Tunnachemootoolt (Broken Arm) Archives - Lewis & Clark Research Database

Tent of Many Voices: 08270401F

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:36:07 +0000

I’ve been sick lately so I have to have the oxygen with me that didn’t stop me from coming to be with you when I heard that my armor partner Stan was here Stella it made me doubly happy to be here tonight I wish that the artch world and every other world would know the talent the spirit the nobility of the people who are pleas for pictured in these slides which we will show you like so many other wonderful wonderful things of the reservation are hidden in the hearts and the minds and in the hands and the skills of people these photos also lay hidden for many years and it was my good fortune to be the one who not only found them but was on hand to show them to a young man from AOS data center I wish John hman was here tonight to accept my thanks but the other laborers qu people with him from arrol data center are here without their skill without their dedication these riches would still be deep in Mystery in about 1888 one of our men father Ambrose madingley by the way his name was ok was that Stan his name says what he was like PES he was sharp he was alert he was killed he was diligent and above all he was persistent he heard that there was such a thing as photographs being made he learned how to make these photographs and slowly slowly over about 25 years he captured The Marvelous faces of the deed people all the way from Standing Rock to Yankton he was up and down the river he had a small dark room and Studio at San I knew father Ambrose but I didn’t didn’t know all the things he could do I knew him when he was old and talking he was still sharp still sharp he spoke the Dakota language perfectly and he was one of my teachers at this point I’d like to tell you a story about my first teacher though my first teacher they had sent me to Rome in 193 37 to get two degrees in those days they didn’t say now try hard work hard we hope you get those degrees they said you will get two degrees you will get a doctorate in theology you’ll get a master’s degree in scripture you will get your degrees so tell your folks that you’re going to be leaving it might not be back for 8 years those were in the days folks when there was no Oceanic flights of airplanes those were the day days of playing boats my dad was not Catholic I’ve often wondered lately what my dad was but he was a generous generous generous man whatever was good for his kids he was behind it a th% but I watched my dad he did something very remarkable the day that I left we didn’t have a car so he hired two taxis so that the kids could in and they were jumping up and down as children do of course by death that my boy Comm here he took me alone back into the house mom was nursing a baby out in the car and he made me kneel down and here I am the one who’s going to be a Catholic priest you know and dad was saying to me kneel down my boy kneel down in front of you and my dad gave me a blessing I’m still walking in the power of that blessing so to you Elders to any of you don’t ever ever ever that any of your children or grandchildren who off into a way of life without giving them your blessing they need that to know that they have come from a family that is sacred a family that is generous a family that is loyal let them feel that well anyway I went to Rome I hardly ever say this but I’m going to say it and please take it in the right way now I was 1937 I’m no teacher but they wanted me to be a teacher so listen now thanks be to God for I’ll tell you why because I got a note from the American Embassy get out of here get back home get back home in a hurry water is coming so I arrived back in Indiana St Min Abby Monastery in late Jan January early February in those days there was not ENT there was not you know break up of school during the winter so they took one look at me and said my God you’re no good around here why don’t you go out to the deoras to Crow Creek it’s calving time well I didn’t know what that meant but it sound like C stuff so I said sure I’ll go I’ll go so I arrived on the old train used to go through Chamberlain here in middle of March of 39 and I’ve been here since thanks be to God folks that I did not get those degrees I would have missed you I would have missed St I would have missed everybody whom I know and love well the priest then was father Finton remember father Finton Stella father Finton and then father mother Justin two they said GE you must be smart eh I said sure they said there’s a bunch of men down at cro down at the Fort Thompson studying the Bible why don’t you go down there and help them learn now here I’m 23 years old now say at that time so in my dumbness when you’re 23 years old you don’t know much do you so I walked down there you know swaging a little bit because I smart you know D but smart and I sit in this little tiny one room log house maybe 12 by 12 there eight or 10 men sitting there their Dusty faces melting into the L walls two lights letic of course two kerosene lamps burning in the corner and here I am a 23y old go guy laying God on me my elders I broke the first rule of Dakota politeness by by a junior like me standing up and daring to talk to my seniors but they’re polite to see these Elders are they’re polite they don’t want to show you up they don’t want to unveil your ignorance they don’t want to expose you so they kept their heads down and I thought they were asleep you know how old people listen when their heads are down there listening intently so I said to myself gist L listen G wi when I come back next week I’m going to have to talk slow use little sentences and words repeat so next week I come back same way I’m laying God on them once more and here they are I knew I wasn’t going over too good see ES one bony leg over the other he was there knocking the ashes off his bulm cigarette like as if he was saying oh God help this side there was Mr Clen W did KN now these are people whom I learn to love see because they were polite to me I said Mr wounded me see he was like the Deacon if you needed anything in church Mr W took care of it a wedding a funeral a baptism anything at all it was like a deacon little mind I thought he’d stand up there listen