70 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



THE PAWNEES. 



There is but little definite knowledge of the early history of the Pawnees, although 

 they are among the longest known to the whites west of the Mississippi. Marquette 

 notes them in his map, 1673, as divided into various bands. They are supposed to be 

 the Pauimaha of La Salle's voyage in 16S8. At the time of Lewis and Clarke's visit, 

 in 1803, their principal village was on the south side of the Platte. Pike, in 1806, 

 estimated the population of three of their villages at 6,233, with nearly 2,000 war- 

 riors, engaged in fierce combats with neighboring tribes. In 1820, three of the four 

 bands into which they have been for a long time divided resided on the banks of the 

 Platte and its tributaries, with a reservation on Loup Fork, on the ninety-eighth 

 meridian. Were then estimated at about 10,000 souls, living in earth-covered lodges, 

 and much devoted to the cultivation of the soil, but engaging regularly every season 

 in a grand buff"alo-hnnt. The Delawares, in 1823, burnt the Great Pawnee village 

 on the Republican, and these Pawnees, becoming much reduced in numbers by small- 

 pox, soon after sold all their lands south of the Platte and removed to the reserva- 

 tion on Loup Fork. The means were provided, and many exertions made to place 

 them on the high road to prosperity ; but their inveterate foe, the Sioux, harassed 

 them continually, drove them repeatedly off their reservation, and despoiled their 

 villages. This warfare and disease soon reduced them to half their former number. 

 In 1861 they raised a company of scouts for service against the Sioux, and a much 

 larger force under the volunteer organization, incurring in consequence an increased 

 hostility from their enemies, who harassed them so continuously that in 1874 the 

 chiefs in general council determined upon removing to a new reservation in the In- 

 dian Territory, lying between the forks of the Arkansas and Cimarron, east of the 

 ninety-seventh meridian. Their removal was almost entirely effected during the 

 winter of 1874-'75. 



The Pawnees now (in 1877) number in all 2,028, and yet retain the subdivision into 

 bands, as follows : The Skeedee (Pawnee Mahas, or Loups), Kit-ka-hoct, or Repub- 

 lican Pawnees, Petahoweret, and the Chowee or Grand Pawnees. There are also 

 living on the Washita a small band of affiliated Wacos and Wichitas, sometimes 

 called Pawnee Picts, [see page 50 herein,] who are undoubtedly an off-shoot of the 

 Grand Pawnees. They are under the care of the Friends; have well-organized day 

 and industrial schools, and are well supplied with implements and means to carry 

 forward a systematic cultivation of the soil. — W. H. Jackson, 1877. 



PRESENT LOCATION AND CONDITION. 



On August 15, 1884, there were 1,142 Pawnees at Ponca, Pawnee, 

 and Otoe Agency, Indian Territory; August 20, 1885, 1,045. Many 

 farmers and herders on allotted land. 



The agent wrote in 1884: 



The Pawnees now number 1,142 souls, a slight decrease since last annual report. 

 Hereditary and constitutional diseases are slowly but surely decimating this people. 



John W. Scott, agent, wrote of the Pawnees, August 20, 1885: 



The Indiana on all the reservations, viz.. Pawnees, Otoes, Missourias, and Poncas, 

 have pursued the peaceful and even tenor of their way, no act of violence or breach 

 of the peace worthy of mention having occurred either among themselves or in con- 

 nection with the whites. I can repeat with added confidence the statement of my 

 former report that no white community of equal number can show a record so clear 

 of violence or with so few offenses against person or property as these Indians. Their 

 patience and forbearance under acts of wrong and injustice to which they are some- 

 times subjected by a certain class of whites, who have obtained a foothold on the sur- 

 rounding territory, are really surprising. 



