![Crow Indians by David F Barry, 1878-1883](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Crow_Indians_by_David_F_Barry%2C_1878-1883.jpg)
The Crow, whose
autonym
Autonym may refer to:
* Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym
* Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name
See also
* Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...
is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are
Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a
federally recognized tribe
This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...
, the Crow Tribe of Montana,
with an
Indian reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
located in the south-central part of the state.
Crow Indians are a
Plains tribe
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of ...
, who speak the
Crow language
Crow ( native name: ''Apsáalooke'' ) is a Missouri Valley Siouan language spoken primarily by the Crow Nation in present-day southeastern Montana. The word, ''Apsáalooke,'' translates to "children of the raven." It is one of the larger popula ...
, part of the Missouri River Valley branch of
Siouan languages
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the entire ...
. Of the 14,000 enrolled tribal members, an estimated 3,000 spoke the Crow language in 2007.
During the expansion into the West, the Crow Nation was allied with the United States against its neighbors and rivals, the
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
and
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
. In historical times, the Crow lived in the
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...
valley, which extends from present-day
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, through
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
and into
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
, where it joins the
Missouri River.
Since the 19th century, Crow people have been concentrated on their reservation established south of
Billings, Montana
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
. Today, they live in several major, mainly western, cities. Tribal headquarters are located at
Crow Agency, Montana
Crow Agency ( cro, awaasúuchia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment produced by the Real Bird family known as B ...
.
The tribe operates the
Little Big Horn College
Little Big Horn College is a public tribal land-grant community college on the Crow Indian Reservation in Crow Agency, Montana. It has an open admissions policy and welcomes enrollment from any adult with a high school diploma or GED. The student ...
.
[
]
Name
The autonym of the tribe, Apsáalooké or Absaroka, means "children of the large-beaked bird" and was given to them by the Hidatsa
The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent t ...
, a neighboring and related Siouan-speaking tribe. French interpreters translated the name as ''gens du corbeau'' ("people of the crow"), and they became known in English as the Crow. Other tribes also refer to the Apsáalooke as "crow" or "raven" in their own languages. The identity of the bird this name was meant to refer to originally is lost to time, but many Apsáalooké people believe it references the mythical Thunderbird
Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to:
* Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture
* Ford Thunderbird, a car
Birds
* Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds k ...
.
History
In the Northern Plains
The early home of the Crow Hidatsa ancestral tribe was near Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...
in what is now Ohio. Driven from there by better armed, aggressive neighbors, they briefly settled south of Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba, Canada. I ...
in Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
. Later the people moved to the Devil's Lake region of North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
before the Crow split from the Hidatsa
The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent t ...
and moved westward. The Crow were largely pushed westward due to intrusion and influx of the Cheyenne and subsequently the Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
, also known as the Lakota.
To acquire control of their new territory, the Crow warred against Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho
* Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah
* Goshute: western Utah, easter ...
bands, such as the Bikkaashe, or "People of the Grass Lodges", and drove them westward. The Crow allied with local Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
and Plains Apache
The Plains Apache are a small Southern Athabaskan group who live on the Southern Plains of North America, in close association with the linguistically unrelated Kiowa Tribe. Today, they are centered in Southwestern Oklahoma and Northern Texas an ...
bands.[John Doerner, "Timeline of historic events from 1400 to 2003"](_blank)
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Four Directions Institute The Kiowa and Plains Apache bands later migrated southward, and the Crow remained dominant in their established area through the 18th and 19th centuries, the era of the fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
.
Their historical territory stretched from what is now Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
and the headwaters of the Yellowstone River (E-chee-dick-karsh-ah-shay in Crow, translating to "Elk River") to the west, north to the Musselshell River
The Musselshell River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long from its origins at the confluence of its North and South Forks near Martinsdale, Montana to its mouth on the Missouri River. It is located east of the Continental divide entire ...
, then northeast to the Yellowstone's mouth at the Missouri River, then southeast to the confluence of the Yellowstone and Powder
A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...
rivers (Bilap Chashee, or "Powder River" or "Ash River"), south along the South Fork of the Powder River, confined in the SE by the Rattlesnake Mountains and westwards in the SW by the Wind River Range
The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and inclu ...
. Their tribal area included the river valleys of the Judith River
The Judith River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 124 mi (200 km) long, running through central Montana in the United States. It rises in the Little Belt Mountains and flows northeast past Utica and Hobson. It is ...
(Buluhpa'ashe, or "Plum River"), Powder River, Tongue River, Big Horn River
The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its ban ...
and Wind River as well as the Bighorn Mountains
The Bighorn Mountains ( cro, Basawaxaawúua, lit=our mountains or cro, Iisaxpúatahchee Isawaxaawúua, label=none, lit=bighorn sheep's mountains) are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a nort ...
