A Chronology of the Osage

Sam Pony Smith
Sam P. Smith
Sam Smith

born circa 1883 in Tennessee
with an
incomplete cleft palate
(but not a cleft lip)
(but not a hare lip)

In the 1880s
as a youngin'
with his folks,
Sam left Tennessee
in a covered wagon
for Indian Territory.
When Indian Territory
became the 46th state,
the state of Oklahoma,
Sam was about 24
and married to the
daughter of a 1st chief,
Saucy Chief of the
Beaver Clan.

The capital of the
Osage Reservation
was named after
Chief Pawhuska (Catholic)
alternate spelling:
Chief Pahuska
Chief Paw-Hu-Ska
Chief Paw-Hu-Skah
Chief Paw-Hiu-Skah
aka
Cheveux Blanc = White Hair

Pawhuska capital of the Osage Nation
Pawhuska = NW of Tulsa
Pawhuska = West of Bartlesville
Pawhuska = closer to Bartlesville
Other Osage villages =
Hominy       (South of Pawhuska)
Gray Horse (SW of Pawhuska)
Grayhorse   (closer to Fairfax)
Grey Horse
Greyhorse
(alternate spellings)

Osage Reservation = Osage County:
Pawhuska
Hominy
Fairfax (next to Gray Horse)

Indian Territory when Sam arrived as a kid.
Sam was  about 24 at the time of statehood.
Sam was married the year before statehood.

1907 Oklahoma Statehood (President Teddy Roosevelt)

14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to persons
born in the U.S., but only if  
"subject to the jurisdiction thereof"
This clause excluded some indigenous people
(e.g., citizens of Indian Nations, such as the Osage).

1924 - Indian Citizenship Act of 1924

The 1924 Act did not include indigenous people
born before 1924 (including all of Sam's Osage kids).

Indigenous people born before 1924 were not  
granted citizenship until the Nationality Act of 1940
provided that all born on U.S. soil were citizens.

President Coolidge + Osage on White House Lawn 

1924 thus Sam would have known all four Osage. 

Osage Reservation = Osage County
Oklahoma's largest county. 

Hun-Kah = People of the Land 

People of the Middle Waters:

Osage, Kaw (Kansas), Omaha + Ponca
originated at the mouth of the
Green River in Kentucky.

Osage creation myth:
flood waters drained into the Middle Water -
the junction of these seven (7) rivers:
Mississippi
Ohio
Missouri
Wabash
Arkansas
Illinois
Tennessee

Living in villages along the Osage River,
the Osage Indians roamed the land
between three rivers:
East = Mississippi River
South = Arkansas River
North = Missouri River

These artworks are in the public domain
because the copyrights have expired

Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Mémim, 1770-1852  
aka Charles Balthazar J.F. Saint-Memin  
aka Charles B.J. de Saint-Memin 
circa 1804-07 time period of 
Thomas Jefferson and 
Lewis + Clark. 


Saint-Memin was a French aristocrat working as an artist 
in Washington DC between the years 1804-07 when 
Native Americans whose lands had been acquired by the U.S. 
(as part of the Louisiana Purchase) came to the capital to meet 
President Thomas Jefferson. 


Saint-Memin created 15 portraits of natives of the plains. 
At least 3 of these were Osage: 


Note: 
plucked/shaved eyebrows 
shaved head + 
tuft of hair + 
pigtail +  
slit (not pierced) ear 
earrings 

"Cachasunghia, an Osage Warrior"  - 1806  

1806 watercolor and graphite
1894 photograph


1673
French Jesuit priest/explorer
Jacques Marquette +
French-Canadian explorer
Louis Jolliet aka Joliet
first to map the Mississippi River.

Marquette enountered a band of Osage
in what is now the state of Missouri

French Jesuit Missionaries
= Osage Mission, Kansas

The Osage name for the Jesuits was
"Black Robes"

1791 During George Washington's presidency,
         Paw-hiu-Skah fought against American troops
         in Ohio.  He attempted to scalp an officer but
         the officer's powdered wig ("White Hair")
         came off in the Indian's hand.

