Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883) by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins
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Next: Title page Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims (1883) by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins • Title Page • 4. Captain Truckee’s Death • Contents • 5. Reservation of Pyramid and Muddy Lakes [Nevada] • Editor’s Preface • 6. The Malheur Agency [Oregon] • 1. First Meeting of Piutes and Whites • 7. The Bannock War • 2. Domestic and Social Moralities • 8. The Yakima Affair [Washington Territory] • 3. Wars and their Causes • Appendix • Map showing places where Sarah Winnemucca lived. (From Gae Canfield Sarah Winnemucca of the Northern Paiutes) About the Author Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins while lecturing in Boston Oil-tinted photograph (Granger Collection) Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, born as Thocmentony “Shell Flower” “somewhere near 1844” at Humboldt Sink, Nevada (then claimed by México as part of Territorio de Alta California). Her parents were Poito (Chief Winnemucca or Old Winnemucca) and Tuboitonie. Her maternal grandfather was Captain Truckee “Good,” a Winnemucca Northern Paiute chief who fought with John C. Frémont during the Mexican-American war. Her grandfather introduced her to California and Nevada immigrants who taught her English. As she also knew Spanish and several Native American languages, she served for an interpreter for the military and various Indian agencies, and also worked as a teacher’s aid. The Bannock war in 1878 proved disastrous for the Winnemucca band. Although only a minority was involved in the uprising, and most fought against it, the entire band was relocated during winter to the Yakima Reservation, Washington state. The Indian Agent there kept food and clothing intended for them. The Winnemucca people approached Sarah during this period asking for her to travel to Washington, D.C. and appeal for their rights. In 1880 she went to Washington and spoke with Secretary of the Interior Charles Schurz and President Rutherford Hayes. Their promises were soon forgotten, but on subsequent travels in 1883 and 1884, Sarah gave over 300 lectures in the Eastern U.S. With encouragement of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Massachusetts senator Henry Dawes, and Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, she wrote this autobiography. IT was the first book written in English by a Native American woman. Although Sarah was a better public speaker than writer, the words are still forceful and are more readable than the stilted prose then popular in the Victorian era. Her lectures helped increase awareness and sympathy for the plight of Native Americans. In 1884, Sarah Winnemucca opened and ran a Northern Paiute school near Lovelock, Nevada, using royalties from this book and donations. However, she ran out of money and was never able to get Federal funding. Her husband, Lewis Hopkins, died of tuberculosis October 18, 1887. His disease and gambling left her with little money. After his death, and sick herself, she went to live with her sister Elma. Sarah died October 16, 1891 at her sister’s home near Henry’s Lake, Idaho. Sarah Winnemucca statue by Benjamin Victor, 2005 Sarah Winnemucca was a strong woman among two male-dominated societies. Because of her work as an Interpreter, and her relaying lies and broken promises of the U.S. Government and their Indian Agents, some of her fellow people viewed her with distrust. Resentment and suspicion caused others to spread lies about her. Nevertheless, she was a tireless and selfless worker for her people and helped raise attention for her people’s plight on the East Coast. She felt that her people can run their own lives without government interference. In 2005 Sarah Winnemucca was honored with a statue in the U.S Capitol. Each state sends two statues to the Capitol, and Nevada choose her to represent their state in 2005. • Sally Zanjani, Sarah Winnemucca (2001). • Harold P. Howard, “Sarah Winnemucca of the Northern Paiutes,” in Three American Indian Women (1995) • Ellen Scordato, Sarah Winnemucca: Northern Paiute Writer and Diplomat (1992) • Gae Canfield, Sarah Winnemucca of the Northern Paiutes (1983). Probably the best writtten biography of her life. Bibliographical Information Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins “Thocmentony” (1844?-1891), Life among the Piutes: their Wrongs and Claims (self-published, 1883), Edited by Mrs. Horace Mann (Mary Peabody Mann), sister of educator Elizabeth Peabody and wife of educator Horace Mann. LCCN 02018431. 268 pages. 