1877
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
Use of the originals is restricted. This collection is available as color digital facsimiles (see links below). Microfilm and photocopies are also available for use in the library. The original sketch book has been removed to Special Collections.
Abstract
This collection consists of a book of hand-colored sketches made by Making Medicine and others, including Bear's Heart, Buffalo Meat, Etah-dle-uh Doanmoe, and Koba, Cheyenne prisoners at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida.
Biographical Sketches
Making Medicine (1844-1931)
Making Medicine (Cheyenne name: O-kuh-ha-tuh, or "Sun Dancer") was a Cheyenne warrior who became one of the most prolific of the Native American artists at Fort Marion and first sergeant of the company of guards there. When the Fort Marion prisoners were released in the spring of 1878, Making Medicine went to New York to be educated in the Christian ministry. He took the name David Pendleton Oakerhater after the family that sponsored him (the family of Senator George Pendleton), was ordained an Episcopal deacon on 7 June 1881, and worked as a missionary among the Plains tribes for many years.
Note: Oklahoma State University has digitized many items related to David Pendleton Oakerhater at: http://library.okstate.edu/search-and-find/collections/digital-collections/david-pendleton-oakerhater/.
Bear's Heart (1851-1882)
Bear's Heart (Cheyenne name: Nockkoist) was a Cheyenne warrior. After his release from Fort Marion, he attended the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia and worked as a carpenter on a reservation in Oklahoma. He died of tuberculosis.
Buffalo Meat (1847-1917)
Buffalo Meat (Cheyenne name: O-e-wo-toh) was a Cheyenne warrior and later a deacon in the Baptist church. He died of tuberculosis.
Etah-dle-uh Doanmoe (1856-1888)
Etah-dle-uh Doanmoe (English name: Boy Hunting, a.k.a. Edwin Dunmoe) was a Kiowa warrior who served as quartermaster sergeant of the guards at Fort Marion. After his release, he attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia and Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. In 1880, he worked briefly at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He returned to the Indian Territory as a Presbyterian missionary in 1888.
Co-hoe (1853-1924)
Co-hoe (English name: Broken Leg) was a Cheyenne warrior who attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute after his imprisonment at Fort Marion.
Koba (1848-1880)
Koba (English name: Wild Horse) was a Kiowa warrior. After his release from Fort Marion, he attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, worked on a farm in Massachusetts, and studied to be a tinsmith at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He died of tuberculosis on a trip back to Indian Territory.
Tsait-kope-ta (1852-1910)
Tsait-kope-ta (English name: Bear Mountain) was a Kiowa warrior who later took the name Paul Caruthers.
Howling Wolf (1849-1927)
Howling Wolf (Cheyenne name: Ho-na-nist-to) was a Cheyenne warrior who was appointed sergeant of the guards at Fort Marion. When he was released in the spring of 1878, he intended to remain in the east to continue his education, but his eyesight was failing. After undergoing unsuccessful treatment in Boston, he returned to Indian Territory and rejoined his people on the reservation. Disillusioned by the poverty there, he spoke out for the rights of Native Americans and against the encroachment of Anglo-American culture, including the implementation of the Dawes Act in 1887. He died in a car accident.
Francis Parkman (1823-1893)
Francis Parkman was a Boston historian and Harvard professor who traveled extensively in North America and Europe. His books include The Oregon Trail (1849), The History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac (1851), and France and England in North America (7 vols., 1865-1892). He lived with the Sioux for a few weeks in 1846.
Sources
Lookingbill, Brad D. War Dance at Fort Marion: Plains Indian War Prisoners. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.
Petersen, Karen Daniels. Plains Indian Art from Fort Marion. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.
Pratt, Richard Henry. Battlefield and Classroom: Four Decades with the American Indian, 1867-1904. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964.
Viola, Herman J. Warrior Artists: Historic Cheyenne and Kiowa Indian Ledger Art Drawn by Making Medicine and Zotom. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1998.
See also the Massachusetts Historical Society's "Focus On: Indian Ledger Art": http://qubv.ngskmc-eis.net/objects/cabinet/october2001/october2001.html.
See also the National Museum of American History's "Keeping History: Plains Indian Ledger Drawings": http://americanhistory.si.edu/documentsgallery/exhibitions/ledger_drawing_1.html.
Collection Description
This sketch book of Indian ledger art contains hand-colored sketches made by Making Medicine and others, including Bear's Heart, Buffalo Meat, Etah-dle-uh Doanmoe, and Koba, Native American prisoners of war at Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida. Native American prisoners of war, primarily from the Cheyenne and Kiowa Nations, were interned at Fort Marion for almost three years in an effort by the U.S. military to squash further Indigenous resistance, as part of its campaigns against the Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapaho, and Comanche Nations in the Red River War of 1874-1875.
