WEBVTT - Ep. 261: Osceola - The Black Drink Singer 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:10.240 The word seminole comes from cimarron, which is runaway in Spanish, 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:15.160 and so Cimarron became semihlo, and then that became seminole, 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.080 and so we were the wild ones, you know, like 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.080 we broke off and went down to Florida to fight 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:23.760 and to get away. 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:28.320 In this episode, we're going into the deep water, paddling 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:33.880 through some hard hitting history, rife with controversy injustice, highlighting 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.760 the spirit of resistance and the ferociousness of a man 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.519 when it comes to family and land. We're trying to 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:46.080 understand and celebrate the life of a Seminole Indian War 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:51.280 leader Osceola born in present day Alabama, he fled under 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.480 duress to spend most of his life in Florida and 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.520 died in a prison in South Carolina at the age 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.400 of thirty four. He received a global fame in his lifetime, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.399 and the people of America toasted celebratory drinks to the 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:10.880 long life of Osceola. But why this vibrant relegade leader 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.280 fought against the United States and the only war on 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.920 American soil that it didn't win. The bigger story, the 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:23.759 one behind the man, is the unconquered tribe of the seminoles. 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:26.440 I really doubt that you're going to want to miss 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:26.839 this one. 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:33.080 I'm intrigued by your choice of the word controversy, because 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:38.919 there certainly exists controversies concerning Ossiola to this day, which 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:41.959 is part and parcel of the fact that he's still 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:46.600 in the national consciousness and the international consciousness. Do you 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:49.960 see that little figurine sitting right over there. That's a 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.760 statue of Assiola. And about ten years ago a friend 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.240 of mine in South Florida was in Belgium and she 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.720 found that statuette really Belgium, in Belgium, and it was 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:07.200 made in Italy, so he was famous all over the world. 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.440 My name is Klay Nukem, and this is the Bear 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:24.480 Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:28.200 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:32.359 story of Americans who lived their lives close to the land. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:38.760 Presented by FHF gear, American made purpose built hunting and 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.280 fishing gear as designed to be as rugged as the 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:43.520 place as we explore. 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:56.519 Please use that glass ashtray as a coaster. There you 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.120 go for you, Drake, Yeah, that's okay. I have been 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:00.919 known to leave a ring or on my furniture, and 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:02.440 I'd much rather blame me than you. 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:06.040 Yes, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll do the same thing 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:10.440 when people come over like he's the coaster. I'm in 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:15.799 the home of historian and author doctor Patricia Wickman in Tallahassee, Florida. 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.919 She's a generous and kind woman, but you better be 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:24.000 on your a game. Of all the people I've interviewed, 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:29.559 from hillbilly's to PhD tote and academics, I've never interviewed 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.960 anyone with more detailed knowledge, passion, and ability to communicate 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:39.040 about their expertise more than doctor Wickman, and her passion 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.400 is the Seminole Ostiola. As a matter of fact, she 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.080 was the senior historian for the State of Florida and 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.760 the former director of the Department of Anthropology and Genealogy 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:56.200 for the Seminole tribe of Florida. She's actually a Spanish 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.480 Floridian whose family has been here since the seventeen fifties, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.680 but she lived with the Florida Seminoles for over a decade. 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:10.240 She is going to help us immensely in this story. 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:13.520 I was up in Iowa one time some years ago, 0:04:14.000 --> 0:04:17.120 where they had a statue of a totem pole, a 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:21.000 pseudo totem pole that had been carved for them by 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:25.000 a man in Branson, Missouri, and it was supposed to 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:30.720 be in honor of Osceola. And I found that absolutely fascinating. 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:36.000 So I'm never surprised to hear anything about him. I'm 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:40.440 never surprised that he exists in the national consciousness. Even 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:45.680 to this day. There are over twenty counties, cities. There's 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.760 even a bridge and a mountain in the United States 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:50.120 named after Ostiola. 