The Dying Grass, page 151
Left Hand—(Anglicized Flathead?) A Salish chief on whose land the fleeing Nez Perces held a council the night after they broke out of Fort Fizzle. His unenthusiastic hospitality encouraged them on their way.
Lemonade Lucy—The teetotaling First Lady. One contemporary account called Lucy Hayes as “jolly as a plain country girl.”
Lightning-Struck—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Tomyunmene.] A brave warrior who fought at the Clearwater. He seldom appears in the records.
Lone Bird—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) While in the Bitterroot Valley this young man uttered one of several unheeded warnings that the Americans might not respect the “treaty” of Fort Fizzle. He was accidentally killed at Bear’s Paw by Húsus Kute.
Loon—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) A man’s name taken from Aoki’s dictionary. Since the primary source documents decline to specify which young men were “cowards” at Clearwater, I have invented two such characters. (The other is No Swan.)
Looking-Glass—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) Called “Arrowhead” by the Crows and “Allalimya Takanin” or “Flint Necklace” by his own. [This was also his father’s name, and his grandfather’s, although the latter was called We-ark-koomt by Lewis and Clark.] To the Flatheads he was Big Hawk. He was also known as “Black Swan” and “Wind-Wrapped.” His eponymous mirror is variously described as being worn around his neck or fastened to his hair, so I have had him mix it up. McWhorter calls his leadership “unduly praised”; it “proved the utter undoing of the patriots, assuring for all time the silent, undying hatred of the war party for the very memory of this leader’s name.” This may be. But he if anyone was a true victim of the war, having first obediently trundled off to his reservation, which Howard treacherously violated, then trusted to the apparent friendship of the Montanans who repaid his forbearance toward them in the Bitterroot Valley with the Big Hole massacre. He led the mule-stealing raid at Camas Meadows with considerable success. Of course the Indians’ surprise at Miles’s attack at Bear’s Paw must be blamed mostly on Looking-Glass. The names of his wives, Blackberry Person and Asking Maiden, are both invented (taken from women’s names in Aoki’s dictionary). Their real names were transcribed as Wa-win-te-pi-ksat [or Wa-win-te-pe-tal-e-ka-sat] and I-a-tu-ton-my [or I-a-to-we-non-my]. These cannot be found in Aoki’s dictionary, so I have tried to at least give the reader two vivid and accurate female names. Given his success against them in war, Looking-Glass would not have been a favorite with the Sioux, and it is easy to see why he kept arguing against taking refuge with Sitting Bull. His death at Bear’s Paw might therefore have facilitated Sioux compassion for the Nez Perce refugees.
Mrs. Jeanette Manuel—[Also: “Jenett.”] One of the victims of the Nez Perce raids which opened the war. Her corpse was never found. According to Peopeo Tholekt, she was carried eastward with the Indians on their flight and died (or was killed) on the Lo Lo Trail. Her daughter Maggie swore an oath that she was murdered before her eyes at their home, but no skeleton was found in the ashes of the cabin. Ad Chapman claimed that Joseph stabbed her in the breast. McWhorter writes: “This imputation of a crime of which he was wholly innocent, darkened Chief Joseph’s entire life.”
Many Coyotes—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Ityiyi Pawettes.] A companion of Peopeo Tholekt at Clearwater, who spotted the Army and rode down to camp to give the alarm.
Major Edwin C. Mason—Twenty-first Cavalry. Led two companies in the Modoc War. Howard’s chief of staff in the Nez Perce War. In Nez Perce Joseph, Howard calls him “Colonel Mason,” which was his actual rank at retirement; major was his brevet rank [see G 6]; in 1877 he was a captain. He was commended for bravery against the Modoc War (although in that campaign he evinced timidity bordering on disobedience of orders) and commended again in the Clearwater battle. His letters home are one source for this novel.
Sergeant Michael McCarthy—The sole escapee from White Bird Canyon. I had expected to expand upon his story here; it would make a fine novella.
Colonel McConville—A leader of civilian volunteers, and later a firm enemy of Perry’s as a result of the Cottonwood affair.
Mean Man—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Howwalits.] A brave warrior at Clearwater.
Meopokit—See Captain John.
Major Merrill—Seventh Cavalry. A cipher.