this boy knows everything look listen listen listen but no slowly slowly he turned away from me away from me Mr nice warm face looked up at me the dark brown eyes looked at me and he searched me and he found my weakness he said one word folks one word I wish that in your life somebody some event some person some word would touch you and lift you out of the r that you’re in and that one word and changed my life right there he was my first teacher see I’m the product of a father who was very strict in his religion about a block and a half from church there were 11 kids in the house we had to two families had to move together on account of hard times you know how that was 11 kids I’m the oldest so Mom would make us all do our chores and Saturday morning now you’re going to go to confession I said her mom I didn’t do nothing think of something think of something or think of something so I had to go I told more stories to that priest anyway whenever she talked about God it was Lord Master King and judge whatever you do God will see you he was always the the boogeyman I went to Seminary us to same word Lord Master King judge when I went to Rome those Italians were better they weren’t quite they still said Lord Master King judge so I kind of grew up with that idea that God was fearful scary until Mr wed he liberated me that’s the only word I can think of to describe what he did he looked at me very slowly slowly and said father don’t you know that God is nice nice mom never told me that and they never told me that they never said that in Rong God is nice wow we were in a cabin down or house down near where uh big ban is now as I came out of the river bottom up on top it was March clear sky no moon just Stars I stopped the car I got out and I looked up if he’s nice I’m going to pray ech of a lot different from now on he’s not going to throw me out of the house for every darn little thing that I do that’s wrong he’s going to say oh my god there goes that father’s stand again I’ll have to go down and clean up after one more time it’s nice I wish you would remember that word I don’t care if you’re older than me I’m 88 years old but I don’t care what you say or do remember that word and take it from Mr CL wounded me he knows but he knew what he’s talking about so from that minute on I did two more things I began to respect the elders see I have that disease that young people have of not respecting those who are older well that broke that disease out of the inner Hur and I learned the next thing is to shut up and listen listen listen it’s only when you listen that you hear God talking to you in the wind in the rain and the trees and the seasons and the Animals listen you see why I so Happ happy that we have these photos I know the place where that photo was taken it was estan it’s the old own post office it was blown down later by um tornado so I now I’d like to I don’t want to keep you here very on I’m so full of this see I can go on and on I want to give you four words take the one I said listen the next one is whenever we pray whenever we address the people in Dakota we call them weu wouldn’t it be wonderful if this in this world everybody would call each other relative the Jews and the Arabs wouldn’t be fighting the Irish of North and South Ireland where my folks come from wouldn’t be fighting here in South Dakota we would be listening to each other an I think I think so when when Dakota people talk seriously every word is sacred so they mean that word okay I have a relationship with you the strongest force in all of creation the strongest force in all creation is that which keeps things in Balance we call it the power of attraction or what’s the other word I can’t think it right now see I’m so fast I forget to say one things are drawn to each other whatever that is among humans say tell me out somebody say the word falls down falls down what do you call that gravity gravity gra thank you gravity everything has touches the gravity that’s why the the the universe mooves so gracefully and these men from USGS United States Geological Service they’re are the ones who watch that and who from it get a message of we’re all related we’re all related in our personal language maybe we say we’re in love with each other we should be don’t you think be better than be at war with each other I think so that word meop is one I hope that we never never forget in Thea language I wrote down a couple more them up well the next one respect if I listen if I listen sooner or later I’m going to discover beautiful things in you if I listen if I put you down I want hear nothing you know young people who taught me that they used to go to both in Stan and in and one time there I was so young then so I was dumb anyway anyway this one kid he was a good basketball really good his dad or mother never came to watch him ATT TR cu the other fathers and used to come watch the boys and so one day I said to him beef I said why don’t you invite your dad to come up and watch you he started to cry he said I ain’t got no Dad she in Christmas you see I touched a a sore spot with that P if I would have listened enough I might have heard that before that he had go that I would have heard it was bad beef tooto is in my mind all the time we made up afterwards I mean he I don’t think he ever was took it as an insult but it hurt him of course so folks listen if somebody say say bad about somebody listen there’s a good side to it too next is is I’m you I’m going to skip through these now hurry this time of the year I’m asked there sever always several Dakota Boys who come to me to help they want me to help them in their H it’s not not the old way you know it’s not the old way we help it in our own modern way I have two who will come again next Wednesday we get only two this I know amadia means this that you go out to where the only you and the Creator are there and you’re listening you’re listening to the Creator don’t ever abandon that great ceremony because without the one the Creator without the almighty without one our higher power we can’t do nothing you can’t even make one grass grow and the Creator makes a 100 million of them grow every day so don’t think that this organization or any other organization can ever have a blossom to it without every time calling on the