Cegiha

According to tribal traditions collected by Dorsey, the ancestors of the

Omaha, Ponka, Elwapa, Osage, and Kansa were originally one people dwelling

on Ohio and Wabash rivers, but gradually working westward. The first

separation took place at the mouth of the Ohio, when those who went down

the Mississippi became the Kwapa or Downstream People, while those who

ascended the great river became the Omaha or Up-stream People. This
br /> separation must have occurred at least as early as 1500, since it preceded

De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi.



The Omaha group (from whom the Osage, Kansa, and Ponka were not yet

separated) ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri, where

they remained for some time, though war and hunting parties explored the

country northwestward, and the body of the tribe gradually followed these

pioneers, though the Osage and Kansa were successively left behind. Some

of the pioneer parties discovered the pipestone quarry, and many

traditions cling about this landmark. Subsequently they were driven across

the Big Sioux by the Yankton Indians, who then lived toward the confluence

of the Minnesota and Mississippi. The group gradually differentiated and

finally divided through the separation of the Ponka, probably about the

middle of the seventeenth century. The Omaha gathered south of the

Missouri, between the mouths of the Platte and Niobrara, while the Ponka

pushed into the Black Hills country.



The Omaha tribe remained within the great bend of the Missouri, opposite

the mouth of the Big Sioux, until white men came. Their hunting ground

extended westward and southwestward, chiefly north of the Platte and along

the Elkhorn, to the territory of the Ponka and the Pawnee (Caddoan); and

in 1766 Carver met their hunting parties on Minnesota river. Toward the

end of the eighteenth century they were nearly destroyed by smallpox,

their number having been reduced from about 3,500 to but little over 300

when they were visited by Lewis and Clark, their famous chief Blackbird

being one of those carried off by the epidemic. Subsequently they

increased in numbers; in 1890 their population was about 1,200. They are

now on reservations, mostly owning land in severalty, and are citizens of

the United States and of the state of Nebraska.



Although the name Ponka did not appear in history before 1700 it must have

been used for many generations earlier, since it is an archaic designation

connected with the social organization of several tribes and the secret

societies of the Osage and Kansa, as well as the Ponka. In 1700 the Ponka

were indicated on De l'Isle's map, though they were not then segregated

territorially from the Omaha. They, too, suffered terribly from the

smallpox epidemic, and when met by Lewis and Clark in 1804 numbered only

about 200. They increased rapidly, reaching about 600 in 1829 and some 800

in 1842; in 1871, when they were first visited by Dorsey, they numbered

747. Up to this time the Ponka and Dakota were amicable; but a dispute

grew out of the cession of lands, and the Teton made annual raids on the

Ponka until the enforced removal of the tribe to Indian Territory took

place in 1877. Through this warfare, more than a quarter of the Ponka lost

their lives. The displacement of this tribe from lands owned by them in

fee simple attracted attention, and a commission was appointed by

President Hayes in 1880 to inquire into the matter; the commission,

consisting of Generals Crook and Miles and Messrs William Stickney and

Walter Allen, visited the Ponka settlements in Indian Territory and on the

Niobrara and effected a satisfactory arrangement of the affairs of the

tribe, through which the greater portion (some 600) remained in Indian

Territory, while some 225 kept their reservation in Nebraska.



When the cegiha divided at the mouth of the Ohio, the ancestors of the

Osage and Kansa accompanied the main Omaha body up the Mississippi to the

mouth of Osage river. There the Osage separated from the group, ascending

the river which bears their name. They were distinguished by Marquette in

1673 as the Ouchage and Autrechaha, and by Penicaut in 1719 as the

Huzzau, Ous, and Wawha. According to Croghan, they were, in 1759, on

White creek, a branch of the Mississippi, with the Grand Tuc;

