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American
Indians of the Mid - West
Black
Dog
The
young Black Dog was reported to be
about 6 foot, 2 inches, in height
and weighed around 220 pounds. He
did marry and had several sons and
daughters. None of his sons
survived to manhood. During the
War Between the States (Civil
War), Black Dog and many of the
Osage Indians decided to join the
Confederate States Army.
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Some
of the Osage Indians joined the
9th Kansas Volunteers as Union
supporters, but they were
determined to be too wild and
untrainable for military
service. They were discharged
from Kansas military service. In
1861 about 50 Osage Indians
joined Colonel Tom Livingston's
Missouri Home Guards and fought
with General Price at Wilsons
Creek.
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Osage
- Chief Black Dog
By
Don Wise
Black
Dog or Zhin-ga'wa-ca (Manka-chonkah) was an Osage Indian born circa 1780 near
what later became St. Louis, Missouri. Zhin-ga'wa-ca is a very old Indian name
which is not translatable since the last part is archaic and the meaning lost.
The Osage Indians are descendants of the Siouan Tribe. They originally came
from the Alleghaney and Monogahela River Valleys. When Zhin-ga'wa-ca was
young, he lost his left eye in a childhood accident. He grew to be seven (7)
feet tall and weighed around 300 pounds.
Chief Black Dog
During a raid upon a Comanche camp, a small, black dog started
barking and Zhin-ga'wa-ca shot an arrow in the direction of the dog which
killed it. Thereafter, he was known by the name of Black Dog. Later Black Dog
was named chief of his tribe which became known as the Black Dog Tribe. Their
camp was located in the vicinity of where the city of Coffeyville, Kansas, is
now located. The Osages were a migratory tribe which would plant corn in an
area, then go hunting for buffalo. Once they had their capacity of
buffalo meat and hides, the tribe would return to their camp area where the
corn had been planted and harvest it. Their trail in southern Kansas became
known as the Black Dog Trail.
Black Dog Married Menanah, an Osage Woman
They had a son in 1827
who became known as Black Dog, the second
Black Dog and some of his tribe did join the
1st Osage Battalion, C.S.A. around 1862 whose commander was Major Broke Arm.
This military unit was composed of three companies. Black Dog served as a
Captain of Company B. Military records are incomplete on their activities, but
we believe that this unit was involved at Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove.
Chief Black Dog and
Bighill Joe
Black Dog was elected Principal Chief of the Osages in 1880 and died in 1910.
A creek near Hominy is named Black Dog Creek and a township in Tulsa County ,
Oklahoma, is named Black Dog Township.
George
Catlin, the artist, painted Chief Black Dog in 1834. The artist, John Mix
Stanley, painted Chief Black Dog in 1843, but this portrait was lost during a
fire in the Smithsonian Institute in 1866. Black Dog died on 24 March 1848 at
the age of about 68 years old.
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