Creator to make it grow I learned this by going to many tribal meetings and we always stop or start with a prayer don’t lose that memory another word is thei it means you’re my cousin that’s closer than being a relative I had two tahashi in my lifetime both died rather young and Sergeant no one say the other man’s name I know he doesn’t want me to say it Andy Sergeant was one maybe we’re all together friends Bobby touch he followed me up to for to those those men meant a lot to me because they we were just at that young age where we needed somebody to help us and find him because I know you have things to do I want to give you one more word it’s a very important word it’s the M of our Monastery I’m a it’s the the M of you but use it the word is w w means this when things work together when your motor runs well things are working just right it just hums along nothing knocks there’s no knocking so let me go through those words again please AB keep the Creator always in your meetings always in your heart respect everybody there’s always something sacred in everybody because the Creator put it there we related even some of us are tahashi to each other there’s always that unity and then from all of that will come for here now let’s go through these let me just think okay our police I respect men like them who put their Li their lives on the line go ahead I this this unfortunately somebody wanted to paint this color slide and kind of destroy the natural color of these headdresses and these men here’s an old MAA we look at the face of that lady that Grandma these are noble people and that’s what I say these are hidden I wish we could see these Elders again what’s okay next okay drifting Goose one of the great leaders years and years ago glad we have this picture it it was hidden but it came out excuse me just the bottom CIA I I don’t know what that means what it say CIA see oh I don’t I’ll have to look that and find okay next these are non-indian people who were at the high school the the hospital and what else oh the B office I want to show that that’s the picnic place we all went to right now Big Ben dam is at that site Noble person in i a noble face okay young couple how proud they look how marvelous they are I wish that I could have found these photos 25 years ago 50 years ago then there’ be still be living someone who say oh I know who that is but those names are lost just the personality is over oh here’s this is on their way wedding day and Maza on their wedding day I didn’t know whether they threw rice in those days or I don’t know this name this D’s name is Shields he was a medicine man I knew his family I knew his son rather and the other family but is and this is in the days when it was when it was a criminal to pray in the indan way we had to hide some of that so the police would catch up to open there’s another one I’m sorry was painted was supposed to be adding to the beauty of the picture but I think that little guy would look better if we could see his face see some of these last plates were broken and these gentlemen over here we want to thank them again they’re the ones who could put the glass back together and recreate recreate the picture this makes me say then let’s keep this in mind let’s work together on these things we have here trial leaders trial prayer leaders government officials elected officials and maybe I represent that part of our society that talks about the Creator and R so I i’ I’ll add my let’s work together not priest over here government over here tribe over here we belong with each other let me talk at okay look at the nobility in that face a sistant one of the men up there saw this he was one of the ones who who started the college Mr Joe Williams thank joh Mr Joe Williams he wants us to try to enlarge this picture and put it up in the college corridors so that the young women can see this person as a kind of an image of what they like to be two Tri young ladies huh how much around their waist is it 20 in I don’t know here’s the fman I think I’m not sure see father Ambrose around Stan there are people moving in and out and so they would come to his studio and uh most of his pictures had to be taken outside because those cameras were very slow and so the the light was not good inside hard and if it was they’d have to burn gunpowder to flash like that so most of the pictures you’ll see are outside big tobacco I don’t know much about this gentleman I don’t know where he’s from maybe somebody will know I don’t know man’s wife I think you can you see in the back up there the American flag see that was the window to the post office and inside the flag was turned so it’s backwards as you look at it now but that that lady with her old grandson maybe against the post office this is uh at can’t oh yeah what’s it say there Greenwood Greenwood down Greenwood Greenwood was once his great busing place too but then the traffic was moved there used to be a company of black soldiers in on an island in the middle of the Missouri when they were dis abandoned many of them stayed and lived and married in the area around well here somewhere so here’s one of them is very flashy Pony here’s a homesteader’s house this gentleman I was told it was a Harrison from Brook but I I was just told with one piece of evidence so I’m not sure that he is Harrison family one of the girls near the school sit down the bead work can you look at that isn’t that remarkable the Artistry that was evident in those folks in those days too I I don’t know what that maybe you gentleman over here from did you research that what that what that is that a presidential citation or is that is that a presidential give that button that he has anybody know see we need to talk to each other and find out what those deorations were about I mean Tribal Police see somebody might from govern might have given him an award at some time it doesn’t show here but this cut off a little bit but this is how the camera lens moved out about 1 second because in his hand looks like he has six fingers because in that second is one finger moved just a tiny bit and this shows how difficult it was to get a good good picture in those days here’s one that a girl shows up on our publicity by the way these photos have been to Washington DC these folks over here wanted