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.240 Osceola's legacy, lasting into modern times almost two hundred years 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:59.040 after his death, shows the impact of his life. But 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:04.440 here is a mainstream American pseudo totem to, the Seminole Leader, 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:11.520 and I bet you're gonna recognize him. John Anderson's song 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:15.719 Seminole Wind was a straight up country hit was nominated 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:19.000 for the nineteen ninety three CMA Song of the Year. 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:22.160 And if you don't like this song, I'm not sure 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:25.400 what to say, but it really hits its stride near 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.839 the end. Listen who gets a call out by name? 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:34.719 And the last time I walked in the swamp, I 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:38.200 sat up on a cypres tum. 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:44.159 I listened pul saying I heard the dose of Seo. 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:56.560 So he heard the ghost of Ossiola crying. That's powerful imagery. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.200 And there ain't a person who ever heard that song 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.919 that didn't like that part. But do you even know 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:07.800 who Osciola is what he did up until recently, I'd 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.599 have to answer no, not really. But this brings up 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:16.520 too interesting and old points that we've got to address 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:22.120 at the top. Number one, Americans have always been enamored 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:26.320 with Native American leaders, treating them almost like comic book 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.640 characters or mythical creatures. In the eighteen hundreds, even while 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.520 our government was at war width and systematically moving them 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:39.680 to Oklahoma, America couldn't read enough and see enough about Indians. 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.960 This trend rolled into the twentieth century. It's an odd 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:48.719 philosophical position, idolizing people you were displacing and trying to kill. 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:53.359 If you remember to Kumsa, the Shawnee had national fame 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:56.159 in his life and was viewed as a noble foe 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.880 of America. At the end of his life, when he 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:02.559 was in prison, the nation's most famous painters were lined 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.400 up at the door ten deep to paint his portrait, 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.800 and when he died, his possessions, and even parts of 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:16.200 his body were stolen, sold and touted his showpieces, including 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:21.320 his head, which is still missing. It seems like America 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.280 liked the golden egg but didn't want the goose. The 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:29.200 romantic idea of a free people unaffected by modernity, living 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:33.960 independently and harmoniously off the land was appealing. We actually 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:39.040 grafted some of that into American identity, which differentiated us 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.680 from the stuffy aristocracy of Europe from which we'd come. 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:47.600 But we couldn't have unassimilated people who didn't want to 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.640 be part of America living here. We'd rather just have 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.760 stories about how they used to live here, and we 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.280 couldn't have him living here, especially if they owned land. 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.880 And did the Native Americans ever own some prime real estate. 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:06.680 The second consideration I said there were two, is how 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:12.400 Americans were constantly in search of individualistic heroes that validated 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:17.400 our national value system. We are so enamored with individualism 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.200 that we don't know that there is even another way 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:23.600 to view the world. But the Native people didn't have 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.240 this individualistic view. I was helped to see this by 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.280 Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes a couple of years ago when 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:34.000 we did that to comes the series. He basically said, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:39.240 you people are always trying to sensationalize individuals, but we 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:41.920 see them as a product of their community, standing on 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.840 the shoulders of others that they can't be separated from. 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:49.000 Do you remember the grammatical structure of the Shawnee language, 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:54.720 giving precedents to verbs rather than nouns, like actions rather 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.480 than people, meaning They're most interested in what God done, 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:03.480 not who did it. In English, you would say Susie 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:06.120 made the soup, with an emphasis on who did it. 