Red Thunder Cloud

For other uses, see Red Thunder Cloud (disambiguation).

Red Thunder Cloud
Red Thunder Cloud.
Born	May 30, 1919 Newport, Rhode Island
Died	January 8, 1996 Worcester, Massachusetts
Occupation(s)	Singer, dancer, storyteller, and field researcher
Parent(s)	Cromwell Payne West and Roberta Hawkins West

Red Thunder Cloud also known as Carlos Westez and Namo S. Hatiririe, a singer, dancer, storyteller, and field researcher is best known for his claim to be the last native speaker of the Catawba language. There have been various claims that Red Thunder Cloud was an impostor as he was not really a native speaker of Catawban. Anthropologist Frank Speck believed Red Thunder Cloud to be a genuine Catawba Indian and proceeded to provide him with training in field methods of recording notes for ethnological studies. Red Thunder Cloud later worked for Speck on small projects, collecting ethnographic data and folklore from Native American groups. His obituary was published in the New York Times in 1996 which brought his identity into further question.

Early Life

Born as Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West in Newport, Rhode Island, to druggist, Cromwell Payne West of Pennsylvania and homemaker, Roberta Hawkins West of Lynchburg, Virginia. Both were of African American descent. His maternal grandfather was William Ashbie Hawkins, a respected civic leader and one of the first African-American lawyers of Baltimore. From 1935 to 1937 West was employed by the Newport City wharf as a watchman and later as a chauffeur. In 1938 West began correspondence with Frank G. Speck, a professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. He stated that he was a sixteen-year-old Catawba Indian and a junior at Southampton High School on Long Island, New York. He petitioned Speck for help in learning more about his people and indicated that his fascination for Native American culture began when he was in the fourth grade. West further stated that he was brought up by the Narraganset Indians of Rhode Island and had lived with the Shinnecock tribe since 1937. He also noted that he learned the Catawba language from his grandmother, Ada McMechen.

Born as Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West in Newport, Rhode Island, to druggist, Cromwell Payne West of Pennsylvania and homemaker, Roberta Hawkins West of Lynchburg, Virginia. Both were of African American descent. His maternal grandfather was William Ashbie Hawkins, a respected civic leader and one of the first African-American lawyers of Baltimore. From 1935 to 1937 West was employed by the Newport City wharf as a watchman and later as a chauffeur. In 1938 West began correspondence with Frank G. Speck, a professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. He stated that he was a sixteen-year-old Catawba Indian and a junior at Southampton High School on Long Island, New York. He petitioned Speck for help in learning more about his people and indicated that his fascination for Native American culture began when he was in the fourth grade. West further stated that he was brought up by the Narraganset Indians of Rhode Island and had lived with the Shinnecock tribe since 1937. He also noted that he learned the Catawba language from his grandmother, Ada McMechen.

Red Thunder Cloud

For reasons that are unclear, West reinvented his identity at this point and lived the rest of his life as Red Thunder Cloud of the Catawba tribe. Speck believed Red Thunder Cloud to be a genuine Catawba Indian and proceeded to provide him with training in field methods of recording notes for ethnological studies. Red Thunder Cloud worked for Speck on small projects, collecting ethnographic data and folklore among Long Island Indians. He also collected data on the Montauk, Shinnecock, and Mashpee tribes for George E. Heye of the Museum of American Indians. In December 1943 Red Thunder Cloud lived at the University of Pennsylvania for two weeks, providing information on the Catawba tribe, recording music, and aiding in ethnobotanical research. With a letter of introduction from Speck, Red Thunder Cloud made his first visit to the Catawba Reservation in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in February 1944. According to Chief Gilbert Blue of the Catawba tribe, Red Thunder Cloud studied with his grandfather, Chief Sam Blue, and Sally Gordon during his second visit to the reservation, which lasted for six months. When interviewed in 1957 by William C. Sturtevant, Chief Sam Blue and his daughter-in-law Lillian expressed doubts concerning Red Thunder Cloud’s identity as a Catawba. They believed that he had learned the language from a book.

In a letter dated 25 October 1958, Red Thunder Cloud offered assistance to Sturtevant in making contact with Indian groups in the eastern United States. His correspondence revealed that his mother was Catawba and his father was from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and came from Honduran and Puerto Rican parentage. Red Thunder Cloud also stated that he spoke Spanish and Portuguese as well as an array of Native American languages that included Cayuga, Seneca, Mohawk, Narraganset, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Creek, Choctaw, Sioux, and Winnebago. In addition, he was able to recognize other Indian languages when he heard them spoken. Foxx Ayers, a longtime Catawba friend of Red Thunder Cloud, stated that his friend’s knowledge of the language was so good that he had trained his dog to answer only to Catawba commands.

Marriage

Red Thunder Cloud’s marriage to Jean Marilyn Miller (Pretty Pony) of the Blackfoot tribe was brief, although she frequently appeared with him at powwows and other Native American celebrations. He could also be seen at local fairs in New England, selling his herbal medicines under the name “Accabonac Princess American Teas.”

Support of Native American Causes

Red Thunder Cloud’s support of Native American causes was demonstrated by his involvement in Indian organizations, as well as his publication of a newsletter called the Indian War Drum. In 1964 and 1965 he worked with G. Hubert Matthews, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to document the Catawba language. Together they published five texts in 1967. Matthews included in these books Red Thunder Cloud’s family genealogy and named the Catawba relatives in his maternal line. In discussions with Matthews, Red Thunder Cloud gave the name of his mother’s father as “Strong Eagle.” The latter was a graduate of Yale Law School, Red Thunder Cloud said, and had died in 1941. He identified his mother’s name as “Singing Dove.”

Death

Red Thunder Cloud died at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester at the age of seventy-six. At the time of his death, Leonor Pena, a close friend from Central Falls, Rhode Island, gave Red Thunder Cloud’s name as Carlos Westez and included the alias Namos S. Hatiririe. She listed his occupation as shaman. His sister, as administrator to his will in probate court, gave his name as Cromwell Ashbie Hawkins West.

Suspicion of Identity

The noted linguist and ethnologist Goddard Ives of the Smithsonian Institution has validated suspicions of Red Thunder Cloud’s identity by way of public documents, letters, and publications. He stated that “in spite of the negative issues surrounding Red Thunder Cloud’s identity, he has made valuable contributions to the study of ethnography.” Ives stated that even though Red Thunder Cloud’s life was a “successful life-long masquerade,” he contributed extensively to a greater understanding and protection of the Catawba and other native cultures.

Bibliography

The Shinnecock Indians of Long Island [a collection of photographs] (1963)

The Montauk Indians of Long Island in New York State [a collection of photographs] (1975)

Discography

A Child's Introduction To The American Indian (1963)

Songs And Legends of the Catawba (1992)

Songs and traditions of the Catawba (1992)

External links

• The Identity of Red Thunder Cloud