Wagluhe
The Wágluȟe Band is one of the seven bands of the
The seven Bands of the
Old Chief Smoke
Wágluȟe at Ft. Laramie
The Wágluȟe were aware of the power of the whites, their overwhelming numbers and the futility of war. Traditionally, in intertribal warfare, a fight among fifty warriors in which two men were killed was considered a big fight.
The Murder of Chief Big Mouth
Chief Big Mouth was the elder son and became head chief in 1864 upon the death of Old Chief Smoke. Big Mouth opposed Chief Spotted Tail's leadership and criticized his negotiations with Washington politicians. On October 29, 1869, Spotted Tail called at the door of Big Mouth's lodge, and asked to speak with him. On his appearance, he was seized by two warriors, who held him fast, while Spotted Tail drew a pistol, placed it against his body, and shot Chief Big Mouth dead.
Captain DeWitt C. Poole at the Whetstone Indian Agency reported Chief Blue Horse's shock and anger to Chief Big Mouth's murder. "Blue Horse started a violent harangue in the Sioux language. He had a rifle in one hand and a strung bow and a bunch of arrows in the other, and when he dropped his blanket, two navy Colts and a big scalping knife could be seen in their sheaths at his belt. He was in a raving fury, leaping and bounding about the room as he hurled accusations and threats at Chief Spotted Tail. Chief Big Mouth died toward dawn. Some hours later, Blue Horse came to agent Poole's office and told he that he felt so sad over the death of his great and good brother that he would have to wash off the paint he had put on his face for the feast the day before and begin mourning. The interpreter warned Poole that if this Indian washed his face and started mourning, it would mean the reopening of the feud and more shootings. The agent would give Blue Horse two blankets, that would comfort him, and he would refrain from washing his face and going gunning for Spotted Tail. The blankets were handed over, and the grieving brother went quietly away."[5] Poole later reported that Chief Spotted Tail made a prompt payment of a stipulated number of ponies to Blue Horse and that aboriginal law had been vindicated.[6]
Wágluȟe Politics
Some Wágluȟe went north to the
New Wágluȟe Leaders
After the
Red Cloud as a Wágluȟe
Chief Blue Horse
In 1890,
Wild Westing
Wágluȟe
References
- ^ See Madonna Blue Horse Beard, "Lakota Teaching Project" http://mreid.com/lakota/oyalako.htm
- ^ See Madonna Blue Horse Beard, "Lakota Teaching Project" http://mreid.com/lakota/oyalako.htm
- ^ George E. Hyde and Harry H. Anderson, "Spotted Tail's Folk: A History of the Brule Sioux" (1961) at p.117.
- ^ Stephen Ambrose, "Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors, (1996) at p.156.
- ^ George E. Hyde and Harry H. Anderson, "Spotted Tail's Folk: A History of the Brule Sioux", (1961) at p.167-168.
- ^ Dewitt Clinton Poole, "Among the Sioux of Dakota: eighteen months experience as an Indian agent" (1881) at p.165.
- ^ Ostler, "The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee, (2004) at p.44
- ^ See Madonna Blue Horse Beard, "Lakota Teaching Project" http://mreid.com/lakota/oyalako.htm and Robert W. Larson, "Red Cloud: Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux", (1996), p.73.