James Bigheart Presentation - Bigheart Day 2015

Introduction:
When we think of Bigheart Day most people will think about families getting together, cook outs, high school reunions and the beginning of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

James Bigheart Signature

 But Bigheart Day is more than that, it's a day of honor bestowed to James Bigheart, the towns founder and  former Chief of the Osage Nation.

What do we know about James Bigheart and why do we celebrate his life? What kind of man was he and how did he become such a prominent figure for the Osage tribe?

James Bigheart was born in 1835 in an Osage village near the Neosho River, near what is now St. Paul, Kansas. James was an active boy and quite observant, always eager to learn and help out in his tribe.

             

   Fr. John Schoenmakers

                 



In 1847, Father John Schoenmakers opened the first Catholic church in one of two log houses built by the Indian Department for use as a school. With incoming white settlers, it was necessary to build a larger church and school.

                                       Osage Mission Church / Osage Mission School
         

 

Father Schoenmaker had the idea that blending Cathoilic and Indian culture would civilize the Osages and help bring about the education of the Osage tribe members.

James met Father Schoenmakers around the age of ten. They became friends and James would soon be learning the ways of the white man, going to school and being taught Christianity. He would soon take up the Catholic faith but still hold on to his Osage culture. Upon his release from school James had become highly academic and became fluent in seven languages. In the following years James would watch as settlers were taking more of the Osage land which discouraged him. Before the Civil War began, James would have two wives and two children. All would die from disease.

As war broke out between the states, James was still with the tribe. He consulted with Father Schoenmakers about the tribe being with the Union or Confederacy. Father Schoenmakers strongly advised James and the tribe to stay with the Union.

Union Enlistment

James travelled to Iola, Kansas and enlists in the Union Army on January 19, 1862 for a period of three years. He joined 1st Lt. Cowley's Company 9 Regiment Kansas Volunteers as a Private. By March 6, 1862, Lt Cowley's Company would be organized into Company I, 9th Regiment of the Kansas Cavalry. James would hold the rank as Private and become one of the regiments teamsters.
 June, 1862, James goes on detached service to Fort Laramie. July, 1862, James was on detached service as an escort to Fort Lyon. Returning to his regiment by August 1862, Co. I, 9th Regiment participated in operations against Quantrill on his raid into Kansas including the Brooklyn and Paoli skirmishes and action at Baxter Springs, Kansas.

Kansas Cavalry Uniform

September, 1863, James was absent without leave from Fort Larned. On his return he was confined to the fort from November 1863 to october 1864. During his confinement a tranfer was requested to Fort Leavenworth since there were no facilities at Fort Larned to hold prisoners waiting for trial. November, 1864, James is released from confinement and goes on detached service to Fort Leavenworth until March 1865. Private James Bigheart musters-out of service on March 22, 1865 at Duvalls Bluff, Arkansas.

                 

   Muster-Out  /  Pension

               


James returned to Osage Mission where he marries Pauline. Together they have two children, Sarah and James. For the next few years James watched as his tribe was slowly being pushed off their land. He would consult with Father Shoenmakers about the white squaters and the new threat of the railroad that wanted the Osage land. Being a diplomatic voice for the Osage tribe James and Father Shoenmakers sent a written protest to Sidney Clark, Representative of the Southeast Kansas District Congress. As a result, the 1868 Drum Creek Treaty came about which stated that any indian tribe was prohibited from selling it's land to no other but the U.S. government. This was the first treaty signed by James Bigheart. The Drum creek treaty also brought about an Act of Congress in 1870 with Executive Document 131 which stated that the Osages would agree to sell the remainder of their land in Kansas and use the proceeds to relocate the tribe to Indian Territory in the Cherokee Outlet.

Osage tribe members at Pawhuska

In 1871 the Osage tribe moved to Silver Lake near what is now Bartlesville but it was learned later they had settled in Cherokee Territory so the tribe moved their agency to the center of their reserve and established their agency in Pawhuska in 1872. James would work for the agency as an interpreter and clerk at this time. The seventeen Osage bands settled in different parts of the reservation. James Bigheart was part of the Beaver Band and his band settled in the Bird Creek area. Fifteen miles southeast of Pawhuska, James would build a cabin on a hill on the east side of Bird Creek overlooking Rosalie Chouteau's village settlement. He also would built a two story trading post on the south bank of Birch Creek where it empties into Bird Creek. The site would also have a butcher shop, blacksmith shop with a livestock corral.

