Cloud Man ( Dakota: ; ) was a Dakota chief. The child of French and

Mdewakanton The Mdewakanton or Mdewakantonwan (also spelled ''Mdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'' and currently pronounced ''Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'') are one of the sub-tribes of the Isanti (Santee) Dakota people, Dakota (Sioux). Their historic home is Mille Lacs Lake (Da ...

parents, he founded the agricultural community Ḣeyate Otuŋwe on the shores of

Bde Maka Ska Bde Maka Ska ( , previously named Lake Calhoun) is the largest lake in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and part of the city's Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway#Paths_around_lakes, Chain of Lakes. Surrounded by city park land and circled b ...

in 1829 after being trapped in a snowstorm for three days. The village was seen by white settlers as a progressive step towards assimilation, yet members of the community maintained a distinctly Dakota way of life. The community was abandoned in 1839 and Cloud Man's band moved along the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It rises in southwestern ...

to join the Hazelwood Republic. Cloud Man died during internment at the

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint An ...

Pike Island Pike Island ( Dakota: ''Wita Tanka'') is an island at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers in the southwestern-most part of Saint Paul in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The island is managed as part of Fort Snelling State Park a ...

, which held nearly 1,700 eastern Dakota and

Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hocąk, Hoocągra, or Winnebago are a Siouan languages, Siouan-speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois ...

non-combatants, mainly women and children, after the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862.

Life

Cloud Man was born a member of the

Dakota around 1780 in a village from

Mendota, Minnesota Mendota ( ) is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. The name is a mispronunciation of the Dakota word for the location, , which in Dakota tradition is the center of the world. The word in this use means "the confluence of the Mi ...

, on the southern side of the

. His father was French and his mother was Mdewakanton, reportedly the granddaughter of a Mdewakanton chief who met

Louis Hennepin Louis Hennepin, OFM (born Antoine Hennepin; ; 12 May 1626 – 5 December 1704) was a Belgian Catholic priest and missionary best known for his activities in North America. A member of the Recollects, a minor branch of the Franciscans, he travel ...

during his mission to explore

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

in the late 1670s and early 1680s. Indian agent Lawrence Taliaferro at one point tried to convince him to begin a non-nomadic lifestyle at

. During a hunting trip on the plains near the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

, Cloud Man and his party were trapped by a snowstorm and were forced to wrap themselves in blankets and lie on the ground, waiting for the snow to pass. Members of the party were cut off from one another, buried separately beneath snowdrifts with some small quantities of dried buffalo meat on which to subsist. Cloud Man recounted to missionary Samuel W. Pond that he would periodically dig to the surface of the snow to try and find his fellow hunters, only to be greeted with more gales of snow. When the storm subsided after almost three days, he emerged from the snow and called for the other members of his party, finding both that every one had survived the storm and that they were not far from an Indian camp. Cloud Man spent some of his time during the storm reflecting on Taliaferro's proposal and after returning home to Black Dog village, visited him at

for advice on establishing an agricultural community. Military officials at the fort responded favorably to Cloud Man's plan and provided assistance in the form of tools and seeds. He returned to Black Dog village and convinced several families to move to the banks of Bde Maka Ska with him.

Ḣeyate Otuŋwe

The agricultural colony Ḣeyate Otuŋwe was established in August 1829 on the shores of Bde Maka Ska on the present-day site of

Lakewood Cemetery Lakewood Cemetery is a large private, non-sectarian, rural cemetery located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is located at 3600 Hennepin Avenue at the southern end of the Uptown, Minneapolis, Uptown area. It is noted for its chapel ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. He was elected chief of the community at approximately thirty-five years old and Ḣeyate Otuŋwe began to grow corn and potatoes. Taliaferro and other white settlers in the area, such as Pond and his fellow missionary brother Gideon H. who came to live in the village, viewed Ḣeyate Otuŋwe as an experiment in "civilized life" for the Dakota, with Taliaferro referring to the community as "my little Colony of Sioux agriculturalists." Katherine Beane argues that what Taliferro viewed as a "progressive" move towards assimilation into European customs represented a step towards independence for a Cloud Man's band at a time when traditional Dakota practices faced existential challenges from white settlers encroaching into historically Dakota spaces. Beane suggests that in establishing Ḣeyate Otuŋwe, Cloud Man never " to forsake his identity as a Dakota man" and that "The change in subsistence patterns did not make the people of this village any less Dakota." Members of Ḣeyate Otuŋwe shared some of the corn they grew with members of other Dakota villages, prompting Taliaferro to give a speech to the village in September 1835, instructing them to cease the practice as counter to their self-interests; they did not. Cloud Man also traveled to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, in 1837 as part of a Dakota delegation and spoke to leaders of the Sauk and

