington recommended the Quakers who established a model farm and school for the Seneca.  The relationship between the Seneca and Quakers continues to this day.   He assisted the state of Pennsylvania in obtaining the Erie Triangle as part of the state.  A few years later, Pennsylvania erected a monument in his honor, the first monument to honor a Native American in the United States.

Native American Biography: Black Hawk and Keokuk: Sauk

Black Hawk represented the warring faction of the Sauk tribe, and Keokuk the peace faction.  Black Hawk grew up in the Rock River area.  He learned to hate the White encroachers when a party of Sauk traveled to St. Louis to sue for the release of a Sauk brave.  The governor of Indiana territory got them drunk, had them sign papers ceding all territory east of the Mississippi, paying them with the money he had spent on getting them drunk.  The treaty did not go into effect for a couple years, but when it did the people were furious as they were kicked off their property.  Black Hawk aligned with Tecumseh during the War of 1812 fighting with the British against the Americans.  Most of the Sauk moved across the Mississippi for United States protection during the war.  Those who had stayed chose Keokuk as their chief while Black Hawk was away.  However it was Black Hawk who rallied the Sauk after the war.  The treaty of Ghent had caught him off guard, and he continued his own person war against the Americans.  Keokuk continued to argue for winter hunt in 1829, when they returned their territory had been occupied their village of Saukenuk.  Most of the Sauk moved to Iowa, but Black Hawk refused.  In 1831 Saukenuk was destroyed.  Black Hawk's people escaped across the river.  The Black Hawk War occurred in 1832.  White Cloud, a Winnebago prophet inspired Black Hawk.  He crossed the river at the head of 600 warriors, Fox and Sauk.  However he had hoped others would join him, and this did not materialize.   Black Hawk and his warriors fought north, into Wisconsin.  Those who were left attempted to cross the Mississippi River, facing a war ship and the federals.  Many who managed to cross were killed by the Sioux.  Black Hawk made it to a Winnebago village where he was forced to surrender.  He was taken south to meet President Andrew Jackson, and imprisoned at Fortress Monroe.  He was confined a year, then sent on a tour of the East.  The leadership of the Sauk had passed to Keokuk.
Keokuk while Black Hawk was away, Keokuk, a peach chief was chosen as war chief of those who remained in Saukenuk.  there were rumors of an approaching American force, and many wanted to flee.  Keokuk suggested they stay and build defenses, which they did, but the army never came.  They remained in Saukenuk on the eastern side of the Mississippi until 1829, when they were told they would have to leave to comply with previous treaties.  Keokuk with many Sauk complied.  Black Hawk did not which lead to the Black Hawk War.  Black Hawk was defeated and Keokuk took over leadership of his people.  He made further concessions, and eventually all the Sauk territory in Iowa was also ceded and the Sauk were forced to Kansas.
White Cloud was known as the Winnebago prophet.  He was a prophet and medicine man.  Prophetstown, Illinois, the place of his birth, is named after him.  He predicted that the British and others would come to the aid of Black Hawk during the Black Hawk War.  When this did not happen he lost his influence.  He was taken prisoner with Black Hawk, went to Washington to meet Andrew Jackson, and then Fortress Monroe in Florida before being allowed to return to the West.

Native American Biography, Ishi, Yahi

ISHI

Ishi has the distinction to be the last surviving member of his group.  He was Yahi of the Yana Tribe.  the numbers were greatly reduced by the California policy towards Native Americans.  A bounty was offered for dead Native Americans, to make way for newcomers.  Numbers were also reduced by new diseases.  Prior to the gold rush there were about 3,000 Yana, 400 Yahi in California.  Indian Hunters ambushed the group in the Three Knolls Massacre, killing over half of the survivors.  Only 33 Yahi survived, and went into deep hiding.   They remained hidden from 1859 to 1908.  Then a group of surveyors came across them, and there were only four remaining.  Ishi's mother was sick, and passed away; His sister and uncle ran away, leaving only Ishi.  He survived in a starving fashion for another three years, before he walked out of the mountains into the Oroville area scrounging for food.  He was taken in by the anthropology department of the University of Berkeley, where he lived another five years.  He worked there both as a subject of anthropological enquiry but also as a research assistant.  He showed them how to make arrow heads from flint, start fires and other skills.  However, his immune system was not adapted to the diseases around him.  He was often ill.  He passed away from tuberculosis in 1916.

