"The Indians Who Have Just Left Us Are The Yanktons, A Tribe Of The Great
Nation Of Sioux.
These Yanktons are about two hundred men in number,
and inhabit the Jacques, Des Moines, and Sioux Rivers.
In person they
are stout, well proportioned, and have a certain air of dignity and boldness.
In their dress they differ nothing from the other bands of the nation whom
we met afterwards."
Of the Sioux let us say here, there are many bands, or subdivisions.
Some writers make eighteen of these principal branches.
But the first importance is given to the Sioux proper,
or Dakotas. The name "Sioux" is one of reproach, given by their enemies,
and signifies "snake;" whereas "Dakota" means "friend" or "ally."
The Lewis and Clark journal says of the Yankton-Sioux: -
"What struck us most was an institution peculiar to them and to
the Kite (Crow) Indians further to the westward, from whom it is said
to have been copied. It is an association of the most active and brave
young men, who are bound to each other by attachment, secured by a vow,
never to retreat before any danger, or give way to their enemies.
In war they go forward without sheltering themselves behind trees, or aiding
their natural valor by any artifice. Their punctilious determination
not to be turned from their course became heroic, or ridiculous, a short
time since, when the Yanktons were crossing the Missouri on the ice.
A hole lay immediately in their course, which might easily have been
avoided by going around.
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