(Iisiaxpúatachee Isawaxaawúua), Pryor Mountains
The Pryor Mountains are a mountain range in Carbon and Big Horn counties of Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming. They are located on the Crow Indian Reservation and the Custer National Forest, and portions of them are on private land. They li ...
(Baahpuuo Isawaxaawúua), Wolf Mountains
The Wolf Mountains, el. , sometimes referred to by local people as the Rosebud Mountains, and also known to the Crow Indians as the Wolf Teeth Mountains, are a mountain range east of Lodge Grass, Montana in Big Horn County, Montana.
Geography ...
(Cheetiish, or "Wolf Teeth Mountains") and Absaroka Range
The Absaroka Range ( or ) is a sub-range of the Rocky Mountains in the United States. The range stretches about across the Montana–Wyoming border, and at its widest, forming the eastern boundary of Yellowstone National Park along Paradise Va ...
(also called Absalaga Mountains).
Once established in the Valley of the Yellowstone River and its tributaries on the Northern Plains in Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
and Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, the Crow divided into four groups: the Mountain Crow, River Crow, Kicked in the Bellies, and Beaver Dries its Fur. Formerly semi-nomad hunters and farmers in the northeastern woodland, they adapted to the nomadic
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
lifestyle of the Plains Indians
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...
as hunters and gatherers, and hunted bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
. Before 1700, they were using dog travois for carrying goods.
Enemies and allies
From about 1740, the Plains tribes rapidly adopted the horse, which allowed them to move out on to the Plains and hunt buffalo more effectively. However, the severe winters in the North kept their herds smaller than those of Plains tribes in the South. The Crow, Hidatsa, Eastern Shoshone
Eastern Shoshone are Shoshone who primarily live in Wyoming and in the northeast corner of the Great Basin where Utah, Idaho and Wyoming meet and are in the Great
Basin classification of Indigenous People. They lived in the Rocky Mountains du ...
and Northern Shoshone
Northern Shoshone are Shoshone of the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and the northeast of the Great Basin where Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet. They are culturally affiliated with the Bannock people and are in the Great Basin classification ...
soon became noted as horse breeders and dealers and developed relatively large horse herds. At the time, other eastern and northern tribes were also moving on to the Plains, in search of game for the fur trade, bison, and more horses. The Crow were subject to raids and horse thefts by horse-poor tribes, including the powerful Blackfoot Confederacy
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
, Gros Ventre
The Gros Ventre ( , ; meaning "big belly"), also known as the Aaniiih, A'aninin, Haaninin, Atsina, and White Clay, are a historically Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe located in north central Montana. Today the Gros Ventre people are ...
, Assiniboine
The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...
, Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language:
* Pawnee people
* Pawnee language
Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States:
* Pawnee, Illinois
* Pawnee, Kansas
* Pawnee, Missouri
* Pawnee City, Nebraska
* ...
, and Ute
Ute or UTE may refer to:
* Ute (band), an Australian jazz group
* Ute (given name)
* ''Ute'' (sponge), a sponge genus
* Ute (vehicle), an Australian and New Zealand term for certain utility vehicles
* Ute, Iowa, a city in Monona County along ...
. Later they had to face the Lakota
Lakota may refer to:
*Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes
*Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples
Place names
In the United States:
*Lakota, Iowa
*Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County
*Lakota ...
and their allies, the Arapaho
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...
and Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
, who also stole horses from their enemies. Their greatest enemies became the tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Lakota-Cheyenne-Arapaho alliance.
In the 18th century, pressured by the Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
and Cree
The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...
peoples (the Iron Confederacy
The Iron Confederacy or Iron Confederation (also known as Cree-Assiniboine in English or cr, script=Latn, Nehiyaw-Pwat, label=none in Cree) was a political and military alliance of Plains Indians of what is now Western Canada and the northern Uni ...
), who had earlier and better access to guns through the fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...
, the Crow had migrated to this area from the Ohio Eastern Woodland area of present-day Ohio, settling south of Lake Winnipeg
Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Manitoba, Canada. I ...
. From there, they were pushed to the west by the Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
. Both the Crow and the Cheyenne were pushed farther west by the Lakota
Lakota may refer to:
*Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes
*Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples
Place names
In the United States:
*Lakota, Iowa
*Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County
*Lakota ...