Native American Biography: Dat So La Lee: Washoe Basketry

Datsolalee is known for her basket work.  American Indian Biography says she would see designs in her dreams.  Her baskets are made of willow.  Her baskets sell for thousands of dollars.

American Indian Biography: Emily Pauline Johnson

I have been reading a book, "America Indian Biographies" and am finding many new interesting people.  One of them is Emily Pauline Johnson.  She was born in 1861 on the Six nations reserve in Canada
 
She was bicultural, her mother being white and her father Mohawk.  She is the great-grand daughter of Jacob Johnson Tekahionwake who took the name of William Johnson when he was baptized.  His family had moved to Canada after the Revolutionary War as they had fought with the British and were forced to cede their properties.  Pauline Johnson spent her youth reading, as her mother encouraged her to do.  She also spent much of her time canoeing as well.  Her most beautiful and well known poem talks about this love, "The Song My Paddle Sings."  She toured throughout Canada and embraced her country.  She published several more books of poetry, "The White Wampum," "Canadian Born," "Mocassin Maker" and "Shagganappi."  Johnson was proud of her Native heritage for it was acceptable to be so.  She also has had great influence in Canada where her poems are still read and studied by school children.

Native American Biographies: Amos Bad Heart Bull

This information is taken from "American Indian Biographies."  Amos Bad Heart Bull was somewhat a self appointed historian for the Sioux people.  He was too young to fight in the Battle of Little Big Horn, but he was a witness to the events.  The battle started with an attack on an Indian encampment.  Bad Heart Bull drew pictures of this event, as well as several others which told the Sioux history during a very rough period.  His father and older family members also related to him many of the things that happened during this time.  His pictures go from before his birth, telling of Sioux battles with the Creek, and providing a general idea of Sioux life.  It continues until the Sioux are all confined on reservation, and includes the Battle of Wounded Knee.  The record includes over 400 drawings.  The originals were buried with his sister, however Helen Blish studied and photographed the collection and put them into a manuscript form.

Indian Biographie: Arpeika: Seminole

Arpeika (Sam Jones) is known as the only Seminole leader to not be removed from Florida.  He was a medicine man, and he and his people stayed in Florida.  The story is told in the Orlando Sentinal:

The U.S. Army captured and banished from Florida the resistance leader Osceola, the defiant young chief Coacoochee and nearly all of the Seminoles.

But not the medicine man Arpeika, the last of the major Seminole leaders to avoid capture.

Besides eluding the Army, Arpeika infuriated U.S. Army Gen. Thomas Jesup by joining Osceola to liberate (some historians say coerce) 700 Seminoles from a camp near Fort Brooke (Tampa) where the general had steamers ready to haul them to the Mississippi River and Western reservations.

The general, realizing he had been tricked, ordered officers to seize Osceola and others.

Soldiers arrested Osceola when he came to a truce meeting carrying a white flag - actually plumes of white crane feathers. Coacoochee, known to the Army as Wildcat, was captured by the same trickery.

Osceola accepted his fate. Arpeika did not.

After Coacoochee escaped from the old Spanish fort at St. Augustine and told Arpeika how he had been captured, the medicine man never again risked attending talks with the Army or federal agents, writes Michael Gannon in The New History of Florida.

Arpeika, known to the military as Sam Jones, rallied Seminole resistance.

Arpeika, Coacoochee and another leader called Alligator led the Seminoles who fought the Army to a draw at Lake Okeechobee in the largest single battle of the Seminole wars.

Osceola, whose popularity was spread by exaggerated - and sometimes fabricated - newspaper accounts, thrived in the spotlight. George Catlin, one of many artists who painted Osceola, displayed his portrait in New York and the galleries of Europe.

By contrast, the Florida State Archives does not have a single likeness of Arpeika.

Historians haven't even agreed on a spelling. Recently written history books include these alternative spellings: Arbiaka, Arbieka or Abica.

``Arpeika'' is the spelling used by Gannon.

The man behind the name, however it is spelled, never sought personal recognition.  

Billy L. Cypress writes in Perspectives on Arbiaka (Sam Jones), ``There were a number of leaders like Osceola who were better known by the Europeans, but Arbiaka played just as great a role in keeping the Seminole people together and surviving through war times to peace times.''

