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Fall 2013 EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS WAMPUM AMONG PLAINS TRIBES Jordan Keagle George Fox University

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Keagle, Jordan, "EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS WAMPUM AMONG PLAINS TRIBES" (2013). Great Plains Quarterly. 2553. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/2553

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS WAMPUM AMONG PLAINS TRIBES

JORDAN KEAGLE

tiersmen attempted to follow patterns of Native In the seventeenth century, when Europeans American diplomacy already established. Such first arrived in what are now the New England patterns included using wampum strings as trade and mid-Atlantic states, they encountered a wide goods on journeys of exploration and fur trad­ array of indigenous tribes already calling the land ing. However, tribes outside the Northeast did home. The new setrlers soon realized the impor­ not produce their own shell beads, nor did many tance of shell beads called wampum. Manufac­ tribes know about the shell beads of the Munsee, tured primarily along Long Island Sound, these beads, shaped from marine shells, could be made Mohawk, and other tribes. Westward-expanding into belts or grouped as strings.! Though whites whites and displaced Native American tribes of failed to grasp the nuances of wampum culture, the Northeast carried wampum into the lands leading to the generalization of wampum as "In­ surrounding the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. dian money," they nevertheless recognized its sig­ In doing so, these travelers introduced the Osage, nificance in Native American trade and diploma­ the Kansa, the Pawnee, and many other tribes to cy. Eventually, wampum came to be used among the purple and white shell beads. The varied uses whites as well, serving as a common monetary of wampum in the Trans-Mississippi West depart­ unit for Dutch and English colonists. 2 ed drastically from the established cultural signifi­ As the colonies and later the fledgling na­ cance of the beads in the Northeast. Although tion of the United States moved westward, fron- wampum played a traditional role in diplomacy in the West, there it was largely white-driven rath­ Key Words: belts, diplomacy, Indian factory system, jewelry, portrai· er than devised by Natives. Most wampum in the ture, Western expansion West was used for personal ornamentation, com­ pletely removed from the beads' original spiritual Jordan Keagle is a student at George Fox University in Newberg, and symbolic aspects. Only in later decades did Oregon, where he studies history and biblical studies. His focus is American history, particularly the American West. He thanks Dr. wampum beads find inclusion in traditional cer­ Paul Otto of George Fox University for his guidance in preparing emonial objects and then only in limited quanti­ this manuscript. ties as components in larger artifacts.

[GPQ 33 (Fa1l2013}:221-235 221 222 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 2013