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:10.319 Susie did it. They might say the soup was made, 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.720 and who made it? Really wasn't that important. I'm attempting 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:19.360 to not tell Osceola's story through these historic tropes, but 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.480 it's almost impossible not to. I just want to learn 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:27.000 who this guy was and why people today are still 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.480 so interested in him. I do know one thing, and 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.600 that's that I've found some great people to help tell 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.199 this story. One of them is my friend from Oklahoma, 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:41.360 Muskogee Creek and Seminole Sterling Harjoe. I asked him when 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.959 he first would have known about Ostiola. 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.920 I don't remember when I first heard about him. It's 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.600 early enough that I don't remember I just knew that 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.640 he was our leader. He's our number one leader that 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:55.439 we think of. Even though there were a lot of 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.000 other leaders, he was the one that was very popular. 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.720 Ewoch Kelly Haynes's a painter. He painted the painting who 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.120 was also a former chief. He painted the painting of 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:10.280 Oceola stabbing the treaty and I remember that being a 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.520 very striking painting that I always remembered growing up. But 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.640 you know, just sort of this ultimate just some I 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.400 mean like he died under like a banner of you know, 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:25.880 flag of truce, you know, which supposedly outraged people that 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:30.079 he was tricked. He's the ultimate sort of he. I mean, 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.559 he died for me to be alive. I think that 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.880 that's a part of the fabric of whether that was 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:37.800 ever said to me or not. I felt that. 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:41.560 There's a famous moment in Osceola's life when he went 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.520 to sign Paynes Treaty with the United States government in 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.680 eighteen thirty two, but rather than signing it, he stabbed 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:53.160 a knife into the paper contract. It's interesting because many 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:58.079 historians say that this actually didn't happen, but the Seminoles 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.480 say that it did. And you're in lies the trouble 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:06.240 with history. But Sterlin did answer my question. This leader's 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.720 legacy was built into the everyday lives of the Seminoles. 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.600 And I'd like to introduce you to Jake Tiger, a 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:19.240 twenty six year old Creek Seminole living in Oklahoma. He's 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:20.840 got something to say about history. 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:24.760 Yeah, a lot of a lot of Anglo history is 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:29.520 kind of mostly written documentations, and with American Indians ours 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:33.400 is just oral traditions. So that's why there's always a 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:38.079 big discussion of yeah, authenticity, what's what's reputable and then 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:42.360 what's you know, what's a legit source and so, and 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.440 some people are actually coming around to that, you know, 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.800 they're they're starting to understand that these you know, PhD 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:52.200 you know, ethnologists, anthropologists there, their stories don't line up 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.160 with the tribal communities actually have to say stuff that 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:57.680 actually happened. Because we have to remember also at the 0:11:57.679 --> 0:12:01.760 same time, when whenever these different anthropolgy and different Indian 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.480 agents of the time, they didn't understand the culture. They're 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.679 just writing down what they're seeing, and so that's most 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.040 of its kind of speculation too. So even though as 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:16.800 historians we do like to refer back to first hand documentation, 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:18.480 and we always kind of take with a grain of salt. 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:25.000 There are many problems when comparing oral history to written documentation, 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:27.960 but I think we have to acknowledge that it's a 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:32.560 real thing. Let's do it hypothetical. Imagine someone from a 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:36.199 far away country, let's just say it's in Asia, who 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.240 did not speak English, came to your house, went to 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.920 church with you, watched you eat, marry, discipline your children, 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:48.040 and observed your politics, and then they got to be 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:53.560 the ultimate authority on your culture and history. How accurate 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:57.160 could that even be? And what if they actively wanted 0:12:57.280 --> 0:13:00.280 your land and had the power to take it. Could 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:03.600 a narrative be crafted that was advantageous to their goals? 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:09.080 But at the same time, many observations don't need cultural interpretation. 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.840 They simply happened or they didn't. And we all know 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.040 that oral stories have a tendency to change over time, 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:21.280 get exaggerated, and can also be crafted into complementary narratives. 