Native American Encyclopedia Ross, John To Thanksgiving
6 Sacajawea Meet Sacajawea Sacajawea about 1788-1812 also known as Sacagawea meaning Bird Woman helped the Lewis and Clark expedition succeed Hidatsa raiders stole young Sacajawea from her Shoshone tribe They sold her to a French fur trader who took her as a wife Lewis and Clark hired her husband as an interpreter He spoke Hidatsa and French while Sacajawea spoke Hidatsa and Shoshone A member of the expedition spoke French and English so among the three of them they could translate discussions into English for the rest of the group During that winter Sacajawea gave birth to her first child She brought her baby along too Sacajawea’s presence eased the fears of the native peoples they met Tribes did not believe a war party would include a woman and baby When they reached the Shoshone in eastern Idaho she learned that her brother had become chief Through her the expedition bought horses from the tribe She acted as a guide here too After her death Clark adopted her children No records tell of her daughter’s life but her son became a guide trapper and interpreter 1804 Meets Lewis and Clark at Hidatsa Mandan villages August 1805 Reunites with the Shoshone January 1806 Sees Pacific Ocean for first time 1806 Leaves expedition at Mandan villages Sachem or tribal chief served as the leader of a band or village When tribes allied themselves with other tribes to form a confederacy they sometimes selected a grand sachem The grand sachem could simply help bring unity to meetings between the tribal chiefs or could rule as a powerful king might The Powhatan an Algonquian tribe had a grand sachem that acted like a king Sacred sites carry historical or spiritual meaning to the native peoples of North America They may be naturally occurring or man-made They include burial sites of ancestors places where a vision battle or treaty took place places that figure into native legends or ancient ceremonial sites These places continue to hold importance to tribes or bands over centuries
Salinas 7 Teaching Project develops teaching materials based on First Nations cultural viewpoints Salinas also called Salinan lived along the Salinas River in central California They spoke three dialects of Salinan They survived by hunting fishing and gathering They participated in the Kuksu Cult a secret organization among most central California Indians Cult members wore masks to imitate gods In this way they hoped to gain the gods power Cult members also hoped the cult’s rituals would ensure plentiful food Spanish missionaries brought not only Christianity but also disease forced labor and loss of native culture and spiritual practices The Salinas population decreased steadily and today only a small number of people claim Salinas ancestry Before the arrival of nonnatives the Salinas lived along the Salinas River in California The Snoqualmie people consider Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State sacred They have buried their dead here They believe the Creator made the first man and woman here They also believe the waterfalls mists carry their prayers to the Creator Sagamore refers to the chief of a village or band of Native American people Sagamores or sachems sometimes reported to one grand sachem the top leader of all the tribes of one nation or confederacy of nations The Narragansett Abenaki and other Algonquian tribes had sagamores See also sachem Sainte-Marie Buffy 1941 of Cree heritage enjoys fame as a singer songwriter musician artist actress and teacher She received an Academy Award in 1982 for writing the song Up Where We Belong The First Americans in the Arts awarded her the Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement Her Cradleboard
8 Salt Creek Prairie Salt Creek Prairie a raid by Kiowa warriors on a freight wagon train led to their final defeat In 1871 after the Medicine Lodge Treaty’s failure Kiowa leaders Big Tree Satanta and Satank led a raid to Texas from Indian Territory At Salt Creek Prairie they killed seven wagoneers and took supplies and mules After this raid the U S set into motion a plan to break Kiowa resistance using total warfare See also Medicine Lodge Treaty and Satanta Sand Creek Massacre occurred in eastern Colorado in 1864 when John Chivington’s 3rd Colorado Calvary attacked Black Kettle’s village killing about 270 Cheyenne and Southern Arapaho Most were women and children The U S government had earlier promised Black Kettle’s band protection there However Colorado prospectors discovered gold in 1858 and new settlers pressed for more land Chivington acting on his own decision ordered the attack See also Chivington John San Carlos Reservation founded in 1871 became the home of several bands of Apache Located in southeastern Arizona the San Carlos landscape includes desert mountain meadows and pine forests covering almost 1,900,000 acres 769,000 hectares Tourism gaming cattle ranching and peridot mining generate needed income Colored sands poured into patterns form large sandpaintings Sandpainting a custom practiced by some southwestern tribes is believed to have the power to heal As part of certain ceremonies sandpainters sift colored sands and mineral powders on the ground in patterns to form designs with powerful healing elements The Dineh or Navajo include sandpainting in some of their spiritual rituals The world gemstone market gets 80 to 95 percent of its supply of peridot from the San Carlos Reservation
The Pueblo trapped Spanish colonists in the Santa Fe Governor’s Palace Santa Fe Trail 9 Santa Fe New Mexico was the site of the struggle between the Pueblo people and the Spanish in two major battles in the 1600s In 1680 the final battle of the Pueblo Rebellion occurred here To end nearly 100 years of Spanish rule the Pueblo people destroyed every Spanish outpost in New Mexico including Santa Fe They besieged Santa Fe in the August heat After six days the Spanish inside the Governor’s Palace made a successful break for the border rather than die of thirst After the Pueblo Rebellion drought continued Pueblo bands fought for limited food resources In 1693 Spanish soldiers and colonists returned to New Mexico They attacked the city and after two days the Pueblo people surrendered From this time forward other revolts by the Pueblo Indians against the Spanish failed See also Pueblo Rebellion trail passed through hunting grounds and home territories of the Kiowa Comanche Cheyenne Arapaho Plains Apache Osage Kansas Ute Pueblo and Jicarilla Apache Early travelers traded with the mostly friendly native peoples they met Santa Fe Trail Timeline The trail served different purposes at different times in its history 1821-1846 American and Mexican trade route 1846-1848 Used by Army of the West in the Mexican-American War 1848-1880 Main route to new U S territories in the Southwest words to know Santa Fe Trail connected Missouri with Santa Fe New Mexico the heart of the United States new territories gained at the end of the Mexican-American War The peridot PAIR-uh-daht a yellow-green to green gemstone occurring in very few places in the world including Arizona total warfare TOH-tuhl WOR-fair a military strategy that wars against all parts of the enemy’s society and culture including attacks on entire villages food sources and transportation
