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by John Sipes
The Ft. Marion POW gathering for descendants of the prisoners
of war sent to Florida from 1875-78 is planning activities, meetings
and a dance for spring 2003.
A meeting with Mike Leslie at the National Cowboy Hall
of Fame and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City focused on research
the project is doing on Indian education, primarily Carlisle (Pa.) Indian
School.
Carlisle was formed by Capt. Richard Pratt, who was in
charge of the POWs sent from Indian Territory to Ft. Marion. He established
Carlisle Indian School in 1879 when several POWs asked to stay back in
the east and attend school.
The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage
Museum houses the Arthur and Shifra Silberman Collection, which includes
artworks and artists from the Ft. Marion experience. I worked extensively
with Arthur Silberman for years, and the POW project will enhance the Silberman
Collection at the museum.
Carlisle boarding school information and other Indian
education research being put together will enable descendants to add to
their oral family histories on the POWs they are descended from.
A dialogue has been ongoing with the great-grandson of
Capt. Pratt and myself on the planned gathering.
A web site has been set up by Barbara Landis of Carlisle,
Pa., in which historical information on each POW can be added.
Landis for some years has been researching and documenting
Carlisle Indian students. Research on C&As who attended Carlisle
and their extended families is being put together for the web site.
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Places of birth, death, Cheyenne names, English names,
warrior societies, chief or headsman designated, placed of burial and accomplishments
of each POW after their return to the reservation are also being put together.
The concentration on Indian education at boarding schools
is vital historically, and there is a peak in historians, writers, scholars
and students researching and writing master's theses and dissertations
on boarding schools and on students who returned to the reservations.
Texas Historical Commission has shown great interest in
the completed 1874-75 Red River War research in the Texas Panhandle and
Palo Duro Canyon area. A meeting with this group is planned in early
spring.
Oral histories of Cheyennes involved in the Red River
War will enhance the already-documented information from agency and military
reports and the surrender of POWs in 1875 at Fort Reno and on the shackled
POWs being sent to Ft. Marion, Fla.
Dates and places of coming meetings and a dance will be
announced in March.
Ruby Bushyhead, in my opinion, the foremost authority
on C&A heirship extended family kinships, is actively compiling POWs'
genealogies. The genealogies are being completed so they can also
be used for the Sand Creek Massacre project.
Updates will be sent to this newspaper as progress is
completed in each phase of research.
Clifford Long Sioux, Northern Cheyenne Elk Horn Scraper
headsman and ceremonial leader, with other contacts, will be notifying
POW descendants in Montana about these developments.
Used by permission of the author.
Watonga Republican Jan 22, 2003. |