butWhite creek (or White water) was an old designation for Osage river,

and Grand Tuc is, according to Mooney, a corruption of Grandes Eaux,

or Great Osage; and there is accordingly no sufficient reason for

supposing that they returned to the Mississippi. Toward the close of the

eighteenth century the Osage and Kansa encountered the Comanche and

perhaps other Shoshonean peoples, and their course was turned southward;

and in 1817, according to Brown, the Great Osage and Little Osage were

chiefly on Osage and Arkansas rivers, in four villages. In 1829 Porter

described their country as beginning 25 miles west of the Missouri line

and running to the Mexican line of that date, being 50 miles wide; and he

gave their number as 5,000. According to Schoolcraft, they numbered 3,758

in April, 1853, but this was after the removal of an important branch

known as Black Dog's band to a new locality farther down Verdigris river.

In 1850 the Osage occupied at least seven large villages, besides numerous

small ones, on Neosho and Verdigris rivers. In 1873, when visited by

Dorsey, they were gathered on their reservations in what is now Oklahoma.

In 1890 they numbered 158.



The Kansa remained with the Up-stream People in their gradual ascent of

the Missouri to the mouth of the Kaw or Kansas, when they diverged

westward; but they soon came in contact with inimical peoples, and, like

the Osage, were driven southward. The date of this divergence is not

fixed, but it must have been after 1723, when Bourgmont mentioned a large

village of Quans located on a small river flowing northward thirty

leagues above Kaw river, near the Missouri. After the cession of Louisiana

to the United States, a treaty was made with the Kansa Indians, who were

then on Kaw river, at the mouth of the Saline, having been forced back

from the Missouri by the Dakota; they then numbered about 1,500 and

occupied about thirty earth lodges. In 1825 they ceded their lands on the

Missouri to the Government, retaining a reservation on the Kaw, where they

were constantly subjected to attacks from the Pawnee and other tribes,

through which large numbers of their warriors were slain. In 1846 they

again ceded their lands and received a new reservation on Neosho river in

Kansas. This was soon overrun by settlers, when another reservation was

assigned to them in Indian Territory, near the Osage country. By 1890

their population was reduced to 214.



The Kwapa were found by De Soto in 1541 on the Mississippi above the mouth

of the St Francis, and, according to Marquette's map, they were partly

east of the Mississippi in 1673. In 1681 La Salle found them in three

villages distributed along the Mississippi, and soon afterward Tonty

mentioned four villages, one (Kappa = U{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}aqpaqti, Real Kwapa) on the

Mississippi and three (Toyengan = Tanwan-ji{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Small Village; Toriman =

Ti-uadciman, and Osotonoy = Uzutiuwe) inland; this observation was

verified by Dorsey in 1883 by the discovery that these names are still in

use. In early days the Kwapa were known as Akansa, or Arkansa, first

noted by La Metairie in 1682. It is probable that this name was an

Algonquian designation given because of confusion with, or recognition of

affinity to, the Kansa or Kanze, the prefix a being a common one in

Algouquian appellations. In 1687 Joutel located two of the villages of the

tribe on the Arkansas and two on the Mississippi, one of the latter being

on the eastern side. According to St Cosme, the greater part of the tribe

died of smallpox in October, 1699. In 1700 De l'Isle placed the principal

Acansa village on the southern side of Arkansas river; and, according to

Gravier, there were in 1701 five villages, the largest, Imaha (Omaha),

being highest on the Arkansas. In 1805 Sibley placed the Arkensa in

three villages on the southern side of Arkansas river, about 12 miles

above Arkansas post. They claimed to be the original proprietors of the

country bordering the Arkansas for 300 miles, or up to the confluence of

the Cadwa, above which lay the territory of the Osage. Subsequently the

Kwapa affiliated with the Caddo Indians, though of another stock;

according to Porter they were in the Caddo country in 1829. As

reservations were established, the Kwapa were re-segregated, and in 1877

were on their reservation in northwestern Indian Territory; but most of

them afterward scattered, chiefly to the Osage country, where in 1890 they

were found to number 232.