Sâkis Tiigang "Morning Mist"

http://www.pickettsociety.com/jimmie.html

Captain George E. Pickett of the U.S. Army was sent to the Northwest Territory to keep peace between the Americans living there and the non-friendly Indians. In addition he was there to protect the local Indian groups, some of whom even served in the area militia, against the marauding tribes from the North. Peace keeping took on an added dimension, although few remember that he fell in love and married an Indian maiden. Or that they had a son.

Historians writing about Pickett, the Confederate General, mention his first wife, Sally Harrison Steward Minge, their brief marriage ending with her death, and Sallie Ann ("LaSalle") Corbell, his third wife, who survived him both in life and in numerous writings. Little is said about the second wife who he married during his years in Washington state, or about their son.

Her name was said to be Sâkis Tiigang, meaning "mist lying down" in the Haida language, or "Morning Mist." While actual research is difficult, Gen. Pickett's great grandson, Christiancy Pickett, confirmed before his death in 1999 that older relatives acknowledged that as her name, and ensuing generations accept its accuracy. As he said, "we accepted her as one of the historical family; she's one of us." In attitudes typical of the time, she was referred to as the daughter of a chief, thus identified as a princess. Both are probably a slight stretch of the actual truth. Local indigenous Indians did not use those terms and had difficulty comprehending what the white settlers were talking about.