Rogers County History

The Cherokee version of the Battle of Claremore Mound was recorded by Emmet Starr and preserved as follows:

The first known inhabitants of what is now Rogers County were the Wichita Indians, who owned the country until about 1795, when they were driven out by the Gra-Moi band of Osages, under Chief Kan-Sah-Se-Gra, or Big Track, who is said to have been detached from the interests of Manuel Lisa by his young vigorous competitor, Pierre Chouteau.

This band established themselves principally on the Verdigris River, which on account of the large persimmon groves in the vicinity of their settlements they named Persimmon River. The French traders charted the River 'Verdigris' because of the green scum that collected on the stagnant water during a severe drought.

"The two principle towns of the Osage were Pasuga, located on the present site of Claremore, and Posona, located about one and a half miles south of the Claremore Mound, and on the east side of the Verdigris River. Portions of the old ceder stockade were seen standing in place as late as 1860 by Maj. D.W. Lipe, former county clerk of Rogers County.

"The town chief of Posona was Kan-Sah-Se-Gra, who was also head chief of the Big and Little Osage.

"About 1796, Gra-Moi, an Osage lad, who was a kinsman of Ken-Sah-Se-Gra, was brought to Posona. His name was pronounced Cla-Mo, by the French and spelled Clermont. It is claimed by some that he was the titular chief of Gra-moi band, and by others that he was the hereditary chief of the Osage. At any rate he, at a very early age, established himself by his mighty prowess in war, as the war chief of the Gra-moi Band of Osage. His was the most coveted of all the Osage posistions.

"The chief of Pasuga was Black Dog, who weighed in excess of 300 pounds, was one-eyed, , and was respected among all his neighboring tribes as being the possessor of more mythical lore and tradition than any other member of the Siouan tribes. He was also an administrator and councilor of note.

"Dog Creek, on the east side of Claremore, is a lasting commemoration of Black Dog's residence on that stream.

"War between the Osages and Cherokees began in 1817, and in the spring of 1818 a party of Cherokees under the command of Crawler started from Piney, Cherokee Nation West (now in Pope County Arkansas) and in Anoya, or strawberry moon of that year, after having, through the prowess of Thomas Candy, captured the horses of the Osages, they attacked the inhabitants of Posona and Pasuga, who had congregated on the mound north of the former town. After three days of furious fighting the Osages were defeated.

The Osage version as related to the late J.C. Byers of Cleveland, Okla., by Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea back in 1890 is:

"For years, I have persisted in relating to those interested in early Oklahoma history the account which I received, as a young man, from an aged Osage. He was Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea (Pretty Nearly Drowned). I don't remember when I first came to know him. Like the rocks and trees of the Osage country, I came unconsciously to know him and to regard him as an integral and inseparable part of all that Osage meant to me. 

"If I remember correctly, it was about 1890 that the following conversation took place. Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea was, at that time, a very old man, probably 81 or 82 years old. He was a very interesting old fellow, and I often talked to him. Although he knew a little English, he would never speak it more than a word or two at a time. So, we would site with Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea talking in his native dialect about the Osages and their experiences through the long course of legendary history.

"For the most part I would listen, but occasionally I would ply him with a question, in Osage, to elicit further information about some interesting point he was making. 

"There are few garrulous Osages, and Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea would not be classified as such. He was not even a ready talker, but he bore a reputation for integrity and honesty. Otherwise I would not put much store in what he told me about the Battle of Claremore Mound.

"I had read the Cherokee interpretation of that battle, so I started him on his tale by relating to him the principle claims of the story I had read. The Osages had not been painted in any too favorable in the story I had read. The  best of them were classified somewhere between a cut-throat and a horse-thief. His disgust for the things I told him was plainly revealed as he related to me the very vital experience which he had in the battle. 

"My mother's camp,  began Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea, was on the eastern side of the Verdigris River, not far from the river itself. Other Indians were camped in the near vicinity. At the time of the battle, or massacre, the Osage men were out hunting buffalo on the plains to the west. Only a few old men remained with the women and children. Even the larger of the Osage boys had gone with their father's on the hunt. The camp, therefore, was unprotected from marauding Cherokees. 

"In the spring of 1818 I was only 10 or 11 years old and had not yet been named Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea, the old man related. 

"It was just about sunrise on a bright Spring day that the Cherokees rushed into the Osage camp, and began immediately to kill Osages without regard to age or sex. 

"Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea said that he looked out through the trees and that he saw the Cherokee raiders pick up little children by the heels and dash their brains out against the ground. His mother came running to him exclaiming that the Cherokees were going to kill everyone in the camp. " ' Go to the river', she told him, 'and get a chunk or log and cross to the other side.'

"Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea did as he was told. He pulled a small tree trunk to the river, which was bankful. After pushing the buoy  into the water, he jumped in after it, and held on to it for hours. 

"Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea thought that he must have been carried downstream for 10 miles, before he was found by Osages hours later, in a very fatigued condition. He related to them what had happened and received from them, then and there, the name Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea, which means 'Pretty Nearly Drowned. 

"Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea was the only Osage that survived the massacre, except for a few little girls who were too young to remember that horrible experience. His mother and all of the other adults were either killed or drowned in the river when they sought escape from the vengeance of the raiders.

"Old Gra-Moi, (Clairmont), for whom Claremore was named, tried to rally the old men and the boys, and they made a stand on a nearby hill of peculiar shape. It still  bears the name of Claremore Mound. The Osages were armed with only bows and arrows and a few old guns. The better guns had been taken by the buffalo hunters. The feeble defense stood off the Cherokees only for short time, and the Osage fell to a man. From the beginning it was an uneven struggle. It ended in complete annihilation.

"When the Osage men returned from their ill-fated hunt, they immediately decided to make war upon the Cherokees. And there is no doubt, thought Ho-Ne-Kah-Sea, that war would have followed except for the intercession of Colonel Chouteau, a French trader with a post in that vicinity.

"The exact number of babies spared in that massacre has never been determined. I have known two women who were supposed to be of that captive group. John and Alex Pappin were sons of one of those two women, and they later proved up their rights as members of the Osage tribe upon the presumption that their mother was stolen by the Cherokees at the Battle of Claremore Mound.

"Judge Pettit and Mrs. Johnson, brother and sister, were children of another of those Osage captives. Both proved up their Osage standing.

"Another of those Osage survivors married a Cherokee by the name of Rogers, and Lewis Rogers was her son.

Source Article: Tulsa World, Sunday, May 28, 1950

For more information regarding the battle refer to: Chronicles of Oklahoma

Copyright 2003-2009 by BJM