Author's note: The Trout Gallery at Dickinson College presented an exhibit entitled "The Carlisle Indian School: 1879-1918" from January 30 to February 28, 2004. Visitors to this exhibit were able to see several pictographs that were once part of an album of drawings presented to Mason D. Pratt by his father, Richard Henry Pratt. The front cover of that album is embossed in gold letters "A Kiowa's Odyssey", and the Kiowa whose drawings formerly rested inside the red covers was Etahdleuh Doanmoe, the subject of this article. Etahdleuh, as he was usually known (with a rough phonetic pronunciation of Eh-TAH-dlee-uh), made a remarkable odyssey from the plains of Indian Territory, to a prison in Florida, to the school founded by Richard Pratt and back to Indian Territory. He also had many interesting side-trips along his life's journey. A warrior, a prisoner, a student, a farmer, a mentor to younger students, a missionary-Etahdleuh was all these things and more, but he was also an artist. The following article provides some insights into "A Kiowa's Odyssey".
The Daily Evening Sentinel of June 19, 1882, reported an event that had never occurred before in the 131 years of Carlisle history-the marriage of a Kiowa couple on the grounds of Carlisle Barracks. The Barracks was then the site of an off-reservation boarding school for Indian students, but it had once been a school where US Army cavalry had trained before going off to engage in the continuing struggle to subjugate and confine the Indians of the western plains. The newspaper reported the events surrounding this wedding in detail:
Memorable in the history of the training school will be the evening of the seventeenth of June, with its many incidents of very special interest. The leading feature of the evening, however, was the enaction of the sequel to the little romance published in the April number of Harper's Monthly for 1881. Shortly after the organization of the school, Captain Pratt commissioned Itahdlieuh Doanmoe, a Kiowa boy and an ex-St. Augustine captive, to go to the territories to gather up material for the new enterprise.
On his return with forty pupils, one young woman of the number was made noticeable by the consideration she received from Doanmoe. In explanation to the captain, the young brave made this declaration, "Long time ago in Indian Territory I hunt and I fight, I not think about girls. Then you take us to St. Augustine. I learn much but I not think about girls. I go to Carlisle, I learn much. I do right I not think about girls. I go to my home, I not think about girls there. But Laura she thinks I bring her to Carlisle, when I can work, I take care of her." His course of instruction finished, and having found work to do he decided to assume the support of the young Maiden as promptly as possible, hence a few guests were invited to be present at the marriage ceremony. Kind hands had garnished the chapel platform with growing and cut flowers, while above a bank of green, in crimson relief, were the initials E. L. At the ringing of the chapel bell the school assembled, curious and expectant. Secretary Feller [actually Secretary of the Interior Henry M. Teller] and wife accompanied by Capt. Pratt then entered, immediately after, the playing of the Swedish wedding march signaled the approach of the bridal party. The young couple were accompanied by twelve attendants selected from the various tribes. The bride, a Kiowa girl, is a fine type of the Indian woman.
The groom had an open, manly face and good appearance. The ceremony, which was performed by Rev. Norcross, assisted by Prof Lippincott, was most impressive and peculiarly calculated to teach the Indians the sacredness of the relations of man and wife. There seemed more than the usual solemnity in this service as it emphasized a custom little understood and much abused by the red man. At the conclusion of the ceremony the bridal party, pupils and guests repaired to the Pagoda where a bountiful repast was served, the bride cutting the wedding cake according to the conventional mode. At this point the scene was picturesque in the extreme, groups of children in holiday garb and humor clustered together, the band executed the popular airs of the hour, Standing Bear, a Sioux chief, was distinguishable for that dignity of mien native to his race—omnipresent was Captain Pratt himself, hospitable and attentive.
The wedding as described in the newspaper of the day is interesting in isolation, but the events that brought a young Kiowa man from the plains of the Indian Territory to Carlisle where he would be married in a Christian ceremony to the daughter and niece of prominent Kiowa leaders are even more remarkable. Etahdleuh Doanmoe enacted many roles in his life: warrior, prisoner, student, trusted employee, husband, father, farmer, and finally missionary to his people. A description of these roles can help to provide insights into the methods of assimilation established at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Students who attended this trendsetting establishment would had significant impact when they left the school, whether they returned to their own homes or went out into the white man's culture. They had influence not only upon the history of Carlisle but also upon the history of the country as a whole.
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