Wampum is a tangible example of the East's these cultures, even when they came from a per­ influence over the West in the early nineteenth son of high social standing. Thus, "'true' words century. The presence of wampum across the were always accompanied by presents of symboli­ Plains attests to whites' wide-ranging and suc­ cally charged or economically valuable items," cessful economic and diplomatic forays into the primarily strings or belts of wampum.4 frontier. The beads' spread both north and west In these ritual contexts, the beads' color, "spe­ from a locus on the Lower Missouri demonstrates cifically white, red, and black, [was) fundamental a gradual process of cultural adaptation between to the symbolic meaning or cultural 'value' of Indians and whites as well as between Native wampum."5 Anthropologist George R. Hamell tribes. By examining the written, material, and goes on to describe these colors as they relate pictorial evidence, we can utilize wampum as a to the conditions or states-of-being of those giv­ means to track this intercultural exchange over ing the wampum. White beads represent "social the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centu­ states-of-being, exemplifying the desired state of ries. The essentially simultaneous appearance of the individual or community, physical, social, identical wampum earrings in multiple eastern and spiritual well-being."6 Black beads denote Plains tribes implies a close-knit intertribal mate­ "ritual asocial states-of-being, such as the 'dark­ rial culture that had common styles and shared ness' of mourning," and red-painted beads reflect indicators of wealth and status. Wampum jewelry "antisocial states-of-being, " war in particular'? became a sign of power and affluence among Thus, the colors of beads used in a belt or string these tribes, with whom it had a prominent place corresponded with the particular purpose for in formal and ceremonial attire. These Native which the wampum was intended. A primarily cultural markers were in tum carried to the East white·belt with dark patterns or pictographs com­ by Indian dignitaries and recorded by portraitists municated a positive social message while a pri­ like Charles Bird King, illustrating the cultural marily dark or red belt represented less amiable adaptations made possible by trade with the East. 8 This article seeks to trace the spread and var­ circumstances. ied use of wampum among the Native American According to Hamell, early settlers "recognized tribes of the Great Plains. It first discusses the the analogy in the symbolic functions and mean­ symbolism integral to northeastern wampum ings of [white wampum) beads and that of silver, traditions and next examines wampum's first ap­ gold, and diamonds in European traditions."9 pearances west of the Mississippi, beginning with Not only were these items wealth in terms of French and British frontiersmen and followed by monetary value, but they also visibly represented the Lewis and Clark expedition. After wampum's social well-being. Given this cross-cultural correla­ introduction to the Plains, its usage falls into tion, Hamell speculates that these "white, bright, three major categories: eastern-style diplomatic and light things are 'good to think'" and repre­ rituals driven primarily by British influence, ap­ sent positive ideas of life and "correlated states of plication in personal ornamentation and jewelry, physical, social, and spiritual well-being."10 If Eu­ and inclusion as a decorative element in sacred ropean settlers were aware of these deeper levels and ritual objects of the Plains cultures. of meaning, the more practical understanding of wampum's use in commencing and ending hos­ tilities took precedence. WAMPUM'S SYMBOLIC VOCABULARY Among the Native peoples of the American FRENCH WAMPUM Northeast, wampum beads held great symbolic ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI and spiritual meaning. For example, historian James P. Merrell calls wampum the "Indians' cus­ Wampum, though well established among the In­ tomary means of giving words weight."3 Words dians of the Northeast, was originally a purely re­ alone held little meaning or trustworthiness in gional commodity. European explorers of the late EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS 223 seventeenth century carried the first wampum to of wampum was not available.14 Gorrell quickly reach the Mississippi River. The French in par­ learned "that there was a vast number of Indians ticular, familiar with the use of wampum among dependent upon [wampum], more than was ever tribes in the Northeast and Quebec, brought thought of," and so he requested wampum be wampum strings and trinkets with them as they sent from the garrison at Detroit.15 When wam­ explored the newly christened Louisiana. One pum could not be procured from Detroit, Gor­ early episode of wampum trade with Plains tribes rell had to "borrow of the Indian squaws," paying concerns Father Louis Hennepin, a French priest them immediately and promising to replenish and companion of Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur their stores when the next trader carrying wam­ de La Salle, explorer of the Great Lakes and later pum arrived.16 The following year, Gorrell met the Mississippi River valley. Hennepin, trav"eling with members of the Winnebago and Iowa tribes. near the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi While the Winnebago delegation offered a wam­ Rivers in 1680, encountered a war party of Sioux pum belt and declared their peaceful intentions, and was swiftly surrounded. That evening, Hen­ the Iowa brought nothing. However, they accept­ nepin and his companions were alarmed to dis­ ed belts from Gorrell "for the return of prison­ cover that "the majority of warriors were in favor ers."17 When the chief of the Iowa visited in June of tomahawking them."l1 To appease his captors, 1763, he too came empty-handed, though the Hennepin offered "several fathoms of French to­ British presented him with gifts.IS These interac­ bacco, axes, knives, beads, and some black and tions between the Iowa and the British illustrate white wampum bracelets," which the warriors di­ a persistent factor in wampum's westward spread: vided among themselvesY Though less an exam­ piecemeal tribal participation. ple of trade than a desperate bribe, this incident Clearly, members of the Iowa tribe under­ is potentially the first introduction of wampum stood the rituals of wampum belt diplomacy. to the Sioux and foreshadows the value placed on Their neighbors the Winnebago fully partici­ wampum by Plains tribes as ornaments, indepen­ dent of the rituals of wampum diplomacy. pated, and Iowa representatives witnessed Win­ nebago exchanges with whites. The Iowa them­ selves accepted wampum belts from the British BRITISH WAMPUM DIPLOMACY and fulfilled the terms of the agreements they While the French can be credited with introduc­ symbolized. Why the Iowa evidently did not ing wampum beads to the tribes of the Great present wampum belts to their white or Indian Plains, both Indian and European diplomats allies is unclear. Gorrell's first Iowa visitors even brought the practice of wampum belt diplomacy apologized for not bringing belts, demonstrating to the region. A complex intercultural "treaty pro­ an understanding that the whites expected belts tocol," based in Iroquois political ritual, "spread to be presented.19 Though they surely understood in the mid-seventeenth to early eighteenth centu­ the processes and implications of wampum di­ ry to other Native groups and to French, English, plomacy, the Iowa could have accepted belts only and Spanish officials throughout the Northeast, to humor their white acquaintances. To tribes the Great Lakes, and the Southeast."13 However, without existing traditions of wampum use, belt the timing of the protocol's appearance among exchanges came about solely in the context of in­ certain groups is difficult to ascertain. tercultural encounters. The practice's Native ori­ When the British moved to occupy formerly gins were inconsequential; wampum was a British French-held territory near Green Bay, Wisconsin, symbol, not an Iroquoian one. Likewise, the Brit­ they encountered a number of Great Lakes tribes ish assumed all Indians valued wampum, so they using wampum belts in a manner comparable continued to send wampum belts to new tribes, to that seen on the Eastern Seaboard. In 1761, inadvertently introducing many nations to the British lieutenant James Gorrell found his dip­ practice. In this way, cultural misunderstanding lomatic efforts stymied when a promised supply spread ceremonial wampum use westward. 224 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 2013

There are many different factors that could turies, tribal leaders in the Old Northwest spear­ explain selective participation by the Iowa and headed many of these ceremonial uses. For in­ other tribes of the area. One reason could be stance, in July 1812, as the War of 1812 began, the high cost of creating wampum belts. The Tenskwatawa, brother of "the Shawnee Prophet" Natives of the Great Lakes could not make the Tecumseh, "sent each of the western tribes a pipe beads themselves. Instead, traders would have and a belt of wampum" to call them into council carried the beads nearly 1,000 miles overland to strike against American frontiersmen.24 from production centers on the New York coast. Tribes migrating from the East also spurred Furthermore, creation of wampum belts required wampum exchanges on the frontier, though not a specialized technique of cutting, drilling, and always with full participation from western tribes. shaping shells-one that may not have been Members of the Delaware tribe, wampum mak­ known by the Iowa and neighboring tribes. Prac­ ers originally from New Jersey and New York, tical reasons aside, however, the inscrutable rules settled in Kansas in 1829.25 Conflicts between of cultural taste and etiquette played a role. The the transplanted Delaware and their new Plains Iowa and other nonparticipating tribes may have neighbors began swiftly. In 1833, John Treat Ir­ simply not valued wampum in the way that belt­ ving Jr., nephew of author Washington Irving, making tribes did. attended a peace council between the Delaware Despite uneven participation by the tribes and the Pawnee at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. they encountered, British officials held to estab­ In council, a Delaware warrior named Sou-wah­ lished patterns of wampum belt diplomacy in the nock "presented a string of wampum to the Wild West well into the nineteenth century. In 1778, Horse, as being the most distinguished warrior of army officers hoping to recruit fighters on the the Pawnee nation."26 Wild Horse made a speech side of the crown in the American Revolution of thanks and goodwill but offered no wampum sent wampum belts to many tribes, including or other gifts in exchange. The degree to which the Iowa. 20 Two years later, Lieutenant Governor Wild Horse and his fellow Pawnee understood Patrick Sinclair delivered wampum belts to nine tribes, including the Iowa, the Sioux, the Sauk, the significance of the wampum is unknown. and the Fox, in order to rally support for the cap­ Even with the original practitioners of wampum ture of Spanish-held St. Louis. 21 Though none diplomacy demonstrating its rituals, wampum ex­ of these four tribes used wampum belts among changes failed to find a true cultural niche among themselves, each heeded the call to arms. Soon af­ the tribes native to the eastern Plains. ter, British wampum reached the Missouri River where it was used to coerce Sioux bands into alli­ LEWIS AND CLARK'S ance with Britain and hostility with American fur WAMPUM DIPLOMACY traders.22 In 1817, fur trader Manuel Lisa wrote to William Clark, then governor of the Missouri Commissioned in 1803 by Thomas Jefferson to Territory, warning him that "wampum was being explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, carried with British influence all along the banks Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spread wam­ of the [Missouri] river."23 pum farther west than ever before. Lewis's supply lists featured an entry for five pounds of white wampum to serve as "Indian presents."27 Expe­ INTERTRIBAL WAMPUM dition documents refer only to white wampum, EXCHANGE IN THE WEST except for one small mention of blue or purple Although ceremonial wampum usage in the Iro­ wampum traded to the Nez Perce in exchange for quoian tradition often corresponded with Euro­ horses.28 The captains primarily used wampum, pean activity in the West, wampum exchanges along with tobacco, medals, and American flags, between tribes did occur along the Mississippi. as part of their standard gift package to Indian In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth cen- chiefs and dignitaries.29 In contrast to previous EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS 225

