The Black Dog Trail: The Story of the Osage Indians

By Tillie Karns Newman

Fascinating and detailed account of the Osage Indians spanning present day Kansas and Oklahoma, centring on the leadership of Black Dog the elder and his son also named Black Dog.

“It was the first Chief Black Dog who conceived and engineered the Black Dog Trail for hunting and mourning parties. It was he who directed the building of a race track for young braves to develop speed in running and other athletics. And it was he who understood the significance of the Mottled Eagle (Hon-’ga) from which he descended.

During his life time, he led the Osages courageously and unselfishly through disasters and trying events into worthwhile undertakings and happy surroundings.

The second Chief Black Dog, upon the death of his father, fell heir to leadership and much trouble, in the beginning. However, he was resourceful with foresight and decision, and was able during the Civil War and the turn of the century to guide his people into greener pastures than those frequently noted by historians. He encountered many difficulties, temptations and disappointments; he left no male descendant to carry on the prized name of “Black Dog.”

He lived until 1910, long enough to lend his influence with the Osage Nation towards making an oil and gas lease on a million and a half acres of their land, and by this counsel helped his people to become the wealthiest of all Indian tribes.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Release date: Apr 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839743818

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Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

THE BLACK DOG TRAIL

BY

TILLIE KARNS NEWMAN

Table of Contents

Contents

Table of Contents 4

DEDICATION 5

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT 6

PREFACE 7

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9

I—BLACK DOG 10

II—THE BLACK DOG TRAIL 14

III—CHIEF BLACK DOG AND HIS BAND FOLLOW THE CHOUTEAUS 21

IV—LIFE AT PASUGA 27

V—THE CHANGING YEARS 36

VI—THE OLD CHIEF GOES HOME 45

VII—CHIEF BLACK DOG’S SON 53

VIII—THE GOVERNMENT CHASTISES THE WOLF 56

IX—LOCATION OF THE BANDS AND CATHOLIC INFLUENCE 59

X—FIRST MARRIAGE OF CHIEF BLACK DOG THE SECOND 61

XI—THE OSAGES SWING INTO THEIR WAR DANCE 66

XII—THE CHEROKEES, TOO, HAVE WAR TROUBLES 71

XIII—THE OSAGES OBSERVE, MEDITATE AND MOVE 77

XIV—THE OSAGE AGENCY TAKES A NAME 89

XV—RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 94

XVI—CHIEF BLACK DOG IS ELECTED PRINCIPAL CHIEF OF THE OSAGES 97

XVII—THE CHANGING SEASONS BRING ADVENTURE AND CELEBRATION 98

XVIII—CHIEF BLACK DOG AND JAMES BIG HEART PROTEST AGAINST THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CIVILIZATION FOR THE OSAGES 98

XIX—OLD TRAILS WIND INTO OBLIVION 98

XX—AFTERMATH 98

BIBLIOGRAPHY 98

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 98

DEDICATION

TO ALL AMERICAN INDIANS

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Artists and Writers were sent from the East to cover the scene of development, among the Indians of the Southwest. It is to these vivid people we are indebted for colorful paintings and writings. There may be invented dialogues in the narrative, but if so they are the inventions of the artists who painted with the brush and the writers who wrote flowing Spencerian who lived a hundred and twenty-five years ago.

To these chronologists, I express my admiration and appreciation.

PREFACE

In some locations in these United States, notably Kansas and Oklahoma, it is possible to accurately restore and reconstruct past exploits of Indian Tribes, from objects and other evidences left behind.

A few authentic, definite dates found here and there, pertaining to certain happenings, give us living shadows of two great Osage Chiefs.

In telling of these two great leaders, no limitation is necessary, since only small sketches, items and notes are found in divers records and reports.

An old history of Montgomery County, Kansas, By its Own People, published by L. Wallace Duncan in 1903, says:

Coffeyville-Old Town. About the time the Talley Springs townsite was being platted or a little later, Col. Coffey, N. B. Blanton, Ed Fagan, John Clarkson and Wm. Wilson formed a Company and laid out a town around Col. Coffey’s trading post, previously established for the purpose of trading with the Black Dog band of Osages who then had their little village south of Onion Creek on the site subsequently appropriated by Ben Chouteau and still known as the Chouteau Place.

In another place, this history mentions "the Drum Creek Treaty, which was signed by the X mark of 106 Chiefs, Counselors and Braves of the Big and Little Osage tribes. Indians signing the document who were known by many Montgomery County pioneers were Black Dog, Little Beaver, Nopawalla, Strike Axe, Wyohake, Chetopah, Hard Rope, Watsanka and Melotumuni (Twelve O’clock)."

A letter from one who was at the signing relates: Black Dog, one of the little Osage Chiefs, held out and refused to sign the treaty—leaving the council in a sulking manner; later when he found it was going through, he was anxious to sign it.

