Chief Ouray
Encyclopedia
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
chief
Chief
- Title or rank :* Chiefs of the Name, the head of a family or clan* Chief executive officer, the highest-ranking corporate officer of an organization* Chief Master Sergeant, in the United States Air Force* Chief of police, the head of a police department...
of the Uncompahgre band of the Ute tribe
Ute Tribe
The Ute are an American Indian people now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah ; Southern Ute in Colorado ; and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico . The name of the state of...
, then located in western Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. Because of his leadership ability, Ouray was also acknowledged by the United States (US) government as a chief of the Ute.
In 1880 he left Colorado to travel to Washington D.C, where he testified to Congress about the Ute uprising
White River War
The White River War, also known as the Ute War, or the Ute Campaign, was fought between the White River Utes and the United States Army in 1879, resulting in the forced removal of the White River Utes and the Uncompahgre Utes from Colorado, and the reduction in the Southern Utes' land holdings...
of 1879. He tried to secure a treaty for the Uncompahgre Ute, who wanted to stay in Colorado; but, the following year, the United States forced the Uncompahgre and the White River Ute to the west to reservations in present-day Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
Early life and education
Ouray was born in what is now New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. According to oral history, he was born on a clear night of November 13, 1833, during the Leonid meteor showers, which was taken as an omen. Some accounts state that he was born as early as 1820. His father, Guera Murah, was a Jicarilla Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
adopted into the Ute, and his mother was an Uncompahgre Ute. He learned Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, and later both the Ute and Apache
Southern Athabaskan languages
Southern Athabaskan is a subfamily of Athabaskan languages spoken primarily in the North American Southwest with two outliers in Oklahoma and Texas...
languages, which he found helpful in negotiating treaties.
Marriage and family
He married Black Water and started a family with her. After her early death, he married ChipetaChipeta
Chipeta or White Singing Bird , was a Native American woman, and the second wife of Chief Ouray of the Uncompahgre Ute tribe. Born a Kiowa Apache, she was raised by the Utes in what is now Conejos, Colorado...
, who was 10 years younger than he. She became his close confidant. Although she did not have children, they reared his children by Black Water, as well as some orphans they adopted.
While Ouray was fighting the Sioux in 1863, his only son was taken captive. Despite attempts by the US government to gain the boy's release, Ouray was unable to find him. A decade later in 1873, visiting the Indian Commissioner at Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
, Ouray heard from a woman who lived with the Sioux that his son lived, but had been sold to the Southern Arapaho. A search for his son was unsuccessful.
Becoming chief
At about age 18, Ouray came to modern-day Colorado to be a member of the Tabeguache (Uncompahgre) Ute band, where his father was already a leader. He spent much of his youth working for Mexican sheepherders, but fought both the KiowaKiowa
The Kiowa are a nation of American Indians and indigenous people of the Great Plains. They migrated from the northern plains to the southern plains in the late 17th century. In 1867, the Kiowa moved to a reservation in southwestern Oklahoma...
and the Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
while living among the Tabeguache. At his father's death in 1860, Ouray became chief of the band, at the age of 27 (or possibly older).
Although Ouray sought reconciliation between peoples, with the belief that war with the whites likely meant the demise of the Ute tribe, other, more militant Utes, considered him a coward and called him The White Man's Friend. Ouray never cut his long Ute-fashion hair, though he often dressed in the European-American style.
The US government appointed a commission to determine a reservation for the Ute. Members were Alfred B. Meacham
Alfred B. Meacham
Alfred Benjamin Meacham was an American Methodist minister, reformer, author and historian, who served as the US Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon . He became a proponent of American Indian interests in the Northwest, including Northern California...
, former US Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon; Otto Mears
Otto Mears
Otto Mears was a famous Colorado railroad builder and entrepreneur who played a major role in the early development of southwestern Colorado....
, a railroad executive, and George W. Manypenny, former US Commissioner of Indian Affairs. About the time that the government established the White River Indian Agency in western Colorado, the government recognized Ouray as chief of the Uncompahgre. The White River Ute had separate leaders. Chief Ouray and others traveled to Washington, DC to consult on the reservation. When President Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
met Chief Ouray in 1880 in Washington, DC, he said that the Ute was "the most intellectual man I've ever conversed with." Ouray also met President Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
.
Death
Ouray died in August 1880 near Los Pinos Indian Agency in Colorado. His people secretly buried him near Ignacio, ColoradoIgnacio, Colorado
The Town of Ignacio is a Statutory Town located in La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The population was 669 at the 2000 census.Located within the boundaries of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation, the town is the capital of the Southern Ute Indian tribe. It was named for their...
. Forty-five years later his bones were re-interred in a full ceremony led by Chief Buckskin Charley
Chief Buckskin Charley
Chief Sapiah was the leader of the Southern Ute tribe from 1880 until his death in 1936. He was born around 1840 in the Ute lands before settlements. He was recognized as Chief of the Mauche and Servero Bands and Principal Chief of the Capote. He succeeded Chief Ouray as the official treaty...
and Chief John McCook at the Ignacio cemetery.
Legacy and honors
Chief Ouray's obituary in The Denver Tribune read:“In the death of Ouray, one of the historical characters passes away. He has figured for many years as the greatest Indian of his time, and during his life has figured quite prominently. Ouray is in many respects...a remarkable Indian...pure instincts and keen perception. A friend to the white man and protector to the Indians alike.”
- Ouray County and its county seat, the town of OurayOuray, ColoradoThe historic City of Ouray is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Ouray County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 813 at the U.S. Census 2000 and 1,000 as of the U.S. Census 2010...
in Colorado are named for him. - Mount OurayMount OurayMount Ouray is a peak located in the central part of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is 18 miles southwest of the town of Salida, in northern Saguache County, the northern base of the peak stretches into to southern Chaffee County. The peak makes up the southern tip of Sawatch Mountains...
in the Sawatch Mountain RangeSawatch RangeThe Sawatch Range is a mountain range in central Colorado which includes eight of the twenty highest peaks in the Rocky Mountains, including Mount Elbert, at elevation, the highest peak in the Rockies....
and Ouray PeakOuray PeakOuray Peak, 3,949 meters tall, is a peak located central Colorado. It is 6 miles south of the Independence Pass, and 25 miles southeast of Aspen, in northern Chaffee County. The peak is located in the northern Sawatch Mountains....
in Chaffee CountyChaffee County, ColoradoChaffee County is one of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 16,242 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Salida.-History:...
, both in Colorado, were named for him. - Camp Chief Ouray, located in Granby, Colorado.
Further reading
- H. Bert Jenson, "Chipeta: Glory and Heartache", The Outlaw Trail Journal, n.d., Salt Lake City, Utah, on Utah State University, Unintah Basin Education Center Website
- Grant, Bruce. The Concise Encyclopedia of the American Indian 3rd ed., Wings Books: New York, 2000.
External links
- "Chief Ouray", Southern Ute
- "Chief Ouray", History to Go, Utah State Website
- Find a Grave (burial site)