British and American wampum diplomacy, Lewis UNITED STATES INDIAN and Clark distributed plain strings of wampum, FACTORY SYSTEM not wampum belts. Wampum's inclusion as part Upon Lewis and Clark's return to St. Louis of the expedition's supplies indicates that the in 1806, travel and trade by white Americans captains knew its value as a staple of diplomacy in boomed in the West. In the following decades, the East. However, if Lewis and Clark intended two major powers struggled for economic con­ to replicate such diplomacy in their Indian en­ trol of the region, and both utilized wampum to counters, they were unsuccessful. The explorers do so. Beginning in 1795 and continuing until presented Indian gift packages with great ceremo­ 1822, the United States government operated ny involving lengthy speeches from the captains, the Indian factory system, establishing trading shooting displays, and, inadvertently, presenta­ posts to supply Native peoples with otherwise tions of Clark's slave, York. 1o None of the expedi­ unavailable goods. Though the posts themselves tion's diarists note the Native leaders' reactions were called factories, they were in actuality more to the wampum, only that it was given. Although like small military garrisons and produced no the chiefs made speeches of their own and amica­ manufactured goods. Overseen by a division of bly smoked with the captains, none reciprocated the War Department, the factory system's goals the gift of wampum in the form of strings or were diplomatic more than economic, with the belts. If these men attributed symbolic meaning government hoping the Natives "would show to the strands of white beads, their thoughts were their appreciation by being friendly to the Unit­ lost amid the excitement of trinkets, tobacco, and ed States and refraining from engaging in war."35 Clark's "turrible" servant.3! The Louisiana Purchase opened a vast number As the Corps of Discovery moved farther west, of new trade opportunities for the factory sys­ Native reception of wampum grew colder. Tribes tem, allowing it to expand beyond the American living along the Columbia River had never seen Southeast. In 1804, Congress approved a sum of wampum before, but they had developed very $15,000 to extend the system into the new terri­ specific preferences for the beads they would ac­ tory and $100,000 for the construction of new cept, preferring blue glass trade beads above all trading posts.36 others. In January 1806, Clark wrote of the Clat­ As the factories expanded into the Louisiana sop tribe, "The best wampum is not so much es­ Territory, fur-trading companies arose as a sort of teemed by them as the most inferior beads."32 An private counterpart to the federal Indian factory incident in April 1806 illustrates that wampum system. In contrast to the government program's was not a universal commodity. The captains pur­ diplomatic intent, the companies' goals were chased a canoe from an Indian man along the wholly economic. Spearheaded by entrepreneurs Columbia for six fathoms (thirty-six feet} of white like John Jacob Astor, fur companies grew to be­ wampum. However, the man returned the follow­ come influential players in the economy, govern­ ing day with the wampum in hand, demanding ment, and Native relations in the West. his canoe back.33 Unlike on the Atlantic or the In both the federal and private systems, day-to­ Great Lakes, where a belt of wampum could end day operations looked largely similar. Customers a war, on the Pacific Coast wampum was mean­ could purchase items on credit and pay it back ingless. Between its lack of trade potential and through the sale of furs. Native customers' tastes its lackluster reception as a diplomatic gift, wam­ and whims almost entirely dictated trade-good selections. A change in available wares or a short­ pum benefited Lewis and Clark very little during age of a particular item could cause trade to halt their journey. In fact, the expedition would have entirely. To prevent disputes and loss of profit, been better served by jettisoning the wampum in the head of each post was responsible for order­ favor of extra blue beads, which among the In­ ing only goods that appealed to the locals and dians could, as Lewis wrote, "be justly compared their specific requirements. For this reason, the to goald [sic] or silver among civilized nations."34 226 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 2013

1 inch trffLlff//4i •

FlO. 1. Large "Campbell" wampum, which was manufactured by whites (A). Traditional belt, or "council," wampum (B). Drawing by Devon Hanbey.

