The Feast Day of David Oakerhater

Oakerhater on the left wearing the stole of a deacon

David P. Oakerhater, who was born circa 1850, was a leader of the Cheyenne Indians of Oklahoma who revolted against the U. S. government in a dispute over Indian land rights in the decade after the Civil War.

In 1875, he and other Cheyenne warriors were taken prisoner by the Army and sent to a military post in Florida. There, thanks to the efforts of a concerned Army captain, they learned English, were encouraged to earn money by giving art and archery lessons to visitors, and encountered the Christian faith.

Oakerhater and three others chose the Christian faith and traveled north to study for the ministry. He was baptized in Syracuse, New York in 1878 and ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons in 1881. He returned to Oklahoma and there founded schools and missions, and continued to deliver the sacrament among his people until his death in 1931.

When he first returned to Oklahoma in 1881, he said:

You all know me. You remember when I led you out to war I went first, and what I told you was true. Now I have been away to the East and I have learned about another captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is my leader. He goes first, and all He tells me is true. I come back to my people to tell you to go with me now in this new road, a war that makes all for peace.

O God of unsearchable wisdom and infinite mercy, you chose a captive warrior, David Oakerhater, to be your servant, and sent him to be a missionary to his own people, and to exercise the office of a deacon among them: Liberate us, who commemorate him today, from bondage to self, and empower us for service to you and to the neighbors you have given us; through Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.