James Bigheart

James Bigheart was born Pun-Kah-Wi-Tah-An-Kah in 1838 to Nun-tsa-tum-kah and Wah-hui-shah near St. Paul, Kansas. Bigheart converted to Catholicism, was educated at the Osage Mission's post, and fluent in multiple languages.[1][lower-alpha 1] He enlisted in the 9th Kansas Cavalry Regiment of the Union Army in Iola, Kansas on January 19, 1862. He left the army as a first lieutenant on March 22, 1865.[1]

He signed his first treaty with the United States on May 27, 1868. In 1870 the United States bought the Osage Nation reservation in Kansas, and the Osage in turn bought a reservation in Indian Territory from the Cherokee Nation. In 1871 he moved to Silver Lake (now Bartlesville) and then to Pawhuska in 1872. He built a home near Bird Creek, about 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Pawhuska. In 1875 he became principal chief of the Osage Nation. By 1881 Bigheart was the leader of the "Full Bloods", or Non-Progressives Party, of the Osage Nation.[1][lower-alpha 2] Bigheart is credited with leading his faction to delay the allotment of the Osage Nation reservation by about ten years. When the Osage Nation organized their first written constitution, Bigheart was the President of the National Council who drafted it and a signer of the document. When the first Osage elections were held in November 1882 Bigheart became the first elected Principal Chief of the Osage Nation. He suffered a stroke in March 1906 and was left partially paralyzed.[1] He died on October 5, 1908.[3]

The town of Bigheart, Oklahoma was named after James, until it was renamed to Barnsdall, Oklahoma in 1921.[4] In 1989, the Chief James Bigheart Memorial Bridge was dedicated on Oklahoma State Highway 11.[5] In 2016, the Osage Nation dedicated a statute to Bigheart at Law Building on the Osage campus in Pawhuska.[6]