Captain Marcus P. Miller—Fourth Artillery. He graduated West Point in 1858, serving in the Civil War, and also in the Modoc campaign, which means that he must have been well known to Perry. Brave and calm. Accompanied Howard on much of the Nez Perce Trail; distinguished himself at Clearwater.
General Nelson A. Miles—Technically he was a colonel during the Nez Perce War, but he was a leader, hence in contemporary speech a general, which he indeed became. Howard’s aide-de-camp at Fair Oaks, and, so far as the latter knew, his friend. He had risen to Brevet Major General of Volunteers [G 2] at the end of the Civil War, and then was assigned to be CSA President Jefferson Davis’s over-jailer. Afterward he became a colonel in the regular army and married Sherman’s niece. Veteran of the Red River War (1874–75) and Great Sioux War (1876–77). In September 1877 he was placed in command of the new District of Yellowstone. The Indians often called him “Bear Coat.” A very brave and effective officer, who plausibly if unfeelingly considered himself the main victor of the Nez Perce War. Served in the Bannock War (1878) and Chiricahua Apache War (1886). The Wounded Knee Massacre at Pine Ridge happened on his watch (“Sioux operations,” 1890–91); he tried and failed to get the responsible officer punished. He was commanding general of the U.S. Army in 1895. “Nelson Miles was a poorly educated, extraordinarily vain man who exasperated each and every one of his superiors.” To his credit, he tried to intervene on behalf of the Nez Perces during their exile in the Indian Territory; and their eventual repatriation had something to do with him. In comparison, Howard’s postwar callousness toward Joseph is shocking.
John B. Monteith—The Indian Agent at Lapwai from 1877. A bullying proselytizer. The Indian sobriquet “Moss Beard” I have invented for him, after the style of “Cut Arm.” I’m sure the Nez Perces had a pretty good name for him. After he died, his brother Charles succeeded to the post. The Nez Perce might have pronounced his last name Montís.
Major Lee Moorhouse—An Indian Agent turned trader. He worked on the Umatilla reservation and died in 1926. Some people claim he had a habit of attributing others’ photographs to himself, a fitting trait for the robberies chronicled in this novel. How much Moorhouse actually stole is beyond my ken. In the Source-Notes I have faithfully indicated which images are genuinely captioned as his, and which I have stuck his name on, with an ever mounting pride in absurdity. A portrait shows him nicely buttoned up, with the light shining tall and narrow on his dark top hat, his pale narrow-chinned face and his well-trimmed dark moustache.
Naked-Footed Bull—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) A warrior whose sister and three younger brothers (since I do not know their names I have invented them) were all killed at Big Hole. Embittered, Naked-Footed Bull later murdered or helped to murder the music teacher Richard Dietrich in Yellowstone National Park.
No Heart—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Teminisiki.] White Thunder’s cousin, who warmed a young woman in a rifle-pit during the night of the Clearwater battle, and meanwhile fought bravely. White Thunder implies that the interlude with the woman may have violated a WYAKIN (G 2) taboo. No Heart was killed at Big Hole.
No Swan—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) See Loon.
Sean “Red” O’Donnell—This whiskey-smuggling mule driver is both fictional and plausible.
Ol Tsolts—Old George. See Captain John.
Old George—See Captain John.
Old Joseph—(Nimiputumít.) Look under Old Joseph.
Ollokot—(Cayuse.) [“The Frog.”] [Howard writes his name as “Ollicut.” Another variant: “Alokut.”] Before this he was called Tewetakis, whose meaning remains unknown. Meanwhile, Aoki writes his name “Álokat. Young mountain ram . . . McDermott’s etymology, frog, for this name may be on the basis of a Sahaptin word.” Evidently one of the main war-chiefs, and certainly more effective and prestigious on the battlefield than his brother Joseph. An appealing, energetic, handsome man in his prime. The names of his two wives are not invented. He was killed at Bear’s Paw.
Lieutenant Otis—Fourth Artillery. A disappointment to Howard at Clearwater, he probably did the best he could with heavy guns on horrible terrain.
Larry Ott—See Shore Crossing.
Place Of Arrival—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) Toohhoolhoolzote’s younger wife (invented by WTV; name taken from Aoki’s dictionary).
