BULL. 30] 



WAHPETON 



891 



"the most stupid and inactive of all the 

 Sioux." Long (Exped. St. Peter's R., i, 

 386, 1824) says: " This tribe has a very 

 bad name, being considered to be a 

 lawless set of men. They have a regular 

 hereditary chief, Wiahuga ( ' the raven ' ), 

 who is acknowledged as such by the 

 Indian agent, but who, disgusted by 

 their misbehaviour, withdrew from them 

 and resides at Wapasha's. 

 They have no fixed villages, they in- 

 habit skin lodges, and rove at the head 

 of Cannon and Blue Earth rs. Their 

 hunting grounds are in that vicinity and 

 west of it." He estimated them at 100 

 lodges, 200 warriors, and 800 souls. Ac- 

 cording to Siblev (Minn. Hist. Coll., iii, 

 250, 1880) they were in 1834 in villages 

 on Cannon r., a short distance from the 

 present city of Faribault, Minn., and at a 

 few other points. They numbered then 

 about 150 warriors. Between 1842 and 

 1857 they were under two chiefs named 

 Wamdisapa (Black Eagle) and Tasagi. 

 The lawless and predatory habits of Wam- 

 disapa and his band prolonged the war 

 with the Sauk and Foxes in which they 

 had been engaged, and created difficulties 

 between them and the rest of the Wahpe- 

 kute which caused a separation. Wamdi- 

 sapa and his band went w. and occupied 

 landsab(mtVermillionr.,S. Dak. So thor- 

 oughly were they separted from the rest 

 of the Wahpekute that when the latter, 

 together with the Mdewakanton, made 

 a treaty at Mendota in 1851 ceding their 

 lands in Minnesota, the remnant of Wam- 

 disapa's band was not regarded as being 

 a part of the tribe and did not participate 

 in the treaty. In 1857 all that remained 

 of this straggling band were some 10 or 15 

 lodges under Inkpaduta (q. v.). It was 

 this remnant that committed the massacre 

 in 1857 about Spirit lake and Springfield, 

 Minn. (Flandreau in Minn. Hist. Coll., 

 Ill, 387, 1880). In 1856, according to the 

 Report on Indian Affairs for that year, the 

 Mdewakanton and Wahpekute together 

 numbered 2,379. A part at least of the 

 tribe participated in the massacre of 

 1862. They are now with the Mdewa- 

 kanton on the Santee res., Nebr. 

 Afrahcootans. — Carver, Trav., 80, 1778. Anibishiw 

 ininiwak.— Gatschet, MS., B. A. E (Chippewa 

 name). Gens de Feuilles-tirees. — Burton, City of 

 Sts., 117, 1866. Gens des Feuilles tirees.— School- 

 craft, Ind. Tribes, iii, 563, 1853 (French for Wah- 

 pekute). Hu-sha-sha band. — Gale, Upper Mis.'>\, 

 252, 1867. Leaf Bed.— Covner, Lost Trappers, 70, 

 1847. People of the Leaves detached.— Pike (1806), 

 quoted bv Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, in, 563, 18,53. 

 People of the Shot Leaf.— Minn. Hist, Coll., in, 250, 

 1880. Sioux of the Broad Leaf.-Brown, W. Gaz., 

 209, 1817. Sioux Wahpacoota.— Lewis and Clark 

 Discov., 28, 1806. Waakpacootas.— Domeneeh, 

 Deserts N. Am., ii, 26, 1860. Wachpecoutes.— Pike, 

 E.xped.. pt. 1, app., 25, 1810. Wahch-Pe-Kutch.— 

 Maximilian, Trav., 149, 1843. Wahch-Pekute.— 

 Ibid., 134. Wah-haykoo-tay.— Hatch in H. R. 

 Misc. Doc. 167, 44th Cong., l.st sess., 424, 1876. 

 Wahkpacoota.— Schnolcraft, Ind. Tribes, ii, 168, 

 1862. Wahkpacootays.— Minn. Hist. Coll., ii, pt. 



2, 5, 1866. Wahkpakoota.— Ind. Aff. Rep., 856, 1848. 

 Wahk^kota. — Long, Exped. St. Peters R., i, 386, 

 1824. wahkpakotoan.— Ibid., 378. Wahpaakootas — 

 Ind. Aff. Rep., 495, 1839. Wahpaakootah.— Treaty 

 of 1837 in U. S. Stat, at Large, vii, .527, 1846. 

 Wah-pa-coo-la.— Brackenridge, Views of La., 78, 

 1814. 'Wah'-pa-coo-ta. — Lewis and Clark Discov., 

 30, 1806. "Wahpacoota Sioux.— Marshall (1852) in 

 Sen. Ex. Doc. 29, pt. 2, 32d Cong., 2d sess., 8, 1853. 

 Wahpacootay Sioux.— Ind. Aft'. Rep. 1849, 114, 1850. 

