VALLIJbB£, YIDA. SECOND-INTER VIM A3502 ; LEGEND & STORY- FORM • , 100 •• WOKKS PROGHESS,Al)LaiSTRATION ; lndian-Pionotr History Project for Oklahoma
VALLIERE, V IDA. • SAGOHU INTERVIEW ~ 1S502
• ' / Nanni* L«« Burns Field worker's name
... v Harch 31 . . 8 • •' \L ' (d:i tts) 193 This roport made on L • V' / l..-This logj&nd was Mraf, Vallitr* secured/from (mme)
Address
This person it, (male or female) Vihitc, NcfTTTj" i Wi-fe of a Quapaw [ • If "Indian, give tribe Thos« iacts
3. V VALLIERE, VIDA SECOND INTERVIEW '' -'13502 / Nannie Lee Burns,, investigator, '. Maroh 31, 1938. An Interview with Mrs, Vida Yalliere, .- -- , Quapaw,- Oklahoma. ' ..' ' .-•' The Last.Pine Bluff Jhief ' • I vrould like to give you the following story fVom the notes thet I have recently fqund among oomo of my late husband's papers. This.-will supplement the inter- view'that I gave you on,-November'3rd under the hoad of old Quapaw customs.' In - that I riefsrred to our havings lived some months in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. •• •-" • ' ' One.h-undred and forty yearss ago, the Quapaws owned the territory south of the mouth of the Arkansas River to the "Great Raf *M on Red River aind north to a point" of rocks at little RockC They begaja" to [lose, ground when in 1818 th«y- "l ceded to the United States all but one million, 'five hundred thousand acres and this tney also ceded in JL824 except*'for an eighty acre trect long known as the Indian"Reserve. -After a few years they surrendered tills also and moved to %h% Indian Territory, ': .-. -L 102 VALLI3HE* VIDA SECOND INTERVIEW 13502, - 2 - The oldest records available speak of the a3 a peaceful people but th©y\ could be warriors V7hen. • necessary as the following story told by General, Greed indicates the Osages held the .territory north of the Arkansas River except a_^ni§21__§irip from the Arkansas Post to the Mississippi River which was occupied by tie «;uapav?s. There was continual war between the trib.es and about .one hundred end twenty-five ye^rs ago^ the iuapaws were continually driving the 8sages to their hiding places andJ?ecoming angry because of not being able to h&ve a" fair fight with the Quapaws, the Osages sent a'challenge to the Quapaws stating thai* they would leave a settlement of their differences to a chosen bend of fifty warriors from each tribe who should meet on the drand Prairie and fight to a finish; Th« Osages replied that they did not have sufficient ammunition for the fight iso the Quapaws came back with the suggestion that each tribe bring all the powder and balls that it had ,to Major ?rudhoramis an officer of the United States Army .and have fhim divide it 103 VALLIERE, VIDA SECOND INTERVIEW 13502 ; • • . ' • . : -3 - - . into two equal parts. -This.offer was accepted and all of the ponder and balls of the Osages and Quapaws were brought to him and pieced on & blanket in full vie?* of both camps with a delegation from each camp to watch th-s division. After the division, the.battle v?as fought brd.tlie Csa^es '. • / were defeated. t .. / Hecaton was the lest full blood ^uapas? ChiIndian Territory and he frequently returned to the settlement from which Pine Bluff sprang. According to the best\u-ccounts he died about 1939 and waa buried "in the- old Pine B^uff Cemetery which used -to extend from Third to Fourth Avenu* oetween Cheetnut und Bfein Streetf. borne fifteen yefcrs later 3ome \cf the bodies were re- moved to the Bellwood Gemetftry &nd .vhen t^hes grtx\e of Saracen N was opened the box oontained a large amount of Indian regalia. \ • • \ VALLIERE, VIDA oiiiXX.'D INTERVIEW ; ,• 13502" - : • The <,uepaws v?ere friendly to the-whites and Saracen would frequently defend them from the Osages and Ghicka- saws. ,i It is said* on one occasion a band of on* >f -ihsse tribes ca:ae' to cabin of a trapper who li/?^ about *thrse miles below'the present town of Pine Bluff ;r.i s«Lz:n£ his two small children'di^tipp^cred wich thenj. T:,e siit* were helpless und afraid and -wheia the^iiiWo re».cued. ^iir&^e , who was keeping track of the maraud!ing ba:.os at t^e [toLi - do .in this" day, he werit to the cabin of the trapper arsd he 'had heard the little ti-.et -could V>« l^&rn^d, ;.e" knew the band—4»nd—also the place »;here t..ev'woi.ld'crojvj the , river. He raised himself to -hi^ full height und pointi.'.g to the western sun said, "When the 3^n c:r:,e.! i'. »?e'z&&.in.> 3erac«n will bring your children or you *nV I see .'^ no more". Leaving the cabin alone, h* .entered the armed with '.-As. tri&ty rifle, ioma..awk .an'- loaife. ?he Osaged had reacncd °u poinc about iUK-y-five miles liati1 t enfi were ©nt«rina their dugouts when ^rac^.n ".'i;ii a *i.r- . whoop sprang iQto tneir midst snatched up the,children und . • •„. 105 TALLIEKE, VIDA oLCOftD TJUJXVlEfl ' ' 13502' • - * ' . • - 5 - ' • - ,. . disappeared into'the ciln©-brakes with them. Th© next evening, tired and s*orn, he entered th« trapper*s ' cabin ^ith the children. Iht abov* is one of the many instances in which Sarfcccn .protected his friends. He. was ver^ kind to the Catholics end their missionaries and. soon all^of th«» "uapaw trdbe became Catholics who in tur/n have dona muci' fcr 'Saif "red-friends. In 1888 a memorial window was placed in St^Tqseph's church in Pine iBluf f in Honor" of Saracen." -" .-"=^=^ of thg^uapage like their' have growT.homess^k for their old -h-eme and many have N v comt each year in their wagons just to sere—bhe-ir -oI&- ;—4- homes. They felt sick and they thought, thtt the a"IF of ^.j ..""''" . J&\ their old hoides v/ould revive them, and aft«i; ^ome have made the weary journey back to their new home.