In tracing the life of Black Dog, the Second, who signed the Drum Creek Treaty, there came into being the form of his father, Chief Black Dog, the First, who had been a dominant character and perhaps the most outstanding of Osage Chiefs. He was a man of unusual ability, was seven feet tall, weighed three hundred pounds and was blind in his left eye. He had met most of the notables of his day, had married but one wife and had but one child—Black Dog, the Second.

Piece by piece through histories, libraries and living people, the life of Black Dog has been traced. Heretofore, no biographer has undertaken the assembling and reconciling of dates and material into a narrative long enough to do justice to Manka-Chonkeh (Black Dog) and his son, Black Dog, the Second.

It was the first Chief Black Dog who conceived and engineered the Black Dog Trail for hunting and mourning parties. It was he who directed the building of a race track for young braves to develop speed in running and other athletics. And it was he who understood the significance of the Mottled Eagle (Hon-’ga) from which he descended.

During his life time, he led the Osages courageously and unselfishly through disasters and trying events into worthwhile undertakings and happy surroundings.

The second Chief Black Dog, upon the death of his father, fell heir to leadership and much trouble, in the beginning. However, he was resourceful with foresight and decision, and was able during the Civil War and the turn of the century to guide his people into greener pastures than those frequently noted by historians. He encountered many difficulties, temptations and disappointments; he left no male descendant to carry on the prized name of Black Dog.

He lived until 1910, long enough to lend his influence with the Osage Nation towards making an oil and gas lease on a million and a half acres of their land, and by this counsel helped his people to become the wealthiest of all Indian tribes.

Grateful acknowledgments are hereby made to Herman Kahn, Chief Archivist of the Interior National Archives at Washington, D.C., for photostatic copies of five letters; the Newberry Library, Chicago; George A. Root, Archivist of the Kansas Historical Society, Topeka; Mrs. Tilden, Librarian of the United States Indian Agency, Chicago, for use of their library; T. B. Hall, Superintendent, Osage Indian Agency, Pawhuska, Oklahoma; Martin Weisendanger, Curator of Gilcrease Foundation, in Black Dog Township, Tulsa, Oklahoma; W. W. Graves, Historian, St. Paul, Kansas; Miss Mary Carnahan, Librarian, Pawhuska Public Library; Miss Edith Norton, Librarian, Coffeyville, Kansas; Mrs. H. L. Campbell for unpublished material pertaining to the Osages; and to those who so generously shared their knowledge, Lee F. Harkins, Betsy Bittman, Fred Gentner Drummond, Bessie Fink, Fannie Brownlee Misch, as well as Mrs. Kate Barker and Mrs. Nettie McCarthy, daughters of Chief Black Dog, the second.

The main purpose of this book is to locate definitely the Black Dog Trail which heretofore has been unpublished; to present these two Osage leaders in their original setting; and to show that while both were illiterate, their natural wits and slow angers gave them sufficient wisdom and understanding for the problems of their people.

Their leadership compares favorably with that of any race, and the achievements of these native Americans should remain forever an inspiration to the succeeding generations of all peoples.

Tillie Karns Newman

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Manka-Chonka

Young Black Dog

Wolf

Country Home of Mrs. Kate Barker

C. E. Chouteau

I—BLACK DOG

How Zhin-ga’-wa-ca became Manka-Chonkeh

The Osage Indians are descendants of the Siouan Tribe. They originally emigrated from the Eastern part of the United States, supposedly from the Alleghaney and Monongahela River valleys. They drifted to the Ohio River and then to Missouri and Kansas. When Auguste Chouteau established St. Louis, they were there in 1764. When Chouteau was given a monopoly franchise to trade with the Osages, the Osages did their part in carrying on that trade. This was in 1794.

In the late 1700’s (about 1780), near St. Louis, there was born to an Indian Chief and his wife, a male papoose whom they named Zhin-ga’wa-ca, being a descending member of Hon-’ga (Mottled Eagle) gens of the Hon-’ga subdivision of the great Hon-’ga Tribal Division. Zhin-ga’wa-ca is a very old Indian name which is not translatable since the last part is archaic and the meaning lost.

He was a fine child and grew rapidly into a strong, healthy lad. When he was old enough to be playing with other Indian children, he played with all his energy, and even then it was apparent that he was a leader. He led them into mock battles with imaginary enemies, they hunted rabbits with dogs, and recklessly jumped from high places. They swam the streams, chewed sassafras, and made whistles and pipes out of pieces of wood. Had their parents been aware of the many daring things being done on those mock battle fields, they would indeed have been amazed.

It was on one of these childhood maneuvers that Zhin-ga’wa-ca received an injury to his left eye. Everybody was quite concerned about the matter, and everything known to the Indians was done for him. The medicine men chanted and conjured, while the squaws made a tea out of hazel-bush bark which they applied to the eye. All of this was to no avail; the eye was lost! Zhin-ga’wa-ca enjoyed the attention he received and he felt sure that the other boys wished something would happen to them.