 Wah-pa-costa. — Cor. on Emig. of Inds., doc. 512 

 (1830), V, 22, 1835, Wah-pa-koo-ta.— U. S. Stat, at 

 Large, xii, 237, 1863. Wahpakootah Sioux.— Ind 

 Aff. Rep. 1856, 37, 1857. Wahpakooty.— Sen Ex 

 Doc. 29, pt. 2, 32d Cong., 2d sess., 4, 1853. Wah- 

 pakutas.— Ind. Aff. Rep. ia56, 53, 1857. Wahpa- 

 toota.— Lewis and Clark Exped., i, 61, 1814. Wah- 

 pay-hoo-tays.— Ramsey (1853) in Sen. Ex. Doc. 61 

 33d Cong., 1st sess., 327, 18.54. Wahpaykootay — 

 Ind. Aff. Rep., 18, 1851. "Wahpaykootays.— Minn. 

 Hist. Coll., II, pt. 2, 36, 1865. "Wahpeconte.— Bur- 

 ton, City of Sts., 117, 1861. "Wahpekootays.— Parker 

 Minn. Handbk., 141, 1857. Wahpekute.— Riggs, 

 Dakota Gram, and Diet., vii, 1852. WahpekutesT— 

 Warren, Dacota Country, 15, 1855. Wahpekute's 

 band.— Ind. Aff. Rep., 68, 1860. Wahpekutey.— 

 Williamson in Minn. Geol. Rep. 1S84, 111, 1885. 

 Wahpekuti.— Ind. Aff. Rep. 1856, 68, 1856. Wa- 

 hpe-kwtes.— Spencer in H. R. Ex. Doc. 68. 37th 

 Cong., 3d sess., 8, 1863. Wakhpekute.— Williain.'jon 

 in Minn. Geol. Rep., Ill, 1884. "Wakpakootas — 

 Minn. Hist. Coll., iii, 260, 1880. Wak-pe-ka-te.— 

 Smith.son. Misc. Coll., 14, art. 6,8, 1878. Wak-pe- 

 ku-te.— Flandrau in Minn. Hist. Coll. , iii, 387, 1880. 

 WaUpekutes.— Keane in Stanford, Compend., 542, 

 1878 (misprint). Wapakotah.— Schoolcraft, Ind. 

 Tribes, vi, 707, 1857. Wa-pa-too-ta.— Lewis and 

 Clark Exped., i, map, 1814. Wapaykoota.— Sen 

 Ex. Doc. 29, 32d Cong., 2d se.ss.. 25, 18.53. Wappa- 

 coota.— Treaty of 1825 in U.S.Ind. Treat., 367,1826. 

 Wark-pay-ku-tay.— Ramsey in Ind. Aff. Rep. 1849, 

 82. 1850. War-pe-kintes.— Ramsey, ibid., 74. War- 

 pekute.— Nicollet. Rep. on Upper Miss. R., 13, 1843. 

 Warpekutey. — Ibid., map. Washpcoute. — Bou- 

 dinot, Star in the W., 129, 1816. Washpecoate.— 

 Schermerhorn in Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d s., ii 41 

 1814. Washpeconte.— Pike, Trav., 128. 1811. "Wash- 

 pecoutongs.— Schoolcraft. Trav. ,307, 1821. Waupa- 

 cootar.— Clark, MS., quoted by Coues, Lewis and 

 Clark Exped., 1, 101, note. 1893. Wha-pa-ku-tahs.— 

 Cullen in Ind. Aff. Rep. 1857, 79, 1858. 



Wahpeton {wal-hpe, 'leaf; tonivan 

 (French nasal ?i). 'a village'; hence prob- 

 ably 'dwellers among leaves' ). One of the 

 7 primary divisions of the Dakota. His- 

 toric and linguistic evidence proves the 

 affinity of this tribe with the Sisseton, 

 Wahpekute, and Mdewakanton. Hen- 

 nepin (1680) mentions them as living in 

 the vicinity of Mille Lac, Minn., near the 

 Mdewakanton, Sisseton, and Teton. On 

 his map they are placed a little to the 

 N. E. of the lake. Le Sueur (1700) places 

 the Oudebatons, or "river village," 

 among the eastern Sioux, and the Or.ape- 

 tons, "village of the leaf," among the 

 Sioux of the west. As both these names 

 seem to be forms of Wahpeton, it is 

 probable that they are applied to differ- 

 ent villages of the tribe, which was sub- 

 sequently found most of the time in two 

 bands. It was not until Lewis and 

 Clark and Pike visited the N. W. that 

 the name appeared again in history. 

 According to the former (1804) they re- 

 sided on Minnesota r., just above its 

 mouth, and claimed the country to the 

 mouth of Chippewa V r., thence n. e. to 

 Crow Wing r. Pike"(1806) says: "They 