ledgers and letrer books of the various posts pro­ hair pipes" despite their not being true wampum. vide an invaluable resource for tracking wampum After the Civil War, hair pipes and moons super­ usage in the Plains. seded traditional wampum beads as adornment Although factory logs do not include which among Plains tribes.41 customers purchased wampum or the purposes Over time, Indian buyers grew to prefer beads for which it was used, the amounts and prices re­ larger than the traditional ones used in wampum corded give an indication of supply and demand belts. Existing specimens range from 0.5 inches on the frontier. In 1808, a thousand white beads to 1.1 inches, twice to four times the size of tra­ of wampum cost $1.75, and a thousand gray or ditional, or "council," wampum, which rypically purple beads cost $3.00,31 Ora Brooks Peake, measured close to a quarter inch in lengthY in A History of the United States Factory System, Indian trade officials, in a purchase order writ­ 1795-1822, notes that the factory system used ten in 1815, requested wampum beads to be "of nearly $1,500 of wampum annually.38 However, a large size and the white should be as free of a records from Fort Osage on the Missouri River yellow cast as possible."43 By 1818, such demand in 1810 show a stock of $1,523.98 of wampum for wampum existed that its price had more than at that factory alone.39 Compared to other beads doubled, and agents for the factory system and commonly traded at the factories, wampum was for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company quite expensive. A pound of sky-blue glass trade struggled to purchase any from their East Coast beads cost $0.43 in 1810; 1,000 grains of wam­ suppliers.44 In February of that year, Ramsay pum (wampum was sold by number of beads Crooks Wrote to Astor saying, "I have spoken to or "grains") cost $3.00. 40 The willingness of the a man who promises to procure us Thirty thou­ federal government to pay such a premium for sand [beads]; though the competition for the ar­ a comparatively small amount of product speaks ticle runs so high, that I put but little faith in his to wampum's place as a staple of Indian trade. promise."45 The federal government had no bet­ Additionally, two other rypes of decorative shell ter luck. Superintendent of Indian trade Thomas products made their way to the Plains-moons McKenney wrote to employee Joseph Lopes Dias, and hair pipes. Moons were round, flat discs a purchasing agent in New York, that he would shaped from shells with a diameter of around double Dias's commission on any wampum he three inches. Hair pipes were long, thick white managed to acquire, because wampum was "so shell beads often threaded onto lengths of hair, troublesome to procure and claiming the same hung as ear adornment, or combined to make atrention as articles the amount of which would breastplates. Because these ornaments were made far exceed that of wampum purchases, and with of materials similar to wampum, traders often much less trouble."46 The high demand for wam­ called them "wampum moons" and "wampum pum even necessitated that the beads be sent to EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS 227 factories via mail, rather than the typical ships and wagons, to save timeY

WAMPUM AS PERSONAL ORNAMENTATION The large volume of wampum reaching the Great Plains led numerous tribes to find new applica­ tions for the beads. Most prominently, Plains tribes used wampum to create jewelry, primar­ ily earrings and necklaces. The earliest evidence for wampum-bead earrings among Plains tribes comes from portraits painted by Charles Saint­ Memin of Osage tribe members. Though the pre­ cise dates are unknown, Saint-Memin's subjects sat for the portraits between 1805 and 1807, when a number of Indian delegations toured Washing­ ton, DC.48 Saint-Memin's Chief of the Little Osages, Osage Warrior I, and Osage Warrior II depict men of the Osage tribe wearing simple ear ornaments of strung wampum. The strings consist of alter­ nating blue and white beads that hang through large slits cut in the men's ears. First documented in these portraits, this style would later appear among nearly all the tribes of the Lower Missouri. FIG. 2. Detail from Osage Warrior I by Charles Saint-Memin. A decade later, white explorers began to docu­ Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ment instances of Natives belonging to other na­ tions wearing earrings similar to those seen in Saint-Memin's portraits. Physician Edwin James Kansa jewelry, writing, "The ears of both sexes accompanied Major Stephen Harriman Long on are perforated four times lengthwise, and in ev­ an army expedition in 1819 to further explore ery incision hangs a bundle of blue and white the lands between the Mississippi and the Rocky porcelain sticks, which are valued highly by these Mountains. James's account mentions that Indians. The richer among them wear strings of among the men of the Kansa tribe, "the outer such porcelain sticks around their necks."5I Wil­ cartilage of the ear is cut through in three places, helm's term of "porcelain" was used in his origi­ and upon the rims, thus separated, various orna­ nal German manuscript, a borrowing from the ments are suspended, such as wampum, string French, who used the word to refer to wampum. beads, silver or tin trinkets, &C."49 Saint-Memin's In contrast to James's notes and Saint-Memin's Osage portraits potentially show three such ear portraits, Duke Wilhelm claims Kansa women slits, though wampum strings hang from only slit and ornamented their ears in the same fash­ one. James later encountered a similarly orna­ ion as the men of the tribe and that the ears are mented member of the Otoe tribe, with "a profu­ cut in four places, not three. Wilhelm observed sion of wampum about his neck, and suspended members of the Iowa nation wearing wampum to his ears."50 jewelry in this style as well.52 Wilhelm also writes Two years after James's journey ended, Ger­ that among the Pawnee, "sticks of porcelain, such man aristocrat Duke Paul Wilhelm of Wiirtrem­ as are sold by the traders, are considered of great burg began his own tour of North America. The value, and they wear them in their ears, around duke recorded a more detailed description of their necks, and around their wrists. "53 228 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 2013

FIG. 3. A delegation of Mandan and Arikara tribe members visiting Washington, DC, in 1874. Indian delegations regularly jour­ neyed to the nation's capital throughout the nineteenth century. Courtesy National Archives, photo no. 106-IN-204.

