Osage. A corruption of their own name Wazhazhe, which in turn is
probably an extension of the name of one of the three bands of which the
tribe is composed. Also called:
Anahou, a name used by the French, perhaps the Caddo
name.
Bone Indians, given by Schoolcraft.
Connections. The Osage
were the most important tribe of the division of the Siouan linguistic
stock called by J. O. Dorsey (1897) Dhegiha, which included also the
Omaha, Ponka,
Kansa, and Quapaw.
Location. The greater
part of this tribe was anciently on Osage River, Mo., but from a very
early period a smaller division known as Little Osage was on the Missouri
River near the village of the Missouri Indians. (See also
Arkansas,
Kansas, and
Oklahoma.)
Subdivisions and Villages
The two principal local divisions were the Great and
Little Osages, mentioned above. About 1802 a third division, the "Arkansas
Band," was created by the migration of nearly half of the Big Osage to
Arkansas River under a chief known as Big. Track. The names of the
following Osage villages, some of them having the names of their chiefs,
have been recorded:
Big Chief, 4 miles from the Mission in Indian Territory in 1850.
Black Dog, 60 miles from the Mission in Indian Territory in 1850.
Heakdhetanwan, on Spring Creek, a branch of Neosho River, Indian
Territory. Intapupshe, on upper Osage River about the mouth of Sac
River, Mo. Khdhasiukdhin, on Neosho River, Kans. Little Osage
Village, on Osage Reservation, Okla., on the west bank of Neosho
River.
Manhukdhintanwan, on a branch of Neosho River, Kans.
Nanzewaspe, in Neosho valley, southeastern Kansas.
Nikhdhitanwan, at the junction of the Sac and Osage Rivers, Mo.
Paghuukdhinpe, on the east side of Verdigris River, Okla.
Pasukdhin, an ancient village name and also name of a late village
on Verdigris
River, Okla.
Santsepasu, location uncertain.
Santsukhdhin, native name of the Arkansas band, the village being
located on
Verdigris River, Okla., 60 miles above its mouth.
Takdheskautsiupshe, unidentified.
Tanwakanwakaghe, at the junction of Grand and Osage rivers, Mo.
Tanwanshinka, on Neosho River, Okla. Wakhakukdhin, on Neosho River,
Okla.
White Hair's Village, on the east side of Little Osage River in the
northern part
of the present Vernon County, Mo.
History. Tradition
indicates a prehistoric seat of the Osage on the Ohio River, but the first
historical notice of them appears to be on Marquette's autograph map of
1673, where they are located in the region with which they are usually
associated. They continued there until the separation of the Arkansas band
already mentioned. By that time the Little Osage had moved from the
Missouri to a position within 6 miles of the Great Osage. During the
eighteenth century and the first part of the nineteenth, the Osage were at
war with practically all the other tribes of the Plains and a large number
of those of the woodlands, to many of which their name was a synonym for
enemy. On November 10, 1808, the Osage signed a treaty ceding all their
territorial claims in the present States of Missouri and Arkansas to the
United States. The remainder was further curtailed by treaties signed in
1825, 1839, and 1865, and the limits of their later reservation were
established by act of Congress of July 15, 1870. They have since been
allotted land in severalty and are now citizens of Oklahoma.
Population. Mooney's
(1928) estimate of Osage population as of the year 1780 is 6,200. In 1804
Lewis and Clark estimated 500 warriors in the Great Osage band, nearly
half as many Little Osages, and 600 in the Arkansas band. Sibley (1832),
about the same time, gave 1,250 warriors. Morse (1822) estimated that
there was an Osage population of 5,200; in 1829 Porter gave 5,000; in 1843
the United States Indian Office enumerated 4,102; Schoolcraft (1851-57)
records 3,758 exclusive of an important division known as Black Dog's
band; in 1877 the United States Indian Office had 3,001; in 1884, 1,547;
in 1886, 1,582; and in 1906, 1,994. The census of 1910 gives 1,373, all
but 28 in Oklahoma, but the United States Indian Office Report for 1923
has 2,099. In 1930, 2,344 were reported, and in 1937, 3,649.
Connection in which they have
become noted. As above stated, the Osage attained a high reputation as
fighters among all the tribes of the southern Plains and many of those of
the Gulf region. They are also remarkable for their social organization as
set forth in the reports of Dr. Francis La Flesche (1921, 1925, 1928). The
name became affixed to the Osage River, a considerable branch of the
Missouri, which rises in Kansas but flows principally through the State of
Missouri; also to counties in Kansas and Missouri; a fork of the Gasconade
River, Mo.; a creek in Arkansas; and to places in Carroll County, Ark.;
Franklin County, Ill.; Mitchell County, Iowa; Becker County, Minn.; Osage
County, Okla.; Coryell County, Tex.; Monongalia County, W. Va.; Weston
County, Wyo.; Osage Beach in Camden County, Mo.; Osage City in Cole
County, Mo.; and Osage City in Kansas. Indirectly they have also furnished
one of the popular names of the bois d'art, Osage orange, the favorite
wood for making bows among the tribes of the southern Plains between the
lower Mississippi and the Pueblo country.