me to take to go to Washington DC to show the DC people about this so but with this oxygen I said I’ll go but I need two people to go with me one to push my wheelchair and the other one to car the auction they said we’ll take you they knew I’m pretty mouy so they we’ll take you we got up there in the CATE office building great big room filled with people but most of them had to stand it wasn’t room so I’m all ready to talk so this lady who’s I guess our guest Master up there she came over said H Reverend we’re glad to see you and we’re happy that the pictures are here we had nice chance to view them all and so I suppose you’ll give a little introduction to them I said ma’am I’m used to talking let me give my own introduction I can introduce my life as I go along I said but tell me how long should I talk to you thing she said well it’s evening people are tired I would suggest 10 or 15 10 or 15 minutes man I came 1,000 miles out I would just talk I said I’m used to watching crowds if they get tiresome I’m I quit that’s all well she said not too long I said no I won’t be too long so I kept watching her she was giggling over there and clapping her hands and she was really enjoying she was one of those who had to stand up so after an hour I turned to gentleman he said this buch more okay so that girl was part of our publicity zuya with josua I think that word zuya is an old old Dakota word we I never hear much I hear a k joh but you don’t hear the word zya is that right that’s an old word I think Z man that’s taken down also by the Big Bam picnic what she wants to can you see it can you see okay okay well we’ll have to show okay we going that next one okay there’s another painted one we’re coming to the coast of ped one this I think is one of the earliest photos of a Sund death and I think it was taken out of shine River way to the West I think than two d h that’s at shine River Cherry Creek a Cherry Creek yeah there’s the church over there that’s the place is still there Cherry Creek that’s one of our Catholic Student congresses in those days there were hundreds of of tepes in Catholic St and from that year what’s that say 19 1903 can you that year I can’t see 1903 1903 yeah congresses were big in those days okay this is the last man this man looks like in a JY way from I may be wrong you know but he has the features of the person done live now at CH River but really struggled well thank you folks if there’s anybody questions anybody i’ be glad to answer but thank you I know you’re you’re listening to a lot of stuff today so I’m very glad that I was invited here or remember the words I gave you if you can let’s work together not not any one of us can do it all we can we can as brothers and sisters we can do a lot thank you much well Peter H upia oi we you thank all of you

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Tent of Many Voices: 05150404T

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:35:49 +0000

welcome everyone to the core of Discovery 2 and the tent of many voices for those of you who are not familiar with our project core of Discovery 2 is a traveling exhibit We are following the same time frame and path as Len clart did 200 years ago we will be visiting communities along the Lou and cl tra within our exhibit we have many things to offer over here is our exhibit 10 where you can take a 35 minute audio tour we have our kbo and in the far grass area we pay tribute to the Native American nations that Louis and C encountered along their Journey with our TV and and table set up also today another bonus is that we have the international tribal gam Society with us that’s people from various Nations T teaching about uh different traditional Native American games so that’s a good time over there as well just a few things to remind people of there’s no videotaping allowed in the tent of many voices so please put vide tapes away photography is okay today we have a special presentation and I’m honored to announce uh Amy Mosen he was a man manaza um member of the three affiliated tribes of North North Dakota she’s a national scholar interpretor and consultant on the life and legends of saga she’s been invited to the nation’s capital on four occasions to honor and celebrate cago in 2001 Amy accepted the mer military citation from President Bill Clinton which conferred the status of the honorary Sergeant on Chicago in 2002 Amy was presented with the National Guard bureau’s Indian award for her work with national Leon park by sentennial in 2003 she was requested at uh Monell’s Foundation she paid tribute to Sago waya at the commencement of the national leis and park B Centennial commission at the home of President Thomas Jefferson in Virginia Amy has been interviewed for numerous local National and international television and radio programs as well as her National publications related to her works with L and Clark Chicago waya and the Manda and Hada cultures she was featured as a host of North Dakota’s Prairie Public excuse me Lewis and Clark Pathways she was the principal Native American adviser for the National Geographics leis and Clark IMX film Journey great journey West and she was one of the only three nationally recognized Scholars interviewed by the National Geographic magazine for her feature story on Chicago Amy is a graduate of Minot State University and the University of North Dakota she lives um on the little Missouri river in North Dakota Badlands and resides with her family in twin bees and New Town North Dakota let’s welcome thank you it’s so good to be here with you all this afternoon and I would particularly like to welcome all of the people descended from the tribes that Mary will leis and William Clark encountered on their journey through all of our homelands especially the Kiku and the Shi and the people who were dominant in this area when Lis and Clark Trav this part of the world my name is the queen of the that is what Mya family calls me we are descended from a The Village on the south of the KN River and what is now the state of North Dakota we live about 1 hour north of the bmar or of the capital in bmar North Dakota today we lived in three Earth LOD Villages when Mary and William Clark provided in our homelands in October of 1804 we had neighbors down the river the Mandan and the