Encounter with a Cheyenne warrior

SOUTH FALLSBURG, NY — Two Sullivan County women will share the story of their encounter with an Indian warrior and his descendents. The program will be presented at St. Andrew’s at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 14 at the Episcopal Church on Route 42.

Ok-kuh-ha-tuh was a Cheyenne Warrior who fought aggressively in retaliation for the broken treaties, violence, and indignities imposed upon his people during the years following the Civil War. Along with 28 other Cheyenne leaders, he was captured in 1875, and jailed at Fort Marion in Florida.

There he met Mary Burnham, the woman he would call his “White Mother.” She encouraged and supported his education, and his return to Oklahoma to serve his people as an ordained deacon of the Episcopal Church.

They called him “God’s Warrior.”

His 50 years of remarkable ministry to his people were recognized in 1985 when he was named to the Episcopal sanctoral calendar (Calendar of Saints).

More than 70 years after his death, Mary Burnham’s great granddaughter, Nellie Burnham, and her traveling companion, Mary Curtis, hand delivered letters, ledger paintings, beadwork and bows from Burnham’s old trunk to the St. Oakerhater Guild of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oklahoma City. There they met Oakerhater’s descendents and those who minister to them. It was a life-altering experience.

The program they have put together features pictures and stories from Oakerhater’s life and that of his mentor. There will also be discussion of the current plight of his people, and efforts to build a St. Oakerhater Center to improve the lives of his people today.

Light refreshment will be served. There is no admission charge.

For more information call Curtis at 845/887-5454.