Authors: Frank X. Walker
When Winter Come
When Winter Come
Kentucky Voices
Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York
Frank X Walker
The Cave
Robert Penn Warren
Famous People I Have Known
Ed McClanahan
Miss America Kissed Caleb
Billy C. Clark
Sue Mundy: A Novel of the Civil War
Richard Taylor
The Total Light Process: New and Selected Poems
James Baker Hall
When Winter Come: The Ascension of York
Frank X Walker
With a Hammer for My Heart: A Novel
George Ella Lyon
The Ascension of York
Frank X Walker
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HE
U
NIVERSITY
P
RESS OF
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ENTUCKY
Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The following poems first appeared (some in slightly different form) in
We Proceeded On,
the journal of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation, in January 2007: “In the Name a the Father,” “The River Speaks,” “Watkuweis Speaks,” “Art of Seduction,” “Lovers' Moon,” “Primer II,” “Praying Feets,” “Murmuration,” “Field Up,” “Unwelcome Guest,” “Real Costs,” “Umatilla Prophecy,” and “Eye of the Beholder.”
Copyright © 2008 by Frank X Walker
Published 2008 by The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offices:
The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
12Â Â Â 11Â Â Â 10Â Â Â 09Â Â Â 08Â Â Â Â Â 5Â Â Â 4Â Â Â 3Â Â Â 2Â Â Â 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walker, Frank X, 1961â
  When winter come : the ascension of York / Frank X Walker.
        p. cm. â (Kentucky voices)
 Includes bibliographical references.
 ISBN 978-0-8131-2483-4 (acid-free paper)
 ISBN 978-0-8131-9184-3 (pbk. : acid-free paper)
1. York, ca. 1775âca. 1815âPoetry. 2. Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804â1806)âPoetry. 3. West (U.S.)âDiscovery and explorationâPoetry. 4. African American menâPoetry. 5. ExplorersâPoetry.
6. SlavesâPoetry. I. Title.
 PS3623.A359W47 2008
 813'.6âdc22 | 2007037305 |
This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
| Member of the Association of |
For Jade Imani Chiles
and all our Native Sons (and Daughters)
. . .
may they recognize home when they find it.
It will be useful to acquire what knowledge you can of
the state of morality, religion & information among them,
as it may better enable those who endeavor to civilize and
instruct them . . .
â
Thomas Jefferson's instructions
to Meriwether Lewis, June 1803,
from
The Journals of Lewis and Clark
The federal attack on Indian self determination during
the 19th Century included the forcible displacement of tribes,
the creation of a reservation system, and the
more subtle devaluation of Indian cultures and histories.
â
from
Oxford History
of the American West
How to Say Goodbye to the Ocean
Rose and York's Wife Debate the Merits of Love
How I Know Mamma Out There Watching
Devil's Tower and the Big Dipper
The Sunflower Seed Oil Conjure
Another Trek: York's Nez Perce Legacy
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson instructed Lewis and Clark to explore the Missouri River to its source, establish the most direct land route to the Pacific, and make scientific and geographical observations. In the interests of trade and peace, they also were to learn what they could of the Indian tribes they encountered and impress them with the strength and authority of the United States.
After meeting in Louisville, enlisting the first permanent members of the partyânine young men from Kentuckyâand heading down the Ohio, up the Mississippi, and to the Wood River, Lewis and Clark spent the winter training the recruits and preparing for their ascent up the Missouri. On May 14, 1804, the Corps of Discovery officially launched the exploration phase of the great trek west and reached the ocean almost a year and a half later in November 1805.
Along the way they would encounter various tribes of Native Americans, many of whom contributed to the success of the journey. While the twenty-eight-month long, eight thousand mile journey to the ocean and back set the stage for expansion and migration that would soon follow, it was the beginning of irrevocable and devastating changes for Native people.
By 1830âjust twenty-four years after the Lewis and
Clark expeditionâthe newly passed Indian Removal Act had forcibly relocated many eastern tribes across the Mississippi River into Indian Territory and what is now present-day Oklahoma. Between 1778 and 1868, the United States government executed nearly 800 treaties with American Indian nations. Of these, fewer than 370 were ratified by the Congress, leaving many tribes landless and without formal recognition or acknowledgement. Since 1778, over 2.2 billion acres of Indian lands have been ceded to the United States. Today, 2.5 percent of original lands, or 56 million acres, remain in tribal jurisdiction. The last treaty was signed in 1868, forcing Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce followers to move from the Wallowa Valley in Oregon.
Inspired by visits to the Nez Perce reservation, communication with York's Nez Perce descendents, and transcribed Nez Perce oral history, this book is about deconstructing accepted notions of history, love, marriage, and freedom while simultaneously reaffirming the power of literacy and the role of mythology and storytelling in exploration of the truth. It seeks to validate the voices of enslaved African Americans and Native peoples during a time in American history when their points of view were considered invalid. In this way, it seeks to fill a gap in the collective works about the Lewis and Clark expedition and its other important but often overlooked figures.
Gye Nyame
Akan symbol for the omnipotence and omnipresence of God
Ile-Ife
spiritual capital of Yorubaland, center of creation
'Legba (Elegba)
Orisa of mischief, the trickster
Oludumare
Yoruba reference for Almighty God
Orisa (Orisha)
divine being
Tse-mook-tse-mook To-to-kean
Nez Perce for black Indian
Watkuweis