, who took over the territory west of the Missouri River, reaching past the Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...
of South Dakota to the Big Horn Mountains
The Bighorn Mountains ( cro, Basawaxaawúua, lit=our mountains or cro, Iisaxpúatahchee Isawaxaawúua, label=none, lit=bighorn sheep's mountains) are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a nort ...
of Wyoming and Montana. The Cheyenne eventually became allies of the Lakota, as they sought to expel European Americans from the area. The Crow remained bitter enemies of both the Sioux and Cheyenne. The Crow managed to retain a large reservation of more than 9300 km2 despite territorial losses, due in part to their cooperation with the federal government against their traditional enemies, the Sioux and Blackfoot. Many other tribes were forced onto much smaller reservations far from their traditional lands.
The Crow were generally friendly with the northern Plains tribes of the Flathead (although sometimes they had conflicts); Nez Perce
The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...
, Kutenai
The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...
, Shoshone, Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
and Plains Apache
The Plains Apache are a small Southern Athabaskan group who live on the Southern Plains of North America, in close association with the linguistically unrelated Kiowa Tribe. Today, they are centered in Southwestern Oklahoma and Northern Texas an ...
. The powerful Iron Confederacy
The Iron Confederacy or Iron Confederation (also known as Cree-Assiniboine in English or cr, script=Latn, Nehiyaw-Pwat, label=none in Cree) was a political and military alliance of Plains Indians of what is now Western Canada and the northern Uni ...
(Nehiyaw-Pwat), an alliance of northern plains Indian nations based around the fur trade, developed as enemies of the Crow. It was named after the dominating Plains Cree and Assiniboine
The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...
peoples, and later included the Stoney, Saulteaux
The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Al ...
, Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
, and Métis
The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...
.
Historical subgroups
By the early 19th century, the Apsáalooke fell into three independent groupings, who came together only for common defense:
* Ashalaho ('Many Lodges', today called Mountain Crow), Awaxaawaxammilaxpáake ('Mountain People'), or Ashkúale ('The Center Camp'). The Ashalaho or Mountain Crow, the largest Crow group, split from the Awatixa Hidatsa and were the first to travel west. (McCleary 1997: 2–3)., (Bowers 1992: 21) Their leader No Intestines had received a vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
and led his band on a long migratory search for sacred tobacco
''Nicotiana quadrivalvis'' is a species of wild tobacco known as Indian tobacco. It is endemic to the western United States, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a bushy, sprawling annual herb growing up to two meters in maximum height ...
, finally settling in southeastern Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
. They lived in the Rocky Mountains and foothills along the Upper Yellowstone River, on the present-day Wyoming-Montana border, in the Big Horn and Absaroka Range (also Absalaga Mountains); the Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...
comprised the eastern edge of their territory.
* Binnéessiippeele ('Those Who Live Amongst the River Banks'), today called River Crow or Ashshipíte ('The Black Lodges') The Binnéessiippeele, or River Crow, split from the Hidatsa proper, according to tradition because of a dispute over a bison stomach. As a result, the Hidatsa called the Crow Gixáa-iccá—"Those Who Pout Over Tripe". They lived along the Yellowstone and Musselshell rivers south of the Missouri River and in the river valleys of the Big Horn, Powder and Wind rivers. This area was historically known as the Powder River Country
The Powder River Country is the Powder River Basin area of the Great Plains in northeastern Wyoming, United States. The area is loosely defined as that between the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills, in the upper drainage areas of the Powder, ...
. They sometimes traveled north up to the Milk River.
* Eelalapito (Kicked in the Bellies) or Ammitaalasshé (Home Away From The Center, that is, away from the Ashkúale – "Mountain Crow"). They claimed the area known as the Bighorn Basin
The Bighorn Basin is a plateau region and intermontane basin, approximately 100 miles (160 km) wide, in north-central Wyoming in the United States. It is bounded by the Absaroka Range on the west, the Pryor Mountains on the north, the Bighor ...
, from the Bighorn Mountains in the east to the Absaroka Range to the west, and south to the Wind River Range in northern Wyoming. Sometimes they settled in the Owl Creek Mountains
The Owl Creek Mountains are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains in central Wyoming in the United States, running east to west to form a bridge between the Absaroka Range to the northwest and the Bridger Mountains to the east. The range forms the bo ...
, Bridger Mountains and along the Sweetwater River in the south.
Apsaalooke oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
describes a fourth group, the Bilapiluutche ("Beaver Dries its Fur"), who may have merged with the Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and eve ...
in the second half of the 17th century.
Gradual displacement from tribal lands
When European Americans arrived in numbers, the Crows were resisting pressure from enemies who greatly outnumbered them. In the 1850s, a vision by Plenty Coups
Plenty Coups (Crow: ''Alaxchíia Ahú'', "many achievements"; 1848 – 1932) was the principal chief of the Crow Nation ("Apsáalooke") and a visionary leader.
