Ietan was approximately 49 when he met Moses and Eliza Merrill, Baptist missionaries who planned to build a missionary in Nebraska, in the spring of 1834. He now had four wives and four lodges for them to live in. While visiting with Reverend Merrill, Ietan spoke strongly against whiskey, perhaps because of his own experience with the "fire water." Ietan thought so highly of Reverend Merrill that he decided to move the entire village to be closer to the Baptist mission near Bellevue in 1835, abandoning the only home the Otoe had known for sixty years. Perhaps because of the move, maybe it was just the changing of time; the Otoe now warred among themselves and other more than ever before. Drunken brawls had become a daily occurrence. Traders, angry with the missionaries for trying to halt the alcohol trade would tell the Otoe that their bad luck in hunting and the sickness that fell on them was because the Otoe tribe allowed the Merrills to stay. As the demand for whiskey increased, relations with the Merrills declined, making open hostility a way of life.
April 28, 1837 two young Otoe men came and took two of Ietan's wives from the village at the mission. Ietan was enraged and swore revenge on the two young braves, vowing to kill them. Ietan grabbed his gun and pistol and passed the mission house and the Merrills, who begged him not to go. Ietan ignored them and continued on his quest for revenge. The two young men were unafraid of Ietan, and they met him singing their death song. Amid the gunfire and blood, Chief Ietan, great Otoe chief, died singing his death song. Chief Ietan was approximately 52 years old when he died. The Otoe tribe would be in upheaval for many years, as his successor was unable to rule the tribe.
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