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Wahpekute Indian Tribe History
Wahpekute (wakhpe, leaf;
kute, to shoot: shooters in the leaves'). One of the 7 primary
divisions of the Dakota. Although the name Santee was originally applied
only to the Mdewakanton, it was early extended to the Wahpekute, so
closely were the two tribes connected, and eventually by the Teton also to
the two other tribes of the eastern Dakota. Historic and linguistic
evidence proves the close affinity of the tribes of this group. The
Wahpekute were doubtless living in the vicinity of the Mdewakanton of
Mille Lac, Minn., when first visited by the French (1678-1680), and were
still so closely combined with them as to be included under the one term.
In 1766 Carver met the Wahpekute somewhere on Minnesota river. They were
in 1804, according to Lewis and Clark, on both sides of that stream below
Redwood river, and numbered about 150 men. Pike (1806) spoke of them as
the smallest band of the Sioux, residing generally between Mississippi and
Missouri rivers, and hunting commonly at the head of Des Moines river. He
characterizes them as "the most stupid and inactive of all the Sioux."
Long (Exped. St. Peter's R., 1, 386, 1824) says: "Thus tribe has a very
bad name, being considered to be a lawless set of men. They have a regular
hereditary chief, Wiahuga ('the raven'), who is acknowledged as such by
the Indian agent, but who, disgusted by their misbehaviour, withdrew from
them and resides at Wapasha's. They have no fixed villages, they inhabit
skin lodges, and rove at the head of Cannon and Blue Earth rivers. Their
hunting grounds are in that vicinity and west of it." He estimated them at
100 lodges, 200 warriors, and 800 souls. According to Sibley (Minn. Hist.
Coll., iii, 250, 1880) they were in 1834 in villages on Cannon river, a
short distance from the present city of Faribault, Minn., and at a few
other points. They numbered then about 150 warriors. Between 1842 and 1857
they were under two chiefs named Wamdisapa (Black Eagle) and Tasagi. The
lawless and predatory habits of Wamdisapa and his band prolonged the war
with the Sauk and
Foxes in which they had been engaged,
and created difficulties between them and the rest of the Wahpekute which
caused a separation.
Wamdisapa and his band went west and occupied lands
about Vermillion River, South Dakota. Sothoroughly were they separated
from the rest of the Wahpekute that when the latter, together with the
Mdewakanton, made a treaty at Mendota in 1851 ceding their lands in
Minnesota, the remnant of Wamdisapa's band was not regarded as being a
part of the tribe and did not participate in the treaty. In 1857 all that
remained of this straggling band were some 10 or 15 lodges under Inkpaduta.
It was this remnant that committed the massacre in 1857 about Spirit lake
and Springfield, Minn. (Flandreau in Minn. Hist. Coll., in, 387, 1880). In
1856, according to the Report on Indian Affairs for that year, the
Mdewakanton and Wahpekute together numbered 2,379. A part at least of the
tribe participated in the massacre of 1862. They are now with the
Mdewakanton oil the Santee reservation, Nebraska.
The books presented are for their
historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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