Red Tomahawk

[melliott]

I'm curious if anyone has any knowledge of Red Tomahawk, who spoke at the 1926 anniversary of the LBH. He is identified on one list as a Northern Cheyenne, and on another as a Hunkpapa. Does anyone know which is correct?

There was a Red Tomahawk who was involved in the killing of Sitting Bull as well; I'm assuming that this cannot be the same person, but perhaps I'm wrong.

[Ephriam Dickson]

Melliott:

Utley (in The Lance and the Shield) describes the Indian Policeman Red Tomahawk who assisted in the arrest of Sitting Bull in 1890 as "a mixed Yanktonai-Hunkpapa who lived on the Cannonball north of the agency and was unfamiliar with the people or the country to the south." (p. 298) If he was unfamiliar with Sitting Bull and his people, this would imply that he was not at the LBH.

This Red Tomahawk is listed in the 1900 census for Standing Rock Agency in the northern part of the agency in North Dakota, age 47 (born about 1853) and married 25 years (about 1875). His name is given as Yacaurpeduta, written in the Dakota dialect, not the Lakota dialect of the Hunkpapa. He is not listed with the Hunkpapa surrendering at Standing Rock in 1881.

I think it is highly unlikely that this Red Tomahawk is the man you are looking for.

Ephriam

[melliott]

Thanks for this reply, Ephriam. This is really useful, esp. in helping me make sure that the two Red Tomahawks are not the same person.