Mandan lived on each side of the Missouri River one m on the west side one on the east side and Mary with Lewis and William Clark in the Northwest core of Discovery buil their winter quarters about halfway between those two mandam Villages I have relatives in that mandam both of those Mand Villages and my M relatives called me the o to the mar Lewis and William Clark embarked from here knowing that they were going to spend the winter with the man in North Dakota of course there was on North Dakota at the time but Mary and William Clark ascended up this River in the fall knowing that they were going to come to this place called North Dakota and knowing that they were going to spend the most severe months of the year in what is now North Dakota they would be there from October of 1804 until April of 1805 and you might find it very diff diffult to believe but Maryweather leis M Clark came to that part of the country at that time of the year on purpose it wasn’t an accident and I often wonder why now people probably wonder why would L come to that part of the world well we in Thea Village always said we think they came to that part of the country because of those menam women I think some people were laughing that that wasn’t intended to be funny but the man women were agriculturalists you know you hear so much about Thomas Jefferson’s Vision to this place called the Louisiana Territory he wanted Mary Lewis and William Clark to venture out into this land that had been purchased by the United States he wanted them to settle this land or to open it up for settlement he wanted this land to be F and his ultimate goal was that this part of the world would be the center of international trade but when you look back at the Mandan women they had been farming the land for hundreds of years hundreds of years before Mary with Lewis William Clark or Thomas Jefferson were even born the tribes on the Northern CLS were already engaged in international trade they were trading with the British from Canada they were trading with the French from Canada they were training with the French that were traveling up and down the Missouri River and they were engaged in trade with other nations the Lota the ARA the Ain the crow the tribes from what is now T and when Mary with leis arrived in our Villages our our our our Earth Liv villages we lived in permanent homes we lived in permanent log homes they were and when Maryweather and William Clark arrived in our Villages they would find islands that had been traded into our Villages some things directly other things indirectly but items that have originated from as far south as the of Mexico from as far east as the Great Lakes from as far north as what is now Northern Canada and from as far West as the Pacific Northwest this dentalium shell cave did not originate on Northern PLS it came from the northwest coast and when Mary with Lewis and William Park arrived in our Villages it was items like this that they would find but it wasn’t the material things and it wasn’t all of the Agricultural things that Mary withis and William Clark intended to obtain and acquired from us when they came to our Villages it was the information that was coming into our Villages from the West information about the people information about the land the rivers The Falls the animals in particular when they thought about the people they learned about all the people that LE and Clark would Lewis and Clark learned about all the people that they would encounter when they left our Villages the man down villages and Trav to the west of things that Mary W Lewis and William Clark probably found rather surprising is that the population of the m and villages in those five Villages combined exceeded the population of St Louis the population of our combined manad Anda Villages 200 years ago exceeded the population of Washington City the the population of our Villages was about the same as the number of people that gathered on January 18th 2003 on the lawn of Thomas Jefferson’s home out there in Montello on that cold Saturday morning and watch the kickoff of the 200 anniversary of the ls Park Expedition 4,500 people we have the largest agricultural Community anywhere on the west side of the Mississippi River we were already living what people today call Jefferson dreaming but I I didn’t really want to talk so much about me and my Village I want to talk about a woman who lived in our village a woman who today is the most celebrated woman in all of American History she came to our village when she was about 12 years old and and by the time Maryweather Lewis and William Clark arrived in our Villages this young woman s was already married to one of the French F traders who had become a permanent inhabitant of our village you probably don’t see this a lot in the journals but Mary with Lewis and William Clark probably don’t give enough credit to all of those French men that were living along the Missouri River with native tribes trading with them for many many years before par ever came up the river when they were in South Dakota and Southern South Dakota there were French men living among the Su and through them Lis and Clark were able to communicate when they traveled to the northern part of the river there were Frenchmen living among the Lakota there Lis and Clark to those French men were able to communicate with the tribes when they arrived in the mang Villages they found Gren Stone a French man who for many years had been married to M woman he would become their Mand interpreter and help Mary with Lewis communicate with the Manan leaders black cat on the east side of the river and white KY on the west side of the river between October and April and as they traveled up the villages they would meet to Shar another French man who had come down from Canada who was now living in our villages married to two young Shon women now what were sh women doing in our village they were capes 200 years ago that’s what we did we went to war and one of the things that we did was take captives but our captives were not made into slaves our captives were absorbed by our tribes because you see by 200 years ago the population of our people was already declining to the point that we were all related and to bring people in from other tribes to marry to our tribes