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:26.360 Most non Indian historians believe Osceola actually didn't stab the 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:30.880 treaty paper, but Sterling saw the painting. Whether it happened 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:36.839 or not, it imprinted him with a cultural doctrine. Doctor 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:41.120 Wickman has dedicated decades of her career to understanding Ostola. 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:45.120 She is not a seminole, nor does she speak for them, 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:50.400 but she's undoubtedly a national authority on the known details 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:53.400 of his life. She's now going to get as started 0:13:53.440 --> 0:13:57.599 in understanding the historical context. This story starts with the 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:02.320 Muskogee Creek people in Alabama and a figure familiar to 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:03.000 bear Grease. 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.439 First and foremost, I think we have to look at 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.760 the collision of the man and the times. I think 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:16.480 those two elements are exceedingly important. So my elder son 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.880 fusses at me. He said to me one time, how 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.160 come I ask you for the name of that flower 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.000 and you have to begin by giving me the geology 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:25.760 of the hill. 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:29.440 That's perfect. We're going to get along gray. 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:33.040 So that's what I do. But if you understand the setting, 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.120 if you have the matrix, then nothing is going to 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.720 seem irrational to you, and you're going to make better 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.240 sense out of the whole entire story. 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:41.680 All right. 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.560 There was the War of eighteen twelve, which touched the southeast. 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.520 There was to Kumsa and his movement to try to 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:56.520 push white people off the continent, and in eighteen eleven, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:01.320 to Kumpsa came down to the Mushkogi or the Mushkogalghi 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.400 people in the southeast in order to bring them the 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:09.640 word of his brother Tinshguatua. Now the Seminoles say that 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:14.920 Tenshquatua means the open door. But he came to a 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:20.280 town called Tugibaji, and it was literally right across a 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:24.160 creek from the little village of Tarashi, which is the 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:29.760 village where Aciola was born. What he was preaching was 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:32.680 that white people had no business here and that they 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:36.000 were going to destroy the world for the Indians, and 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.040 they wanted He wanted all the Indians to rise up 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:44.400 against them and push them out. Unfortunately for the Mushkogalghi, 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:49.000 the Mushkogi people, there was a white government agent in 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:52.560 the lower portion of what we diday called Georgia and Alabama. 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:57.120 His name was Benjamin Hawkins, and he was preaching peace. 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.760 He wanted the Indians to stay calm, to build houses, 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:06.160 to become an agrarian society, to assimilate. Unfortunately for him 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:10.040 and for the Indians, there was a large number of 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:17.040 the ancestors of Osceola who took the talk of Tukumsha. 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:22.800 Talking the talk of Tecumsa meant one thing. War. Tecumsa 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:27.080 led a nativist revival, traveling like an evangelist from the 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:31.240 Great Lakes to Alabama, preaching with ground shaking conviction that 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.280 the Indians should not assimilate and should go back to 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:38.200 their traditional ways. They should quit wearing white man's clothes, 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.600 use bows and arrows for hunting, even start making fire 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:45.880 in the traditional ways. He garnered a Pan Indian multi 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.360 tribe confederation that was the largest Indian army to ever 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.880 stand against the United States. To this day, he's considered 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.280 one of the greatest orators in American history. Though there 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:00.760 are no recordings of his voice, there are transcripts of speeches, 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.720 but it was primarily gauged by how he could move 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:08.679 people to action. I'd like to remind you that to 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:12.480 Come to was a twenty twenty two inductee into the 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:17.320 Bear Grease Hall of Fame. It appears Osceola's life was 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.600 influenced by him. Here's more from Jake Tiger. 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.560 Yeah, and I've talked to you A couple of people 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:28.040 here in similar nation. They even talk to my Shawnee friends, 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:31.600 you know, the importance that to come fifth, his impact 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.640 had on Muskogee Creeks. He played a pretty big role. