Arthur Bonnicastle (February 20, 1877 – May 30, 1923) was an Osage politician who served as the 8th elected principal chief of the

Osage Nation The Osage Nation ( ) () is a Midwestern Native American nation of the Great Plains. The tribe began in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 1620 A.D along with other groups of its language family, then migrated west in the 17th cen ...

from 1920 to 1922. Born in the Osage Nation,

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

, Bonnicastle attended the

Carlisle Indian School The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Native American boarding schools, Indian boarding school in the United States from its founding in 1879 t ...

before enlisting in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

in 1900. He served in the

9th Cavalry Regiment The 9th Cavalry Regiment is a parent cavalry regiment of the United States Army. Historically, it was one of the Army's four segregated African-American regiments and was part of what was known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The regiment saw combat d ...

during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

and was discharged in 1903. After returning home, he entered tribal politics and served on the Osage Nation tribal council from 1908 to 1910 and 1922 until his death in 1923.

Early life and military service

Arthur Bonnicastle was born on February 20, 1877, in the

, (later

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

from May 1890-November 1907 and then

Osage County, Oklahoma Osage County () is the largest county by area in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Created in 1907 when Oklahoma was admitted as a state, the county is named for and is home to the federally recognized Osage Nation. The county is coextensive with t ...

after 1907) to his mother Me-Tse-He. He is named after the titular character in Josiah Gilbert Holland's 1873 novel ''Arthur Bonnicastle''. In 1899 he attended the

before joining the

the next year. He was sent to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

(then a U.S. colony) and deployed to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on July 9, 1900, and took part in the Battle of Tientsin and the Battle of Yangcun during the

. In 1903 he was honorably discharged and briefly returned to school at Carlisle. He married Augelia Penn in November 1903.

Political career and death

Bonnicastle served as a delegate 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 ...

for the

in 1904, 1905, and 1906. In 1908, Bonnicastle ran for the

tribal council and won the election. He lost re-election in 1910. In 1920, he was elected the 8th principal chief of the Osage Nation. In 1922, he did not seek re-election as chief and instead ran for and won a tribal council seat. The Osage Nation reports that he fell off a train and died while returning from

Newspapers reported that he died on Wednesday morning, May 30, 1923, in a hospital in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

from an illness.

In media

Bonnicastle was portrayed by Yancey Red Corn in the 2023 film ''Killers of the Flower Moon''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnicastle, Arthur 1877 births 1923 deaths American military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion People from Indian Territory People from Oklahoma Territory People from Osage County, Oklahoma Principal Chiefs of the Osage Nation