Second Delegation of Osage Indians,

Lawrence, Kansas 1874

By 1874, James began serving his tribe in many capacities. Agency Clerk, Interpreter, Councilman and Delegate. His vision and foresight for his tribe became evident as he worked constantly on trying to improve his tribes way of life.

Old Chief Pawhuska, before his death, appointed Beaver to take his place as Principle Chief. On Beavers death, his sons were too young to to assume the responsibilities of Chief. The Pawhuska band appointed James Bigheart as Principle Chief in 1875. It was also in this year James signed the first blanket oil lease with Edwin Foster for the exploration of oil and gas. As Chief, James watched as white traders would swarm the agency on payment days and collect sums claimed the indians owed them. His tribe members would also cede land for a small amount of money that never reached the Osage land owners. James would lose his son in 1876 and soon after in 1877 his wife Pauline and daughter would die in an epidemic. James would take in his nephew Jacob and niece Margaret to raise and then marry again in 1878 to Anna. During this time James would have two daughters named Jane and Agnes. Unfortunaltely due to illness, Anna died and in 1879. James married Amelia and had two daughters, Josephine and Maggie.



                                         



Upset over the years of his tribe members being taken advantage of he persuaded William Conner, a former school mate, to help organize their tribe and draw up a Constitution. It was James idea that doing so would  get the attention of Washington officals and the President. Therefore showing the truth about the agents and traders taking advantage of the Osage tribe. The two men set out to inform the tribe of their intentions and by 1881 had brought about the organization of two political parties, the full bloods and the mixed bloods. The political parties were organized and the Osage nation was divided into five districts. Each district sent three members to National Council. The National Council met at Pawhuska, drew up a constitution and organized a tribal government after the Federal government. The Constitution also stated a new chief would be voted into office every two years instead of chieftainships being passed down from father to son. James Bigheart signed the Constitution as President of the National Council. The first election was held in 1882 and James Bigheart was elected Chief of the Osage Nation.

Chief James Bigheart

As Chief, James was first to sanction appropriations for schools, alloting land for St. John School for boys near Grayhorse and St. Louis School for girls at Pawhuska. He fought the Quakers who wanted to remove Osage children from local Catholic schools and send them to government schools. James was the only indian at the time granted a license to bring whiskey into the reservation. This privilege was granted to him by the Secretary of the Interior, Ethan Allen Hitchcock. Prior to that James was arrested for serving alcohol to Washington officials at his home. During 1881, he lost his wife Amelia to sickness, he would later marry Humpsehanca in 1882 and have a daughter with her named Mary Magdalene. Both would die later of illness.

James Bigheart  (colorized)

Also in this year, as part of the payment for ceded lands in Kansas, the government would begin to ration cattle to the Osage tribe. James recognized the possibility of grazing cattle on the reservations bluestem grass and knowing that some of his tribe members did not want to be troubled with the care of livestock he set out a few days before the allotment and offered cash for their allotted cattle. When the cattle arrived, James sent cowboys to Pawhuska and Guthrie to drive the cattle to his ranch. From this small beginning with alloted cattle he built up his ranch. Along with his mercantile business, James also had ownership in Pawhuska's leading drug store, became a director in the Bank of Bartlesville and First National Bank of Cleveland and a stock holder in the Citizens Trading Company of Pawhuska. James would become the wealthiest man of his tribe. His ranch home was the center of all his activities, being a two story structure built in an "L" shape, it had a covered breezeway on the lower porch and two dinning rooms for entertaining. It was built on top of the hill near the family cemetery. The ranch served as a place to entertain his guests and government dignitaries where feasts, barbecues and dances were held. James would often be seen dancing the polka or schottische. A small schoolhouse was constructed on the Bigheart property where all the furniture was homemade. He had hired a private teacher for his children and even the cowboys on his ranch to be educated. Among all the buildings built on the property only the large barn with a hay loft remains of the original ranch.



The Osages and Cherokees had a strong dislike for each other and in 1884 James would find love in the Cherokee nation. James was known to the Cherokees as Chief of the Osages and a rancher. It was his ranching that would help in his quest for a new bride. James set out for Cherokee Territory and arrived at the home of Jennie Grass, the mother of Alice Grass. James would make the usual arrangements for the marriage with the girls mother and in the marriage settlement James gave a wagon, a team, one cow and two pigs for his bride. Upon delivery of the goods and livestock, James gathered his bride and started his return to the ranch. As word spread of the Osage Chief taking a Cherokee bride, the Cherokee "light horse" police sprang into action and pursued James and his bride back to the Osage Reservation. Unable to overtake the two, the Cherokees gave up the chase and returned home.