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.640 He came to the different towns and it is documented 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.000 and then they're most likely would have been a young 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.399 Osceola kind of sitting out there listening to it to 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.879 come to give kind of delivered his message, and that 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.480 kind of resonated probably with him, and so it's kind 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:51.679 of cool to think about we see those kind of 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.480 it's kind of like a spiderweb of different stories and 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.800 historical aspects. He would never think about until you kind 0:17:58.800 --> 0:18:01.800 of really fall down a rabbit hole that he might 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.960 have been present when to come to had come to 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:07.280 that troubled town to give his speech. 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.680 Tecumsa came to the Alabama Creeks in eighteen eleven, two 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:16.760 years before his death. Osciola was likely born in eighteen 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.119 oh four, so he would have just been a child 0:18:19.240 --> 0:18:23.439 when Takamsa was there, but undoubtedly his family took the 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:26.960 talk of the Nativist revival at a critical time in 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:32.440 Osceola's life. Recent human development research has highlighted the years 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:38.960 of nine to thirteen as critical years for building lifelong identity, 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:44.000 maybe the most important period of a young person's life. 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:46.800 This time period for Ostiola would have been the years 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:51.400 seeing his family implement the talk of Tkumson, and we'll 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:55.040 see that impact throughout his life. He would rather die 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:59.800 than assimilate, and he did. Here's something really interesting from 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:02.119 that you might not have seen coming. 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:23.359 So I'm related to Usia Hoola through my mother's side 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:28.040 through her father from our Powell family. Because Oscilla's original name, 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.600 or his English name, I should say, was William Powell. 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:34.879 So he had a son that came to Indian Territory 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:41.720 after removal, John Powell, and he had some children, and 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.359 then we all kind of settled in the Holdenville area 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.600 here in Indian Territory and we've been here ever since. 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:52.520 So we draw that that that direct descendancy from Osceola 0:19:52.800 --> 0:19:56.720 through William Powell and John Powell and people like Susie 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.879 May and Sissy Katcha, people like those. That's how we 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.800 we come from them. 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:06.560 Jake just dropped two interesting things on us, the first 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:10.000 being that he's a direct descendant of Ostiola. That is 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:14.479 very cool. I've also learned that there is controversy around 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.679 who Ossiola's descendants actually are, as is often the case 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:24.240 and war torn displaced people, record keeping becomes complicated. Some 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:28.439 claim that Osciola had no direct descendants, others claim to 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:33.280 be them. Secondly, he told us that Osciola's other name 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:37.240 was Billy Powell. That is surprising, and we're gonna have 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:39.640 to come back to that. But I want to get 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:40.200 back to Jake. 0:20:42.320 --> 0:20:45.280 Some people will say his name is Ossi Yoholo or 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:47.080 I think that's more of a might be more of 0:20:47.080 --> 0:20:49.159 a make a sicky way to say it, given the 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:53.439 name he is Muskogean because he came from Alabama, and 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:58.680 so his true name would be Aussi Yohola, like two words, yeah, yeah, 0:20:58.720 --> 0:20:59.640 because it's Ossia. 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:00.600 Yeah. 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.480 Here, I hear a pause in there. 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:04.400 Yeah, so it's Ussi Yohola. 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:06.080 And then it was anglicized to. 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:10.439 Yep. Yeah, so now it's it's more people will call 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.800 it Oceola. But his original name is Ussi Yehola, the 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.040 black drink singer. Yeah, but what with they're referring to 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.119 the black drink And all the Southeastern people have this 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.560 this plant, the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, muskoge Creeks, u cheese, 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:26.920 they all have this plant. But the black drink is 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:31.680 from the English term yopon holly, but the Miskogean people 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.040 we call it osio bokshi. That that's the only caffeinated 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:38.040 plant here in North America. That's only found in the 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:39.879 southeastern part of the United States. Some of you can 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:43.359 find here in Oklahoma. Indian Territory doesn't grow that well 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:45.320 because the climate's here a little too hot for it, 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:48.080 it's a little too dry. But that that plant is 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.160 plays a significant role in our ceremonies. 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.080 Here's doctor Wickman with more detail on his name. In 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:58.080 this black drink. 