page_title: Flying Hawk
section_title: The Wigwam
hierarchical_section_title: Flying Hawk / The Wigwam
caption_attribution_description: English: Major Israel McCreight, Chief Iron Tail and Chief Flying Hawk, 1911-1912. Other information From left to right: Lone Bear, American Horse, Iron Tail, Iron Cloud, Whirlwind. All Sioux Chiefs, taken by M.I. McCreight in Du Bois, PA, June 1908. This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed. Unless its author has been dead for the required period, it is copyrighted in the countries or areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works, such as Canada (50 pma), Mainland China (50 pma, not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 pma), Mexico (100 pma), Switzerland (70 pma), and other countries with individual treaties. See Commons:Hirtle chart for further explanation. Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| español&#160;| français&#160;| italiano&#160;| 日本語&#160;| 한국어&#160;| македонски&#160;| português&#160;| português do Brasil&#160;| русский&#160;| українська&#160;| +/−
context_page_description: Flying Hawk was an Oglala Lakota warrior, historian, educator and philosopher. Flying Hawk's life chronicles the history of the Oglala Lakota people through the 19th and early 20th centuries, as he fought to deflect the worst effects of white rule; educate his people and preserve sacred Oglala Lakota land and heritage. Chief Flying Hawk was a combatant in Red Cloud's War and in nearly all of the fights with the U.S. Army during the Great Sioux War of 1876. He fought alongside his first cousin Crazy Horse and his brothers Kicking Bear and Black Fox II in the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, and was present at the death of Crazy Horse in 1877 and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890. Chief Flying Hawk was one of the five warrior cousins who sacrificed blood and flesh for Crazy Horse at the Last Sun Dance of 1877. Chief Flying Hawk was the author of his commentaries and accounts of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse and the Wounded Knee Massacre, and of Native American warriors and statesmen from who fought to protect their families, defend the invasion of their lands and preserve their culture.
context_section_description: The Wigwam, Major Israel McCreight’s ("Cante Tanke") home in Du Bois, Pennsylvania, was Chief Flying Hawk’s second home for nearly thirty years. The Wigwam was part of 1,300 acre estate with heavily forested lands and was once the Eastern home of Oglala Lakota "Oskate Wicasa" Wild Westers, and a retreat for Progressive Era politicians, businessmen, journalists and adventurers. Du Bois, a northcentral railroad hub on the Eastern Continental divide, had two active passenger rail stations, and was always a welcome rest stop for weary travelers. For "Old Scouts" Buffalo Bill Cody, Robert Edmund Strahorn and Captain Jack Crawford, from the Great Sioux War, the Wigwam was a place to relax, smoke and talk about the Old West.
  
  Wild Westers needed a place to relax, and The Wigwam was a warm and welcome home where Indians could be Indians, sleep in buffalo skins and tipis, walk in the woods, have a hearty breakfast, smoke their pipes and tell of their stories and deeds. On one occasion 150 Indians with Buffalo Bill's Wild West camped in the forests of The Wigwam. Oglala Lakota Chiefs Iron Tail and Flying Hawk considered The Wigwam their home in the East. Oglala Lakota Chiefs American Horse, Blue Horse, Jim Grass, Whirlwind Horse, Turkey Legs,  Lone Bear, Iron Cloud, Bear Dog, Yellow Boy, Rain-In-The-Face, Hollow Horn Bear, Kills-Close-To-Lodge, Red Eagle, Good Face (Eta Waste), Benjamin Brave (Ohitika) and Thunder Bull visited The Wigwam. Legendary Crow Chief Plenty Coups was also a welcome visitor.
  
  At The Wigwam, Chief Flying Hawk could have rest and relaxation. Show touring schedules were grueling, each spring through fall, with performances twice daily. Traveling, pony riding, war dances and inclement weather weighed on Chief Flying Hawk's health.  Here he could rise with the morning sun for a walk in the forest, enjoy a breakfast of bacon and eggs, with fruit and coffee, smoke his redstone pipe and have a glass of sherry before retiring. Chief Flying Hawk preferred to sleep on the enclosed sun porch at The Wigwam with his robes and blankets and could not be induced to sleep on a white man's mattress and springs. He refused to be sent to a bedroom, and asked to have the buffalo robes and blankets. With them he made his couch on the open veranda floor, where he retired in the moonlight. McCreight was impressed with Chief Flying Hawk's grace and dignity: "The Chief was engaged in taking down his long hair-plaits in which were woven strips of otter fur. From his kit sack he took his comb and bottle of bear’s oil and carefully combed and oiled his hair, made up new plaits, then applied a little paint to his cheeks, looked into a small hand-mirror, and was ready to answer questions. His hair, now still reaching to his waist, was streaked with grey. In reply to how Indians were able to retain their hair in such perfect condition, he said they did always retain it, sometimes they got scalped, but they prided themselves in caring for their bodies. He said that long ago Indians often had hair that reached the ground." 
  Even in the relaxed atmosphere of The Wigwam, there was a formality to the visits. Of importance, Flying Hawk was an Oglala Lakota Chief and it was his duty to display his beautiful eagle feather "Chief’s Wand" during visits. "At sun-up the Chief was missing. Breakfast was delayed. Presently he was seen coming from the forest which nearly surrounds The Wigwam. In his hand he carried a green switch six feet in length. From his traveling bag he took a bundle which he carefully unfolded and laid out, a beautiful eagle feather streamer which he attached to the pole at either end. After testing it in the breeze he handed it to his friend with gentle admonishment to keep it in a place where it could always been seen. It was the Chief’s "wand," and he said it must always be kept where it could be seen, else people would not know who was Chief. Having disposed of this, to him, important duty, the Chief was ready for breakfast."
caption: From left to right: Lone Bear, American Horse, Iron Tail, Iron Cloud, Whirlwind. All Sioux Chiefs, taken by M.I. McCreight in Du Bois, June 1908.
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