He allied the Crow with the whites when the war for the West was being fought, becaus ...
, then a boy, but who later became their greatest chief, was interpreted by tribal elders as meaning that the whites would become dominant over the entire country, and that the Crow, if they were to retain any of their land, would need to remain on good terms with the whites.
By 1851 the more numerous Lakota and Cheyenne were established just to the south and east of Crow territory in Montana. These enemy tribes coveted the hunting lands of the Crow and warred against them. By right of conquest
The right of conquest is a right of ownership to land after immediate possession via force of arms. It was recognized as a principle of international law that gradually deteriorated in significance until its proscription in the aftermath of Worl ...
, they took over the eastern hunting lands of the Crow, including the Powder and Tongue River valleys, and pushed the less numerous Crow to the west and northwest upriver on the Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
. After about 1860, the Lakota Sioux claimed all the former Crow lands from the Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...
of South Dakota to the Big Horn Mountains
The Bighorn Mountains ( cro, Basawaxaawúua, lit=our mountains or cro, Iisaxpúatahchee Isawaxaawúua, label=none, lit=bighorn sheep's mountains) are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a nort ...
of Montana. They demanded that the Americans deal with them regarding any intrusion into these areas.
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was signed on September 17, 1851 between United States treaty commissioners and representatives of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations. Also known as Horse Cree ...
with the United States confirmed as Crow lands a large area centered on the Big Horn Mountains: the area ran from the Big Horn Basin
The Bighorn Basin is a plateau region and intermontane basin, approximately 100 miles (160 km) wide, in north-central Wyoming in the United States. It is bounded by the Absaroka Range on the west, the Pryor Mountains on the north, the Bighor ...
on the west, to the Musselshell River
The Musselshell River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long from its origins at the confluence of its North and South Forks near Martinsdale, Montana to its mouth on the Missouri River. It is located east of the Continental divide entire ...
on the north, and east to the Powder River; it included the Tongue River basin. But for two centuries the Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
and many bands of Lakota Sioux had been steadily migrating westward across the plains, and were still pressing hard on the Crows.
Red Cloud's War
Red Cloud's War (also referred to as the Bozeman War or the Powder River War) was an armed conflict between an alliance of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho peoples against the United States that took place in the Wyoming and Mo ...
(18661868) was a challenge by the Lakota Sioux to the United States military presence on the Bozeman Trail
The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its most important period was from 1863–68. Despite the fact that the major pa ...
, a route along the eastern edge of the Big Horn Mountains to the Montana gold fields. Red Cloud's War ended with victory for the Lakota. The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
The Treaty of Fort Laramie (also the Sioux Treaty of 1868) is an agreement between the United States and the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota and Arapaho Nation, following the failure of the first F ...
with the United States confirmed the Lakota control over all the high plains from the Black Hills of the Dakotas westward across the Powder River Basin
The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about east to west and north to south, known for its extensive coal reserves. The former hunting grounds of the Oglala Lakota, the area is very s ...
to the crest of the Big Horn Mountains. Thereafter bands of Lakota Sioux led by Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock I ...
, Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by wh ...
, Gall
Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...
and others, along with their Northern Cheyenne
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...
allies, hunted and raided throughout the length and breadth of eastern Montana
Eastern Montana is a loosely defined region of Montana. Some definitions are more or less inclusive than others, ranging from the most inclusive, which would include the entire part of the state east of the Continental Divide, to the least inclusiv ...
and northeastern Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, which had been for a time ancestral Crow territory.
On 25 June 1876, the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne achieved a major victory over army forces under Colonel George A. Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
at the Battle of the Little Big Horn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nort ...
in the Crow Indian Reservation
The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe. Established 1868, the reservation is located in parts of Big Horn County, Montana, Big Horn, Yellowstone County, Montana, Yellowstone, and Treasure County, Montana, Treasure counties ...
, but the Great Sioux War
The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the ...
(1876–1877) ended in the defeat of the Sioux and their Cheyenne allies. Crow warriors enlisted with the US Army for this war. The Sioux and allies were forced from eastern Montana and Wyoming: some bands fled to Canada, while others suffered forced removal to distant reservations, primarily in present-day Montana and Nebraska west of the Missouri River.
In 1918, the Crow organized a gathering to display their culture, and they invited members of other tribes. The Crow Fair
The Crow Fair was created in 1904 by Crow leaders and an Indian government agent to present the Crow Tribe of Indians as culturally distinct and modern peoples, in an entrepreneurial venue. It welcomes all Native American tribes of the Great Plai ...
is now celebrated yearly on the third weekend of August, with wide participation from other tribes.
