aeo 



KED IRON BAND — BED JACKET 



[b. a. e. 



while smallpox was raging among the in- 

 mates, and the soldiers killed Red Horn 

 and 172 others. The number of women 

 and children among these was later a sub- 

 ject of controversy. See Dunn, Massa- 

 cres of the Mountains, 509-42, 1886. 



Bed Iron Band. A former Sisseton Sioux 

 band, named from its chief, Mazahsha, 

 residing at the mouth of Lac qui Parle r., 

 Minn. They were friendly in the out- 

 break of 1862, and after the massacre pre- 

 vented the escape of Little Crow with 276 

 captives into the far N. W. This band 

 was a part of the so-called Traverse des 

 Sioux band. (d. r. ) 



Red Jacket. A noted Seneca orator and 

 chief of the "merit" class (see Chiefs) 

 of the Wolf clan, born about 1756, prob- 

 ably at Canoga, in Seneca co., N. Y., 

 where a monument commemorates his 



RED JACKET 



birth; died on the former "Buffalo res- 

 ervation" of the Seneca, on lands now 

 within the limits of Buffalo, N. Y., Jan. 

 20, 1830. In civil life his Indian name 

 was Otetiani, probably meaning 'pre- 

 pared' or 'ready'. On his elevation to 

 a chiefship, he received the name 'Sha- 

 goie^wiitha' (commonly spelled Sa-go-ye- 

 wat-ha), signifying literally 'he them 

 causes to be awake,' and, as a name, ' he 

 who causes them to be awake,' a desig- 

 nation having no reference to his reputed 

 ability as an effective speaker, although 

 this seems to be the popular inference. 

 Being a member of the Wolf clan of the 

 Seneca, the Indian names received by 

 Red Jacket belonged, according to cus- 

 tom, exclusively to this im})ortant clan. 

 And, institutionally, clan names were in 

 large measure designations descriptive of 



some distinctive feature, attitude, habit, 

 or other phenomenon characteristic of 

 the clan tutelary. So it being one of the 

 marked habits of the wolf to disturb or 

 awaken people at night by howling or 

 by other means, there naturally would 

 be a personal name belonging to the Wolf 

 clan which eml)odied tliis lupine trait 

 and which in this case became the name 

 of a tribal but not federal chiefship 

 therein. This is also an official name 

 among the Cayuga. In the American 

 Revolution, his tribe, the Seneca, having 

 reluctantly espoused the cause of Great 

 Britain, Red Jacket, although strongly 

 opposed to this course of his people, took 

 the field with his fellow warriors. At 

 once his ability and intelligence attracted 

 the attention of British officers, one of 

 whom gave him a brilliant red jacket, 

 which, when worn out, was replaced by a 

 second, and so on until this distinctive 

 dress became a characteristic feature of 

 its wearer, whence his popular name. 

 Red Jacket was frequently employed in 

 carrying dispatches, but he took no very 

 active part in the actual fighting; indeed, 

 he was even reproached with being a 

 coward for certain conduct in the field 

 by the great fighting chief, Cornplanter. 

 During the invasion of the Seneca coun- 

 try by Gen. Sullivan in 1779, Cornplanter 

 sought to make a stand against the Amer- 

 ican forces on the shore of Canandaigua 

 lake, but on the approach of the Ameri- 

 can troops, a num])er of Indians, includ- 

 ing Red Jacket, began to retreat. Seeing 

 the ill effect of this movement, Corn- 

 planter endeavored to rally the fugitives. 

 Placing himself in front of Red Jacket, he 

 sought to persuade him and his fellow 

 refugees to turn back to fight, but his ef- 

 forts were fruitless; in anger, the battled 

 chief, turning to Red Jacket's young wife, 

 exclaimed, "Leave that man; he is a 

 coward! " 



Red Jacket was reputed to have had a 

 most tenacious memory and a quick wit, 

 and, being a ready and effective speaker, 

 he possessed a remarkable gift for defen- 

 sive debate; but, judging from his inter- 

 preted speeches and from his course in 

 life, it is evident he was not a deep, 

 broad-minded thinker, and so justly he 

 could hard 1 y be cal led a great orator. H e 

 was at all times an egotist, and his mind 

 was of so narrow a cast that he failed 

 to see that he and his people had reached 

 a point where they had to strive to ad- 

 just themselves so far as practicable to 

 the new conditions brought about by the 

 coming of the white race. And so he 

 likewise failed to read aright the lesson 

 taught by the cataclysm that engulfed 

 the institutions of the Iroquois of the 

 League when the avenging army of Sul- 

 livan desolated their homes, their or- 



