"The Pawnee Sacred Bundle"

A Moment in Time

Kansas Historical Society

A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society

A thousand Sioux warriors swarmed around the band of four hundred Pawnee men, women, and children. Even with the added protection of the canyon into which they had fled, the Pawnees were being overwhelmed. Their hunting bows were no match for the rifles of the Sioux. The Pawnees had been returning from the summer buffalo hunt when their traditional enemies, the Sioux, attacked. It was an August day, probably a hot one, in 1873 and their earth lodges on the Loup River in central Nebraska still lay a week's journey to the northeast. Their horses were loaded down with buffalo meat. Prospects were bright until they were shattered by the one-sided fight at "Massacre Canyon."

In the heat of battle, a Pawnee father lashed his five-year-old daughter to his horse, slipped a treasured peace medal around her neck, and bound his sacred bundle to her back. "Take care of this bundle and it will take care of you," he said as he smacked the horse, sending the little girl to safety through the enemy ranks. Perhaps the bundle did take care of her, for she was among the few Pawnees to survive that day. The bundle also survived, and witnessed over a hundred more years of Pawnee history before it came to rest in the collections of the Kansas Historical Society.

Following the attack by the Sioux, Sadie, the Pawnee girl, found her way back to her village. Other survivors straggled in, but her parents were not among them; they had been killed. Heeding her father's admonition, Sadie took care of the sacred bundle and later passed it down to her own daughter, as was the Pawnee custom. Tragically, the ritual use of the bundle had been lost with her father because only he knew the proper ceremonies.

The bundle was believed to be sleeping. It could not be opened and revitalized by the addition of a "perfect" ear of corn as formerly had been done after each harvest. The power of its ritual objects could no longer be tapped, but the bundle remained as a symbol of the family's spiritual history. Sadie and her female descendants were careful to hang the bundle along the west wall of their homes, just as it would have hung above the altar in the sacred area of the old earth lodge.

On the outside of the bundle are tied several ceremonial objects: a long pipe, arrow fragments, a meat fork tipped with a raccoon bone, and small American flags. Recent X-ray analysis indicates that inside the bundle contains stuffed bird bundles, hawk bells, counting sticks, and glass beads sewn on a leather strip. Sadie's daughter Dolly kept the bundle until her death in 1971. By then the Pawnees had lived in Oklahoma (Indian Territory) for nearly one hundred years. They and most other Plains Indians had been removed to make way for White settlement. During one of her trips to the old Pawnee homeland in Nebraska, Dolly visited the Pawnee Indian Village State Historic Site near Republic, Kansas. She was so struck by the importance of the site to her people that she wanted the sacred bundle to be housed there if someday her family could no longer care for it. This wish was fulfilled in 1987 when Dolly's daughter Elizabeth presented the bundle to the Kansas Historical Society to be kept at the Pawnee Indian Village Museum.

The Pawnee Indian Village was one of the earliest of Kansas' state historic sites. In 1901 George and Elizabeth Johnson gave to the state most of the site upon which a Pawnee village had stood for about two decades after 1820. The only visible remains of the village were several depressions and circles of dirt that had been left when the earth lodges had deteriorated and collapsed. Ironically, initial interest in the site stemmed from the mistaken belief that Zebulon Pike, an American explorer, had visited there in 1806 and had raised the American flag over the new Louisiana Territory for the first time. Now interest stems from the association of the site with an important group of Native Americans.

A few of the earth lodge circles were excavated in 1949, but intensive investigation of the site did not come until 1965. During the next two years, archeologists from the Historical Society explored lodges, storage pits, and a fortification wall that once protected the village. A permanent walkway was laid out to lead visitors to these features. In an interpretive masterstroke, a museum was built around one of the lodge sites before it was excavated. The exposed floor and most of the artifacts were left open to view, surrounded by exhibits detailing the history of the Pawnees. In recent years an audio program, narrated by a Pawnee and embellished with native music, has added a new dimension to the interpretation, as has a nearby nature trail. Most dramatically, Sadie's father's sacred bundle hangs today above the remains of the lodge's altar, much as it would have at its original site on the Loup River in Nebraska.

The Pawnee Indian Village State Historic Site is located near Republic, Kansas, and is operated by the Kansas Historical Society. It is open Wednesday through Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The Society operates 15 other sites around the state, including the new Kansas History Center in Topeka.

On the first weekend in October, the Society will invite the public to celebrate the dedication of the Kansas History Center at 6425 SW Sixth Street, Topeka. This complex includes the Kansas Museum of History, Koch Industries Education Center, Stach School, and the Society's new Center for Historical Research housing its extensive research collections. Staff is in the process of moving the collections from their current location in downtown Topeka.

For more information on the Kansas History Center's programs or collections, call 913-272-8681; TTY 913-272-8683.