Crow Tribe history: a chronological record
1600–1699
A group of Crow Natives went west after leaving the Hidatsa villages of earth lodges in the Knife River and Heart River area (present North Dakota) around 1675–1700. They selected a site for a single earth lodge on the lower Yellowstone River. Most families lived in tipis or other perishable kinds of homes at the new place. These Indians had left the Hidatsa villages and adjacent cornfields for good, but they had yet to become "real" buffalo hunting Crows following the herds on the open plains. Archaeologists know this "proto-Crow" site in present Montana as the Hagen site.
1700–1799
Some time before 1765 the Crows held a Sun Dance, attended by a poor Arapaho. A Crow with power gave him a medicine doll, and he quickly earned status and owned horses as no one else. During the next Sun Dance, some Crows stole back the figure to keep it in the tribe. Eventually the Arapaho made a duplicate. Later in life, he married a Kiowa woman and brought the doll with him. The Kiowas use it during the Sun Dance and recognize it as one of the most powerful tribal medicines. They still credit the Crow tribe for the origin of their sacred Tai-may figure.
1800–1824
The enmity between the Crow and the Lakota was reassured right from the start of the 19th Century. The Crows killed a minimum of thirty Lakotas in 1800–1801 according to two Lakota winter count
Winter counts (Lakota: ''waníyetu wówapi'' or ''waníyetu iyáwapi'') are pictorial calendars or histories in which tribal records and events were recorded by Native Americans in North America. The Blackfeet, Mandan, Kiowa, Lakota, and other Pla ...
s. The next year, the Lakotas and their Cheyenne allies killed all the men in a Crow camp with thirty tipis.
In the summer of 1805, a Crow camp traded at the Hidatsa villages on Knife River in present North Dakota. Chiefs Red Calf and Spotted Crow allowed the fur trader Francois-Antoine Larocque to join it on its way across the plains to the Yellowstone area. He travelled with it to a point west of the place where Billings, Montana
Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...
, is today. The camp crossed Little Missouri River and Bighorn River on the way.
The next year, some Crows discovered a group of whites with horses on the Yellowstone River. By stealth, they captured the mounts before morning. The Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...
did not see the Crows.
The first trading post in Crow country was constructed in 1807, known as both Fort Raymond
Fort Raymond or alternatively Manuel's Fort or Fort Manuel, was an outpost established by fur trader Manuel Lisa and was named after his son.Morris, Larry E. ''The Perilous West''. Lanham, MD: Row & Littlefield Publishing. 2013, p. 20. The post was ...
and Fort Lisa (1807–ca. 1813). Like the succeeding forts, Fort Benton (ca. 1821–1824) and Fort Cass (1832–1838), it was built near the confluence of the Yellowstone and the Bighorn.
The Blood Blackfoot Bad Head's winter count tells about the early and persistent hostility between the Crow and the Blackfoot. In 1813, a force of Blood warriors set off for a raid on the Crows in the Bighorn area. Next year, Crows near Little Bighorn River killed Blackfoot Top Knot.[Dempsey, Hugh A (1965): ''A Blackfoot Winter Count. Occasional Paper No. 1.'' Calgary.]
A Crow camp neutralized thirty Cheyennes bent on capturing horses in 1819. The Cheyennes and warriors from a Lakota camp destroyed a whole Crow camp at Tongue River the following year. This was likely the most severe attack on a Crow camp in historic time.
1825–1849
The Crows put up 300 tipis near a Mandan village on the Missouri in 1825. The representatives of the US government waited for them. Mountain Crow chief Long Hair (Red Plume at Forehead) and fifteen other Crows signed the first treaty of friendship and trade between the Crows and the United States on 4 August. With the signing of the document, the Crows also recognized the supremacy of the United States, if they actually understood the word. River Crow chief Arapooish had left the treaty area in disgust. By help of the thunderbird he had to send a farewell shower down on the whites and the Mountain Crows.
In 1829, seven Crow warriors were neutralized by Blood Blackfoot Indians led by Spotted Bear, who captured a pipe-hatchet during the fight just west of Chinook, Montana
Chinook is a city in and the county seat of Blaine County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,185 at the 2020 census. Points of interest are the Bear Paw Battlefield Museum located in the small town's center and the Bear Paw Battlefi ...
.[
In the summer of 1834, the Crows (maybe led by chief Arapooish) tried to shut down Fort McKenzie at the Missouri in Blackfeet country. The apparent motive was to stop the trading post's sale to their Indian enemies. Although later described as a month long siege of the fort, it lasted only two days. The opponents exchanged a few shots and the men in the fort fired a cannon, but no real harm came to anyone. The Crows left four days before the arrival of a Blackfeet band. The episode seems to be the worst armed conflict between the Crows and a group of whites until the Sword Bearer uprising in 1887.
