Morning Star (chief)
Morning Star | |
|---|---|
| Vóóhéhéve | |
,_Chief_of_Northern_Cheyennes_at_Battle_of_Little_Bighorn,_full-length,_seated_-_NARA_-_530912.jpg) | |
| Northern Cheyenne leader | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | ca. 1810 |
| Died | 1883 |
| Resting place | Lame Deer, Montana |
| Nickname(s) | Dull Knife (Tamílapéšni, Tah-me-la-phe-shnee or Motšêške Ôhnêxahpo) |
Morning Star (Cheyenne: Vóóhéhéve;[1] also known by his Lakota Sioux name Tȟamílapȟéšni or its translation, Dull Knife[2][3]) (c. 1810–1883) was a great chief of the Northern Cheyenne people and headchief of the Notameohmésêhese ("Northern Eaters"; also simply known as Ȯhmésėhese or "Eaters") band on the northern Great Plains during the 19th century. He was noted for his active resistance to westward expansion and the United States federal government. It is due to the courage and determination of Morning Star and other leaders that the Northern Cheyenne still possess a homeland in their traditional country in present-day Montana.
Although he was known as "Dull Knife" (or Motšêške Ôhnêxahpo in Cheyenne, a translation of his Lakota name) to local settlers, U.S. military leaders, and other American Indians, his Cheyenne name is translated as "Morning Star". A Cheyenne warrior in every sense of the word, Morning Star was described by many writers of the era as "an admirable outlaw" comparable to the likes of
Life
In 1851, Morning Star represented his tribe at the signing of the first Treaty of Fort Laramie. Following Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn during the Great Sioux War of 1876, Morning Star allied with the Sioux and other tribes against the United States. However, after a destructive raid by American soldiers under Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie in which 200 lodges were destroyed and 700 livestock captured, most of the Cheyenne were eventually forced to surrender.[4] They expected to live on reservations with the Sioux in the north, but were subsequently transported to the Darlington Agency on the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Reservation in the Indian Territory.
Unable to hunt sufficient game while on the reservation, the tribe suffered from starvation and disease until September 1878, when Morning Star
Legacy
Morning Star died in 1883 and is interred on the Northern Cheyenne reservation at Lame Deer Cemetery. Chief Dull Knife College, which is also in Lame Deer, is named in his honor. As Dull Knife, his photograph appears in Dee Brown's 1971 bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
References
- ^ "Cheyenne Dictionary" (December 21, 2017 version). Chief Dull Knife College. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ Recorded as "Tah-me-la-pash-me", from tȟa- (his) + míla (big knife) + pȟéšni (dull).
- OCLC 49312425.
- ^ Bourke, John (1966). Mackenzie's Last Fight with the Cheyennes. Argonaut Press Ltd. pp. 36, 39, 55.
- Grant, Bruce, The Concise Encyclopedia of the American Indian, 3rd ed., Wings Books: New York, 2000.
External links
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Dull Knife
- Dull Knife, Native Northern Cheyenne Chief at Find a Grave
Further reading
- Berthrong, Donald J., The Cheyenne and Arapaho Ordeal (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976).
- Blackmar, Frank (1912). Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc, Volume 2. Standard Pub. Co.
- Bronson, Edgar Beecher (February 1909). "A Finish Fight for a Birthright: Little Wolf's Escape and Dull Knife's Capture". Pearson's. 21 (2): 205–213. Retrieved 9 May 2016. Illustrated by Maynard Dixon.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Brown, Dee (2003). Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. Macmillan. ISBN 0-8050-6669-1.
- Dockstader, Frederick (1977). Great North American Indians: profiles in life and leadership. Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0-442-02148-8.
- Eastman, Charles (2004). Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains. 1st World Publishing. ISBN 1-59540-059-1.
- Grinnell, George (2004). The Fighting Cheyennes. Digital Scanning Inc. ISBN 1-58218-390-2.
- Hoig, Stan (2002). Perilous pursuit: the U.S. Cavalry and the northern Cheyennes. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. OCLC 48618630.
- John Stands in Timber, Cheyenne Memories (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967).
- Marshall, Joseph M. III (2005). The Journey of Crazy Horse: A Lakota History. Penguin Group. ISBN 0-14-303621-1.
- Monnett, John (2004). Tell Them We Are Going Home: The Odyssey of the Northern Cheyennes. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3645-6.
- Sandoz, Mari (1953). Cheyenne autumn. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-9341-0.
- Seton, Ernest Thompson (1921). The Book of Woodcraft. Garden City, New York: Garden City Publishing Co. pp. 548–571. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
- Starita, Joe (2002). The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge. Bison Books. ISBN 0-8032-9294-5.
- Starita, Joe (2009). "I Am a Man": Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-53304-5.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