19 cm. Brown, green, red, or blue cloth with black Greek key ornamental border on top and bottom of front cover and spine; title stamped in gilt. Gilt lettering on spine. Graff 1950; Paher 888; Rader 1927; Smith 4618. Library of Congress call number E99.P2 H7. Available on microfilm produced by Research Publications: Western Americana (1975), reel 268, no. 2656 and History of Women (1976), reel 455, no. 3374. Digitized by Dan Anderson, December 2005. These files may be used for any non-commercial purpose, provided this notice is left intact. —Dan Anderson, www.yosemite.ca.us Next: Title page Life among the Piutes by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins (Paperback, 1994) Buy this book at Amazon.com Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims. by SARAH WINNEMUCCA HOPKINS edited by MRS. HORACE MANN, and PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. BOSTON: FOR SALE BY CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO. 283 WASHINGTON STREET; G. P. PUTMAN’S SONS, NEW YORK: AND BY THE AUTHOR. 1883 Copyright, by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins. 1883. ELECTROTYPED. BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 4 Perl Street. CONTENTS. Editor’s Preface 4 I.First Meeting of Piutes and Whites 5 II.Domestic and Social Moralities 45 III.Wars and their Causes 58 IV.Captain Truckee’s Death 66 V.Reservation of Pyramid and Muddy Lakes 76 VI.The Malheur Agency 105 VII.The Bannock War 137 VIII.The Yakima Affair 203 Appendix 249 EDITOR’S PREFACE Mary Peabody Mann edited Sarah’s book (not in original book) Mary’s sister Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, encouraged Sarah to write this book (not in original book) My editing has consisted in copying the original manuscript in correct orthography and punctuation, with occasional emendations by the author, of a book which is an heroic act on the part of the writer. Mrs. Hopkins came to the East from the Pacific coast with the courageous purpose of telling in detail to the mass of our people, “extenuating nothing and setting down naught in malice,” the story of her people’s trials. Finding that in extemporaneous speech she could only speak at one time of a few points, she determined to write out the most important part of what she wished to say. In fighting with her literary deficiencies she loses some of the fervid eloquence which her extraordinary colloquial command of the English language enables her to utter, but I am confident that no one would desire that her own original words should be altered. It is the first outbreak of the American Indian in human literature, and has a single aim—to tell the truth as it lies in the heart of mind of a true patriot and one whose knowledge of the two races gives her an opportunity of comparing them justly. At this moment, when the United States seem waking up to their duty to the original possessors of our immense territory, it is of the first importance to hear what only an Indian and an Indian woman can tell. To tell it was her own deep impulse, and the dying charge given her by her father, the truly parental chief of his beloved tribe. m. m. LIFE AMONG THE PIUTES. CHAPTER I. FIRST MEETING OF PIUTES AND WHITES. I was born somewhere near 1844, but am not sure of the precise time. I was a very small child when the first white people came into our country. They came like a lion, yes, like a roaring lion, and have continued so ever since, and I have never forgotten their first coming. My people were scattered at that time over nearly all the territory now known as Nevada. My grandfather was chief of the entire Piute nation, and was camped near Humboldt Lake, with a small portion of his tribe, when a party travelling eastward from California was seen coming. When the news was brought to my grandfather, he asked what they looked like? When told that they had hair on their faces, and were white, he jumped up and clasped his hands together, and cried aloud,— “My white brothers,—my long-looked for white broth ers have come at last!” Truckee approaches white men for the first time. From O. O. Howard My Life & Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians (not in original book) He immediately gathered some of his leading men, and went to the place where the party had gone into camp. Arriving near them, he was commanded to halt in a manner that was readily understood without an interpreter. Grandpa at once made signs of friendship by throwing down his robe and throwing up his arms to show them he had no weapons; but in vain,—they kept him at a distance. He knew not what to do. He had expected so much pleasure in welcoming his white brothers to the best in the land, that after looking at them sorrowfully for a little while, he came away quite unhappy. But he would not give them up so easily. He took some of his most trustworthy men and followed them day after day, camping near them at night, and travelling in sight of them by day, hoping in this way to gain their confidence. But he was disappointed, poor dear old soul! I can imagine his feelings, for I have drank deeply from the same cup. When I think of my past life, and the bitter trials I have endured, I can scarcely believe I live, and yet I do; and, with the help of Him who notes the sparrow’s fall, I mean to fight for my down-trodden race while life lasts.