Nations and Tribes Between the Mississippi and Pacific Ocean

The Sioux, Or Dahcota, And Other Tribes Of The Same Race: Classification. The Mandan:
Their Number, Situation, Villages, Etc. Their Cemeteries. Affectionate Remembrance Of The Dead.

An accurate classification of the American Indians, either founded upon dissimilarities in the language of different tribes, or upon differences in physical peculiarities, is impossible, particularly in treating of the scattered and wandering people of the far west. The races vary by such slight shades of distinction, and such analogies exist between their languages, that even where the distinction is perfectly evident in the nation at large, the line of demarcation can with difficulty be drawn. In other instances, the same nation, when divided into separate clans, inhabiting districts of dissimilar nature, and resorting to different modes of life, will be found, in the course of one or two generations, to present the appearance of distinct races.

Perhaps it would be wiser to accept the popular divisions, whether derived directly from the natives, or established by those most familiar with them, than to attempt, any refined distinctions. In an essay upon natural history, or in researches into historical antiquities, a particularity might be useful or necessary, which in an outline of history and description would be but perplexing and tedious.

A vast wilderness at the west, upon the Missouri and the upper western tributaries of the Mississippi, is inhabited by the various tribes allied to the Sioux or Dahcota. One of the earliest accounts given of these people, then known as the Naudowessies, is to be found in the Travels of Captain Jonathan Carver, who spent the winter of 1766-7 among them. Of later observations and descriptions, by far the most interesting and complete are contained in the published letters of Mr. George Catlin, accompanied as they are by spirited and artistic portraits and sketches of scenery.

Those of this race known as the proper Sioux, soi disant Dahcota, are mostly established upon the river of St. Peter and in the country adjacent. Some of the eastern tribes are more or less agricultural, but the others are wild haulers like their brethren of the far west. The Sioux were divided, a century since, into the following eight tribes: the Wawpeentowas, the Tintons, the Afracootans, the Mawhaws (Omawhas), and the Schians, all of whom dwelt in the prairie country, upon the St. Peter, and three other clans of the then unexplored region to the westward. The Assinaboin anciently belonged to the same stock.

By Mr. Gallatin the race is divided as follows:
1. The Winnebago, of Wisconsin; .
2. The Sioux proper, or Dahcota, and the Assinaboins;
3. The Minetari and tribes allied to them;
4. The Osages, and other kindred tribes,
farther south. (Pritchard s Natural History of Man). The Minetari are held to include the Crows and the Mandan.

To a description of this last people, now, as a separate race, entirely extinct, Mr. Catlin has devoted no small portion of his interesting descriptions of western adventure. They differed widely from all other American Indians in several particulars. The most noticeable of these were the great diversity in complexion and in the color and texture of the hair. "When visited by this traveler, in 1832, the Mandan were established at two villages, only two miles asunder, upon the left bank of the Missouri, about two hundred miles below the mouth of the Yellowstone.

There were then not far from two thousand of the tribe, but, from their own traditions, and from the extensive ruins of their former settlement some distance below it was evident that their numbers had greatly decreased. The principal town was strongly fortified upon the precipitous riverbank, on two sides defended by the winding stream, and on the other by picketing of heavy timber, and by a ditch. The houses within were so closely set as to allow of little space for locomotion. They were partially sunk in the ground, and the roofs were covered with earth and clay to such a depth and of such consistency that they afforded the favorite lounging places for the occupants.

"One is surprised," says Catlin, "when he enters them, to see the neatness, comfort, and spacious dimensions of these earth-covered dwellings. They all have a circular form, and are from forty to sixty feet in diameter. Their foundations are prepared by digging some two feet in the ground, and forming the floor of earth, by leveling the requisite size for the lodge." The building consisted of a row of perpendicular stakes or timbers, six feet or there about in height, supporting long rafters for the roof. A hole was left in the centre for air, light, and the escape of smoke. The rafters were supported in the middle by beams and posts: over them was laid a thick coating of willow brush, and over all the covering of earth and clay. An excavation in the centre of the hut was used as a fireplace. Each of these houses served for a single family, or for a whole circle of connections, according to its dimensions. The furniture consisted of little more than a rude sort of bedsteads, with sacking of buffalo skin, and some times an ornamental curtain of the same material. Posts were set in the ground, between the beds, provided with pegs, from which depended the arms and accoutrements of the warriors.

"This arrangement of beds, of arms, &c.," continues our author, "combining the most vivid display and arrangement of colors, of furs, of trinkets of barbed and glistening points and steel of mysteries and hocus pocus, together with the somber and smoked color of the roof and sides of the lodge; and the wild, and rude, and red the graceful (though uncivil) conversational, garrulous, story-telling, and happy, though ignorant and untutored groups, that are smoking their pipes wooing their sweet hearts, and embracing their little ones about their peaceful and endeared firesides; together with their pots and kettles, spoons, and other culinary articles of their own manufacture, around them; present, altogether, one of the most picturesque scenes to the eye of a stranger that can be possibly seen; and far more wild and vivid than could ever be imagined."

If the sight within the dwellings was novel and striking, much more so was that which occupied the painter's attention as he surveyed, from the roof of one of these domes, the motley scene of busy life without. In the centre of the village an open court was left for purposes of recreation and for the performances of the national religious ceremonies. Upon the rounded roofs of the domiciles numerous busy or indolent groups were sitting or lounging in every possible attitude, while in the central area some were exercising their wild horses, or training and playing with their dogs. Such a variety of brilliant and fanciful costume, ornamented with plumes and porcupine quills, with the picturesque throng of Indians and animals, the closely crowded village, the green plain, the river, and the blue hills in the distance, formed a happy subject for the artist.

Without the picket of defense, the only objects visible, of man s construction, were the scaffoldings upon which the dead were exposed. The manner in which the funeral rites of the Mandan were conducted, with the subsequent details, constitutes the most touching portion of the author's narrative. The body of the dead person was tightly wrapped and bound up in fresh or soaked buffalo skins, together with the arms and accoutrements used in life, and the usual provision of tobacco, flint and steel, knife, and food. A slight scaffold is then prepared, of sufficient height to serve as protection from the wolves and dogs, and there the body is deposited to decay in the open air.

Day after day those who had lost friends would come out from the village to this strange cemetery, to weep and bewail over their loss. Such genuine and long-continued grief as was exhibited by the afflicted relatives puts to shame the cold-heartedness of too many among the cultivated and enlightened. When, after the lapse of years, the scaffolds had fallen, and nothing was left but bleached and moldering bones, the remains were buried, with the exception of the skulls. These were placed in circles upon the plain, with the faces turned inward, each resting upon a bunch of wild sage; and in the centre, upon two slight mounds, "medicine-poles" were erected, at the foot of which were the heads and horns of a male and a female buffalo. To these new places of deposit, each of which contained not far from one hundred skulls, "do these people," says Catlin, "again resort, to evince their further affection for the dead not in groans and lamentations, however, for several years have cured the anguish but fond affections and endearments are here renewed, and conversations are here held, and cherished, with the dead."

The wife or mother would sit for hours by the side of the white relic of the loved and lost, addressing the skull with the most affectionate and loving tones, or, perchance lying down and falling asleep with her arms around it. Food would be nightly set before many of these "skulls, and, with the most tender care, the aromatic bed upon which they reposed would be renewed as it withered and decayed.

Indian Races of North and South America

This site includes some historical materials that may imply negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. These items are presented as part of the historical record and should not be interpreted to mean that the WebMasters in any way endorse the stereotypes implied .

Indian Races of North and South America, By Charles De Wolf Brownell, 1865