Revival History

I've done posting about 3 of the La Flesche siblings, so thought I would do one about their parents. We're fortunate to have pictures of them.  E-sta-mah-za “Iron Eyes” (Joseph) La Flesche (1822-1889), the last recognized chief of the Omaha Indians. His father was a French fur-trader and his mother was Omaha-Ponca. He was adopted by the Omaha chief, Big Elk, and became chief upon Big Elk’s death. He signed the last Omaha treaty that ceded land in the northern part of the reservation for the Winnebago Tribal reservation. Hin-nu-ags-nun “The One Woman” (Mary) Gale La Flesche (1827-1909). She was the daughter of Army physician, Dr. John Gale and his wife Nicomi, who was Omaha-Oto-Iowa. After the death of Gale, Nicomi married Peter Sarpy, a local trader. Sarpy paid for Mary’s education and she spoke both French and English.

**The evidence survived where stories did not.** In 2010, genetic analysis of Icelandic families identified a mitochondrial marker known as C1e, a lineage found almost entirely among Native American populations. In Iceland, its arrival can be traced to around 1000 AD, centuries before Columbus crossed the Atlantic. The timing matters. This period aligns precisely with Norse expeditions to Vinland, in what is now Newfoundland. Archaeology already confirms Viking presence there through remains at L’Anse aux Meadows, including Norse-style structures, ironwork, and tools dated to the same era. One detail reshapes the narrative. Mitochondrial DNA is passed through the maternal line, indicating that this genetic signature came from a Native American woman who entered the Norse world and whose descendants remained in Iceland for roughly forty generations. How she crossed the ocean is unknown. The genetic data does not explain whether her journey involved trade, alliance, or coercion. It only...

Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard (c. 1865-1930) Victoria (Wishikin) Wacheno Howard was the teller of Clackamas Chinook narratives and traditions transcribed by anthropologist Melville Jacobs and published by him as Clackamas Chinook Texts (1958-1959), one of the richest records of the Indigenous northwest Oregon storytelling art. While Jacobs referred to her invariably as “a Clackamas Chinook,” Howard’s origins were more complicated, though not unusually so for the tribally and linguistically diverse reservation community into which she was born and spent most of her life. Victoria (locally, Victoire) Wishikin was born in about 1865 on the Grand Ronde Reservation to William Wishikin, a Tualatin (Kalapuyan speaker), and Sarah, a daughter of gʷáyakʼiti, the Molalla tribal chief at Grand Ronde. In northwest Oregon, a person’s natal tribal affiliation customarily followed that of his or her father. Victoria Wishikin owed her knowledge of the Clackamas language and culture not to her nata...

The history of Indigenous peoples in the Americas after Europeans arrived is one of the most heartbreaking chapters in human history. When Europeans came, Native communities faced many tragedies. Deadly diseases like smallpox and measles spread quickly. Because Indigenous people had never been exposed to these illnesses before, they had no immunity. Entire villages were wiped out by sickness alone. There were also wars, forced removals, broken treaties, and violent attacks. Families were pushed off their land. Nations were divided. Many communities lost their homes and their way of life. You may have heard the claim that 100 million Native Americans were killed on American soil. Most historians say that number is not supported by strong evidence. The total population of the Americas before European contact is usually estimated to be lower than that, and deaths happened for many different reasons — disease, conflict, displacement, and harsh policies. Still, many scholars and Indigenous ...

Natives were aware of how important it was to prevent inbreeding to keep their dogs healthy. In order to prevent this, the tribes would introduce new blood from other tribe's dogs which accounted for the many types of dogs that were often portrayed in history books. The northern tribes developed a dog with more of a wolf like appearance while in the western regions the smaller Plains dog was developed. These dogs were very intelligent and versatile as they were expected to fill many roles in the village. In some tribes, dogs pulled a travois carrying the nomadic family’s belongings as they followed their food supply. Dogs were used to hunt for food and as faithful and protective watch dogs over the village. They were even reliable as “babysitters” for the children and elderly when the women were gathering roots, berries and herbs. In certain tribes ,some of the dogs even played important roles in the tribes’ religious ceremonies. Scientists say the "black wolves" are actu...

First Native American Woman Doctor: Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915) Eight-year-old Susan La Flesche sat at the bedside of an elderly woman, puzzled as to why the doctor had yet to arrive. After all, he had been summoned four times, and four times he had promised to come straight away. As the night grew longer, the sick woman’s breathing grew fainter until she died in agony before the break of dawn. Even to a young girl, the message delivered by the doctor’s absence was painfully clear: “It was only an Indian.” That searing moment stoked the fire inside Susan to one day heal the fellow members of her Omaha tribe. “It has always been a desire of mine to study medicine ever since I was a small girl,” she wrote years later, “for even then I saw the need of my people for a good physician.” Born in a buckskin teepee on the Omaha Indian Reservation in northeast Nebraska on June 17, 1865, Susan was never given a traditional Omaha name by her mixed-race parents. Her father, Chief Josep...