Thomas Winnemucca

Born

1842 (age in 1873: 31)

Died

n/a

Aliases

Hoona (badger) - Paiute baby name

Wovoke (sharp claws) - Shoshone warrior name

Family

Kahpeputz, aka "Sally" (sister)

Tallulah Young-Wood (niece)

Racial characteristics

Human

Sex

Male

Height

6'2"

Weight

205 lbs

Hair

Black

Eyes

Brown

Affiliations

Shoshone Tribe (adopted)

Paiute Tribe (by blood)

History

Born in poverty to a Paiute mother, he was always on the move as a child, as his mother sought any way to feed her children. The tribes were clashing with each other and with the Mormon settlers, and food was scarce. Few had compassion for a widow with a couple of bastards. They eventually found a "tribe" of sorts, a small collection of misfits, bastards, and displaced natives led by "Chief" Little Wolf--barely a man himself, but brave, resourceful, and diplomatic. In this tribe, he experienced a modicum of peace in early childhood.

Their luck ran out when their small makeshift encountered a bandit band of Utes, who they thought would offer aid, but instead attacked them, seeking to take slaves. Little Wolf and the other "warriors" (mostly teenagers and older boys) died, but the women and children were taken. Expecting to be pressed into the tribe, his mother explained she would be "married" to a warrior, possibly the Chief, and they would be "adopted", so everything would work out fine.

But they weren't taken to another tribe. They were taken to white men, whose like they'd never seen. None of them knew the language--only a few of the Utes did--so they couldn't be sure what was happening. The white men seemed reluctant to make the deal, and apparently to make a point, the Ute leader fired a shot at Thomas...but he was saved by his mother, who intercepted it. Suitably horrified, the white man offered to trade weapons and resources for the slaves, including Thomas and his sister.

Marching back to the white man's land--whatever that was like--Thomas could not bear the thought of what would happen. He'd heard stories, none of them good. A rival tribe might take a boy like him and "adopt" him--roughly and violently inducting him into their own ranks as a warrior. But white men? They eat children! They have no souls!

He made his escape early on, but was unable to bring his sister along. He survived meagerly for a time, thieving and scavenging, planning his inevitable attack on the white man village to rescue his sister and tribemates. But as luck would have it, he stole from the wrong person, and was captured by warriors. Facing their chief, whose name was Black Hawk, he was judged, and eventually adopted by their clan.

Short version:

• Grew up with the Shoshone, earned his name
• Involved in the Black Hawk War
• Retired from said war after Black Hawk died

Lineage

Images