Joseph LaFlesche, also known as E-sta-mah-za or Iron Eye (c. 1822–1888),[1] was the last recognized head chief of the Omaha tribe of Native Americans who was selected according to the traditional tribal rituals.
His father worked for the American Fur Company (AFC) and traded with the many tribes: Ponca, Omaha, Iowa, Otoe, and Pawnee, living between the Platte and Nebraska rivers.
He had been adopted into the Omaha tribe as the son of Big Elk, the principal chief, after years of interaction with the people.
In 1843 Big Elk had designated La Flesche as his successor, and the younger man began to study tribal ways and customs, becoming prepared to be chief.
[3] Iron Eye and Mary believed that the future of American Indians lay in education and assimilation, including adoption of European-style agricultural methods and acceptance of Christianity.
As chief, Joseph LaFlesche could have multiple wives, and he married Ta-in-ne, an Omaha woman also known as Elizabeth Erasmus.
[4] His grown children with Mary included activists Susette LaFlesche Tibbles; and Rosalie LaFlesche Farley, financial manager of the Omaha tribe; Marguerite La Flesche Picotte, who became a teacher on the Yankton Sioux Reservation; and the physician Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American in the United States to be certified as a doctor.
Although the siblings came to hold differing opinions on the issues related to land allotment and assimilation, they each worked to improve the quality of life for Native Americans, particularly the Omaha in Nebraska.
In 1843, Big Elk designated LaFlesche as his successor as a hereditary chief of the Weszhinste, one of the ten gentes of the Omaha.
[5] When adopted and designated by Big Elk as his successor, LaFlesche (Iron Eye) seriously studied the tribal ways and customs to prepare for becoming a chief.
An 1889 sketch of La Flesche, first published in the Bancroft, Nebraska Journal, said he was the only person having any white blood who had been a chief of the Omaha.
[1] In January 1854, after negotiations in full council with 60 Omaha men, the tribe reached some agreements on land cession with the US Indian agent James M. Gatewood.
Perhaps because Fontenelle had been introduced as Two Grizzly Bears' interpreter, or because he was the only Omaha speaker who was literate in English, his name was substituted.
[7] Unhappy with Gatewood's draft treaty, the US Indian Office replaced the agent with George Hepner in the summer of 1854.
In 1855, Fontenelle and four Omaha were killed and scalped by an enemy band of Sioux while on the summer buffalo hunt on the plains.
[9] As chief, LaFlesche led the tribe through a period of major transition and social disruption after their move to the reservation in what is now northeast Nebraska in the Blackbird Hills.
For some time, many of the men lived on their portion of the annuities and hunting, and the women continued to cultivate varieties of corn in a communal way.