The death of chief Arapooish was recorded on 17 September 1834. The news reached Fort Clark at the Mandan village Mitutanka. Manager F.A. Chardon wrote he "was Killed by Black feet".][Chardon, F.A. (1997): ''F.A. Chardon's Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-139''. Lincoln and London, pp. 4 and 275.]
The smallpox epidemic of 1837 spread along the Missouri and "had little impact" on the tribe according to one source. The River Crows grew in number, when a group of Hidatsas joined them permanently to escape the scourge sweeping through the Hidatsa villages.
Fort Van Buren
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
was a short-lived trading post in existence from 1839–1842.[ It was built on the bank of the Yellowstone near the mouth of Tongue River.][
In the summer of 1840, a Crow camp in the Bighorn valley greeted the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet.][De Smet, Pierre-Jean (1905): ''Life, Letters and Travels of Father Jean-Pierre De Smet, S.J., 1801–1873.'' Vol. 1. New York.]
From 1842 to around 1852,[ the Crows traded in Fort Alexander opposite the mouth of the Rosebud.][
The River Crows charged a moving Blackfeet camp near Judith Gap in 1845. Father De Smet mourned the destructive attack on the "petite Robe" band. The Blackfeet chief Small Robe had been mortally wounded and many killed. De Smet worked out the number of women and children taken captive to 160. By and by and with a fur trader as intermediary, the Crows agreed to let 50 women return to their tribe.
]
1850–1874
Fort Sarpy (I) near Rosebud River carried out trade with the Crows after the closing of Fort Alexander.[ River Crows went some times to the bigger Fort Union at the confluence of the Yellowstone and the Missouri. Both the "famous Absaroka ]amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
" Woman Chief[Kurz, Rudolph F. (1937): ''Journal of Rudolph Friederich Kurz.'' Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin 115. Washington.] and River Crow chief Twines His Tail (Rotten Tail) visited the fort in 1851.[
In 1851, the Crow, the Sioux and six other Indian Nations signed the Fort Laramie treaty along with the US. It should ensure peace forever between all nine partakers. Further, the treaty described the different tribal territories. The US was allowed to construct roads and forts.][Kappler, Charles J. (1904): Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties. Vol. II. Washington.] A weak point in the treaty was the absence of rules to uphold the tribal borders.[
The Crow and various bands of Sioux attacked each other again from the mid-1850s.][Greene, Candace: Verbal Meets Visual: Sitting Bull and the Representation of History. ''Ethnohistory''. Vol. 62, No. 2 (April 2015), pp. 217–240.][Stirling, M.W. (1938): ''Three Pictographic Autobiographies of Sitting Bull''. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. Vol. 97, No. 5. Washington.][Paul, Eli R. (1997): ''Autobiography of Red Cloud. War Leader of the Oglalas''. Chelsea.][Beckwith, Martha Warren: Mythology of the Oglala Dakota. ''The Journal of American Folklore''. Vol. 43, No. 170 (Oct.-Dec., 1930), pp. 339–442.][McGinnis, Anthony (1990): ''Counting Coups and Cutting Horses. Intertribal Warfare on the Northern Plains, 1738–1889''. Evergreen.] Soon, the Sioux took no notice of the 1851 borders[White, Richard: The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The Journal of American History. Vol. 65, No. 2 (Sept. 1978), pp. 319–343.] and expanded into Crow territory west of the Powder.[Calloway, Colin G.: The Inter-tribal Balance of Power on the Great Plains, 1760–1850. ''The Journal of American Studies''. Vol. 16, No. 1 (April 1982), pp. 25–47.][Ewers, John C.: Intertribal Warfare as a Precursor of Indian-White Warfare on the Northern Great Plains. ''Western Historical Quarterly''. Vol. 6, No. 4 (Oct. 1975), pp. 397–410.][Medicine Crow, Joseph (1992): ''From the Heart of the Crow Country. The Crow Indians' Own Stories''. New York.] The Crows engaged in "… large-scale battles with invading Sioux …" near present-day Wyola, Montana
Wyola ( cro, Alachúa Uhpáko) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 215 at the 2010 census. 79% of the residents are Native American, and the majority are members of the Crow Nation.
...