``Jones,'' writes West, a historian for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ``was a powerful religious leader and his career ... far eclipsed Osceola.''

She adds, ``There would be no Seminoles and Miccosukees left in Florida were it not for the strength and determination of this one individual.''

He preferred a role in the background. Cypress writes that Arpeika escaped the notice of officers.

``A leader such as Arbiaka could do his work without their knowledge and awareness,'' Cypress writes.

Gannon writes that not even Coacoochee, coerced into helping the Army, could persuade Arpeika to surrender.

An August 1850 edition of a St. Augustine newspaper set a $1,000 bounty for dead warriors and a $500 reward for the capture of Seminole women and children. Some Seminoles also accepted government offers of cash to accept resettlement.

``Sam Jones never came in,'' Gannon writes. ``He died in Florida at an estimated age of 111.''  The book American Indian Biographies estimates his age at death as being 100; 1760-1860.

Indian Biographies: Arapoosh: Crow

Arapoosh's shield is at the Smithsonian

Arapoosh was a fierce Crow warrior, who could not be defeated in battle.  Quoting the Smithsonian website, "Arapoosh, also known as Sore Belly, was a prominent River Crow chief who lived in the first half of the 19th century. As a young man, while fasting, he received a shield, which gave him spiritual protection and the power of prophecy."  Represented on the shield is a hero twin Thrown Intho the Sky.  Arapoosh had powers of battle, as well as of prophecy.  The book American Indian Biographies say the symbol on his shield was "Man in the Moon."  Arapoosh would use the shield to show the outcome of coming battles.  During a war between the Crow and the Blackfeet, Arapoosh prophesied his own death, saying if the shield rose into the sky, he would be killed.  The shield rose and he was killed.  
 Taken from American Indian Biographies and Smithsonian website.

Indian Biography: William Apess: Methodist Preacher

William Apess is most noted as he wrote one of the first published autobiographies written by a Native American.  An Indian of mixed blood, he was of the Pequot Tribe, descended through his mother of King Philip, a prominent chief.  He married his first wife, Mary Wood another Pequot Indian of mixed blood and they had four children.  After she passed away, he felt it his duty to preach.  He preached at white and Native American services.  He published his autobiography during this period.  "I felt convinced that Christ died for all mankind – that age, sect, color, country, or situation make no difference. I felt an assurance that I was included in the plan of redemption with all my brethren." – A Son of the Forest"
Over time he became more bitter about the way Indians had been treated by whites.  This showed in his preaching, as well as in tracts he wrote.  His second autobiography, The Experiences of Five Christian Indians" represented this change.  Among other things he wrote about King Philip as a leader equal to Washington, and talked about his murder.  As a result he was much less popular as a preacher.  He remarried and moved to New York were he died form a stroke.   
Material taken from WIkepedia and "American Indian Biographies"

Indian Biography: Juan Antonio, Cahuilla (Southern California) Indian

Juan Antonio was the chief during the time that whites were entering California.  He took a roll in protecting white encroachers, either from the military or settlers.  When Edward Beale of the U.S. Army came on an exploration mission, he granter permission for him to cross the Chihuilla territory.  He also defended Beale's men from the Ute Indians lead by Walkara.  Beal gave Juan Anontio a couple epaulets for his efforts.
During the Mexican American War he lead, with the Californios, and attack on the Luiseno.  The ambushed the Luiseno and killed about 40 warriors.  This became known as the Temecula massacre of 1847.
When the outlaw Irving gang began attacking and killing white settlers, Juan Antonio and his band took it upon themselves to hunt them down and kill them.  Instead of being thankful, this brought persecution against the band as people didn't know what to make of Indians tracking down and killing whites.  However, when the Mormons came to San Bernadino, some of the persecution against the Indians was relieved and directed towards the Mormons.
Juan Antonio further helped the local settlers as Antonio Garra, a Cupeno came to Juan Antonio seeking his help to drive whites from the region.  Instead Juan Antonio captured Guerra and turned him over to authorities.  Antonio did move his band farther East to avoid encroachments and persecution.  However they were eventually overtaken by a small pox epidemic and much of the group decimated.  the numbers after this were very few.  Today the Cuihuilla occupy 10 villages or bands in Southern California.
Information form Wikipedia and "American Indian Biographies" edited by Harvey Markowitz.