because you can’t marry your relatives the younger Sant sho’s wife sagia was expecting her first child and this little boy was born on February 11th in 1805 about 5:00 in the afternoon they were now living at for and but you know this little boy was not given his mother had grown into Womanhood in this Village she had been adopted into a clan she had been given a name but this little boy was not given a name his mother was a Shon woman but this little boy was not given a Shon name this little boy was named after his French Canadian grandfather who was still living in Montreal Canada and he was called John bapti Sho and when this little boy was 55 days old he joined his mother a young Indian woman in her late teens and he joined his father a French Canadian fur Trader in his late 30s they joined Mary with Lewis and William Clark in their early 30s and they embarked on one of the most incredible Journeys ever undertaken by any American that time a journey that would forever change the landscape of this entire nation and why would they take this young woman Mary M Lewis and William Clark were so meticulous and seeking out only the right men for this Expedition they wanted men who were strong and Hardy and not afraid that they might not return anytime from this journey they wanted men who were single who did not have wives or children that they would be afraid to leave at home they did not want the sons of gentlemen that were not accustomed to difficult work so why on Earth would they take a teenage woman who had just given birth to a baby boy s was taken on this Expedition not as a guide but how many times have we seen her poting the West in every image that you see sagia is pointing West or leading the W SOA was taken on this Expedition and her purpose was to serve as an interpreter because while Mary with the ls and William Clark were in our village they learned from the hza the hza who traveled regularly to the West as far as the Continental Divide to fight against our enemies because 200 years ago that is what we did and our enemy at the time was tribe living out far to the south and west of what is now Montana the black people were also our enemy The Crow were our allies so was taken to serve as an interpreter because while Mary and William clker were at our Villages you know that they they learned that they would be Crossing these very treacherous mountains and if they did not have horses there is no way that they were going to get across those mountains before winter they needed to get horses from the Shon and they learned from the Manan Warriors who regularly travel to the West that the Shon had some of the finest forces of any tribe anywhere out there on the PLS and they were told if you’re able to obtain those horses that is the only way you will get yourself your men and all of your supplies over those mountains and that was the reason s went on this journey was to serve As an interpreter and this is incredible they left Fort M on April 7th of 1805 they traveled all across the entire state of Montana how many of you have been to Montana how many of you know how long it takes to get across Montana and that’s driving on the interstate with radial tires think about their Journey it took them from April of 1805 until August months to get across Montana but that’s not the interesting part of this what’s very interesting is that during that entire journey across all of those all of that land they did not encounter one single Indian don’t you ever wonder why it was probably because this young woman was traveling with them and by having cigara and this young child traving freely among them it was very obvious that this was not a war party this didn’t appear to be a military Expedition they were traveling through Indian country and it wasn’t until August that Mary little and William Clark finally arrived in Shon country and sag was brought in to interpret in the Shon language to assist Mary with Lewis and William Clark in obtaining those horses and why they her they needed her because to not Char yes he was an interpreter but he only spoke the souen languages he didn’t know anything about the languages that you would encounter once you got halfway across Montana all the languages all the way up the River from here North all the way into Mandan cow a c country are all Su when you get beyond the mountains the languages differ they’re as different as Chinese and Russian to not sharpen all would no longer be serving As an interpreter they needed surviv and how did they communicate when they sat down and they talked to that young leader Cy wa sh leader they spoke first from Mary Lewis in English to leish and he would ask him to ask this young leader if we are able to obtain horses from him and leish a French man would speak then in French to T Sho who did not speak read or write English and then in Kaza tant Charo who understood how to speak SE languages he would speak in hiza to Saga who had been living for 5 years among the hi she spoke and understood our language and he would tell his young wife you need to ask this young man your brother for was he was speaking in a suen language and then in turn to turn to her brother and they would speak in and as Tekken language completely different not a single word was the same as ours and she would ask him if they were able to acire horses and so this long chain of communication would go back and forth from sh and language back TOA a suan language back to French and then to English and they would pull back and forth how many horses do they need and then the message would go back the other way and then they would ask well what are they willing to trade for these horses we would like to have guns and then the message would go back and forth we were not giving any guns to any of the tribes at this time and the message went back and forth and they were with the Shon for 2 weeks and by the end of October or by the end of August they got their horses and before they left that in August Mary Lewis was so pleased with the assistance of s that he gave a red coat to just not sharo and he asked him to trade it for a horse to make certain that his young wife and child had a good horse that would take her and a few meager GS over those mountains and yes it’s true s left she continued on that