Sunday, March 06, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Sculpture honors Winnemucca

Tribute to Paiute woman set to be unveiled in Capitol

This 6-foot bronze sculpture of Sarah Winnemucca, a Paiute woman who drew attention to the dismal conditions facing American Indians in the West, will be unveiled Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol. She is the eighth woman and fourth American Indian to be enshrined in the National Statuary Hall. PHOTO COURTESY of BENJAMIN VICTOR

WASHINGTON -- During Sarah Winnemucca's first trip to the nation's capital in 1880, she pleaded with Interior Secretary Charles Schurz to send tents and supplies to Northern Paiutes of Nevada who had been forced onto the Yakama reservation in Washington state.

When she became teary eyed while describing Paiute living conditions, a Schurz deputy laughed at her and accused her of playing on emotions for her own gain.

Schurz promised -- an empty one as it turned out -- to send the supplies. He figured Winnemucca would leave and never return.

But Winnemucca proved Schurz wrong. She was back in the spring of 1884 to lecture audiences about the dismal conditions facing American Indians in the West. Schurz was no longer in office.

During her initial trip, Winnemucca told a reporter Washington was the "handsomest" city she had ever seen.

Now, 125 years later, Sarah Winnemucca is returning once more, this time for good.

On Wednesday, a 6-foot bronze sculpture of Winnemucca will be unveiled in the U.S. Capitol. Nevada and federal officials, members of Paiute tribes, and other American Indians will greet her return.

Among them will be Winnemucca's great-grandniece, Louise Tannheimer, 86, of Portola, Calif. Though married three times, Winnemucca never had any children.

Winnemucca, an educator, author and activist, will be the eighth woman and fourth American Indian to be enshrined in the National Statuary Hall.

The Capitol "has all these great founders of our country who she was below or beneath during her time and now here she is enshrined in our capital as an equal," said Benjamin Victor, the South Dakota sculptor who began working on the Winnemucca statue early last year.

Winnemucca's birth date is unknown but is believed to be in 1844, around the same time white people began to enter Western Nevada.

As a child, Winnemucca, who was called Thocmetony meaning "shell flower" in the Paiute language, would hear stories of white people being cannibals and was horrified at the sound of their guns.

"As a child she didn't like the white world," said Sally Zanjani, who wrote "Sarah Winnemucca," a biography published in 2001. "She was terrified of what she called the `white owl.' "

Winnemucca's book, "Life among the Paiutes: Their Wrongs and Claims," was the first written in English by an American Indian woman.

Through her upbringing as a daughter of tribal leaders, Winnemucca learned to interact with white people.

Her grandfather Chief Truckee welcomed his "white brothers" and assisted General John C. Fremont in the Bear Flag Revolt in California. Her father, Chief Winnemucca, and her grandfather both sought peace and friendship with the white settlers.

At a young age, Winnemucca would go to California with her grandfather where she was exposed to different cultures. By 14, she could speak three Indian dialects, plus English and Spanish.

"Anybody that came to Indians was sent to the Winnemucca family because they knew English," said Ralph Burns, a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiutes.

At the time, Winnemucca was a figure of some contention among natives. She was considered by some Paiutes as being too close and too accommodating to the white man.

In 1871, Winnemucca worked as an interpreter for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During the Bannock War of 1878, she was a scout and interpreter for the U.S. Army.

"That is one of the sources of criticism for Sarah," Zanjani said. "Sarah showed the army sources of water only known by Indians. This was seen by some as a betrayal while Sarah saw it as being humane."

During her 1880 mission to Washington, after her encouraging meeting with the Interior secretary, Winnemucca had an audience with President Rutherford B. Hayes.

But when she returned to Nevada, the tents and supplies that Schurz promised never arrived.

The broken promise caused some of the Paiute people to blame Winnemucca.

"They thought that she was lying to them," Burns said. "It wasn't a good time for anyone."

Winnemucca's subsequent writing and traveling brought new attention to American Indians and helped rebuild her reputation.

As time went on, more Paiutes began to appreciate her as someone who spoke up for her people, Burns said.

Winnemucca opened a school for Paiute children in Lovelock. It was only open for a couple of years because she had to fund it herself, Zanjani said.

When she died of tuberculosis in 1891 at the age of 47, Winnemucca believed she had fallen short for not delivering on government promises to the Paiutes.

"She died thinking she was a failure," Victor said. "Years later, she is finally receiving recognition."