1802 Osage Tribe split into:
          Greater Osage +
          Little Osage

1802  Chief Paw-hiu-Skah ("Pawhuska")
           settled his band near Pierre Chouteau's
           trading post on the Verdigris River,
           a tributary of the Arkansas River,
           in Indian Territory (what is now
           SE Kansas and NE Oklahoma)

1803 Thomas Jefferson's
         Louisiana Purchase
         included the Osage's land.

1804 Lewis + Clark
         The Great Osage on
         The Osage River
          a 360-miles tributary of
          The Missouri River in
          Indian Territory now called the
          State of Missouri

1808 First (of many) Osage Treaty w/ USA
 or     52,500,000 acres of Osage territory
1809  to USA (most of what later become
          the state of Missouri and northern
          Arkansas).


(60 years till 1870 Osage gave up
over 100-million acres)

1821  Missouri became a state -
          Osage relocated
           from Missouri
           to Kansas

1834 George Catlin painted several Osage
          at Fort Gibson.

1839  To end Osage-Cherokee hostilities,
           the U.S. government forced all
           Osage bands to leave what later became
           Oklahoma + Arkansas and relocate to
           what later became Kansas - where the
            Missouri Osage had been relocated in
           the early 1820s.

1854  Kansas opened for settlement

1861-2 U.S. Civil War (osage v. osage) 
             Indian Agent Dorn was a Southerner
           Greater Osage = Confederate Osage Battalion
           Little Osage fought for the Union
           Old White Hair = neutral
           1st Osage Battalion = 200 Osages
            Confederate States of America
            Major Broke Arm.
            Companies A + B + C
            Company A = Captain Augustus Captain (Ogeese Captaine)
            Company B = Captain Black Dog II
             Interpreter = Captain Louis Pharamond Chouteau

1862   Osage Reservation/County not included
            in the Homestead Act.

1866 14th Amendment passed but
          did not provide citizenship for Osage.

1866 Cherokee Treaty allowed only "civilized" tribes
         in the Cherokee Reservation.

1868 30-mile strip of land totaling 8,000,000+ acres
          sold to the Leavenworth, Lawrence + Galveston
           Railway for $1,6000,000.  Interpreters were
           Augustus Captain + Louis Choteau.
           Signed with an "X" by Principal Chief White Hair,
           Black Dog, Strike Axe, Hard Rope, et al.
           But treaty was never ratified - see 1870.

1870   1868 treaty modified selling the land to the
            U.S. government for $1.25 acre.
            This was the final treaty which removed the
            Osage from Kansas to Oklahoma (then known as
             Indian Territory).
        
1871 Kansas Osage bought
         1.5 million acres of
         Indian Territory
         (now N.E. Oklahoma)
         3rd displacement in 46-years.

1872 Cherokee Tribe argued that the Osage were
         "Blanket Indians" who hunted buffalo
          and thus were not "civilized"
circa 
1883 birth of Sam in Tennessee

1886 birth of Minnie

1880s covered wagon-train

1884 Gray Horse's first trading post
          opened by Ed Finney
          the brother-in-law of
          John Florer, who was a
          trader in Pawhuska.

1889 Land Run (white homesteaders)

1890 U.S. Congress created "Oklahoma Territory"
         (17-years until statehood)

1890s Income from grazing grass-leases caused the
           Commissioner of Indian Affairs to
           call the Osage "the richest people on earth"

1897 oil discovered

1899 Peyote Faith introduced to the Osage
         possibly by a Comanche.
         Peyote from the Nahuatl (Aztec) word Peyotl
         The small spineless cactus grows in Mexico
         and the Rio Grande Valley of Texas,
         peyote is not indigenous to Oklahoma.

