Native American Nations / Siouan Peoples / The Otoes and Missourias

The Otoes and Missourias

By Kristopher K. Townsend

Etymology

Addressing the Otos and Missouris at Council Bluffs

Charles Fritz

32″ x 36″ oil on canvas

The Indians sit under a tarp and the soldiers in the sun in full dress uniforms

© 2009 by Charles Fritz. Used by permission.

Jesuit missionary Jacques Gravier (1651–1708), considered to be a qualified linguist, recorded in his 1700 Dictionary of the [Algonquian] Illinois Language, that the name Missouria was derived from the Illinois word meaning ‘dugout canoe‘ which soon became to French speakers Missouria, ‘people having dugout canoes‘. A more recent interpretation refines the meaning as ‘big boat’.[1]Douglas R. Parks, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001), 461. See also The Jesuit Relations and Allied … Continue reading

War-doke-tar-tar is the captains’ spelling of the Otoe’s name for themselves. The name is often associated with watúhtana, ‘to copulate’, a meaning reinforced in popular stories. That etymology is somewhat alluring, but it has no historical basis other than folk tales. In reality, the origin of the people’s name is obscure.[2]Parks, 460.

At the time of the expedition, the nation from which the Missouri River derived its name were so reduced by smallpox and attacks from primarily the Sauks and Foxes, that they had abandoned their villages and merged with other tribes—Kansas, Osages, but primarily, the Otoes. After the merge began in the mid-1790s, the Missouria maintained their distinct identity by practicing their own clan system and customs. Today the two tribes are formally recognized as the Otoe–Missouria Tribe.

Bourgmont’s Paris Delegation

In 1725, French explorer Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont (1679–1734) escorted a delegation to Paris which included two Missouria chiefs, one Otoe chief, and Bourgmont’s Missouria wife. Perhaps to avoid scandal or jealousy from his French wife, Jacqueline Bouvet des Bordeaux, he had his Missouria wife baptized and then married to his co-worker, one Sergeant Dubois. In the five years prior, Bourgmont was commissioned a captain, appointed “Commander of the Missouri River,” and charged with building Fort Orleans at the mouth of the Grand River near the Missouria village Utz.[3]“Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_de_Veniard,_Sieur_de_Bourgmont, accessed 17 January 2021. The expedition noted the abandoned village as they passed on 13 June 1804. Two days later, they passed another abandoned Missouria village known today as Gumbo Point.[4]Marjorie M. Schweitzer, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13, 447–48.

First Council

The Lewis and Clark Expedition’s first council was with the Otoes and Missourias. Elaborate preparations preceded. In Philadelphia, Lewis started buying Indian presents. He also brought commissions, sometimes called paroles, presentation flags, and government–issued peace medals. In St. Louis, more Indian gifts were purchased, and in late April 1804, Cahokia–based merchant and fur trader John Hay helped organize and pack the diplomatic presents likely into bundles designated for specific nations. The speech was likely written previously.

The Otoe finally arrived at the expedition’s camp near present-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, as the sun set on 2 August 1804. The next day, the council commenced. The people were informed of the change in government and asked to abandon their allegiance and trade relationships with the Spanish and English. Chiefs were designated, given American medals and commissions, and the people were asked to be at peace with other tribes. Technological power, such as Lewis’s air gun, were demonstrated. The formula was repeated many times as the expedition traveled through the Upper Louisiana Territory.

Tradition vs Assimilation

After several treaties, land cessions, and reservations, the Otoe-Missouria split into two factions: those seeking to maintain traditional life ways and those seeking to assimilate with white society. The assimilationists had aligned with Quaker missionaries and as such were called the Quaker Band. The traditionalists were called the Coyote Band—not to be confused with the Coyote clan. The two bands would eventually rejoin as one people only to see their reservation divided into individual allotments as authorized by the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 with later amendments. The Burke Act of 1906 authorized the Department of Interior to issue fee simple patents encourating Native American allotment owners to sell to whites. Just four years later, 78 of the 514 Otoe-Missouria allotments had been sold—15 percent.[5]Schweitzer, 457; “Dawes Act,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act, accessed 17 January 2021.

Today, the Otoe-Missouria Nation is headquartered in Red Rock, Oklahoma with tribal jurisdiction in parts of Noble and Kay County. The tribe maintains seven secretive clans and traditional ceremonies and beliefs such as the sacred circle found in the dance ground and drum, praying to Wakanda and the four directions, and the funeral ritual and feast. They are also systematically reviving their language.[6]Otoe–Missouria Tribe of Indians, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otoe%E2%80%93Missouria_Tribe_of_Indians, accessed 17 January 2021; Schweitzer, 458; “Otoe–Missouria Tribe,” … Continue reading

 

Selected Pages and Encounters

Notes

Notes
↑1 Douglas R. Parks, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001), 461. See also The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610–1791, Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed. (Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Company, 1899), 263; Jacques Gravier, Dictionary of the [Algonquian] Illinois Language, held by the Watkinson Library, Hartford, Illinois, also available at archive.org; Michael McCafferty, “On the birthday and etymology of the placename Missouri,” Names, 51:31–45 in William Bright, Native American Placenames of the United States (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004), 290.
↑2 Parks, 460.
↑3 “Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_de_Veniard,_Sieur_de_Bourgmont, accessed 17 January 2021.
↑4 Marjorie M. Schweitzer, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13, 447–48.
↑5 Schweitzer, 457; “Dawes Act,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawes_Act, accessed 17 January 2021.
↑6 Otoe–Missouria Tribe of Indians, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otoe%E2%80%93Missouria_Tribe_of_Indians, accessed 17 January 2021; Schweitzer, 458; “Otoe–Missouria Tribe,” https://www.omtribe.org, accessed on 18 January 2021.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).