Nebraskaland

he warm summer air on July 30, 1868, was thick with bullets, arrows and the noise of charging Lakota warriors as Major Frank North sought shelter under a low cliff. Cut off from the rest of his command of Pawnee Scouts, his situation was dire. Then, Ke wuck oo lah la shar, which translates to Fox Chief, arrived with other Pawnee Scouts. "I found Major North and another white officer hiding under a cliff," Fox Chief recalled many years later. "Major North told me that I had saved them when I came upon them." On that day, Major North, buoyed by little hostile activity that year, had taken some scouts toward the Republican River to hunt bison. While chasing the herd, he was surprised by a Lakota-Cheyenne war party. Fox Chief and his friends, who patrolled the Union Pacific Railroad between Wood River Station and Julesburg, Colorado, as part of their service, arrived just in time. An estimated 1,000 Pawnees served as military allies of the United States between 1864 and 1877, and their military service will be honored at "The Pawnee at Fort Kearny: Share the History, Share the Harvest" on Oct. 7 at Fort Kearny State Historical Park. The 2023 harvest of Pawnee crops also will be celebrated. Valuable Allies Pawnee Scouts' service was made possible by the 1866 Army Reorganization Act, which authorized the Quartermaster Department to annually enlist Native "scouts," furnish them with guns, horses and uniforms, and pay them the same as regular troops. Fox Chief was among them; he was nearly 40 years old in February 1868 when he enlisted as a Pawnee Scout by adding his mark on the muster rolls. "I had a bluish army suit and a black hat," Fox Chief later recalled. "My hat had a couple of short swords across the front of it [but] I had no stripes on my pants or on my arms." The Pawnee Scouts were valuable allies because of their knowledge of terrain, familiarity with Lakota and Cheyenne military tactics, and endurance and hardiness in battle. They eventually were placed under the command of Frank North, a civilian, because he spoke the Pawnee language. The Pawnee Battalion's service included guarding Union Pacific Railroad workers in 1867-68, and participating in the 1865 Powder River, 1869 Republican River and 1876 Powder River campaigns. Major battles were won against the Arapaho at Tongue River in 1865, and the Cheyennes at Plum Creek in 1867 and Summit Springs in 1869. T 34 Nebraskaland • October 2023 By Mark van de Logt A History of the Pawnee Scouts A studio portrait of As-Sau-Taw-Ka (White Horse), a Pawnee scout. 1870 circa. WILLIAM HENRY JACKSON, RG2065 Fox Chief — later called Ruling His Sun after he moved to Oklahoma in 1873 — and other Pawnee Scouts saved the life of Major Frank North at least once during their U.S. military service. GILCREASE MUSEUM, TULSA OK

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