The Osage Indians lived along the Osage and Missouri rivers in what is now western Missouri when French explorers first heard
of them in 1673. A
seminomadic people with a lifeway based on hunting, foraging, and gardening,
the seasonal movements of the Osage brought them annually into northwestern Arkansas throughout the
18th century.
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 Osages hunting buffalo, by George Catlin.
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Three principal hunts, each organized by a council of
elders, were held during the spring, summer, and fall. The men hunted bison,
deer, elk, bear, and smaller game. The women butchered the animals and dried or
smoked the meat and prepared the hides. The women also gathered wild plant
foods and at the summer villages tended gardens of corn, beans, squash, and
pumpkins. Surplus products, including meat, hides, and oil, were traded to
other Indians or to Europeans. The Osages acquired guns and horses from
Europeans during the eighteenth century, which enabled them to extend their
territory and control the distribution of European goods to other tribes in the
region.
Most men shaved their heads, leaving only a scalplock
extending from the forehead to the back of the neck. The pattern of a man's
scalplock indicated the clan he belonged to. Men wore deerskin loincloths,
leggings, and moccasins, and bearskin or buffalo robes when it was cold. Beaded
ear ornaments and armbands were worn, and warriors tattooed their chests and
arms.
Women kept their hair long and wore deerskin dresses,
woven belts, leggings, and moccasins. Clothing was perfumed with chewed
columbine seed and ceremonial garments were decorated with the furs of ermine
and puma. Earrings, pendants, and bracelets were worn, and women decorated
their bodies with tattoos.
Osage communities were organized into two divisions called
the Sky People and the Earth People. According to their traditions, Wakondah,
the creative force of the universe, sent the Sky People down to the surface of
the earth where they met the Earth People, whom they joined to form the Osage
tribe. Each division consisted of family groups related through the males,
called clans, that organized social events and performed rituals for special
occasions. Each clan had its own location in the village camping circle and
appointed representatives to village councils which advised the two village
leaders - one representing each tribal division.
Villages were laid out with houses on either side of a
main road running east and west. The two village leaders lived in large houses
on opposite sides of the main road near the center of the village. The Sky
People clans lived on the north side of the road, and the Earth people clans
lived on the south side. Council lodges for town meetings were also constructed
in the larger villages.
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Detail from
"Osage Dreams," by Charles Banks Wilson. Courtesy of the artist.
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Osage houses were rectangular and sheltered several
families. Measuring up to 100
feet long, they were constructed of saplings driven into
the ground and bent over and tied at the top. Horizontal saplings were
interwoven among the uprights, and the framework was covered with hides, bark
sheets, or woven mats, with smokeholes left open at the top. Most houses had an
entrance at the eastern end. A leader's house had entrances at both ends.
Village life followed rules and customs established by
a group of elders known as the Little Old Men. To join the ranks of the Little
Old men, serious-minded individuals had to undergo training that began during
boyhood and lasted for many years. Little Old Men passed through seven stages
of learning, at each stage acquiring mastery of an increasingly complex body of
sacred knowledge.
Ceremonies were performed for important activities and
events, including hunting, war, peace, curing illnesses, marriages, and
mourning the dead. Many ceremonies required elaborate preparations and
participants would often wear special clothing and ornaments or paint elaborate
designs on their bodies. Each clan had specific ceremonial duties that in
combination served to sustain the wellbeing of the tribe.
Osage lands in Arkansas
and Missouri were taken by the U.S. government in 1808 and 1818, and in 1825 an
Osage reservation was established in southeastern Kansas. Today there are about 10,000 Osages
listed on the tribal roll, many of whom live in and around Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