.[ Around 1860, the western Powder area was lost.][
From 1857 to 1860, many Crows traded their surplus robes and skin at ]Fort Sarpy (II)
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
near the mouth of the Bighorn River.[
During the mid-1860s, the Sioux resented the emigrant route Bozeman Trail through the Powder River bison habitat, although it mainly "crossed land guaranteed to the Crows".][Utley, Robert M.: The Bozeman Trail before John Bozeman: A Busy Land. ''Montana, the Magazine of Western History''. Vol. 53, No. 2 (Sommer 2003), pp. 20–31.][Stands in Timber, John and Margot Liberty (1972): ''Cheyenne Memories''. Lincoln.] When the Army built forts to protect the trail, the Crows cooperated with the garrisons.[ On 21 December 1866, the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho defeated Captain ]William J. Fetterman
William Judd Fetterman (1833 – December 21, 1866) was an officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War and the subsequent Red Cloud's War on the Great Plains. Fetterman and his command of 80 men were killed in the Fetterm ...
and his men from Fort Phil Kearny
Fort Phil Kearny was an outpost of the United States Army that existed in the late 1860s in present-day northeastern Wyoming along the Bozeman Trail. Construction began in 1866 on Friday, July 13, by Companies A, C, E, and H of the 2nd Battalion, ...
.[ Evidently, the US could not enforce respect for the treaty borders agreed upon 15 years before.][
The River Crows north of the Yellowstone developed a friendship with their former Gros Ventre enemies in the 1860s.][ A joint large-scale attack on a big Blackfoot camp at ]Cypress Hills (Canada)
The Cypress Hills are a geographical region of hills in southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, Canada. The hills are part of the Missouri Coteau upland.
The highest point in the Cypress Hills is at Head of the Mountain in Alberta a ...
in 1866 resulted in a chaotic withdrawal of the Gros Ventres and Crows. The Blackfoot pursued the warriors for hours and killed allegedly more than 300.[Grinnell, George Bird (1911): ''The Story of the Indian''. New York and London.]
In 1868, a new Fort Laramie treaty between the Sioux and the US turned 1851 Crow Powder River area into "unceded Indian territory" of the Sioux.[ "The Government had in effect betrayed the Crows…".][Dunlay, Thomas W. (1982): ''Wolves for the Blue Soldiers. Indian Scots and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860–1890''. Lincoln and London.] On 7 May, the same year, the Crow ceded vast ranges to the US due to pressure from white settlements north of Upper Yellowstone River and loss of eastern territories to the Sioux. They accepted a smaller reservation south of the Yellowstone.[
The Sioux and their Indian allies, now formally at peace with the US, focused on intertribal wars at once.][Deloria, Vine Jr. and R. DeMallie (1975): ''Proceedings of the Great Peace Commission of 1867–1868''. Washington.] Raids against the Crows were "frequent, both by the Northern Cheyennes and by the Arapahos, as well as the Sioux, and by parties made up from all three tribes".[Hyde, George E. (1987): ''Life of George Bent. Written From His Letters''. Norman.] Crow chief Plenty Coups recalled, "The three worst enemies our people had were combined against us …".[
In April 1870, the Sioux overpowered a barricaded war group of 30 Crows in the Big Dry area.][ The Crows were killed to either last or last but one man. Later, mourning Crows with "their hair cut off, their fingers and faces cut" brought the dead bodies back to camp.][Koch, Peter: Journal of Peter Koch – 1869 and 1870. ''The Frontier. A Magazine of the Northwest''. Vol. IX, No. 2 (Jan. 1929), pp. 148–160.] The drawing from the Sioux winter count of Lone Dog shows the Crows in the circle (the breastwork), while the Sioux close in on them. The many lines indicates flying bullets. The Sioux lost 14 warriors.[Mallory, Gerrick (1896): The Dakota Winter Counts. ''Smithsonian Institution. 4th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1882–'83''. Washington.] Sioux chief Sitting Bull took part in this battle.[Vestal, Stanley (1932): ''Sitting Bull, Champion of the Sioux. A Biography''. Boston and New York.]
In the summer of 1870, some Sioux attacked a Crow reservation camp in the Bighorn/Little Bighorn area. The Crows reported Sioux Indians in the same area again in 1871.[Lubetkin, John M.: The Forgotten Yellowstone Surveying Expeditions of 1871. W. Milnor Roberts and the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana. ''Montana, the Magazine of Western History''. Vol. 52, No. 4 (Winter 2002), pp. 32–47.] During the next years, this eastern part of the Crow reservation was taken over by the Sioux in search of buffalo.[ In August 1873, visiting Nez Percés and a Crow reservation camp at Pryor Creek further west faced a force of Sioux warriors in a long confrontation.][ Crow chief Blackfoot objected to this incursion and called for resolute US military actions against the Indian trespassers.][ Due to Sioux attacks on both civilians and soldiers north of the Yellowstone in newly established US territory ( Battle of Pease Bottom, ]Battle of Honsinger Bluff
The Battle of Honsinger Bluff was a conflict between the United States Army and the Sioux people on August 4, 1873 along the Yellowstone River near present-day Miles City, Montana. This was U.S. territory acquired from the Crows in 1868. The main c ...
