Tag Archives: Sioux

Independent Skills

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Sioux Indians Hitting a Dime at 100 Yards, July 4, 1891, courtesy Library of Congress

Sioux Indians Hitting a Dime at 100 Yards, July 4, 1891, courtesy Library of Congress

Relationships between whites and Native Americans were not always antagonistic. Many settlers in the West had a healthy respect for Native Americans’  herbal knowledge (see 6/13/10 post) as well as their skills in hunting, tracking, riding, and shooting.

Americans had a fascination with these aspects of Native American culture, which were exploited in various “western” entertainments. Many times, however, groups of men simply indulged in games of skill or contests.

Apache Men Playing A Hoop and Pole Game Called Chees (1883-1888?) courtesy Library of Congress

Apache Men Playing A Hoop and Pole Game Called Chees (1883-1888?) courtesy Library of Congress

Canoe Tug of War, Tulalip Bay, circa 1912, courtesy Library of Congress

Canoe Tug of War, Tulalip Bay, circa 1912, courtesy Library of Congress

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And, What’s Not in a Name?

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Dipsomania (craving for alcohol)

Dipsomania (craving for alcohol)

One of the great tragedies of the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians was that many of its patients were not actually insane. Sometimes Indian agents or reservation superintendents (almost always white men) sent a disruptive or rebellious Indian to the asylum simply for convenience. Sometimes they sent old, indigent, sick, or helpless people there because they didn’t know how else to care for them. Canton Asylum accepted them all. Here are a few suspect diagnoses for Canton Asylum patients:

Sam Black Buffalo (Sioux) – mutism

Peter Good Boy (Sioux) – constitutional inferiority

Robert Hayes (Chippewa) – imbecility

Two Teeth (Sioux) – old man

Alex Zimmerman (Cheyenne) – hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body, usually from disease or injury to the brain)

Imbecility Scale

Imbecility Scale

Moral Imbecile

Moral Imbecile, (later called "moron")

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What’s In a Name?

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Woman Suffering From Acute Melancholia, 1869

Woman Suffering From Acute Melancholia, 1869, courtesy Wellcome Library, London

Alienists categorized the various psychiatric problems they saw, just as psychiatrists do today. Some terms can be understood fairly easily by the modern researcher; melancholia meant depression, for instance. Other terms are not quite so readily translated or understood today. Here are a few diagnoses for the patients at Canton Asylum for Insane Indians:

Omudis (Chippewa) – imbecility, demented, “mischeivous” (original spelling)

Red Cloud (Sioux) – dementia praecox (this is known today as schizophrenia)

Cleto Tafoya (Pueblo) – dementia praecox, paranoid type, and dazed religious spells

BlueSky (Chippewa) – circular insanity

Fred Tatsup (Bannock) – galloping paresis (paresis is a partial paralysis due to syphilis; “galloping” means a rapid progression of the condition)

Dementia Praecox Patient

Dementia Praecox Patient

German Psychiatric Book, Eugen Bleuler

German Psychiatric Book, Eugen Bleuler

Al Capone, Suffered Syphilitic Dementia

Al Capone, Suffered Syphilitic Dementia

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Death at Canton Asylum

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Tree Burial of the Oglala Sioux near Ft. Laramie, Wyo. courtesy National Archives

Tree Burial of the Oglala Sioux near Ft. Laramie, Wyo. courtesy National Archives

Robert Brings Plenty, a Sioux Indian from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge reservation, was one of  Canton Asylum’s first patients. He lasted less than one year, dying of (probably) an epileptic episode on May 20, 1903. Continue reading →

Canton Asylum’s First Patients

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On January 10, 1903, the superintendent at St. Elizabeths hospital in Washington, D.C. received permission to release its Indian patients to the Canton Asylum for Insane Indians in South Dakota. The first patients were:

Chu-rah-rah-he-kah; Pawnee from the Ponca Agency; suffering from chronic mania

Joseph D. Marshall; Sioux from the Rose Bud Agency; suffering from chronic epileptic dementia

Miguel Maxcy; Mesa Grande froom the Carlisle Indian School; suffering from chronic meloncholia

Robert Brings Plenty; Sioux from the Pine Ridge Agency; suffering from chronic epileptic dementia

John Woodruff; Sioux-Mulatto from the Pine Ridge Agency; suffering from chronic meloncholia

Arch Wolf; Cherokee transferred from the penitentiary at Brooklyn New York; suffering from acute melancholia

These patients arrived at the Canton Asylum under escort of Dr. J.E. Toner, who received $157.71 reimbursement for expenses.

Train, circa 1900, courtesy Library of Congress

Train, circa 1900, courtesy Library of Congress

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