Dipäuch
While Dipäuch (Broken Leg) only appears once in the journal entries included in this project, he was a regular interlocuter with the Europeans in both the Fort Clark studio and in Dipäuch’s own earth lodge in Mít uta hako'sh (First Village), which Bodmer regularly visited throughout the winter of 1833–34 to complete a detailed sketch. Dipäuch’s father was Wakihde-Chamahän (Little Shield), a man shot by Dakota warriors during Lewis and Clark’s visit to the Awatíkihu (Five Villages) over the winter of 1804–5, and Dipäuch was now an important man and villager in his own right. Like Mató-Tópe, he was a ka-ka (keeper) with many coup to his name, but he was part of an older warrior cohort: in Bodmer’s watercolor, the buffalo headdress hanging on the far right pole was only given to the bravest of warriors in the Benok Óhate (Buffalo Bull Society), made up of men in their fifties or sixties.
Dipäuch served as a soldat (soldier) at the fort, a position that may have given him many opportunities to visit the Europeans. He sometimes exercised his ka-ka rights by sharing specialized knowledge about Numak'aki histories and practices with Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied, and once he brought the hó'pini (“to be holy”) pipe in his care for Bodmer to sketch. He also brought specimens for Wied-Neuwied’s collections. Sometimes he visited with fellow soldats. He spoke Tsitsistas (Cheyenne) and shared terminology with Wied-Neuwied. Most importantly, he seems to have played the role of miti ko-mne-ka (“one who is the village door”): he hosted Bodmer in his lodge multiple times, and in late January 1834 he sent his son to the fort to announce a buffalo sighting south of the Awatíkihu and to extend an invitation to join the vital hunt for mónute (food) in the dead of winter.[1]
Related themes:
- ka-ka (keeper)
- miti ko-mne-ka (“one who is the village door”)
- mónute (food)
- óhate (society)
- pi'he (smoke)