Fanny Kelly (c. 1845–1904[1]) was a North American pioneer woman captured by the Sioux and freed five months later.
In 1856, her parents, James and Margaret Wiggins, relocated their family to the new town of Geneva in the soon-to-be state of Kansas.
[2] In 1863, Fanny married Josiah S. Kelly, also of Geneva, a farmer and discharged Union soldier at least fifteen years her senior.
Josiah hoped that a change of climate would aid his failing health, so he, Fanny, and her seven-year-old niece and adopted daughter, Mary Hurley set out on May 17, 1864 for the region that is now Idaho or Montana.
A couple of weeks after that, William and Sarah Larimer and their eight-year-old son Frank, with whom the Kellys were acquainted, left a large wagon train to accompany them.
[3] On July 12, the ill-fated party had crossed Little Box Elder Creek in Wyoming on the Oregon Trail when they encountered a large group of "about two hundred and fifty" Miniconjous and Hunkpapas, reported by Fanny Kelly to be "painted and equipped for war", led by their war chief, Ottawa, a chieftain of the Oglala band.
While they were eating, a Sioux messenger arrived, reporting that U.S. soldiers had killed some of their relatives on the Missouri River, apparently putting their heads on poles.
Another life-threatening quarrel ensued when she innocently accepted a gift of stockings from the brother-in-law of the old chief, inadvertently committing a social blunder.
[2] The band arrived at their home village, only to be attacked by a Union Army force led by Brigadier General Alfred Sully.
[2] One day, a Sioux named Porcupine arrived at the camp, bearing a letter from Captain Marshall of the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry detailing the attempts that had been made to rescue her.
Informed by Captain Fisk of Fanny's plight, Sully insisted she be freed as part of the agreement, even though the Sihasapa protested she was being held by the Oglala.
[2] One day, Jumping Bear, who had protected her when she was first captured, visited her, reminding her that he had saved her life, and saying he wanted to be "more than a friend" to her.
On December 9, a group of eight to twelve chiefs escorted her into the fort; the gates were shut behind the small party, precluding the attack that Fanny believed to have been planned.
Despite her claim that "I had never suffered from any of [the Oglallas] the slightest personal or unchaste insult",[2] by other accounts, she was sold to a Hunkpapa Sioux named Brings Plenty to be his wife.
[7][8] So pleased was he with her docile demeanor, especially compared to Sioux women, that he named her "Real Woman", and it was only with great difficulty that Fanny was prised away from him by no less than Sitting Bull.
[8] In this version of events, Fanny was returned safely to Fort Sully under Sitting Bull's protection.