The Ioway chief was born in the late 1700s along the Des Moines River in southeast Iowa. He became chief at a young age due to the murder of his father by an enemy tribe during an ambush. Mahaska proved himself however during a retaliatory attack on the Dakota tribe, killing its chief. The chief and another member of the tribe were arrested for the murder of two French-speaking traders. Although the two were convicted, they later managed to escape from prison. It is said that many questions regarding legitimacy of the jurisdiction was in question, but ignored. During his time as leader, in the early 1800s, the leader position became harder to handle as the tribe dealt with diseases and almost constant war with other tribes. In 1819, Sauk and Meskwaki warriors ambushed the main Ioway village killing close to a third of its population. Another huge problem Mahaska and his tribe faced were settlers moving into the Ioway tribe’s land. Soon after this Missouri was annexed as a state, taking away millions of acres from the Ioway. Mahaska realized it would be impossible to fight everyone off, so he began working on a peaceful coexistence with the new neighbors.
Later in his life, he moved down to the area of Agency, Missouri where he began a lifestyle like that of the Anglo-American. From this point on, Mahaska was against any kind of physical violence. Every time fights broke out he did all he could to seek peaceful resolutions. Even when Mahaska’s own son was killed, he found “revenge” in assisting in the arrests of the eight who were involved in the plot around Omaha. However, in 1833, one of the men convicted of the murder escaped prison, tracked down Mahaska and murdered the beloved Ioway chief.
No comments:
Post a Comment