1906 Osage Allotment Act (Oil Royalties)
1906 birth of William Lookout (son of John)
1906 allottee listed as Mrs. Sam Smith

1907 "Oklahoma Territory" becomes
         "State of Oklahoma"

1908 Death of Chief James Bigheart "Big Jim"

1908 Round House built in Gray Horse
         (destroyed in 1963 by prairie fire)

1908 FBI founded

1918 Intertribal coalition of Peyotists
         achieved legal definition for their
         religion through the incorporation of the
         Native America Church of Oklahoma

1921-23 Osage murders
               FBI's first homicide case
               "Osage Reign of Terror"
               Author = Dennis McAuliffe
              (a "Washington Post" editor)

1924 future Osage granted U.S. citizenship

1924 Osage-owned/bred/trained horse named
         "Black Gold" won the Kentucky Derby.

1950 "Headright" holders had received
         more than $300-million in 44 years.

Osage Capital = Pawhuska 

Saucy Chief Band = NW of Pawhuska 

both on Bird Creek
Mrs. Sam Smith listed as Beaver Clan 

First delegation of Osage Indians - Lawrence, Kansas - 1873
Front Row
#14 = Ogese Capton aka Ogese Captain aka Ogeese Captaine
           aka Augustus Captain(e): Osage-French half-breed
#15 = Strike Ax
Back Row
#1 = Sam Bevenue, Chief of the half-breeds
#2 = White Hair/Pawhuska
#3 = Saucy Chief (will become Sam Smith's father-in-law in 1906)

Sam's in-laws:
Saucy Chief (1st Chief)
and Ipisarkia Chief 

Osage Tribal Museum 

Archives + Library 

Allottee List 

Osage Nation, Oklahoma, Land Records: 

Index to Osage Allotment Cards

Allottee Number: 0555 

Roll Name: John Lookout 

father of William Lookout 

Allottee Number 0556
Roll Name: Minnie Smith
Roll Name: Mrs. Sam Smith
Heh-kah-mon-kah 
Sacred Eagle 
Official spelling:
Heh-kah-mon-kah 
Alternate spellings:
Hahn Kah Moankah
Hun Kah Mohn Kah
Hun Kah Mon Kahn
Hunka Mon Kahn
Beaver Clan
born 1886
(standing)

mother of William Lookout #2231 

mother of Jeffrey Smith
mother of Annie Smith
mother of Harry Smith
mother of Mamie Smith
Mamie raised by her
grandmother + grandfather
Nannie J. (Jane?) Smith
b. December 4, 1855
d. January 20, 1945
George W. Smith
b. February 17, 1858
d. April 25, 1950

Sam Smith with his 1st wife 

(married 1906-1946, her death) 

Heh-kah-mon-kah 

(Sacred Eagle) 
aka Minnie and the first 2 of their 4 kids:
Annie and Jeffrey (Jefferson)
Harry + Mamie not yet born

Minnie also had a son, William, 

born 1906, year she married Sam 

(William's father = John Lookout)  

Sam also had a daughter, Lazora Juanita Crossett 

Lazora Juanita's mother = Mildred Annetta Rotan Crossett 

(married Sam 1946, year of 1st wife's death) 

Jeffrey and Annie Smith 

Annie died of tuberculosis 

Annie was: 

born before 1924 

died before 1940  

thus was never a U.S. citizen 

 

R= Jefferson "Jeff" Smith brother of Sam Smith 

Wet Moccasins Snake Hide 

aka Grace Berry # 103 

Wet Moccasins = Grace 

Snake Hide = Berry 

b. 1886-1917 

1917: Spanish Flu 

brought to the USA by GIs  

returning from World War I 

I remember Sam "Pony" Smith 

talking about his friends 

"Bacon Rind" + Chief Fred Lookout 

Actually, the 

Lookout family + 

Tall Chief family + 

Tinker family 

"Bacon Rind" 

1860 born in what is now Kansas. 

