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A
Project of the Idaho GenWeb |
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Northern Paiute Chiefs and Leaders |
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Bannock
Nez Percé Paiute (Northern)
Salish Shoshoni (Northern)
Shoshoni (Western) Snake Spokane
Paiute
(Northern)
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Chief Winnemucca |
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He was
chief of an Indian nation called
the Piute and before any white
men came over the Rocky
Mountains to disturb them, there
were several thousand Indians,
to whom he was like a father. He
saw to it that they had plenty
of good food to eat, nice furs
and skins to wear, and handsome
tepees (or wigwams) for their
families to live in. He had a
good wife and many children of
his own; he was always very kind
to them, and took much pains to
teach all he himself knew to his
eldest son, who was to be Chief
Winnemucca after him.
Chief
Winnemucca, also called Poito or
One Moccasin (ca. 1820–1882),
was an important chief of the
Northern Paiute at the time of
the Paiute War of 1860. He is
primarily known through the
writings of his daughter, Sarah
Winnemucca. His birth date is
unknown, but was probably around
1820. |
Winnemucca has been translated
as The Giver. This name is
part-English and part-Paiute His
role in Northern Paiute politics
is difficult to determine, and
somewhat controversial. Sarah
Winnemucca stated that he was
the chief of all the Northern
Paiute, and due in large part to
her role as a translator this
viewpoint was shared by
contemporary whites. Modern
historians and ethnologists view
him more as a "first among
equals", with considerable
influence over the bands in the
Pyramid Lake region.
Chief Winnemucca taught the
Piute very different lessons
from other Indian chiefs; for
example, to love peace and make
constant effort to keep it;
always to be kind one to
another; always to tell the
truth, and never to take for
one's self what belonged to
another; to treat old people
with tender regard; to care for
and help the helpless; to be
affectionate in families and
show real respect to women,
particularly to mothers; yet he
and his Piute had no books, no
writing, no chairs, no
furniture, almost none of those
common articles that make our
houses so comfortable. Chief
Winnemucca, from time to time,
had wonderful dreams. One night
he dreamed that some people who
were different from the red men,
would by and by come from the
east; that they would be finer
people than any he had ever
seen, and that their faces would
he of a white color, bright and
beautiful. He stretched out his
hands toward them and, said: "My
white brothers!"
Beside the beautiful lake he
lived for many years, and when
at last he was about to pass
over to the Happy Land he called
his son to him and told him
never to forget his duty to his
own people and to love and
always be kind to his white
brothers.
The San Francisco Chronicle
reported that Winnemucca died in
October 1882 at Coppersmith
Station, Nevada. It further
reported that his death was
attributed to his being
bewitched by his young wife, who
was then stoned to death along
with their three-year-old child. |
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Sarah
Winnemucca |
Sarah
Winnemucca, whose Paiute Indian name was
Thocmetony or Shell Flower, died at her
sister's home in Henry's Lake, Nevada on
October 14, 1891. Winnemucca was the first
Native American woman known to secure a
copyright and to publish in the English
language. Her book, Life Among the Piutes:
Their Wrongs and Claims, is an
autobiographical account of her people
during their first forty years of contact
with explorers and settlers.
Born "somewhere near 1844" in the Humbolt
River and Pyramid Lakes area of western
Nevada, Sarah Winnemucca was the daughter of
Chief Winnemucca (Po-i-to) of the Northern
Paiute people. Her grandfather, Chief
Truckee (possibly Tru-ki-zo in Paiute)
guided John C. Frémont during his 1843-45
survey and mapmaking expedition across the
Great Basin to California. The friendships
which Chief Truckee formed with the Frémont
party provided an opportunity for his
granddaughter to be educated in the
household of William Ormsby of Carson City.
Sarah Winnemucca soon became one of only two
Paiutes in Nevada able to read, write and
speak English. At the behest of her
grandfather she became a translator for the
U.S. Army and, later, for government Agents
at Malheur Reservation, designated a
reservation for the northern Paiute by a
series of Executive Orders issued by
President U. S. Grant. Later she served in
this same capacity at the Yakima
Reservation. |
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Wovoka |
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Wovoka ('The
Cutter'). A Paiute dreamer and
medicine-man, and originator of the
Ghost dance; born in west Nevada about
1856. His fattier, Tavibo, 'White Man,'
was also a reputed medicine-man, and the
son may have inherited the mystic
tendency from him. After his father's
death the boy was taken into the family
of a white rancher from whom he received
the name of Jack Wilson, by which he was
commonly known among the whites. He was
still alive in 1905, but had lost in
large measure his former influence. For
an account of his supernatural mission,
see
Ghost dance. |
Idaho
Indian Tribes Project
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