Roman Nose Goes to Indian Territory, 1880
August 2nd I went out west to the Indian Territory. First I arrived at Harrisburg and I found cars for Pittsburgh and I got there in the night about twelve o’clock. I changed cars again and went to Indianapolis. I arrived at Indianapolis in the morning about twelve o’clock and stopped there a few minutes. Then they went to St. Louis. The cars go very fast. I arrived at St. Louis in the night about nine o’clock and changed cars again. I got out there and I looked for the cars from Kansas City. I found them and I went in, and went to Kansas City. I arrived there at nine o’clock in the morning, changed cars again. I went out and I found cars going to Wichita and Wellington. I arrived at Wellington half past three o’clock in the morning and stayed in the depot all night. Then in the morning I went to Wellington and I told a man that I wished a stage to go to Cheyenne agency, Indian Territory. The man said they had no stage this time to go to Cheyenne agency. Then I went back again in depot and stayed there five hours. [When the] train came I went in the cars to Caldwell. I got there about one and half PM. I saw a good many of the Cheyenne young men and women in Caldwell and I was very much delighted to see them. I did not know any of them because I have not seen them for five years. I stopped in Caldwell a few minutes with the Cheyenne young men and they spoke to me where I was going. I told them that I was going to Cheyenne and Arapahoe agency. Then after I was through, I took mail wagon to Cheyenne agency, Darlington.
I had arrived at Cheyenne and Arapahoe agency at ten o’clock AM. I was very much pleased to see my father, brothers, and sisters and uncles, cousins, and all my relatives. Also they were happy to see me. I stayed in Darlington three weeks. I rode horse every day and I traveled all around the Indian camps when I stayed there I was very tired. All the Cheyenne chiefs and young men, I spoke to them about the good ways of the whites. I told them all about the Indian children at Carlisle Barracks, PA. I told them what they had learned here at school and at work. All the Cheyenne chiefs were very glad to hear that Capt. Pratt has taken good care of the Indian children here. All the Cheyenne chiefs and Arapahoe chiefs they thought Capt. Pratt a great and good man. I told them Capt. Pratt is a great man and I know his heart is true and faithful. I asked all the chiefs for the children to come here to Carlisle school. The North Cheyenne do not want to send the children to school here. But some Cheyenne and Arapahoe [were] kind to me and gave me twenty-one Cheyenne children and ten Arapahoe children to bring to this school. If I did not go down to Cheyenne agency, John D. Miles could not get the children to bring to Carlisle Barracks. Some Cheyenne do not want their children to come here to school. September sixth I came back here. I was very glad to see Carlisle Barracks and all my friends, the white people and different tribes of the Indian children. Under the instruction of Mr. Curtin who will try very hard to teach me to make tinware as soon as possible, I will then go home and open a business for myself at Indian Territory and prove to the Indians or to those opposed to Indian advancement that Capt. Pratt and his Training School has accomplished something and will accomplish more with proper encouragement and interest from those what are or ought to be most deeply interested.3
Experiences of H. C. Roman Nose, 1880
I will now endeavor to tell you of my experiences and travels from the time I was taken to Florida up to the present day.