1932 died at Pawhuska, Oklahoma 

Buried on a hill northeast of Pawhuska 

(the capitol of the Osage Nation) 

Last quarter-century of his life, 

"Bacon Rind" represented the Osage  

on his annual visits to Washington DC 

note: same medallion in three photos below 

Bacon Rind - 1900 - note: Tattoo  on houlders and chest 

Bacon Rind - 1909 - note: feather fan 

Bacon Rind - 1916 - note: otter-skin cap 

Bacon Rind with Telephone.  

Note: beaded moccasins + otter-skin cap 

Left = Fred Lookout later Chief Lookout 

3rd from left = Bacon Rind 1904 

Chief Fred Lookout 

1860 born in what is now Kansas. 

1932 died at Pawhuska, Oklahoma. 

Back Center = Bacon Rind 

Back Left = Eaves Tall Chief 1906 

Back Left = Eaves Tall Chief 1908 

1894 Tall Chief 

1925-20213 half-Osage Betty Marie Tall Chief 

later renamed Maria Tallchief 

America's First Prima Ballerina 

Father: Alex Tall Chief 

Birth name: Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief 

Nickname: Betty Marie 

School: Sacred Heart Catholic 

Born in Fairfax on the Osage Reservation 

3-years old began ballet lessons in Oklahoma 

8-years old moved to Beverly Hills, CA 

12-17 years old studied Russian ballet with 

Madame Nijinska sister of Nijinsky. 

15-years old danced her first 

solo-performance at Hollywood Bowl. 

Graduated from Beverly Hills High. 

1942-47 Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, 

a Russian troupe based in New York City. 

Agnes de Mille suggested that 

she modify her name: 

Eliminate Elizabeth 

Change Marie to Maria 

Change Tall Chief to Tallchief (2 to 1 word) 

Married to George Balanchine 

(born Giorgi Melitonovitch Balanchivadze 

in Saint Petersburg, Russia) 

Married 1946-52 

(he was 21 years her senior) 

Balanchine and Tallchief moved to Paris. 

Her debut at the Paris Opera was the first 

for an American ballerina. 

1947-65 Balanchine Ballet Society 

now called the New York City Ballet. 

At the New York City Ballet Tallchief became the 

prima (lead) ballerina. 

She was the first American dancer to achieve this title. 

She held that title for eighteen years - until she retired 

in 1965. 

Maria's younger sister, Marjorie Tallchief, 

was "premiere danseuse etoile" of the 

Paris Opera Ballet. 

1981 Sisters, Maria + Marjorie, founded the 

Chicago City Ballet.
She was presented with a National Medal of the Arts 

award by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1999. 

Three joint-chiefs: 

1.  Black Dog I 

2.  Pawhuska (White Hair) 

3.  Claremore 

Sam "Pony" Smith never mentioned 

the name "Black Dog" to me 

but he must have known Black Dog II 

Black Dog I (c.1780-1848) 

(note: battle axe + peace-pipe) 

painted by George Catlin - 1834 

(1834 was just about the time photography was invented)  

Black Dog I died age 68 in 1848 

Black Dog I = 6'6" or 7' 

Black Dog I = 250-300 lbs 

Black Dog I = blind left eye 

Black Dog II 1827-1910 

1876 (note: battle axe) 

(14-years after he was Captain of Company B 

1st Osage Battalion, C.S.A. 

Confederate States of America 

fought two battles in NW Arkansas 

during the Civil War) 

During the Civil War 

Large band of Osage fought for the South 

Small band of Osage fought for the North 

1865 photograph (end of the civil war) 

Union soldier + Osage with peace pipe 

Tricky spellings: 

1T allot 

2T allottee 

2T allotting 

1T allotment 

2T before a vowel 

1T before a consonant

According to the Smithsonian Institution
The Osage name Ga-hi-ge-wa-da-in-ga
translates: Playful Chief
also called Saucy Chief

According to the Smithsonian Institution
he was born circa 1827 (?)
and was the "Principal" Chief of the Osage Tribe.
Principal Chief was also known as the 1st Chief.