However, youth has an advantage in such cases; resting as he did during this time promoted his physical growth, and he grew and grew from then on. When he was able to play again, he was much larger than the boys he had played with before the accident. It is doubtful that he ever missed the left eye since his vision was so good in the right one.

Shortly after the accident, the Osages moved to the Neosho River country in Southeastern Kansas.

When he was sixteen, he was the largest Indian in his tribe, and he took part in hunting parties and some scalping expeditions. At twenty, he measured seven feet tall in his deer-skin sandals and weighed three hundred pounds. His limbs were full but not fat. Standing erect and towering above all others in the tribe, he made a startling picture. He was greatly liked and admired by his people.

A favorable time to take action against their common enemies—the Comanches and Pawnees—was on a night when the moon was dark. There was always a feud raging between the Osages and each of these tribes, and no possible advantage was ever overlooked.

On a spring night in 1801, prior to an expedition against the Comanches, Zhin-ga’-wa-ca was in excellent spirits. The air was soft and no stars were showing. He loved such a night! It had an exhilarating effect on him; he was sure that he liked such nights just as well, if not better, than moonlight nights. On such as these he could think and plan.

How tense it was on that dark night

When stars hid from his one-eyed sight;

Not the cheep of one wee bird

Disturbed the air with sound or word.

The Great Spirit looked down on him

Strong surges filled him from within;

All leaders feel this magic lift

And know the source from whence the gift.

They could see the Comanche Camp in the distance, by straining their eyes; they were sure it could not be more than four hundred yards away. Creeping forward on moccasined feet, silently and stealthily, they were disturbed by the barking of a small, black dog belonging to the Comanche Camp. Each time they moved a few steps nearer, the barking would start again. They would stop then, hardly breathing, and wait—again, take a few more steps and the barking started at once! Their progress was so slow that it seemed they would be kept at bay forever by a mere dog.

After several more attempts and waits, always being stopped by the barking, Zhin-ga’-wa-ca became exasperated and, picking up his bow, he fired an arrow in the direction of the noise and shot the dog in the head, causing its instant death. From that time on, his fame grew as a warrior, and ever after that he was called BLACK DOG.

Many writers in trying to write the Osage name for Black Dog spell it the way it sounds to them, and in their interpretations, the following appears: Techongatasabe, Shun-ka-sop-pah, To-ca-sab-ba, Shon-tas-sabbe, and Chon-ta-fa-baif. However, it is explained, they mean Black Dog. In this narrative Manka-Chonkeh will be used as the Osage name meaning Black Dog.

Black Dog’s mother became a widow when he was sixteen years of age, so responsibility and the chieftainship came to him rather early in life. She was very proud of him and did everything in her power to make things pleasant for him, and to promote his welfare whenever she could. This may be the reason he did not marry early in life, as did most of the other young braves.

She kept a clean wigwam with many gourd dippers, spoons made of buffalo bones and horns, war mats and blankets, not to mention in detail the dried foods for the larder and celebrations.

During green corn time, she dried more corn than any other squaw in the village. She was an expert with buffalo hides and could sew them together with buckskin without a wrinkle. Other Indian women consulted her about many things pertaining to buffalo meat and hides. She made a tasty cake of ground hard corn, wild honey and persimmons which was the envy of every squaw in camp.

Her accomplishments were many in comparison with the other Indian women. She could shoot with a bow and arrow, as well as any brave. She could lasso a horse and ride a pony like the wind. She knew more Indian legends, which she taught to her son, and more stories of Indian life than anyone in the Osage Camp. In her young life she had accompanied her father and brothers on hunting trips. When she married Black Dog’s father, she accompanied him, too, not as a waiting squaw at the camp, but as an active hunter.

There are several maxims handed down by the Osages, according to Les Indens Osages. Never steal, says the Chief, except from your enemy, to whom it is right that we do some evil in all ways, and when you have become men, be right and brave in combat. Defend your hunting grounds from all trespassing.

Never leave the squaws and children to want for anything. Protect the squaws and strangers from all insult.

Do not deceive your friends in any way (that such injuries may be sensible to you).

Revenge yourself of your enemies. Do not drink strong water, (water of life) poisoned by the whites. It is employed by the evil spirit for the loss of the Indian.

Do not doubt death. It is an object of fear for the cowardly.

The aged persons, and above all your parents, have respect for them. Fear evil spirit. Make yourself favorable so that he does not make you evil. Love and adore the Good Spirit who has created us all, who furnishes us lands and preserves life for us.

They claim to have seen the Master of Life, and it is impossible to personize Him, but they have often heard His voice mingled with claps of thunder.

All forms of the Master of Life revelation—a flowing stream, a growing flower, the warming sunshine and even fire—were benevolent and reliable. If any one of these did harm, like flood or fire, it was man’s own fault for not doing his part. But the thunders—what their program consisted of or how it operated—they could not understand.

War was a sort of ceremony among the Osages. They offered Ouakondah, the Great Spirit, the Pawnee and Comanche scalps. While believing that the Master of Life and Ouakondah were supreme in all things, Ouakondah