Over The Point—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Teeweeyownah.] Also: “Over The Hill Point.” Son of Red Heart. One of the older war leaders of White Bird’s band (so perhaps he was in his thirties? His parents were still alive). At the Clearwater battle he called for a continuation and an escalation of the battle, but was refused by “cowards.” He took part in the Camas Meadows raid, and was the only warrior killed (as it happened, by Crows) in the aftermath of Cañon Creek.
First Lieutenant William R. Parnell—This British Lancer, a survivor of the Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaclava, fought in the American Civil War, then enlisted with the First Cavalry and fought the Paiutes with Crook. He was second-in-command to Trimble at White Bird Canyon and beyond.
Peopeo Tholekt—(Nimiputumít.) [Chief George, Peo-peo-tah-likt, Piyopyo Talikt.] His name means “Bird Alighting,” or “Landing Crane.” [In Aoki’s dictionary the “general word” for bird is “payó-payo,” while “piyó-piyo” refers to a now extinct “crane-like bird,” this latter being the relevant part of Peopeo Tholekt’s name, as well as White Bird’s. Since “White Bird” is a well-established English equivalent for the latter chief, I thought it best not to change his name to White Crane. For consistency I followed the same policy with Peopeo Tholekt.] A prominent warrior in the Looking-Glass band. He is said to have parleyed on Looking-Glass’s behalf with Captain Whipple before the latter’s volunteers fired into the camp. He fought in all the war’s battles, endured exile in the Indian Territory and survived into the 1930s. His beautiful drawings of the Nez Perce War and several transcripts of his recollections are now in the Holland Library in Pullman, Washington.
Colonel David Perry—In fact he was, like Trimble, a captain, but had won the brevet [see G 2] for Indian fighting under General Crook. This imposingly tall Civil War veteran (he was more than six feet) generalled both First Cavalry units, his own Company “F” and Trimble’s Company “H,” during the Battle of White Bird Canyon. Defeated there, and then overcome by indecision at Cottonwood when the Brave Seventeen [G 2] were attacked, and finally dilatory during the final assaut at Clearwater, he must have disappointed Howard. (Wood claims that at Clearwater, Perry’s cavalry remained so demoralized from White Bird Canyon that “they returned after a few puffs from Joseph’s rear-guard. I forget Perry’s excuse, but he was reprimanded on the spot by Howard . . .”) He had served with Crook and (with Theller) in the Modoc War, where he was seriously wounded. There is no reason to suppose that he possessed the haunted, ruthless soul I have attributed to him, and no reason not to. His marital difficulties are invented, but in real life Mrs. Perry was notorious for her anxious disposition. Because Howard subdivided his command, Perry, like so many other characters in this novel, actually departed center stage once Joseph’s pursuers set out on the Lo Lo Trail [G 3]. [In this Dream I made, after much hesitation, a decision to deviate from the historical truth in Perry’s case, and in the case of several other Army men. Without my so doing, Howard’s troops would have been even more monotonously “beautiful and almost automatic” than they really were.] The shock and horror of the defeat at White Bird Canyon [G 3] must have been extreme for the surviving Bluecoats, just as the trauma of Big Hole must have followed the Nez Perces to the end. I wanted to enter into the mind of Perry, or someone I imagined to be like him, and portray that stress. The further anxiety he must have been feeling about the impending court of inquiry, and Howard’s own uneasiness about the bad showing that had been made throughout the campaign—alloyed, no doubt, with the latter’s paternalistic kindness—deserved to be dramatically worked out. The basic facts about Perry in his “Further History” chapter are accurate. The Nez Perce could have pronounced his name Píli.
Píli—See Perry.
Captain Robert Pollock—Wood’s commanding officer before he got promoted to aide-de-camp. He enlisted in 1844, fought in Mexico and was commended by Zachary Taylor. He became full colonel during the Secession War, a rank he of course lost in the postwar army. Promoted to captain in 1869. This brave, profane Indian fighter, who fathered many children and liked to prospect for gold, was at first, as he wrote in one of his many informative letters to his wife, a “favorite” of Howard’s (evidently he watched his language), but presently, when he could not conceal his disgust at the length and manner of the campaign, the general came to dislike him. During the Nez Perce War he was in charge of Company “D” of the Twenty-first Infantry. Retired in 1883.