Meskwaki The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, th ...

tribes regarding recent fighting between the two groups. As of 1839, the community had a population of 207 people: 54 women, 72 men, and 81 children. Ḣeyate Otuŋwe was abandoned that year as Cloud Man feared retaliation from nearby members of the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

, following a recent Dakota–Ojibwe war. Cloud Man and his band moved to the shores of the Minnesota River, close to

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis and just south of the Interstate 494/Inter ...

. In 1851, Cloud Man moved with his band up the Minnesota River to near

Yellow Medicine County Yellow Medicine County is a County (United States), county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Its eastern border is formed by the Minnesota River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 9,528. ...

where they joined a community of agricultural Indians, the Hazelwood Republic. During the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862, he was interned at the

where he died during the winter of 1862–1863. The spot of his death and burial was near the place of his birth. In 2019, the Bde Maka Ska Public Art Project, commemorating the history of Ḣeyate Otuŋwe, was completed.

Family

According to

Thomas Hughes Thomas Hughes (20 October 1822 – 22 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had atte ...

, a Welsh

Mankato Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is the county seat of Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The population was 44,488 at the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Mi ...

-area pioneer historian who wrote the genealogy ''Indian Chiefs of Southern Minnesota'' (1927), Cloud Man had seven children, five sons and two daughters, including David Weston, who took on the chieftainship after Cloud Man's death.

Charles Eastman Charles Alexander Eastman (February 19, 1858 – January 8, 1939, born Hakadah and later named Ohíye S'a, sometimes written Ohiyesa) was an American physician, writer, and social reformer. He was among the first Native Americans to be certifie ...

, a descendant of Cloud Man, wrote in 1927 that Cloud Man had five children, three daughters and two sons. Hughes reported that only Weston was still living as of 1906. Cloud Man was also the brother-in-law of

Red Bird Red Bird (; –16 February 1828) was a leader of the Winnebago (or Ho-Chunk) Native American tribe. He was a leader in the Winnebago War of 1827 against Americans in the United States making intrusions into tribal lands for mining. He was ...

. Two daughters were Wakaninajinwin (Stands Sacred Woman, "Stands Like a Spirit" with the

Christian name A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious personal name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often given by parents at birth. In English-speaking cultures, a person's Christian name ...

"Lucy" in Hughes's genealogy) and Inażiŋwiŋ (The Day Sets, "Hushes the Night" in Hughes's genealogy). Nancy Eastman (Wakantankawin, Great Spirit Woman) was granddaughter through her mother Wakaninajinwin. Nancy had Mary Eastman Faribault (Tipiwakanwin), great granddaughter of Cloud Man, and Mary went on to have Lillian Evelyn Beane (Moore), Cloud Man's great-great-granddaughter. Two sons were Ecetukiya (He Who Brings What He Wants) and Solomon Two Stars.Anderson, G. C., & Woolworth, A. R. (2008). Through dakota eyes: Narrative accounts of the minnesota indian war of 1862. Minnesota Historical Society Press. "Narrative 7: Ecetukiya's Testimony".

Notable modern descendants

Modern descendants who claim Cloud Man as an ancestor include: * Katherine Beane ( Flandreau Santee Sioux), a Dakota history author. * Syd Beane (Flandreau Santee Sioux), through Cloud Man's daughter Wakaŋ Inażiŋ Wiŋ (Stands Sacred Woman), is an author, researcher, educator, and filmmaker.

Notes

References

Cited

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