Yours of recent date noted and in reply will say that the Osage
band that occupied Claremore Mound as a resident village were
known to the white traders as Big Hill Town of the Great Osage
Nation. The Little Osage Nation resided on the Osage River, now in
the State of Missouri. The Indian name of the Town was Pah-Sug-Gee
(Town on the Big Hill). The Osage Village Pah-Sug-Gee contained a
large family of Very Large people. Many of the men being near
seven feet tall, were well formed and of great physical endurance
and were great warriors, being invincible in hand-to-hand
conflicts with enemies of their Surroundings in those days of the
long ago.
The family name of this Great family was Pah-Son-na, a name
then feared and respected from the Missouri River of the north to
the Red River of the South. Wherever they went, they always
proclaimed themselves Pah-Son-na in preference to Pah-Sug-Gee or
Wa-sa-see because they were deemed to be Greater than all other
Osages. Thus it became a habit to term the Village on the Big Hill
to be the home of the Pah-Son-na men. Although there were members
of the Pah-Sug-Gee Village that were not blood relatives of the
Pah-Son-na family and who remained Silent when their Village was
termed Pah-Son-na; but whenever their village was termed
Pah-Sug-Gee, they then responded “How How.”
Chief Cleremont, who was killed by the Cherokees at the Battle
of Claremore Mound, belonged to the Pah-Son-na family and was then
the first and foremost man of that family because his Indian name
was Pah-Son-na. The French of St. Louis gave him the name of
Cleremont, pronounced Klam-mo, as the name is peculiar French
spelling that carries Silent letters.
Respectfully,
Your Obedient Servant,
James R. Gregory
(Document found in J. R. Gregory personal file,
Creek Indian Archives, Oklahoma Historical Society Library, Oklahoma
City. Transcribed by Barbara Cox.)
James Roane Gregory