It is very warm weather at the South, in wintertime it is not very cold and they have no snowing there. I often judge by Florida and St. Augustine, because I had commenced to find good friends there, all the white people in St. Augustine. When we stayed there, some time they told us they were very sorry and felt our hearts sadness. But Capt. R. H. Pratt helped us to support our sad hearts and took us away from all sadness and bad thoughts and sinners. He can show to us our hearts properly and he is anxious to make Indian men do right and guide them in the right way and he taught them all about the good ways of the whites. We promise to listen to Capt. R. H. Pratt to what is said. [We] stayed in prison there three years and we had no school, but Capt. Pratt showed us ABC and now we understand these letters. We did not know how to spell anything. It is not bad we stayed in prison three years there. But [we] have certainly been much benefited. We stayed altogether in Fort Marion. The white people call Indians Florida boys.4 Capt. Pratt had two small boats for Indians to go out on the ocean hunting birds and fishing. They caught very large sea fishes. Sometimes we rode in sail boat beyond St. Augustine about eighteen or twenty miles to camp, hunt and fish and swim in the ocean. We lived in tents like soldiers. We made bows and arrows and we were seeking for sea beans near ocean beach and we obtained lots of them and brought them to Fort Marion and we polished them and after necessary polishing, we sold them and bows and arrows also. And we drew Indian pictures for the white people who visited Fort Marion and they bought sea beans, bows and arrows, and pictures.5 Indians sold sea beans each at twenty five cents and bows and arrows one dollar and a half. Some two dollars and a half and best bows and arrows for five dollars. I commenced to learn how to row a boat there and some Florida boys learned very well. All the Florida boys commenced to learn to say Capt. Pratt when we anxious something to buy went in Capt. Pratt’s office and asked him if we could go down town to St. Augustine and he would say all right and he would give them the pass to St. Augustine.6
Experiences of H. C. Roman Nose, on Captain Pratt, 1881
Capt. Pratt supported all the Florida boys in St. Augustine and he procured for the Indians everything. All the Indians were very glad and we like Capt. Pratt very much because he is a great good man and his heart is weight. They had a meeting in Ft. Marion every Monday evening to pray to God to guide us in the right way. We had very pleasant time the 4th of July in St. Augustine also in the middle of the winter we had more jolly times at Christmas day. We had shooting with bows and arrows the best shoot received three dollars and a half and some of them foot racing and who beat running got three dollar and a half. Capt. Pratt taught me, and I kept persevering and remember what he taught me in St. Augustine. After three years twenty-two young men desired to be educated at Normal Institute, at Hampton Virginia and some went to school in Syracuse New York, and some of them in Tarrytown NY. Then came a Hampton boat to St. Augustine and all the Florida boys went on steamboat and went to Hampton Normal School. Two Kiowa boys and I stayed in St. Augustine. Then after a while we rode in the cars and we came to a very small town and we took steamboat to Jacksonville and stopped there all night. Then in the morning we went on a steamboat to Savannah and arrived there at about six o’clock a.m. and we stayed one or three hours. We then took another large steamboat for New York and crossed the Atlantic Ocean three nights and three days we travelled on the ocean. I couldn’t see any land where I looked to the south and east and west. I thought the steamboat would drop beneath the waves but it did not drop. I was scared very much and I was very seasick on the ocean. I laid down all the time and I could not eat breakfasts, dinners or suppers. We arrived at New York City at evening about six o’clock and we go out and went in carriage and go to Depot and we stayed there a few minutes. Then we rode in the cars and go up the Hudson River and reached Tarrytown in the night and we rode in carriage to Dr. Caruthers’ house and sat down around table. We ate supper. That time I was very lazy because that I had been very seasick and felt very tired. After a few days I got strong again and well. I thought that perhaps I never was to see Capt. Pratt again but after a month he arrived at Tarrytown to see those three boys who was there. I was much pleased to see him once again and he stayed with us only one day. He said to us he would visit Hampton and see more of the Florida boys that [were] in Normal School before he went away. He wanted me to write to him and after he went away I wrote him a letter.7
Experiences of H. C. Roman Nose, on Going to Hampton, 1881
He didn’t reply to my letter and I did not hear from him but he went out west and when [he] came back to Washington then he obtained my letter and he replied immediately and said in his letter, he wanted me and
the other boys to go to Hampton School but I didn’t like to go to Hampton I wanted to stayed at Tarrytown, New York. I started to Hampton and we arrived at New York City a.m. and saw a great many of the white people in New York. We had a very pleasant time just the same as the 4th of July 1878, at Dr. Deems house we had dinner who is my friend, then after dinner I had to shake hands with him and also his family and I bid them good-bye. Then we went in a steamer and stayed a little while. Then the steamer left at half past three o’clock p.m. one night and one day we went on the ocean. We arrived at Norfolk near five o’clock p.m.
