But within four years Jefferson had compelled the Osage to
relinquish their territory between the Arkansas River and the
Missouri River. The Osage chief stated that his people “had no
choice, they must either sign the treaty or be declared enemies of
the United States.” Over the next two decades, the Osage were
forced to cede nearly a hundred million acres of their ancestral
land, ultimately finding refuge in a 50-by-125-mile area in
southeastern Kansas. And it was in this place where Mollie’s
mother and father had come of age.
Mollie’s father, who was born around 1844, went by his Osage
name, Ne-kah-e-se-y. A young Osage man then typically wore
fringed buckskin leggings and moccasins and a breechcloth; a
finger-woven belt held his tobacco pouch and tomahawk. His chest
was often bare, and his head was shaved, except for a strip of hair
that ran from the crown to his neck and that stood straight up, like
the crest of a Spartan’s helmet.
Along with other warriors, Ne-kah-e-se-y defended the tribe
from attacks, and before heading into battle he would have painted
his face black with charcoal and prayed to Wah’Kon-Tah,
confirming that it was time, as the Osage put it, “to make the
enemy lie reddened on the earth.” As Ne-kah-e-se-y grew older, he
became a prominent figure in the tribe. Deliberate and thoughtful,
he had an ability to study each situation before choosing a course
of action. Years later, when the tribe created its first court system,
which adjudicated mostly minor crimes, he was elected one of the
three judges.
Lizzie also grew up on the reservation in Kansas, where she
helped to provide for her family, harvesting corn and hauling wood
over distances. She wore moccasins, leggings, a cloth skirt, and a
blanket around her shoulders, and she painted the part in the
middle of her hair red to symbolize the path of the sun. An Indian