Journey to the West Coast and they back in what is now North Dakota in August of 1806 during this time many things happened William CL became very very fond of sagia and this little boy because the sharo family traveled very closely with William Clark in that white hero William Clark saw this little boy John Baptist Charo grow up from the day he was born until he was 19 months old and it wasn’t just williiam Clark think about hardship and people say things like this woman imagine her courage and her determination because she went on this long extraordinary Journey thousands of miles she was Ill to the point that she almost died and all that time she was caring for this young child John Baptist who by now William Clark was Finly referring to as pompe my little dancing boy when he grew very fond of this little boy and on August 17th in 1806 when it came time to say goodbye to the Charo family William CLK wanted very much for his little boy to come back with him to St Louis he offered to not sharpen all many things he said he would give him a place to live he would give him land he said he wanted to take the young boy back to St Louis and educate him and raised him as his own son but this little boy was only 19 months old and sag and her husband decided that he was too young and they said when he’s older we will bring him to St Louis and we would be honored and pleased to have you educate him and by then you can imagine what they thought of William CLK he was a true leader and in this Expedition he he proved to be a true leader he watched out for sag many many times and then William Clark left and he embarked on the J and just as they were heading into what is now South Dakota William Clark wrote a letter back to cassant Charo to this man who did not read her right and in the letter a very long letter you can still read it today on August 20th 1806 William Clark must have realized the silence in that boat this little boy was no longer toling around or hanging over the side of the boat or wandering off into the trees probably chasing after that big black dog this little boy was not there and the Silence of the little boy’s absence must have been almost and he wrote a letter back up the river and he said to tant Charo to bring your son to St Louis and bring your wife with you so she can care for him until you arrive and when you arrive in St Louis I will provide you with land I will provide you with a home I will provide you with livestock if you want to serve as an interpreter I can if you wish to travel back to Montreal to visit your relatives I will care for your family until you return and he sent that letter up the river with one of the traders that were traveling up the Missouri to our Villages and I don’t know God be ever read that letter I I know she didn’t read it she did not read her right but I don’t know if anyone ever read that to her but I know that somehow she did get that message because s and her husband Cho and that little boy did make their way down the river in October of 1809 and in December of 1809 their son John Baptist chardo now 4 and2 years old was baptized near the Mississippi River by a j priest at a place called the old Cathedral his baptismal record is currently on exhibit Theiss and his Godfather was none other than August shelto the founder of St Louis and he would begin his education then under William Clark or under the guidance of William Clark and by the time he was a young man he was speaking six different languages he would serve as a scout and a guide and an interpreter up and down the Missouri River he would be a scout to General Steven Cary in the Mexican Wars he would travel to Europe and 6 years at M M time a castle 6 years as a guest in the Royal household he would travel West during the Gold Rush he would traveled North into Oregon and in 1866 at the age of 61 as he was traveling back out onto the plains he came down with pneumonia he died and he was buried at station in the Jordan Valley near present oreg his rededicated just a couple of years ago and his mother there’s so little that we know about her with absolute certainty but there are many things that we do know about her we do know that s has become the most celebrated woman in all of American history and when you travel across this country not only on the L Park Trail but throughout many many places you find more rivers and land mountaintops pars streams songs poems women’s organizations girls organiz girl scout organizations schools websites license plates statues named and in memory of This Woman’s honor Her Image is on the golden dollar coin this woman was a teenager she was Indian woman there are many tribes today who claim s there are many tribes today who claim descendancy to her the Shi the hza the Kami there are oral histories about this woman among the Lakota the N Pur the crow the M the black beast I am not a descendant of but I am a descendant of the village that she left in the fall 1804 and returned to in the summer of 1806 my relatives my relatives spoke witha my relatives walked to the garden with sagia they were there when John bti was born and my relatives have many stories about sagia they all end with this s was a young girl when she came to our village but she was a young woman when she left and in the spring when the ice broke up on the Missouri River we knew that she would be leaving we knew where she was going she was going back to her Homeland she was going back to her birth child which is showing our enemies and we never knew if we would ever see her again but we do know that when she left our Villages that spring she took something with her that we had given her it was something sacred it was something very very powerful it was her very own something that she would carry with her not only to the end of her life but into eternity would become part of her immortality it was her name we are the from the night Villages and we call her her thank you very much um the K the K tribe are going to come up and we’re going to do we’re going to open the up for questions and answers right now but before we do that or before I start taking questions I want to invite you tomorrow to a panel at 12:00 I’m going to moderate a panel at noon tomorrow if you’re able to be here that would be wonderful we have three of