WAMPUM IN INDIAN PORTRAITURE sources like James's and Wilhelm's journals lack detail, King's portraits show with precision and Though Edwin James and Duke Paul Wilhelm clarity how the Natives living along the Missouri provide some indication in their accounts of how used wampum as ornamentation. far wampum jewelry spread, neither expedition Black (or blue) and white wampum earrings brought back pictorial evidence. Fortunately, in the style described by James and Wilhelm beginning in 1822, Thomas McKenney commis­ appear in more than a dozen of King's Indian sioned Washington portraitist Charles Bird King to paint members of visiting Indian delegations portraits, worn by members of five tribes: Iowa, for the federal government just as Saint-Memin Kansa, Otoe, Pawnee, and the merged tribe of had done fifteen years prior.54 Across a twenty­ the Sauk and Fox. Among those wearing the ear­ year period, King painted more than 140 por­ rings, the style is very much the same. Each ear traits of dignitaries from over a dozen tribes. has one large cut in the earlobe and holes around King's first subjects, arriving in the spring of the ear's outside edge. In every case, the wampum 1822, came to the nation's capital "as part of an strings follow an alternating pattern of black and elaborate scheme designed to influence the Up­ white beads. per Missouri tribes to accept peaceably American Variations in this style of ornamentation in­ expansion into their country."55 Where written clude the number of holes in the ear and the EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS 229

FIG. 6. Detail of portrait of Rantchewaime, an Iowa, from The History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1844. Litho­ graph after Charles Bird King.

length of the wampum strings looped through each hole. Monchonsia, a Kansa Chief, shows its subject with very tight loops of wampum in his FIG. 4. Detail of portrait of Choncape, an Otoe, from The ears. Compare this to the long, loose loops worn History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1844. Lithograph by the subjects of Choncape, or Big Kansas, and after Charles Bird King. Nowaykesugga, both Otoe. Intriguingly, King's portraits also depict women wearing wampum earrings. Hayne Hudjihini of the Otoe and Rantchewaime of the Iowa appear in their por­ traits wearing earrings in the same style as the men of their tribes'. Though Duke Wilhelm men­ tioned only Kansa women wearing wampum in their ears, King's portraits prove the women of other tribes did so as well. Perhaps most importantly, King's portraits demonstrate not just how wampum jewelry looked but what it meant to the people who wore it. The Native American dignitaries who toured Washing­ ton, DC, did not do so as a sightseeing trip. In the nation's capital, government hosts treated these men and women as they would have treated visit­ ing foreign heads of state, culminating in a meet­ ing with the "Great Father," President Monroe.56 The Indian delegates wore their finest clothes and adornments during their time in Washington. As

FIG. 5. Detail of portrait of Hayne Hudjihini, an Otoe, from chiefs, great warriors, and the wives of such high­ The History of the Indian Tribes of North America, 1844. Litho­ ranking men, the representatives were the wealthi­ graph after Charles Bird King. est members of their tribes, and they dressed to 230 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 2013

make their wealth and power known. The preva­ ments.58 The minimal brushwork Catlin used for lence of wampum among them demonstrates its beaded necklaces and ear ornaments complicates role as a status symbol-something meant to im­ the process of identification, but at least three press, like the gold and precious stones so valued dozen of his portraits feature wampum jewelry. in white society. The visitors wore this finery dur­ Where Charles Bird King's portraits demon­ ing their meetings with the president and donned strated the geographic extent of wampum orna­ it again to have their portraits painted by Mr. mentation in the Plains, George Catlin's por­ King, intending to leave a lasting reminder of their traiture shows wampum's heightened availability personal and tribal importance. and popularity. In at least three Plains tribes, a Furthermore, the widespread use of the alter­ majority of Catlin's subjects wear wampum bead nating black and white pattern, with equal num­ earrings. While among the Pawnee, Catlin paint­ bers of both colors of beads, indicates a break ed thirteen men's portraits. Of the twelve extant from the northeastern understanding ofwampum today, eleven feature wampum strings as ear orna­ bead-color symbolism as described by Hamell. Al­ mentation. The Otoe, neighbors of the Pawnee, ternating strings of dark and light beads have no had five men sit for Catlin. One portrait is lost, precedent in Iroquoian usage, nor do exclusively but three of the four remaining show wampum in white or black strings appear in western contexts their subjects' ears. Similarly, six of Catlin's ten as they did in the Northeast. Following the north­ paintings of male Osage show wampum earrings, eastern color model, Indian dignitaries should though some works include multiple subjects for have worn white earrings to correspond with the a total of nine tribesmen wearing wampum. As friendly diplomatic atmosphere and to communi­ with King, a minority of Catlin's portraits fea­ cate the wholeness and well-being of the Indian tured women. Of these, only the Ponca woman delegation. This is not the case, however. Chiefs Bending Willow, a chiefs wife, wears wampum and warriors, men and women-all wore alternat­ ear ornaments. ing black and white beads. In the West, evidently, George Catlin recorded his experiences in the dark beads lost their association with asocial the West on paper as well as on canvas, penning emotions and strained diplomatic circumstances. the two-volume Letters and Notes on the Manners, Instead, the beads were used freely in an orna­ Customs, and Conditions of the North American In­ mental capacity to contrast with the bright white dians; written during eight years' travel (1832-1839) beads and the tanned skin of the Native wearers. amongst the wildest tribes of Indians in North Ameri­ Another notable painter of Indian portraiture ca, or simply North American Indians. Letrer 27 in began his work ten years after Charles Bird King volume 1 includes a lengthy footnote by Catlin and differentiated himself by visiting his subjects describing wampum's history and manufacture, in their tribal lands. George Catlin arrived in St. fOCUSing on its monetary and ceremonial usage. Louis to begin his western journey in 1830, carry­ Unlike other visitors to the West, Catlin noted ing his brushes and paints with him. From 1832 the difference between the larger wampum worn to 1834, he made a grand two-year tour of forts as adornment by Great Plains tribes and the and villages. Along the way, Catlin painted hun­ smaller beads used for wampum belts. Catlin's dreds of portraits with unusual speed, potentially understanding is flawed, however, as he claims painting 170 portraits in five months in 1832,51 "the same materials for [wampum's] manufacture Though this speed allowed Catlin to produce an are found in abundance through those regions impressive array of portraits, it often impacted [the Upper Missouri]."59 He mentions the com­ the level of detail included. Plains anthropologist John C. Ewers noted Catlin's tendency to depict monplace nature of wampum on the Lower Mis­ the necklaces of his subjects "in a very sketchy souri but asserts that manner" and this criticism applies equally to the Fur Traders have ingeniously introduced Catlin's treatment of earrings and other adorn- a spurious imitation of it, manufactured by EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS 231

