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Guide Rock Celebration, May  1924. Addison E. Sheldon  speaking on site of ancient Holy Place of Pawnee.

265 (sic)

Kansas Board Approves Monument Site

Resolved, By the board of directors of the Kansas State Historical Society, this nineteenth day of October, 1926, in a joint session with the fifty-first annual meeting of the said Society, after having heard read and discussed the report of the committee appointed by the secretary of this Society to determine the merits of the site of the Republican Pawnee village reached by Pike in 1806, that the site marked by the state of Kansas is the actual and true site of the Republican Pawnee village visited by Zebulon M. Pike, where he caused the Spanish flag to be hauled down and the American flag raised in its place, that being the first place on Kansas soil of which there is a direct and positive record of the raising of the American flag; that the investigation made by the Kansas State Historical Society and the report of this committee settles this matter conclusively and beyond any reasonable doubt.

DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE LOCATIONS OF THE REPUBLICAN PAWNEES

By Ivan E. Jones.

The Louisiana Purchase is one of the most important historical events in the life of the United States. The Indian removal idea originated at this time and with it was born the necessity for more exact knowledge of the Western country, its geographical proportions, the number, life, habits and inclinations of the people living there.

Prior to this time the country had been visited by explorers from a quadruple of nations, Spain, France, England and the United States. The accounts by these early adventurers contain the first general information of this territory. They are so vague and each so different from the other as to give the reader only a hazy outline of the great wilderness and the relative position of sections over which the different bands of savages roamed. The maps prepared by them were always more or less inaccurate and incomplete. Sometimes a whole river and its tributaries would be left off the map and often the course was drawn in the wrong direction. So it is that any locations obtained from these early travellers are very indefinite.

Soon after the acquisition of the country by the United States in 1803, government exploring parties were sent into the different sections to obtain accurate description of the country and

more dependable information regarding the tribes who lived there. These expeditions, covering the period from 1804 to 1857, were under the command of capable army officers and composed of men well qualified for the work, including scientists from the fields of engineering, astronomy, botany, etc. It is from these reports and from accurate accounts of some of the later missionaries and agents living with the different tribes that we able to locate very closely the movements and villages of the Pawnees. With the information contained in the above mentioned documents and the knowledge of the present day remains of village sites it is possible to locate definitely many places occupied by the Republican band at certain times.

The first of these reports, being that of Lewis and Clark made in the winter of 1805, says that the Republican Pawnees had been living in different villages on the Republican river. This part of the report is confirmed by the present village sites along that river, those discussed in this issue of the magazine, near Republic, Kansas, and the one between Guide Rock and Red Cloud, Nebraska and those farther west. This first report further states that the Republican Pawnees had returned to the Pawnee Proper on the Platte river the previous spring, to avoid being harassed by the Kansas Indians.

The year following this report Lieutenant Pike visited a large village of Republican Pawnee Indians living on the Republican river. From the description of the village and the conditions of life there it is evident that this village had not been deserted the previous year. One may conclude with W. E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, that the villages other than the one visited by Pike had returned to the Pania Proper and were the ones mentioned by Clark. Continual attacks by the turbulent Kansas being the cause of their return, it is natural to surmise that the Pawnee village which moved before the arrival of Lieut. Pike was the one closest to the Kansas Indians. This would be the village near Republic, Kansas.

The statement that the Pawnees were being harassed by the Kansas Indians is substantiated in the fact that one of the missions of Pike's expedition was to establish peaceful relations between these two tribes. He reports that he was successful in this effort, and it may be due to his influence that the Pawnees remained a few more years on the Republican river.

The first official report we have identifying the Republican Pawnees in the Valley of the Platte as the ones visited by Pike

Flagstaff on Kansas Monument Village Site. Photo Oct., 1925

257

is in Long's report, 1819. He gives their location some thirty miles west of the Loup Fork on that stream and further says that the chief second in importance, Sharitarish, is the son of Chief Characterish visited by Pike. John Dunbar, the missionary to the Pawnees 1834 to 1847, also places the village of the returned Pawnee Republicans on the Loup only a short distance from the Pania Proper. The Pania Proper, of which they were formerly a part, he locates on the south side of the Platte about one hundred and thirty miles from its mouth. This would place the main village of the Pania Proper across the river and a short distance east from Central City, where there is now a large village site. To this village the Republican Pawnee visited by Pike evidently returned before establishing their village a short distance from there on the Loup. The Pawnee village in Nebraska was some thirty miles nearer the Pawnee Proper and about forty miles farther from the turbulent Kansas than the Pawnee village in Republic county, Kansas.

