The Osage Indians of Kansas

The Osage Indians - Page 3

The Osage Nation, in 1818, as pay for property taken from citizens of the United States "by war parties and other thoughtless men of their several bands," and being destitute of funds to do that justice to the citizens of the United States which is calculated to promote a friendly intercourse, have agreed, and do hereby cede to the United States, and forever quit claim to the tract of country included within the following bounds, to wit:

"Beginning at the Arkansas River, at where the present Osage boundary line strikes the river at Frog Bayou; then up the Arkansas River and Verdigris to the falls of Verdigris River; thence eastwardly to the said Osage boundary line at a point twenty leagues north from the Arkansas River; and with that line to the place of beginning.'"

Vintage postcard showing Kayslinger Bluff and the Osage River, long before Truman Dam was built. The Truman

Reservoir Visitor's Center is located on the bluff today.

In consideration of the above-described cession, the United States agreed to pay their own citizens the losses they had sustained at the hands of the Osage, provided the same did not exceed the sum of $4,000.

Three years after this treaty was concluded, the following report of their location and condition was made by their agent at Fort Osage. The report was dated October 1, 1820:

"The Great Osage of the Osage River lived in one village on the Osage River, 78 miles due south of Fort Osage. They hunt over a very great extent of country, comprising the Osage, Gasconade and Neosho Rivers, and their numerous branches. They also hunt on the heads of the St. Francis and White Rivers, and on the Arkansas River. I rate them at about one thousand two hundred souls, three hundred and fifty of whom are warriors and hunters, fifty or sixty superannuated, and the rest are women and children.

The Great Osage of the Neosho River live about 130-140 miles southwest of Fort Osage in one village on the Neosho River. They hunt pretty much in common with the tribe of the Osage River, from which they separated six or eight years ago. This village contains about 400 people, of whom about 100 are warriors and hunters, some 10-15 aged persons, and the rest are women and children.

The Little Osage had three three villages on the Neosho River about 120-140 miles southwest of this place. This tribe, comprising all three villages, and comprehending about 20 families of Missouri Indians that are intermarried with them are estimated at about 1000 people, about 300 of whom are hunters and warriors, 20-30 aged, and the rest are women and children. They hunt pretty much in common with the other tribes of the Osage frequently on the head-waters of the Kansas River, some of the branches of which interlock with those of the Neosho River.

Of the Chaneers; or, Arkansas tribes of Osage, they do not come to the area to trade. They are I have equal in number to about half of all the other Osage. They hunt chiefly in the Arkansas and White Rivers."

George Sibley, the Indian agent, stated it was impossible to obtain an exact number of the tribes, as they were continually moving from one village to another, and intermarrying. As to their mode of subsistence, he wrote:

Osage Chief Bacon Rind, by B.H. Love.

"The main dependence of each and every tribe is hunting. They also raise small crops of corn, beans and pumpkins. These they cultivate entirely with the hoe, in the simplest manner. Their crops are usually planted in April before they leave their villages for the summer hunt in May. About the first week in August, they return to their villages to gather their crops which were left un-hoed and unfenced all season.

Each family, if lucky, can save from ten to twenty bags of corn and beans, of a bushel and a half each, besides a quantity of dried pumpkins. On this they feast, with the dried meat saved in summer, until September, when they set out on the fall hunt, from which they return about Christmas. From that time, till some time in February or March, as the season happens to be mild or severe, they stay pretty much in their villages, making only short hunting excursions occasionally. In February or March, the spring hunt commences, which they pursue until planting time, when they again return to their village.

This is the circle of an Osage life, here and there indented with war and trading expeditions, and thus it has been with very little variation for years. The game is diminishing in the country which these tribes inhabit; but has not yet become scarce. Its gradual diminution seems to have had no other effect on the Indians than to make them more expert and industrious hunters, and better warriors."

On June 2, 1825, the Osage Nation relinquished its title to all the lands it still claimed in Missouri and Arkansas, and in addition, ceded to the United States "all lands lying west Missouri and Arkansas, north and west of the Red River, south of the Kansas River, and east of a line to be drawn from the head sources of the Kansas southwardly through the Rock Saline."

Article 2 of the treaty contained the following reservation:

"Within the limits of the country above ceded and relinquished, there shall be reserved to and for the Great and Little Osage tribes or nation aforesaid, so long as they may choose to occupy the same, the following described tract of land: "Beginning at a point due east of White Hair's village and twenty-five miles west of the western boundary line of the State of Missouri, fronting on a north and south line, so as to leave ten miles north and forty miles south of the point of said beginning, and extending west, with the width of fifty miles, to the western boundary of the lands hereby ceded and relinquished by said tribes or nations."

In addition to the principal reservation, various half-breed and other small reservations were located on the Neosho, Marais des Cygnes and Mine Rivers, including the sections whereon the principal improvements had been made, and those on which the missionary establishments were located.

The United States agreed to pay the Osage Nation, in consideration of the cession, yearly annuities to the amount of $7,000 for twenty years; also to provide for them stock, farming utensils, a person to teach them agriculture, and a blacksmith; to build for each of the four principal chiefs a comfortable and commodious dwelling house; and to pay any debts which citizens of the United States, members of the Delaware nation, and certain traders, held against them.

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