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:04.560 The man who brings this to the medicine man at 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:08.040 the height of the green corn ceremony has to chant 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:11.359 the song of the wolf. The wolf is Yaha. So 0:22:11.560 --> 0:22:17.200 his wolf's song is Yahola, and he is called Ashen Yahola. 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:21.680 And that's why English speakers heard it later on, and 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:25.080 they were never allowed to know his baby name. They 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.359 knew an English name, Billy Powell. But when you go 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:32.720 through Gingkorn, you get an honorific title, and that's how 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:35.679 you're going to be known from then on. So he 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:39.639 was Ashen Yahola. And when English speakers heard it with 0:22:39.760 --> 0:22:46.320 their standard penchant for rearranging everything, they heard Ashen Yahola 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:49.879 became Ashola, and then it became Osceola. 0:22:50.160 --> 0:22:54.440 So he was named by his leadership in that ceremony. 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:58.479 He was named by his position. Don't use the word leadership, Okay, okay. 0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.680 He was by carry the drink to the medicine man. 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:03.080 He was the Yeah. 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:07.840 Think of an acolyte in a Roman Catholic mass who 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:10.920 brings up the censor that has the incense in it, 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:13.200 or he goes to the priest and he takes in 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:15.639 the patents that are going to be given out as community. 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:19.760 Would that name have been common in the seminole, So 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:20.800 it would have been. 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:23.160 Not common, but there would be a lot of other 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:26.240 people who had gone through their rites of passage. 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:30.160 Who have been called the same thing. Yes, a person's 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:34.439 name is always important, especially with the American Indians. This 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:38.800 is complicated, but it's now time to understand his genealogy, 0:23:39.160 --> 0:23:44.439 whose parents were, and why his name was originally Billy Powell. 0:23:44.640 --> 0:23:48.480 One of the white men who came among the Indians 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:51.960 in the Lower Southeast was a man named James McQueen. 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:56.560 And I've tried very hard to fix on him and 0:23:56.640 --> 0:23:59.879 find out exactly who he is, and I think I know, 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:04.520 but the fact is that he was probably a sailor 0:24:04.640 --> 0:24:08.000 on a British ship who got into an altercation with 0:24:08.040 --> 0:24:12.280 an officer and struck the officer and realized very quickly 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:14.400 that the better part of valor was to get out 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:18.919 of dodge, and he did. But he started moving across 0:24:19.200 --> 0:24:23.720 the southeast, and he, as the phrase was in those days, 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:29.000 he sat down with an Indian woman, all right, and 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:33.439 very shortly he became a part of the life of 0:24:33.480 --> 0:24:35.240 a little village called Talassia. 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:42.240 James McQueen was Osceola slash Billy Pal's great grandfather who 0:24:42.400 --> 0:24:46.520 sat down with an Indian woman around seventeen sixteen. He 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:49.040 was one of the first European traders to the Creeks. 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:53.480 These are matriarchal societies, so the children are heavily influenced 0:24:53.480 --> 0:25:00.000 by their mother. James's son, Peter McQueen, Ossiola's grandfather. Half Indian, 0:25:00.480 --> 0:25:04.520 half Scottish, but one hundred percent culturally Indian. Are you 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:08.240 with me? You awake this? Peter, his grandfather, was one 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:11.960 of the firebrands, heavily influenced by Tecumsa. He had a 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:15.320 daughter named Nancy, who had a daughter named Polly, who 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:21.040 married another Scottish trader dude named William Powell. They were 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:26.480 the parents of Billy Powell, later named Osceola. And folks, 0:25:26.960 --> 0:25:28.840 this is going to be on a bear grease render 0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:32.520 quiz see, you better remember it. I have some questions 0:25:32.520 --> 0:25:36.200 about this though. It would it have been common for 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:39.600 a person of European descent to sit with an Indian 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:43.320 woman and be grafting into the tribe like this. 0:25:43.880 --> 0:25:48.200 Well, it's all situational, because depending on how you march 0:25:48.240 --> 0:25:50.600 into town, you might be dead before you could get out. 0:25:51.800 --> 0:25:54.040 If you came in and required things of them that 0:25:54.080 --> 0:25:57.760 they didn't like, you wouldn't come back. And that's a fact. 0:25:58.280 --> 0:26:01.280 If you came in the right way, if you wanted 0:26:01.320 --> 0:26:03.560 to trade, if you were helpful to them, if it 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:06.199 looked like you might learn their language and stick around 0:26:06.240 --> 0:26:09.520 for a while, then there it's a good possibility that 0:26:09.560 --> 0:26:13.600 they would be kind to you. Yeah, so yes, that happened. 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:18.280 Beside which a lot of these were traders and they 0:26:18.320 --> 0:26:22.080 wanted the trade. They became addicted, as you can imagine, 0:26:22.080 --> 0:26:27.240 to iron pots and not having to flake flint arrows 0:26:27.600 --> 0:26:33.400 and having accouterments that they had never had before mirrors. 0:26:34.600 --> 0:26:40.480 So it's tom for some interesting math. So Billy Powell, 0:26:40.880 --> 0:26:45.119 who would become known as Osceola. He was not. He 0:26:45.280 --> 0:26:48.240