Alice Bigheart

At the time James took Alice for his wife, he was 41 years old, Alice was 13. With such an age difference between the two, Alice was not fond of James. Even as he showered her with gifts from his trips to Washington over the years, she would never fall in love with him. In the years to come, James and Alice would have four children, Mary, Rosa, Sarah and Isabella.


In the years to come James would accomplish a Federal investigation of the Osage Indian rolls to eliminate those not entitled to Osage property rights. In 1893 the Dawes Commission, set up under an Indian Office appropriation bill was created to try and persuade tribes to agree to allotment plans. James opposed the allotment of Osage land and fought the Allotment Bill for ten years making many trips to Washington to speak with Congress. While holding off the allotment bill, James would sign a ten year blanket lease to the Foster brothers for oil and gas exploration on the Osage reservation.



               

 Chief Bigheart Inauguration 1902

James Bigheart was voted in as Chief and in 1902 he was inaugurated on the steps of the Osage council house which is now Pawhuska's City Hall. A big barbeque was held at the expense of the Chief and a dance was held at the Indian Camp. As the year came to an end what would transform in the following year would begin the evolution of the town of Bigheart. Charles Ingersoll, an industrialist from Pennsylvania was looking for a railroad passage from Arkansas into Kansas. The route would bring the railway through the Osage reservation. As the construction began in Arkansas, representatives of the Midland Valley Railroad would  come to Bigheart's ranch to get permission to cross through the reservation. The Chief would give permission and in the matter, it would cross over the Bigheart property. 1904 saw the introduction of the Osage Allotment Bill in the House of Representatives. James, along with other members of the osage government would travel to Washington to oppose the bill.

Valentine Purchase

 During his time in Washington, James would conduct the largest purchase of valentines known at the time. With some of his tribe members James walked into a book shop and purchased all the valentines in the store. He would have them sent to members of the Osage tribe and all the prominent statesmen whom he had met on his travels in Washington. A local paper called the Inter Ocean Post, gathered up the story which claimed James spent $520. In todays money that is equal to $13,800. As the allotment bill was stalled once again, James and his delegation returned home.


In the following election, James was defeated by Progressive candidate O-lo-ho-walla. Although he was no longer Chief, James was still consulted on the affairs of the tribe, he would spend his time on the ranch with his family and conduct the affairs of his mecrcantile business and banking activities. In 1905, H.H. Brenner a Pawhuska banker, travelled to Washington to negotiate with congress to have 5 townsites built in the Osage reservation. One of which would be the townsite of Bigheart. Congress approved the townsites and surveying for the town began near the Bigheart trading post. It was found the land was prone to flooding so the townsite was moved north to where Rosalie Chouteau had her indian settlement west of Bird Creek and James Bighearts home. Bigheart would become a town on March 5, 1905 with a post office and depot set up on the Midland valley railroad line.




                 

1906 Washington Delegation

 In 1906, the Allotment bill came up in Congress and Bigheart learned that O-lo-ho-walla's delegates planned on passing the bill as it was introduced in 1904. Bigheart and Fred Lookout travelled to Washington to meet with the O-lo-ho-walla delegation. Bigheart succeeded in having the rider clause introduced that saved all the minerals below the surface for the tribe. While on his way to conduct the voting for the bill, James was attacked and beaten which cause a stroke. He would spend months in a Washington hospital before being well enough to travel back home. As a result of the attack, James would suffer from paralysis. Though his mobility was confined to his home he still consulted with the tribal government on the affairs of the Osage tribe. The bill was passed by an Act of Congress on June, 28, 1906. It would later be known as the "Osage Allotment Act" which would make the Osage tribe wealthy in years to come with the discovery of oil on the reservation.

James Bigheart

James Bigheart died on October 5, 1908. Said to be the richest indian in the United States his estate was worth 3 million dollars upon his death.  Known as the "Osage Moses", he took care of many people never turning his back on anyone that needed help. Known for his generosity, he was a mentor to many. He ushered in an educational system to the Osage tribe. Even though many honors were bestowed on James Bigheart he showed no tendency toward pompous display of wealth or power. Bigheart wore modest white men's clothing and spent his life in the interest of matters concerning the Osage Tribe. He was buried in the family cemetery along with other members of his family, cowboys from his ranch and locals that had no other place to be buried. The town of Barnsdall honors James Bigheart every year in May celebrating "Bigheart Day" for his founding of the town and his accomplishments.

 This is the legacy that James Bigheart left. The beginning of a new era.