the most U knowledgeable um probably recognized National sism part Scholars from Indian Country speaking tomorrow and uh we have Roberta Conor who is from the illa um she’s from the confederated tribes of the Umatilla she’s with works with me on the National Council of listic Cl by sentennial and the circle of tribal advisers we will have um Alan P from the ners tribe the NES we I I shortened my program today because I I have some friends here that I met that I want to include in part of this program um I thought it would be more appropriate to do that elen P from the nesp tribe will tell you interesting things because the nesp tribes are the only tribe that welcome Le and Clark into their Village three times not just two like some of us but three times and we also have a very um very dis distinguished guest I think and I’m very honored and I’d like to introduce him and I want him to stand up he is the only true descendant of Cameo and chief tendo he is the only descendant of Shaga that we have here this our today and I would like my friend BR AR from the L High sh in the back of the please stand up right and and be recognized thank you for being here so please come back tomorrow and hear what we have to say um singers I have a chair um we’re going to introduce you here in just a bit let’s have a couple of questions here anyone lots of questions about have so be presentations weekend you know where she died or where she is buried I think most most Scholars and most historians and I believe most of the sh and most of us with the tribe anakota and South Dakota believe that she died in 1812 after giving birth to a little girl in the fall probably around August and 3 months later having developed the fever and complications following child birth she died at fortanel on the west side of Missi river near the borders of nor sou did children John bti was in Germany for six years and he it’s beli that he had a child in Germany um that died in infancy we don’t know about any descendants I don’t know any end that John Baptist had here in back in this country I don’t know a wife he had um Rod might have a different story tomorrow but I don’t I’m not aware of any descendants from John Baptist or theep who was any other questions one more at the beginning you were talking about your an you um part of our much of our is written down um I guess I guess it’s kind of fortunate that the m and were permanent and I think with our tries having been permanent for so long in one place it it wasn’t as difficult to trace all of our heritage back but I think if you as Native American person here today to tell you who all their ancestors are from that many many many generations they can tell you who they are my mother’s name is white juneberries her name is Sal young bear M her father’s name was Frank young bear Frank young Bear’s father’s name was young beara um his mother’s name was um or his father name was long arm and long arm’s mother was yellow um what was it it was yellow woman yellow woman was her name and yellow woman lived in to get out of the village I also I mean we can retrace our ancestry back to um our relatives who survived the 1837 small and I think that there were journals kept there were journals from 1738 on and those were the first time our history was being recorded in writing and much of those the 178 journals of course were all written in fren by lover who was in our homeland and in many other places so since that time our history has been recorded so we can find much information already recorded and recovered and also through oral history so it’s a combination of both what I want to do now we encountered many many cultures and you are going to encounter many many Native American cultures as you travel along the par trail and I think about how sag was young she was a teenager and it must have been an extraordinary experience for her to to meet and experience so many different cultures and I think for so many of us who have been working with L by sentenal for this long one of the greatest rewards is is to me only the Planters in the SCH par by Centennial but to meet the Native American descendants of all those people that leis and Fark encountered when they travel into throughout our homelands that has been the greatest joy for me the people that are here the Homeland tribes here in Illinois are the shauni and we just met the shauni nation last July great picture my friend from the Shi nation has done an incredible job working with Tom Wonder and Dale Chapman bringing the shie back you throughout the rest of this Vice sentennial you will see so many tribes coming back to their homelands and this morning we were in St Charles for that event and the flag song was was sung by the whistling wi singers of the kikoo tribe of Kansas who were removed after the L Park Expedition and it’s such an honor for me to meet the people from The Kiko tribe and they I’m I’m getting the rest of my time to the k because this is their Homeland this is not my homeland and I would like John Thomas um a leer of the kiko tribal Business Council is going to introduce the drum group and I want to tell you again that I am so pleased to see all of you here it’s an honor to meet you and it’s an honor to be able to meet so many new friends and learn about your culture too thank you so much good

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Tunnachemootoolt (Broken Arm)

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:42:25 +0000

Tunnachemootoolt, known to the expedition as “Broken Arm,” was a principal chief of the Nez Perce who hosted the Corps of Discovery during their extended stay in the Clearwater region in May-June 1806.

Broken Arm was a significant leader whose support was crucial during the expedition’s month-long wait for mountain snows to melt before recrossing the Bitterroots. He provided food, lodging, and counsel, and participated in diplomatic councils where the captains outlined American intentions in the region.

The expedition’s extended stay with the Nez Perce — longer than with any other people except the Mandan — produced detailed ethnographic observations about Nez Perce culture, governance, and daily life that remain valuable to historians and tribal members today.

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