Qapqapó-nmay—(Nimiputumít.) [“Strong Leader of Women.”] Chief Joseph’s mother; Old Joseph’s wife. She died before 1877.
Rainbow—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Wahchumyus.] A renowned buffalo hunter who returned to the Nimiipu after the Battle of White Bird Canyon. He is credited with the successful strategy of making Howard cross the Salmon twice. A war leader at Cottonwood and also at the Clearwater, he sought to keep the young warriors dug in against the U.S. Army at the latter place, but was unsuccessful. His WYAKIN [G 2] promised him immunity in battle, but only after sunrise. He was killed before dawn at Big Hole. The cameo appearances of his widow are my interpolation; as a renowned warrior and buffalo hunter he was probably married, but this is only a guess.
Second Lieutenant Sevier Rains—He overlapped with Wood at West Point, graduating two years later (1876). It was he who found Theller’s body. Killed by the Nez Perce in one of the three Cottonwood attacks which occurred before the Clearwater battle. Like McCarthy, he is someone who deserved to become a more major character.
Captain Darius Bullock Randall—A leader of the Mount Idaho volunteers. It seems that he had settled illegally on Nez Perce land. He led the “Brave Seventeen” out to escort a dispatch rider to Norton’s ranch, and was soon killed, along with another volunteer, in the last of the Cottonwood attacks. Perry delayed in sending relief to the Brave Seventeen, for which he was accused of cowardice, but acquitted by a military tribunal.
Rattle Blanket—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) A warrior who challenged James Reuben together with Howard’s other scouts as they prepared to avenge the defeat at White Bird Canyon and cross the Salmon River. He figures only rarely in the accounts.
Captain Charles Rawn—The commander of “A” Company, Seventh Infantry, and the Seventh’s seniormost captain. He arrived in Missoula not long after the outbreak of the Nez Perce War and began to build a fort there. When the Nez Perce arrived in Montana, he set out with troops and volunteers to halt them, but they intimidated him into letting them pass unmolested. The affair became known as “Fort Fizzle.” The Nez Perce for their part misinterpreted his action as a sort of peace treaty. Rawn was with Gibbon at the Battle of Big Hole.
Red Feather Of The Wing—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) A boy who helped the warriors in battle by holding their horses and changing tired animals for fresh. I know little else about him.
Red Heart—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Tememah Ilppilp.] A subchief of the Looking-Glass band, he might have been in the Buffalo Country at the outset of the war, or then again he could have been present at Whipple’s attack. His two elder sons Over The Point and Allutakanin became radicalized and fought; the younger two [Tememah Ilppilp, named after the father, and Nenetsukusten], along with his wife and daughter, surrendered to Howard shortly after the Clearwater battle, and were cruelly imprisoned. The band was kept at Fort Vancouver until April 1878, and finally brought back to Lapwai by Federal order.
Red Moccasin Tops—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Sarpsis Ilppilp.] One of the three who began the Nez Perce War by murdering white settlers. See Shore Crossing. A member of the Three Red Blankets [G 2]. Killed at Big Hole.
Red Owl—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Koolkool Sneehee.] This half-brother of a certain War Singer, who was half Flathead, has been described as a “sub-chief” of Looking-Glass’s band. Red Owl was on his reservation after Howard attacked Looking-Glass, who came to him for food and shelter. After the other non-treaties converged here, the Battle of the Clearwater began. In the Bitterroot Valley, Red Owl spoke in favor of going north, but was outvoted by Looking-Glass and others. Wounded or killed at Bear’s Paw.
Red Spy—(Anglicized Nimiputumít.) [Seeyakoon Ilppilp.] A very cunning and active warrior. After the Nez Perces had led Howard over the Salmon River and back, Red Spy killed the young scout Charles Blewett, thereby luring out Rains’s detachment. He may have been part of the ambush of Mason’s scouts at Weippe. At Big Hole he and Red Moccasin Tops unsuccessfully petitioned Burning Coals to lend them horses in order to scout back on the trail. Had they been successful, the slaughter at the hands of Gibbon might have been averted. Some of Red Spy’s later doings in this book, while plausible, are invented, but he was indeed killed by enemy Native Americans en route to the Medicine Line.
