Sichanghu
('burnt thighs') A band of the Brulé Teton
Sioux.
Brulé
('burned,' the French translation of, Sichángχu, `burnt thighs,' their own
name, of indefinite origin). A subtribe of the Teton division of the great
Dakota tribe. They are mentioned by Lewis and Clark (1804) as the Tetons
of the Burnt Woods, numbering about 300 men, "who rove on both sides of
the Missouri, White, and Teton rivers." In 1806 they were on the east side
of the Missouri from the mouth of the White to Teton river. Hayden (Ethnog.
and Philol. 1fo. Valley, 372, 1862) describes the country inhabited by
them in 1850 as on the headwaters of the White and Niobrara, extending
down these rivers about, half their length, Teton river forming the north
limit. He also says they were for a number of years heaed by a chief named
Makozaza, very friendly to the whites, who by uniformly good management
and just government kept his people in order, regulated their hunts, and
usually avoided placing them in the starving situations incident to hands
led by less judicious chiefs. They were good hunters, usually well clothed
and supplied with meat, and had comfortable lodges and a large number of
horses. They varied their occupations by hunting buffalo, catching wild
horses, and snaking war expeditions against the
Arikara, then stationed on the
Platte, or the Pawnee, lower down on that river. Every summer excursions
were made by the young men into the Platte and Arkansas country in quest
of wild horses, which abounded there at that time. After emigrants to
California and Oregon began to pass through the Dakota country, the Brulé
suffered more from diseases introduced by them than any other division of
the tribe, being nearest to the trail. The treaty of Apr. 29, 1868,
between the Sioux bands and the Government was in a large degree brought
about through the exertions of Swift Bear, a Brulé chief. Nevertheless, it
was about this time or shortly after that a band of Brulé took part in the
attack on Maj. Forsyth on Republican river. Hayden gives 150 as the number
of their lodges in 1856. In 1890 the Upper Brulé on Rosebud reservation,
South Dakota, numbered 3,245; the Lower Brulé at Crowcreek and Lower Brulé
agency, South Dakota, 1,026. Their present number as distinct from the
other Teton is not given.
The group is divided geographically into the
Kheyatawichasha or Upper Brulé, the Kutawichasha or Lower Brulé, and the
Brulé of the Platte.
The subdivisions are given by different authorities as
follows:
Lewis and Clark (Discov., 34, 1806):
1 Esahateaketarpar (Isanyati?),
2 Warchinktarhe,
3 Choketartowomb (Chokatowela),
4 Ozash (see Wazhazha),
5 Menesharne (see Minisala).
In 1880 Tatankawakan, a Brulé, gave to J. O. Dorsey the
names of 13 bands of the Brulé, Upper and Lower:
1 Iyakoza
2 Chokatowela
3 Shiyolanka
4 Homna
5 Shiyosubula
6 Kanghiyuha,
7 Pispizawichasha,
S Waleghaunwohan,
9 Wacheunpa,
10 Shawala,
11 Ihanktonwan,
12 Nakhpakhpa,
13 Apewantanka.
Rev. W. J. Cleveland (MS. list, 1884) enumerates the
modern divisions as:
1 Sichanghu,
2 Kakeglia,
3
(a) Hinhanshunwapa,
(b) Shunkahanapin,
4 Hihakanhanhanwin,
5 Hunkuwanicha,
6Miniskuyakichun,
7
(a) Kiyuksa,
(b) Tiglabu,
8 Wacheunpa,
9 Waglukhe,
10 Isanyati,
11 Wagmezayuha,
12
(a) Waleghaonwohan,
(b) Wakhna,
13 Oglalaichichagha,
14 Tiyochesli,
15 Wazhazha,
16 Ieskachincha,
17 Ohenonpa,
18 Okaghawichasha.
The Brulé of the Platte, not included in the above
lists, are a part of the Brulé (Stanley in Poole, Among the Sioux, 232,
1881) formerly connected with Whetstone