We took another steamer and went to Hampton. We arrived at the Fort in the night. We went in carriage to Hampton about a mile and a half from the Port. By permission we went through the cornfield and Capt. Pratt told us that this field and the other fields were all worked in by the Florida boys plowing and hoeing every day. We arrived at General Armstrong’s house and got out of the carriage and went to where the Florida boys stayed in two houses. I was very much delighted to see my Florida friends again and we shook hands with them all. Then we went into the room and stayed all together and they told me all about what they had been doing at Hampton Institute. We said that it is very hard toiling every day. We had hard work all the summer, learning how to work on the farm. The Normal School opened at Hampton on the first of October. Then we went to school every morning and afternoon and learned something every day and we worked very hard two days, in a week Friday and Saturday. One of the Kiowa boys learned very fast. His name is “Ki-e-sh-co-ly.” His English name is Hunting Boy. The rest of the Florida boys didn’t learn very fast. The reason that didn’t learn more rapidly was because some of them was too old to learn. We studied hard there one year and learned some thing every day in the spring. Capt. Pratt took several boys and went to Washington and saw President Hayes. He said he was very glad to see those boys. We stayed several days at the Smithsonian Institute and then returned to Hampton, Virginia and at the desire of Capt. Pratt and General Armstrong twelve of the Florida boys went to a small town called Lee in the state of Massachusetts. We left Hampton after dinner and walked to the Fort to where the boat stopped and waited there about one hour and then took the steamboat to Norfolk. We arrived there about half past 4 o’clock p.m.8
Experiences of H. C. Roman Nose, on Getting an Education, 1881
We then took another steamer for New York where we arrived safely. Capt. Romayn went with the boys to Norfolk and when we got out there he said to the boys, Capt. Pratt will meet you in New York. After we shook hands and bid him goodbye, he said, boys I hope all of you will have a good time where you are journeying. Then he returned to Hampton Normal Institute. In the night at about nine o’clock, we took the steamer for New York and after one day and one night on the ocean traveling, we reached New York. Some of the boys were very seasick and I [was] too. Capt. Pratt met us in steamboat and he said, boys you sleep in the boat until morning and called the boys to get up and get ready to start a restaurant to get some breakfast, then we took a walk to Grand Central Depot and took the train to Lee. We arrived at Lee at half past two p.m. We got out and went in the carriage to different places. We stayed there all summer and learned mowing with scythe and milking and churning butter and worked every day for months and in October 1879, we left Lee and arrived here at Carlisle Barracks. We saw the Sioux boys and girls had to wear Indian clothes. The Florida boys did not like that kind of clothes. It looked like wild Indian people who had learned nothing but just play every day and night and punishing each other and fighting with sticks and hurting their bodies. But Capt. Pratt threw away old Indian clothes and he gave them new white man’s clothes and assisted them very patiently to make the boys and girls of different tribes go one way that is the right way the white man’s way.9 Now we are following the white man’s way and endeavoring to get [an] education and do something useful and teach the red man [to] avoid temptation. First I did not know anything about the white man’s ways. I am very happy now that I can be useful, polite, and love God. I do not say I am always polite and good because I don’t know sometimes when bad thoughts come or sin. But God will keep us from sin and he will aid us in the right way and I pray that he will bless all our benighted race and show them their error and at last lead us with the white man’s good way is the prayer of Henry C. Roman Nose.10
Mary North (Arapaho)
Mary North, a member of the Arapaho Nation, attended Carlisle from 1879 to 1884. After leaving Carlisle she worked briefly in the Indian Service in Genoa, Nebraska. In 1910 she was a housekeeper in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and in 1913 she was an assistant matron at the Cheyenne and Arapahoe School in Darlington, Oklahoma. (Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center; Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 260)
A Little Story, 1880
We all have good times and we went out to the Camp meeting and heard the people talk about God, and we sang two or three hymns and the people it was very much glad to hear us sing. When we were at home in Indian Territory we had nothing to do but play and go to the river and go in swimming and now we are way off from home at school and learning something. I think that is better than swimming and picking berries. I know picking berries is very good, but you will get your hands scratched and then you will be tired to go another time. Now I am very glad to go to Carlisle school and learn something that is all right, and we have good time here too, and I am trying to write a story and I will do the best I can and write it till I get done.