FIG. 7. Sauk and Fox Indians with wampum earrings and necklaces. Illustration by Karl Bodmer, 1833. Courtesy National Ar­ chives, photo no. ll1-SG92841.

steam or otherwise, of porcelain or some com­ value and meaning" of existing wampum.61 First, position closely resembling it, with which they the areas visited by Catlin had no traditions of have flooded the whole Indian country, and wampum manufacture-the required shells could sold at so reduced a price, as to cheapen, and not be found there. Second, Catlin's complaint consequently destroy, the value and meaning that "original wampum" could "very rarely be of the original wampum, a string of which can found" speaks not to the corrupting effect of new now but very rarely be found in any part of wampum but to the scarcity of the ceremonial the country.60 wampum with which Catlin, as a Pennsylvanian, would have had familiarity. From Catlin's per­ While Catlin rightly recognized that whites man­ spective, less expensive wampum purveyed by fur ufactured the wampum of the Lower Missouri, traders reduced wampum to an ornament instead he misapprehended its materials, its method of a ceremonial good, when in truth the trad­ of manufacture, and its intent. Apart from the ers introduced wampum to lands and peoples aforementioned larger size of white-made, or previously without it. Misunderstandings aside, Campbell, wampum, the two types were essen­ Catlin's summary provides a useful overview tially indistinguishable. Certainly Catlin was cor­ of wampum distribution in the first half of the rect in his statement that traders had "flooded nineteenth .century: virtually absent on the Up­ the whole Indian country with wampum," but in per Missouri and westward but abundant on the no way did the imported wampum "destroy the Lower Missouri. 232 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 2013

SPREAD OF WAMPUM JEWELRY Following the lead of Duke Paul Wilhelm was another German nobleman, Prince Maximilian of Wied, who toured the American West concur­ rent with George Catlin's travels. Maximilian's first encounter with wampum came early in his journey, when he met a group of men from the Sauk and Fox tribes in St. Louis. Of the encoun­ ter, Maximilian wrote, "Their ears are pierced along the upper edge with three or four holes, and from them hang short strings of blue and white wampum, like tassels. They wear similar strings of many strands about their necks."62 On some of the men, "the rim of the ear had been cut loose" in the style of the subject of Saint-Me­ min's Osage Warrior I; Maximilian compared this practice to the Botocudo tribe of Brazil, which he visited prior to arriving in North America.63 Farther into his voyage, Maximilian met a mixed FIG. 8. Ear in which holes have been pierced to hold wam­ group of men from the Iowa, Otoe, and Omaha pum earrings. Based upon a sketch by Maximilian, Prince of Wied. Drawing by Devon Hanbey. tribes who "had pierced their ears with several holes along the edge, in which they wore blue and white wampum strings."64 Evidently, these pierc­ ings intrigued the prince because he sketched a "In their hair they hang hollow tubes of white picture of one of the men's pierced ears with the and violet-colored porcelain (wampum), and wampum ornaments removed.65 about their necks they wear long ropes of the In addition to the common style of wampum same ornaments."68 ear jewelry, Maximilian noted a unique style By 1835, wampum's utility as a trade good was among the Crow tribe of the Upper Missouri in such that stores on the edge of Indian country modern Montana. Rather than looping wampum sold it to travelers unaffiliated with the govern­ through holes in their ears, men of the tribe wore ment or the fur companies. In June of that year, "several feathers hanging down [beside] each eye Sir Charles Murray, an Englishman on tour in with long azure and white strings of beads."66 the tradition of German nobility, stopped for pro­ Maximilian's use of "beads" rather than "wam­ visions in Liberty, Missouri, before continuing pum" indicates that the ornaments worn by the to the prairies. While there, Murray purchased Crow were glass trade beads, not wampum shell wampum along with" other trifles for presents. "69 beads. However, later writers indicate that the Murray does not note who suggested that he Crow retained this style but integrated wampum carry wampum on his journey, but it served him beads as they became available. American Fur well-Murray later presented some to a friendly Company employee Edwin Denig wrote ethno­ Pawnee chief and paid for the services of guides graphical reports on the tribes he dealt with at with wampum.70 Fort Union near the Montana-North Dakota border. Writing in the 1840s, Denig recorded WAMPUM IN PLAINS that next to their ears the Crow "suspended sev­ CEREMONIAL OBJECTS eral inches of wampum."67 In 1851, nearly twenty years after Maximilian's visit to the Crow, Swiss Although wampum never attained widespread artist Rudolf Friedrich Kurz wrote of the tribe, symbolic or ceremonial significance in the Plains, EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS 233

