Teenokuhu[1] (Arapaho:Warshinun[2])(c. 1822–1881),[2] popularly known asChief Friday orFriday Fitzpatrick, was an Arapaho leader, translator, interpreter, and peacemaker who helped negotiate treaties and resolve cultural misunderstandings in the mid to late 19th century.
Called the "Arapaho American" by tribal members, he traveled with and translated for the explorersJohn C. Frémont in 1843 andRufus Sage in the spring of 1844. He assistedFerdinand V. Hayden during hissurveying expedition and in the winter of 1859–1860 taught Hayden the Arapaho vocabulary. Friday became the leader of a band who were centered in theCache la Poudre River area (near present-dayFort Collins, Colorado), but also ranged into Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska. He made friends of white settlers in northern Colorado and secured jobs on farms and ranches for his tribal members after losing access to the Arapaho's traditional hunting grounds. After multiple attempts to establish a reservation for the Northern Arapaho in Colorado or Wyoming, Friday ultimately moved with his people to theWind River Indian Reservation[citation needed].
Born in the early to mid 1820's to a band ofNorthern Arapaho Indians in what is now Northern Colorado, he was given the name 'Teenokuhuh', which means "sits meekly" in his nativeArapaho tongue[1] and also was called 'Warshinun' ("black spot" or "black coal ashes").[3][4] One day in 1831, when Teenokuhuh was just a boy, he and his band were camping next to theCimarron River alongside a band ofGros Ventre (Atsina) Indians in what is today Dodge City, Kansas.[4]A fight broke out which led to the Arapaho chief being stabbed; the Atsina chief was killed in retaliation.[5] In the melee, Teenokuhuh and two boys were separated from their people and became lost in theColorado Territory where they wandered for several days.[1][5] They were eventually found by an irish trapper,Thomas Fitzpatrick, with theRocky Mountain Fur Company, who was in the area for an annual rendezvous.[4] Fitzpatrick took Teenokuhuh under his wing, renaming him "Friday" (the day of the week Fitzpatrick found the boy) and enrolled him in a school in St. Louis.[4] Friday learned fluent English as well as the ways of these relative newcomers who were slowly expanding into, and placing restrictions on, his own peoples’ land.[2][4]
Friday went with Fitzpatrick into the frontier on his trapping journeys. He met other trappers who found him to have an "astonishing memory" and he was known for "his minute observation and amusing inquiries".[1] At some point, Fitzpatrick was aUnited States Agent for the Arapaho.[5]
In 1838, Fitzpatrick and Friday met up with a band of Arapaho people. When a woman recognized Friday as her son, he returned to his life with the Arapaho.[1] Friday's life was centered in theCache la Poudre River area (near present-dayFort Collins).[1] A skilled hunter and warrior, Friday fought against theUte,Shoshone, andPawnee people.[1]
Called the "Arapaho American" by tribal members, Friday was a translator and interpreter and was known as a peacemaker.[1][2] The only English-speaking Arapaho from that time until his death in 1881,[6] he traveled with and translated for the explorersJohn C. Frémont in 1843 andRufus Sage in the spring of 1844, when Sage traveled along theArkansas River (in southern Colorado).[1]
.png)
Friday attended the treaty council atFort Laramie, Wyoming in 1851.[1] TheFort Laramie Treaty was completed and signed in October of that year.[1] Friday was one of twenty-one Native American chiefs who signed the treaty.[7] Among the stipulations, the Native Americans would be able to range through their ancestral homelands as long as they agreed to stop attacking non-native travelers and allowed the military to build forts and roads on the lands.[7] During the negotiations, Friday left for Washington, D.C., with other Arapaho and Cheyenne delegates to resolve some concerns.[1]
In 1857, Friday was an interpreter when the Arapaho encounteredMormons in Wyoming. In 1859, he did the same whenLittle Owl's band visited a surveying party led byFerdinand V. Hayden.[1] Hayden learned the Arapaho vocabulary from Friday in the winter of 1859–1860, while on Deer Creek near present-dayLaramie, Wyoming.[5]
By the 1860s, the Arapaho were forced out of Colorado due to the influx of white people. A decisive event occurred in 1864 with theSand Creek massacre, when more than 200 Arapaho and Cheyenne people were killed by the1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment.[1][8]
Friday's band diminished in size due to attacks by the United States Army, disease, and hunger.[1][2] Their traditional hunting grounds were lost to white settlers. His band was just about 175 people in the late 1860s when they lived in northern Colorado along the Cache la Poudre.[1][a] Friday's band was pushed out ofColorado Territory and north of thePlatte River by governorAlexander Hunt in 1869.[1][2] They went to theTongue River. Friday's encampment was about 50 miles (80 km) fromFort Phil Kearny in Wyoming. They were joined byBlack Bear's and Medicine Man's bands, who had also been pushed out of northern Colorado.[1][9]
Friday was hired by government peace commissioners,[10] which included Army generals led by GeneralWilliam T. Sherman and civilians,[11] in early 1868 to communicate an ultimatum to the Northern Arapaho band that they would need to sign a treaty to continue to get provisions. The Northern Arapaho and Northern Cheyenne met atFort Laramie and signed theTreaty of Fort Laramie on May 10, 1868.[10]Black Bear, Little Wolf, Littlesheild, Medicine Man, and Sorrel Horse signed for the Northern Arahapo, who agreed to settle on one of three reservations in one year. Their options were with theLakota people on theMissouri River, with southern Arapaho and Cheyenne people inIndian Territory (now Oklahoma), or with the Crow people on the Yellowstone River inMontana Territory.[10] The Northern Arapaho wanted to stay in Wyoming and a meeting was held in October 1869 between Sorrel Horse, Medicine Man, and Friday with U.S. Army GeneralChristopher Augur and GovernorJohn Allen Campbell of theWyoming Territory. Although the Shoshone had been their enemies, theWind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming was their preferred new home.[10] Shoshone ChiefWashakie did not show up for the meeting but in February 1870, he agreed to let the Arapaho stay at the reservation temporarily.[10]
Friday continued to negotiate for the Northern Arapaho to protect their traditional lands in Wyoming into the 1870s, even as his son became a scout for the United States Army.[1] Friday's band folded in with other Northern Arapaho bands which left the Wind River reservation by the winter of 1870–1871, when they hunted amongst the scarce game in the Powder River Basin. Needing food, they drew provisions at the Red Cloud Agency near Fort Laramie in March 1871.[10] Friday's band came to live among the Lakota atRed Cloud's reservation in Montana.[1]
Friday and other Northern Arapaho met with PresidentRutherford B. Hayes and Interior SecretaryCarl Schurz in September 1877. It was Friday's last trip to Washington, D.C., where the leaders lobbied for a reservation for the Northern Arapaho in Wyoming.[1][10] One month later the Northern Arapaho returned to theWind River Indian Reservation, where they lived alongside the Shoshone. Friday lived at Wind River until his death in 1881,[1] perhaps nearFort Washakie.[5]
Media related toFriday (Arapaho chief) at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