When I get letters from home I always look at them and they would say push hard and learn all you can.11
Joseph Du Bray (Yankton Sioux)
Joseph Du Bray (born ca. 1872) entered Hampton in 1890 when he was approximately eighteen years old. The editorial note opening his essay suggests his classmates and school authorities considered him to be a model student. During his five years at Hampton, Du Bray was a frequent contributor to Talks and Thoughts. He also served a brief stint as an editor in 1892. After graduating from Hampton in 1895 he became a student at the Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. He was ordained as a reverend and worked on the Pine Ridge and Sisseton reservations. (Littlefield and Parins, American Indian, 358; Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 203; Southern Workman, November 1919, 623)
Indians’ Accustoms, 1891
Editorial Note: The following story was written by one of our Indian boys in a contest for a prize. He attended a mission school three years before coming here, this being his first year with us. We print it in his own words.
Before the Indians become civilized they used to have foolish accustoms. I will tell you a few of them. When a man some place in a family he has no right to call his father-in law’s name. If he does call his father-in-law’s name or his mother-in-law’s name, he will get his ears pulled. A man or a woman has no right to call his son-in-law’s name. For instance if Gen. Armstrong is your father-in-law, you have no right to say, “Where is Gen. Armstrong?” If you said this way you will get your ears pulled.
Here is another foolish accustom. If you go to an Indian woman and ask her, What is her name, she will not tell you, but she will point at her husband and tell you to ask him.
A lady has no right to get mad at her oldest brother. If a young lady get mad at her brother, the young man will go out where nobody see and kill himself.
Some Wanitipi (winter) in a valley. That is the Indians have so many (papa) dried meat that they do not need to move place to place, as they do when they have no papa. As the Indians wanitipi in a valley. A young lady get mad at her oldest brother. The young man didn’t kill himself, but he determined to go to the Padani tipi and get killed by the enemy. He started off by himself. After he took three days journey he came to a river. The banks are high and rocky. As he walked along the shore of the river he saw some rain-cloud coming from the west, so he looked for a refuge. It was almost sunset too. He went a little way up the river. He found a hole at the bank and he examined it. He made up his mind to stay ther
e all night. After he went into the hole it began to rain hard as it could. Somebody come in and sit by him. The man was so afraid he fainted. After he sat there a little while he filled his pipe and smoked it. This man was a Padani.
The Sioux thought he would smoke too. He filled his pipe and smoked it. When morning came they came out of the hole and talked [to] each other with their hands, for Padani and Sioux are different languages. The Padani said: “Scalp me,” as he gave his knife to the Sioux. The Sioux said: “Yes I will,” as he sang the war-whoop—“Hi hi hi bi hi hi han.” He scalped the Padani.
Now [it was] the Padani’s turn to scalp the Sioux. As he got his knife back he sang the same war whoop and scalped him.
After they scalped each other they killed a deer and got the skin off. They cut the skin big enough to cover the wounded place to keep the blood from running. The Padani went home with the Sioux and he gave him 100 ponies. They made good friends by scalping each other.12
How to Walk Straight, 1892
I heard an interesting story the other day. It was about crabs. There was once a council of crabs met together in a certain place and talked about this subject: How shall we make our children walk straight? They said that they are too old to learn how. So all the old crabs went home ready to tell their children how to walk straight.
Recovering Native American Writings in the Boarding School Press Page 7