its use as ornamentation eventually led to its in­ narrative emerges wherein "Wah rna de Sappa," clusion as a component of other ceremonial arti­ a secondary chief of the Wahpekute, presented facts. Members of Plains tribes commonly smoked Colonel Hook with the pipe stem at the conclu­ long-stemmed pipes as part of ceremonial occa­ sion of a diplomatic encounter. Unlike the Lewis sions. Native artists intricately decorated the pipe and Clark stem, the Wahpekute stem provides stems, which could be separated from the pipe no indication that the pipe stem's original Native bowls. Five specimens of such pipe stems-two at owners did not add the wampum. Harvard University's Peabody Museum and three Similarly, the three pipe stems housed at the at the National Museum of Natural History-have National Museum of Natural History in Wash­ strings of wampum hanging along their lengths. ington, DC, likely come from diplomatic encoun­ One of the Peabody's pipe stems resides in the ters between representatives of the federal govern­ museum's Lewis and Clark collection, though ment and the Sioux. Attached to two of the pipes without attribution to a particular tribe. From are strings of white wampum, while the third has the pipe stem hang five strings of white wam­ strings of mixed purple and white beads. The pum. The wampum beads are belt-sized (approxi­ Smithsonian Institution lists all three as originat­ mately 0.25 inches long) and of the style typical ing with the Sioux and coming to the natural his­ of the early nineteenth century. This pipe stem, tory collection via the War Department. Thomas as with the wampum strings held by the museum, McKenney, first superintendent of Indian trade, belonged to the collection of Charles Wilson then superintendent of Indian affairs, gathered Peale, an artist and naturalist to whom Lewis and the War Department's Indian collection during Clark donated a number of relics from their ex­ his tenure.76 As head of Indian trade, McKenney pedition. Unfortunately, Peale's ledger provides authorized the head of each factory to barter up no physical description for any of the fourteen to $100 of goods to obtain "curiosities peculiar pipe stems he received. 71 Peabody researchers to the tribes trading at his post."77 McKenney's recognized the pipe stem's wampum strings and zeal for collecting was so great that he collected blue ribbon wrapping as ornamentation William items himself on various treaty-making trips. If Clark added to a pipe received from Broken Arm, the attribution of these pipe stems to the Sioux chief of the Nez Perce.72 This explanation makes is correct, McKenney's 1826 journey to Fond du a good deal of sense. The scarcity of wampum in Lac in modern Wisconsin is a likely time for their the Trans-Mississippi West at the time of the ex­ acquisition.78 In 1840, the National Institution pedition makes it less likely that wampum would for the Promotion of Science inherited the War be an original part of this pipe stem. Department collection but only held it until 1861 The second Peabody stem provides more de­ when the newly founded Smithsonian absorbed tails of its provenance. This stem has four strings the National Institute.79 of purple and white wampum attached, but most That wampum was used to decorate pipe importantly, it has writing on it that appears to stems reflects wampum's original application in explain its origins. On one end of the pipe, writ­ diplomatic circumstances. Wampum's usage here ten in ink, is the inscription "Wah rna de Sappa is ornamental though not without its own sym­ Chief-2 of the Wahpacoota Sioux at St. Peters­ bolism. Just as King and Catlin's subjects wore June 20th, 1831."73 "Wahpacoota" is a rendering wampum in their ears to show their social status, of "Wahpekute," one of the bands of the Santee wampum strings attached to pipe stems likely ful­ Sioux who lived in southern Minnesota.74 Thus, filled a similar purpose. A long pipe stem with "St. Peters" would refer to St. Peter, Minnesota, multiple strings could require a few feet of wam­ previously the location of an Indian factory that pum. Such a display would have been expensive, would have made wampum available to nearby and to give such a lavishly decorated pipe as a tribes. 75 This pipe also came from the Peale col­ diplomatic gift would communicate the wealth lection, having come to Peale from a Colonel and stature of the donor chief and his tribe. J. H. Hook. With this information, a potential From the time of wampum's introduction to 234 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, FALL 2013 the Trans-Mississippi West in the seventeenth 7. Ibid. century until the mid-nineteenth century, wam­ 8. Ibid. pum use fluctuated with changing political, 9. Ibid., 51. economic, and cultural factors. British officials 10. Ibid. popularized ceremonial wampum belt exchang­ 11. Louise Seymour Hasbrouck, La Salle, True Sto­ es, but as Great Britain's control of the region ries of Great Americans (New York: Macmillan, 1916), slipped away, wampum belts largely fell out of 145. use. Lewis and Clark carried wampum farther 12. Ibid. 13. Daniel K. Richter, Facing East from Indian Coun­ west than it had ever been before, but they discov­ try: A Native History of Early America (Cambridge, MA: ered its lack of ceremonial value along the Mis­ Harvard University Press, 2001), 134. souri. The United States Indian factory system 14. Lyman Copeland Draper, ed., Collections of the and fur-trading companies established wampum State Historical Society of Wisconsin (Madison: Wiscon­ beads as a trade commodity in the Plains, where sin Historical Society, 1903), 1:25. it subsequently became a popular means of or­ 15. Ibid. namentation. Furthermore, wampum jewelry 16. Ibid_ acquired connotations of wealth and power, be­ 17. Martha Royce Blaine, The Ioway Indians (Nor- coming a status symbol immortalized by painters man: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979), 46. like Charles Bird King and George Catlin in their 18. Draper, Collections, 1:38. Indian portraits. Wampum's position as a sym­ 19. Ibid., 1:25. bol of wealth carried over to traditional ceremo­ 20. Blaine, Ioway, 64. nial goods, leading members of Northern Plains 21. Ibid., 67. tribes to ornament sacred pipe stems with strings 22. Richard Edward Oglesby, Manuel Lisa and the of wampum. Over more than two centuries, use Opening of the Missouri Fur Trade (Norman: University of wampum by the Native peoples of the Plains of Oklahoma Press, 1963), 135. varied greatly. Although wampum's applications 23. Ibid., 116. and meanings often changed, the shell beads 24. R. David Edmunds, The Shawnee Prophet (Lin­ never fell into insignificance. coln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985), 125. 25. Ives Goddard, "Delaware," in Northeast, ed. Bruce Trigger, vol. 15 of Handbook of North American NOTES Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant (Washington, DC: 1. Paul Otto, The DutclvMunsee Encounter in Amer­ Smithsonian Institution, 1978), 224. ica: The Struggle for Sovereignty in the Hudson Valley, Eu­ 26. John Treat Irving Jr., Indian Sketches, Taken dur­ ropean Expansion and Global Interaction 3, ed. Pieter ing an Expedition to the Pawnee Tribes, 1833, ed. John C. Emmer and Seymour Drescher (New York: Berghan Francis McDermott (Norman: University of Oklaho­ Books, 2006), 58. ma Press, 1955), 247. 2. Ibid., 92. 27. Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and 3. James H. Merrell, Into the American Woods: Nego­ Clark Expedition with Related Documents, 1783-1854 tiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier (New York: Norton, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1962), 72. 1999),20. 28. Gary E. Moulton, ed., The Definitive Journals of 4. Daniel K. Richter, The Ordeal of the Longhouse: Lewis and Clark (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, The Peoples of the Iroquois League in the Era of European 1989-2004), 7:249. Colonization (Chapel Hill: University of North Caro­ 29. Ibid., 3:24. lina Press, 1992),47. 30. James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark among the In­ 5. George R. Hamel!, "Wampum: Light, White dians (1984; repr., Lincoln, NE: Bison Books, 1988), and Bright Things Are Good to Think," in One Man's 57,59. Trash Is Another Man's Treasure, ed. Alexandra van Don­ 31. Moulton, Journals, 3:157. gen (Rotterdam, Netherlands: Museum Boymans-van 32. Ibid., 6:215. Beuningen, 1996), 47. 33. Ibid., 7:50. 6. Ibid. 34. Ibid., 7:253. EASTERN BEADS, WESTERN APPLICATIONS 235

