Description
Go-Won-Go Mohawk, born Carolina Mohawk on the Cattaraugus reservation in New York, had initially found fame with stints in Buffalo Bill’s show and that of
Wild Bill Hickok. Her success in England, however, came through her performances in “Wep-ton-no-mah: the Indian Mail-Carrier,” a play she wrote and produced herself. Interestingly for this period, Mohawk’s play “involved swashbuckling knife fights, sensational physical feats, rodeo tricks during a stampede,” all performed by Mohawk herself, who “cross-dressed to star as the Indian youth Wep-ton-no-mah, who participates in a version of the Pony Express.”
Bibliographic sources
“Gowongo Mohawk,” PBS Learning Media, https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/c42afdc9-835a-4159-a0c3-49b0d294b3f2/gowongo-mohawk/; Matthew Rebhorn, Pioneer Performances: Staging the Frontier (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). Information compiled by Kate Rennard.