Black Dog (Osage chief)

Black Dog (1780 - 1848) was a notable chief of the Osage Nation. This man was the father of a son who was also named Black Dog and who was an Osage chief during the second half of the 19th Century. Many sources refer to the father as Black Dog I and the son as Black Dog II (1827-1910). The son reportedly became chief in 1870.

Black Dog I was born near the site of the present-day city of St. Louis, Missouri. His birth name was Zhin-gawa-ca (or Shinka-Wah-Sa), meant Dark Eagle or Sacred Little One. He attained notability after migrating with his tribe to a new homeland in the northeastern part of the present state of Oklahoma (then known as Indian Territory. He later earned the name Manka-Chonka, or Black Dog, after successfully fighting against the Comanches.

Black Dog was a contemporary of, and shared power in the tribe with, two other noted chiefs Clermont (Claremore) and Pawhuska. After moving to Indian Territory, he lived in an Osage village named Pasuga (Big Cedar), near the site of present-day Claremore, Oklahoma. Osage men were typically described as very tall and physically well-built. Black Dog apparently more imposing than most, since he was described as nearly 7 feet (2.1 m) tall and weighing at least 300 pounds (140 kg). He was reportedly blind in his left eye.

Osage tradition credits Black Dog I as having constructed a cave near his village (Pasuga) on Claremore Mound in Indian Territory. The cave was large enough to conceal the nearly 500 members of his band and stocked with enough food to survive for a year. The cave later provided a hiding place for the remaining residents of Pasuga to escape being massacred during the so-called Battle of Claremore Mound in 1817.

Black Dog I had only one son, who was born in 1827, often referred to as Black Dog II.

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