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9. Inola, Indian Territory - January 31, 1910
January 31, 1910
Doctor Emmett Starr
Claremore , Oklahoma
My Dear Sir and Friend:
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.)
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