The Ashley-Smith expedition in the years 1822-1829 gives as the usual crossing place from the Platte to the Arkansas "Plumb Point" which is the southernmost point of the Platte river not far from Kearney, Nebraska. This place of leaving the Platte for the country south is only about forty miles from the village in Webster county, Nebraska, but is seventy-five miles at least from the one in Republic county, Kansas.

When did the Indians Pike visited return to the Platte?

Major Long found them there in 1819 and refers to their chief as the son of Chief Characterish whom Pike visited. Mr. Dunbar during his thirteen years of life with them was told by a number of them that they were children when they moved and he therefore places the date at about 1812. A correspondent of the Louisiana Gazette, who visited the Pawnee Republicans in 1811, says that they had left the Republican river two years prior to this, or in other words definitely fixing the year as 1809. He gives as their reason for returning to the valley of the Platte the successive incursions of the Kansas.

Evidently Pike arrived just after the Pawnee village nearest the Kansas Indians had moved from the Republican river to the valley of the Platte. From the present known village sites this would no doubt be the village in Republic county, Kansas. Pike established a friendly relation between the Kansas and the next nearest Indian village, near Red Cloud, Nebraska. His

influence did not last long, however, and the Kansas soon began again their harassing attacks upon the remaining Pawnees on the Republican. And so we find the Pawnee Republicans moved their village to the valley of the Platte in 1809, and there remained in close proximity to the remainder of the Pawnee Federation.

DESCRIPTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE PAWNEE

American State Papers. Documents from the first session of the first to the second session of the Tenth Congress, Inclusive: Commencing March 8, 1789, and ending March 3, 1809. Gales and Seaton, Washington, 1834.
The personnel of Lieutenant Pike's party.

Bolton, H. E., The Archives of Mexico, American Historical Review, Vol. XIII, 1907-08, The MacMillan Company, New York, 1908.
Lieutenant Pike's papers In archives, City of Mexico.

Bureau of American Ethnology Reports, 18th Annual Report, Washington, D. C., 1890-97.
Indian land cessions and maps.

Catlin, Geo. North American Indians. Wiley and Putnam, New York, 1841. Two volumes.
Vol II, p. 27.  He names the four bands of the Pawnees and places their villages on the banks of the Platte.

Connelley, William H., A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1918. Five volumes.
Vol. I, account of Pawnee tribes and Pike Expeditions.

Coues, Elliott, The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike to Headwaters of the Mississippi, Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, During the Years 1805-06-07. Francis P. Harper, New York, 1895. Three Volumes. Map.
The best authority on Pike's Expedition.

Cox, Isaac Joslin, The Early Exploration of Louisiana, University Studies, Series II, Vol. II, No. I. University of Cincinnati, 1906.
Discussion of Spanish documents and correspondence relating to Pike's explorations, Bureau of Indexes and Archives.

Dale, Harrison Clifford, The Ashley-Smith Explorations and the Discovery of a Central Route to the Pacific, 1822-1829. Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland, Ohio, 1918.

Dodge, Colonel Henry, Journal of a March of a Detachment of the Dragoons to the Rocky Mountains in the Summer of 1835. American State Papers, Military Affairs Vol. IV & V. Gales & Seaton, 1861.
Account of Pawnee tribes and their villages.

Dorsey, George A. Traditions of the Skidi Pawnee. Memoires (sic) American Folk-Lore. Vol. VIII. 1904.
These traditions and folklore show the close connection between the Republican and Grand Pawnees.

Dunbar, John B., The Pawnee Indians. Magazine of American History Vol. IV & V. A. S. Barnes & Company, New York, 1880.
Dunbar lived with the Pawnee and spoke their language.

Fremont, J. C., Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North

California in the Years 1843-44. Gales and Seaton, Washington, 1845.
Brief references to the Pawnee villages and country.

Gregg, Josiah, Commerce of the Prairies. Henry G. Langley, New York, 1845.
Map showing site of Republican Pawnee village on Republican river.

Grinnell, George Bird. Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales. Forest and Stream Publishing Company, New York, 1889.
Besides the hero stories the book contains some interesting notes on Origin and Migrations taken from the traditions of the tribe.

Hazen, B. W. History of the Pawnee Indians. Fremont Tribune, Fremont, Nebr. 1893.

