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Káma-Kapúska! Making Marks in Indian Country, 1833–34

Cross Reference: Fort Clark as a Commissioning House

From: ■ Fort Clark as a Commissioning House

“In this way, the whitewashed room at Fort Clark came to mimic the open doors expected of Native leaders in the villages. Numak'aki peoples knew a village leader as a numakshí (“man-to-be-good”) or miti ko-mne-ka (“the one who is the village door”). Leaders were expected to be generous, playing host at any time, with food always at the ready. This hospitality was extended to Bodmer at the Numak'aki earth lodge of Dipäuch (Broken Marrow), where Bodmer constructed a complex sketch of the lodge interior over the course of the winter (fig. 12).‍[44] Pots of food are visible by the central firepit, as are the women kin of Dipäuch who were responsible for meal preparation. By the spring of 1834, when food was running desperately short, Mató-Tópe and Péhriska-Rúhpa extended their roles as village leaders and providers to the residents of Fort Clark, gifting meat to the emaciated Europeans.‍[45] Bodmer and Wied-Neuwied mirrored the role of the numakshí as they worked at Fort Clark, hosting and feeding their many visitors in a demonstration of their facility with the proffered terms of the Middle Ground.” Go to page

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miti ko-mne-ka (“one who is the village door”) 12 numak'aki theme plain 2023-01-08T15:00:57+00:00
A miti ko-mne-ka, or “one who is the village door,” was a specific type of village leader in the Awatíkihu (Five Villages). The –ka suffix adds the denotation of “habitually” or “continuously” to its attached verbs, and here implies that a leader continuously inhabits the character and leadership exemplified by “the village door.”
Leadership in many Native communities was extremely complex. Numak'aki villages had both war (military) and peace (civil) chiefs; these served in the communities’ permanent villages, while short-term winter or hunting camp chiefs were chosen every season. Winter leadership was considered more difficult, and leaders could be put to death for failures under their watch.
A Numak'aki leader was generally known as a numakshí, or “man-to-be-good.” The term would have been applied to Mató-Tópe, who served as the war chief of Mít uta hako’sh (First Village) over the winter of 1833–34. A numakshí undertook the obligation of caring for their people, often through hunting and the sharing of mónute (food).
Miti ko-mne-ka like Dipäuch had to be wealthy enough to sustain an “open door” policy , with food always at the ready for visitors who were allowed to enter the lodge of a miti ko-mne-ka at any time, without invitation. Such a role may have allowed Karl Bodmer access to Dipäuch’s lodge, depicted in a detailed watercolor sketch of its interior. This understanding of leadership may have also informed Native expectations of fort hospitality, including that proffered by Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied and Bodmer.

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