Also included in this collection is a map by Howling Wolf, sent as a message to his father in the form of a picture map on a postcard, of his voyage from Fort Marion to Savannah, Ga.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Mrs. John Forbes Perkins, Jan. 1956. Removed from the Francis Parkman papers (Ms. N-645 Tall).
Restrictions on Access
Use of the originals is restricted. This collection is available as color digital facsimiles (see links below). Microfilm and photocopies are also available for use in the library. The original sketch book has been removed to Special Collections.
Other Formats
The collection is also available on microfilm, P-245, 1 reel.
List of Sketches
Use the links below to access digital images of each page.
Originally appeared in: Steele, Mrs. J. Dorman. "The Indian Prisoners at Fort Marion." The National Teachers' Monthly 3.10 (Aug. 1877): 291.
Recto
Pictogram letter sent to Minimic from his wife relaying information about his family. Tucked into sketch book.
Verso
Letter from Mrs. J. Dorman Steele interpreting pictogram letter sent to Minimic from his wife. Tucked into sketch book.
Recto
Pictogram letter from Howling Wolf to his father Minimic, describing Howling Wolf's journey from Fort Marion to Savannah and beyond. Tucked into sketch book.
Verso
Postcard addressed to Lieutenant Richard H. Pratt. Tucked into sketch book.
Short note from Francis Parkman translating Howling Wolf’s pictogram letter for Minimic. Tucked into sketch book.
Tucked into sketch book.
NOTE: This newspaper clipping has not been digitized. See the microfilm (P-245) or photocopy (Ms. S-56) for access to this item.
Description of contents of sketch book.
List of names of prisoners held at Fort Marion, written out by Making Medicine.
List of Native American names and English translations.
Buffalo Chase. Unsigned, possibly by Making Medicine.
NOTE: The size of this drawing, the orientation of the lined paper, and the separations along the fold lines indicate that this page was folded and inserted into the sketch book.
Untitled family group. Campfire scene with tipis and figures. Signed "Bears Heart."
Portrait of Lieutenant Zalinski by Making Medicine.
Untitled picture of two mounted Native Americans hunting a bear. Signed "Making Medicine."
View of mounted Native American hunting buffalo. Signed "Cheyenne Chief / Buffalo Me et."
Untitled view of U.S. Cavalry, troops, and field artillery advancing on Native American chiefs and warriors, all mounted. Signed "Making Medicine."
View of mounted Native Americans hunting buffalo. Signed "Making Medicine."
View of Osage and Kiowa in face-to-face parley. Signed "Etah-dle-uh" at top.
Untitled view of battle between mounted Sioux and Ute. Signed "Making Medicine."
Untitled view of mounted battle between Osage and Cheyenne. Signed "Making Medicine."
View of Cheyenne hunting buffalo. Signed "Bears Heart."
Osage War Dance [signed] Bears Heart.
Cheyenne medicine Pow-wow [signed] Bears Heart. View of ceremony under large tent amid tipis.
Untitled view of U.S. Cavalry drawn up in ranks before Cheyenne village, with attacking Cheyenne warriors. Signed "Bears Heart."
Untitled view of Osage warriors fighting off attacking Cheyenne warriors. Signed "Buffalo Me et / Chyenne."
Untitled view of battle between Pawnee and Cheyenne. Signed "Co-hoe."
Roman Nose Cheyenne Chief. Attributed to Making Medicine.
White Horse Cheyenne Chief / [signed] Making Medicine.
Untitled view of Native Americans hunting buffalo. Signed "Making Medicine."
Miss Trask Miss H. Lieut. Z. [Zalinski]. Three figures on horseback, the ladies on side-saddles. Signed "Making Medicine."
Untitled view of standing Native American hailing mounted Native American. Signed "Making Medicine."
Untitled view of mounted Native American. Signed "Bears Heart."
Untitled view of mounted Native American chief. Signed "Bears Heart."
Kiowa by Koba [wounded Native American warrior on wounded horse].
Untitled fight between mounted Osage and Kiowa. Signed "Koba."
Untitled view of mounted Kiowa, fighting. Signed "Tsait-kope-ta."
Untitled view of standing Native Americans, brave handing U.S. flag to chief. Signed "Eta de li uh Kiowa."
Untitled view of Osage warrior shooting [Kiowa?] chief. Unsigned.
Seven names of Native American prisoners.
Preferred Citation
Book of sketches made at Fort Marion, St. Augustine, Fla., Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.