Hennepin, Father Louis, A New Discovery, 1698. Edited by B. G. Thwaites. A. C. McClurg & Co. 1903. Two Volumes.
At this early date mentions the divisions of the Pawnee tribe.

Irving, John T. Jr.  Indian Sketches, Taken During Expeditions to the Pawnee Tribes. Carey, Lea and Blanchard, Phil. 1835. Two Volumes.
One of the most interesting accounts of the Pawnee on the Platte and Loup in 1833.

Kansas Historical Society Publications, Vol. 7, 1901-02, Vol. X, 1907-08 and the Twenty-Fifth Biennial Report, 1927.
Dedication of Pike Memorial Monument 1906. Report of committee upon location of Pike-Pawnee Village made in 1926. These volumes contain the "Case For Kansas", as site of the Pike-Pawnee village, as made by Kansas historians.

Lewis & Clark, Original Journals, Edited by B. G. Thwaites. Vol. 6, pp. 80, 86-87.
Tabular statement of Indian nations east of the Rockies. Includes number, location and trade of Pawnee.

Long, Major S. H. Expedition, Edited by H. G. Thwaites. Vol. 1.
Account of Republican Pawnee and the Kansas villages.

Margry Papers, Vol. VI, pp. 309-315. Translated by A. E. Sheldon.
Early explorations to Pawnee villages and account of Indians in Kansas and Nebraska from 1700 to 1800.

McKenney, Thomas L., and James Hall, History of the Indian Tribes of North America with Biographical Sketches and Anecdotes of the Principal Chiefs. J. T. Bowen, Philadelphia, 1848.
Biographical sketch of Sharitarish son of Chief Characterish visited by Pike.

Morton-Watkins, Illustrated History of Nebraska Three Volumes, Jacob North & Company, Lincoln, Nebr. 1905. Pawnee data in Vol. I, pp. 33-44; Vol. II, pp. 192-261.

Nebraska State Histrical (sic) Society Publications, Vol. XVI, 1911 and Vol. XX, 1922, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Reprint from Dunbar manuscript history of Pawnees and letter from Pawnee village in 1811 printed in Louisiana Gazette in 1812.

North, Major Frank. White Chief of the Pawnees. Story of Major North's Life As Told by Him and Written by Alfred Sorenson. Manuscript File Nebraska Historical Society.

Sheldon, Addison B. History and Stories of Nebraska. University Publishing Company, Lincoln, Nebraska, Fourth Edition, 1926.
Brief Sketch of Pawnees in Nebraska.

Smith-Oehler, Visit to the Pawnee Indians in 1851. Reprinted from Moravian Church Miscellany of 1851-2. New York 1914.
A most interesting missionary account of the Pawnee Villages.

Wharton, Major C. Report of the March of the 1st Dragoons to the Pawnee Country, 1844. Photostat Copy in Mss File Nebraska Historical Society.
An interesting account of the march to the villages of the Pawnee on the Platte. Accompanied by blue print map giving definite locations.

STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, CIRCULATION, ETC.,
REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912,

Of Nebraska History Magazine published quarterly at Lincoln, Nebraska for October 1, 1927.

State of Nebraska, County of Lancaster, ss.

Before me, a notary public in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared A. E. Sheldon, who, having been duly sworn according

to law, deposes and says that he is the editor and manager of the Nebraska History Magazine, and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the aforesaid publication for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 411, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit:

1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are:

Publisher--Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Editor--A. E. Sheldon, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Managing Editor--A. E. Sheldon, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Business Manager--A. E. Sheldon, Lincoln, Nebraska.

2. That the owner is: (If owned by a corporation, its name and address must be stated and also immediately thereunder the names and addresses of stockholders owning or holding one per cent or more of total amount of stock. If not owned by a corporation, the names and addresses of the individual owners must be given. If owned by a firm, company, or other unincorporated concern, its name and address, as well as those of each individual member, must be given.)

A. E. Sheldon, Secretary, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Don L. Love, Treasurer, Lincoln, Nebraska.

James F. Hanson, Vice-President, Fremont, Nebraska.

3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: None.

4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders, and security holders, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company but also, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing affiant's full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him.

A. E. SHELDON, Editor.                   
Sworn to aand (sic) subscribed before me this 24th day of September 1927.
(SEAL)           V. E. FRIEND, Notary Public.    
(My commission expires Dec. 1, 1927.)

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