Historical accounts of Sioux Dialects of the Fort Peck Languages Reservation. Until the mid-nineteenth century the Dakota language was in oral form only. In 1834 missionaries Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pone, Stephen Riggs, and Dr. Thomas Williamson worked with the Dakota in Minnesota, creating a written form of Dakota. They wanted the Dakota to read and write in their own language. The lessons in this text follow their formulation of writing Dakota. The Dakota (Sioux_) dialect used in these twelve lessons is from the Pabaksa Ihanktowanna Dakota or Cut head Yantonia Sioux. This is the primary dialect used on the Fort Peck reservation today. There are representatives from al the Sioux dialects, on Fort Peck Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota. The Teton Lakota, and Santee Dakota in the later 1800’s chose to speak and mix in with Santee (Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Wahpekute) in the 1862 Minnesota uprising, the Teton (Hunkpapa) part in the 1876 Little Big Horn battle. As a result the Yanktonia dialect is the primary language spoken on Fort Peck today. The Cuthead is one of the bands of several that were known as the Ihanktowanna, Dakota or Yanktonia Sioux. The Middle Sioux, a name derived from the location were the Yanktonia lived between the Santee and Teton. These Yanktonia got their name from a fight with the Chippewa on a river on the North Dakota and Minnesota border back in 1700’s. The Yanktonia cut the heads off of the Chippewa they had killed and disposed of the corpses in the river causing the river to run red from the blood. The heads were put in a large circle and left to nature. A few early non-native people came upon the river downstream shortly after this event. The people seen the river was red with the blood of the Chippewa, they referred to it as the Red River. This River now is the border river between North Dakota and Minnesota. Because of this big victory this band was named “Pabaksa or Cutheads”; the descendants live on Fort Peck, the Stand Rock Reservation, in Montana and North Dakota. The Cuthead, following the Buffalo herds westward ended up in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. In the early days of Fort Union, an early Fur Era trading post on the North Dakota, Montana Border different Bourgeois, noted in their journals of the Cuthead coming to attack the post. Eventually the Cuthead, moved out into north central Montana, following the buffalo herds. Most of northern Montana, at that time was a reservation for the Gros Ventre, Blackfeet, and River Crow. These Tribes moved west and south as they Cuthead moved into eastern Montana. Plenty Coups, Chief of the Crow, noted in his autobiography with Frank B. Linderman, that he came several times to eastern Montana to the Big River (Missouri) and the Bear River (Milk) to fight the Yanktonia, because the Yanktonia were pushing the River Crow from their land. In 1872 Medicine Bear, as head chief of the Cuthead with a delegation of Montana Sioux traveled to Washington, DC, to meet the President Ulysses S. Grant and Government Officials. Medicine Bear hadn’t signed any treaties that bound him and the Cutheads to any agency in the Dakotas or Minnesota. In December 1875 the War Department wanted all Sioux returned to the Great Sioux Reservation in the Dakotas, especially the “Hostile’s in Montana.” The 1872 delegation convinced President Grant and Congress that the Cuthead won the right to an agency in Montana, outside of the Great Sioux reservation. The Cuthead settled in Fort Kipp and an area west of Poplar on Fort Peck. The Sisseton, Wahpeton and Wahpekute all had Agencies in Minnesota until the 1862 Dakota Uprising. The Sisseton & Wahpeton under the leadership of Standing Buffalo, and Wahpekute under Inkpadute wandered west into Canada then down into eastern Montana, knowing their relatives, the Cutheads were living and hunting in this area of Montana. Upon arriving in eastern Montana, Standing Buffalo was invited by the Cuthead to accompany then on a war party against the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre. Being tired and weary from his long travels he refused. The Cuthead taunted and teased Standing Buffalo so he finally agreed to go and told his wives to go back to their families and give away his possessions. He told his people he wasn’t going to retreat in battle and he would not be returning from this war party alive. He was killed in central Montana in a battle with the Assiniboine’s and Gros Ventre. Standing Buffalo’s brother and son took his people his death and went north into Canada and settled in the Fort Qu’Appelle lake area. In later years they gained a reservation there named after Standing Buffalo. A few of the Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Wahpekute stayed at Fort Peck and eventually settling in an area today known as Riverside. These Santee Dakota also blended in with the Cuthead and the Santee dialect faded out. They did not want to be deported back to Minnesota to face retribution for their part in the 1862 Uprising. The Hunkpapa castigating reservation life in the Dakotas left the reservation for eastern Montana which was rich in buffalo yet. The War Department ordered all Sioux in Montana back to their agencies in the Dakotas by December 31, 1875 or risk being considered “Hostile.” Other events lead the Hunkpapa into different conflicts with the Calvary, most notorious the 1876 Little Big Horn Battle. Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapa crossed the border north into Canada after Custer’s defeat. After Sitting Bull returned to Camp Poplar in 1881, he then went to Fort Buford to officially surrender. The remaining Hunkpapa in Canada started returning back south of the border after this event. The last of the Hunkpapa eventually stayed on Fort Peck, they were known on Fort Peck as the Gu-pi-na (Goo-Pee-Na) meaning those that came back. Sitting Bull and Medicine Bear were known to travel together and fight together in different historical events. One account has them both at the battle of Kill Deer Mountain in 1864. Another has them both in a fight with the Crow on the Milk River in 1871 which Plenty Coups mentions in his autobiography. Several Canadian historical events, mention Medicine Bear attending councils with Canadian officials along with Sitting Bull and other Melda Sioux Gray Hawk Chiefs. These Hunkpapa or (Gu-pi-na” settled in the area known today as Chelsea on the Fort Peck Reservation. These Hunkpapa Lakota also blended in with the Cutheads and the Lakota dialect ceased. Note: In gathering information for the “Historical Accounts of Sioux Dialects of the Fort Peck Reservation” consultant Del First, interviewed many elders. (Sarah Crowe, Charity Wing, Mary Red Feather, John Two Bulls, Susan Red Boy, Nancy Buck Elk, Reno First, Eli Buck Elk, Gideon Buck Elk). Each elder is from one of the Fort Peck Sioux communities with birth dates ranging from 1897 to 1925. None of these elders remember anyone who was from Fort Peck who spoke the Santee or Teton. Each of the elders used the Cuthead Yanktonia dialect or claimed they were Yanktonia and also claim to be part Santee or Hankpapa. The only people that spoke Santee or the Tribal Archives, books from the Fort Peck Community College Library, Medicine Bear’s collection of Historical Documents, Minnesota and North Dakota Historical Society, and Fort Peck Dakota Elders, Del First was able to compile this information. (From the Dakota Language book available at: Fort Peck Community College PO BOX 398 Poplar, MT 59255. 406-768-3213)
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 15:46:18 +0000
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