Osage Nation
The Osage Nation (Wazhazhe) is a Dhegihan Siouan-speaking people whose traditional homeland encompassed present-day Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. They were one of the most powerful nations in the central Plains and maintained extensive trade relationships with French and later American traders, including the Chouteau family. The Osage signed several significant treaties with the United States beginning with the Treaty of Fort Clark in 1808, which ceded much of their territory in present-day Missouri and Arkansas. These treaties fundamentally altered Osage territorial boundaries and laid the groundwork for their eventual removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), where the Osage Nation is headquartered today in Pawhuska.
Portrait: George Catlin, "Cler-mónt, First Chief of the Tribe," 1834. Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Most Mentioned in Osage Nation-tagged Entries
People
- Drouillard (5)
- Capt Lewis (5)
- Reubin Field (3)
- Clark (3)
- Joseph Field (3)
- John Ordway (2)
- Cap Lewis (2)
- Shields (2)
- Mr. Aird (2)
- Joseph Whitehouse (2)
Places
- Missouri River (12)
- Osage River (7)
- Osage river (5)
- Bear creek (3)
- Mine River (3)
- Rocky Mountains (3)
- St. Charles (2)
- Tavern Creek (2)
- Osarge River (2)
- Marias River (2)
Wildlife
- Deer (13)
- Elk (5)
- Buffalow (3)
- brown bear (2)
- beaver (2)
- bald Eagle (2)
- flounder (2)
- Bear (2)
- Mule Deer (2)
- Antelope (2)
Territory & Encounter Locations
Note: the longest gap between tagged appearances is about 11 months (Jul 12, 1804 → Jun 10, 1805). No journal entries during that window were explicitly tagged with this nation.
Treaties (8)
Tent of Many Voices (2)
Journal Entries (29)
Cross-Narrator Analyses
Analyses that cite or discuss Osage Nation — showing 4 of the most recent matches.
The Osage Nation in the Lewis & Clark Journals: A Synthesis
Heard of, traded past, not visitedThe expedition did not call at an Osage town. Clark still writes the nation into the first…
Arrival at the Osage: Five Pens at the Confluence
The first of June, 1804, brought the expedition to the mouth of the Osage River, a confluence significant enough that the captains…
Court-Martial at St. Charles: Discipline on the Eve of Departure
The entries for 17 May 1804 from St. Charles, Missouri, illustrate a pattern in the expedition's documentary record: the radical disparity between…
The Sac and Fox Nation in the Lewis & Clark Record
Sauk in the first month on the MissouriThe Corps did not council with the Sac and Fox. Clark and Floyd still write…
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