35. Ora Brooks Peake, A History of the United States 59. George Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Indian Factory System, 1795-1822 (Denver: Sage Books, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians; 1954),3. written dUring eight years' travel (1832-1839) amongst the 36. Ibid., 4. wildest tribes of Indians in North America (1844; repr., 37. Ibid., 65. New York: Dover Publications, 1973), 1:223n. 38. Ibid. 60. Ibid. 39. Inventory of Property on Hand, December 31, 61. Ibid. 1810, Miscellaneous Accounts 1808-23, Osage Factory, 62. The North American Journals of Prince Maximilian Factory Records, Records of the Office ofIndian Trade, of Wi ed, ed. Stephen S. Witte and Marsha V. Gallagher, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group trans. William J. Orr, Paul Schach, and Dieter Karch 75), National Archives Building, Washington, DC. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008),1:373. 40. Inventory of Property on Hand, March 31, 1810, 63. Ibid., 1:374. Miscellaneous Accounts 1808-23, Osage Factory, Fac­ 64. Ibid., 2:82. tory Records, Records of the Office of Indian Trade, 65. Ibid. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (Record Group 66. Ibid:, 2:207. 75), National Archives Building, Washington, DC. 67. Edwin Denig, Five Indian Tribes of the Upper 41. Charles E. Hanson, "Campbell Wampum," Mu- Missouri: Sioux, Arickaras, Assiniboines, Crees, Crows, seum of the Fur Trade Quarterly 21 (1985): 4. ed. John C. Ewers (Norman: University of Oklahoma 42. Hanson, "Campbell Wampum," 3. Press, 1961), 155. 43. Ibid., 2. 68. Journal of Rudolph Friedrich KuT'Z, trans. Myrtis 44. Peake, Factory System, 65. Jarrell, ed. J. N. B. Hewitt (Washington, DC: Govern­ 45. Ramsay Crooks to John Jacob Astor, New York, ment Printing Office, 1937), 251. February 7, 1818, in Business Letters, 1813-1828 (Ben­ 69. Sir Charles Augustus Murray, Travels in North son, VT: Chalidze Publications, 1991), 83. America during the Years 1834, 1835 & 1836, including 46. Peake, Factory System, 44. a summer residence with the Pawnee tribe of Indians in the 47. Ibid., 65. remote prairies of the Missouri and a visit to Cuba and the 48. Ellen G. Miles, Saint-Memin and the Neo-Classical Azore Islands (London: R. Bentley, 1839), 248. Profile Portrait in America, ed. Dru Dowdy (Washington, 70. Ibid., 425, 443. DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994), 148. 71. Jackson, Letters, 478. 49. Edwin James, James's Account of S. H. Long's 72. Castle Mclaughlin, Arts of Diplomacy: Lewis and Expedition, 1819-1820, vol. 14 of Early Western Travels, Clark's Indian Collection (Seattle: University of Washing­ 1748-1846, ed. Reuben Gold Thwaites (Cleveland: A. ton Press, 2003), 236; cf. Moulton, Journals, 7:341. H. Clark Co., 1905), 196. 73. Pipe with strings of wampum (stem), ca. 1830, 50. Ibid., 14:277. item number 99-12-10/53112.2, Peabody Museum of 51. Duke Paul Wilhelm of Wiirttemberg, Travels in Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, MA, www. North America, 1822-1824, trans. W. Robert Nitske, ed. peabody.harvard.edu (accessed August 10, 2012). Savoie Lottinville (Norman: University of Oklahoma 74. Raymond J. DeMallie, "Sioux until 1850," in Press, 1973), 283. Plains, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie, vol. 13 of Handbook 52. Ibid., 318. of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant 53. Ibid., 390-91. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2001), 54. Herman J. Viola, The Indian Legacy of Charles 729. Bird King (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution 75. Peake, Factory System, 19. Press, 1976), 20-21. 76. Candace S. Greene, Bonnie Richard, and Kirsten 55. Ibid., 21. Thompson, "Treaty Councils and Indian Delegations: 56. Ibid., 29. The War Department Museum Collection," American 57. William H. Truettner, The Natural Man Ob­ Indian Art Magazine 33, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 68. served: A Study of Catlin's Indian Gallery (Washington, 77. Viola, Indian Legacy, 20. DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1979), 23. 78. Viola, Indian Legacy, 46. 58. John C. Ewers, "Hair Pipes in Plains Indian 79. Greene, Richard, and Thompson, "Treaty Adornment: A Study in Indian and White Ingenuity," Councils," 70-71. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 164 (1957): 56.