), the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal government of the United States, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...
advocated the use of troops to force the Sioux back to South Dakota in his 1873 report.[Kvasnika, Robert M. and Herman J. Viola (1979): ''The Commissioners of Indian Affairs, 1824–1977''. Lincoln and London.] Nothing happened.
1875–1899
Two years later, in early July 1875,[Webb, George W. (1939): ''Chronological List of Engagements Between The Regular Army of the United States And Various Tribes of Hostile Indians Which Occurred During The Years 1790 To 1898, Inclusive''. St. Joseph.] Crow chief Long Horse
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term " raven" is not pinned scientifica ...
was killed in a suicidal attack on some Sioux,[Linderman, Frank B. (1962): ''Plenty Coups. Chief of the Crows''. Lincoln/London.] who previously had killed three soldiers from Camp Lewis on the upper Judith River (near Lewistown).[Grinnell, George Bird (1985): ''The Passing of the Great West. Selected Papers of George Bird Grinnell''. New York.] George Bird Grinnell
George Bird Grinnell (September 20, 1849 – April 11, 1938) was an American anthropologist, historian, naturalist, and writer. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in 1870 and a Ph.D. in 1880 ...
was a member of the exploring party in the Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
that year, and he saw the bringing in of the dead chief. A mule carried the body, which was wrapped in a green blanket. The chief was placed in a tipi "not far from the Crow camp, reclining on his bed covered with robes, his face handsomely painted".[ Crow woman Pretty Shield remembered the sadness in camp. "We fasted, nearly starved in our sorrow for the loss of Long-Horse."][Linderman, Frank B. (1974): ''Pretty Shield. Medicine Woman of the Crows''. Lincoln and London.]
Exposed to Sioux attacks, the Crows sided with the US during the Great Sioux War in 1876–1877.[ On 10 April 1876, 23 Crows enlisted as Army scouts.][Bradley, James H.: Journal of James H. Bradley. The Sioux Campaign of 1876 under the Command of General John Gibbon. ''Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana''. Pp. 140–227.] They enlisted against a traditional Indian enemy, "... who were now in the old Crow country, menacing and often raiding the Crows in their reservation camps."[Medicine Crow, joseph (1939): ''The Effects of European Culture Contacts upon the Economic, Social, and Religious Life of the Crow Indians''. A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Anthropology, University of Southern California.] Charles Varnum
Charles Albert Varnum (June 21, 1849 – February 26, 1936) was a career United States Army officer. He was most noted as the commander of the scouts for George Armstrong Custer in the Little Bighorn Campaign (of which he was the last of the sur ...
, leader of Custer's scouts, understood how valuable the enrolment of scouts from the local Indian tribe was. "These Crows were in their own country and knew it thoroughly."[Varnum, Charles A. (1982): ''Custer's Chief of Scouts. The Reminiscences of Charles A. Varnum. Including his Testimony at the Reno Court of Inquiry''. Lincoln.]
Notable Crows like Medicine Crow[Porter, Joseph C. (1986): ''Paper Medicine Man. John Gregory Bourke and His American West''. Norman and London.] and Plenty Coups participated in the Rosebud Battle along with more than 160 other Crows.[
The Battle of the Little Bighorn stood on the Crow reservation.][ As most battles between the US and the Sioux in the 1860s and 1870s, "It was a clash of two expanding empires, with the most dramatic battles occurring on lands only recently taken by the Sioux from other tribes."][ When the Crow camp with Pretty Shield learned about the defeat of George A. Custer, it cried for the assumed dead Crow scouts "… and for Son-of-the-morning-star ]uster
Uster (High Alemannic: ''Uschter'') is a town and the capital of the Uster District in the Swiss canton of Zürich.
It is the third largest town in the canton of Zürich, with almost 35,000 inhabitants, and is one of the twenty largest towns ...
and his blue soldiers …".[
On 8 January 1877, three Crows participated in the last battle of the Great Sioux War in the Wolf Mountains.][Pearson, Jeffrey V.: Nelson A. Miles, Crazy Horse, and the Battle of Wolf Mountains. ''Montana, the Magazine of Western History''. Vol. 51, No. 4 (Winter 2001), pp. 52–67.]
In the spring of 1878, 700 Crow tipis were pitched at the confluence of Bighorn River and Yellowstone River. Together with Colonel Nelson A. Miles
Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was an American military general who served in the American Civil War, the American Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War.
From 1895 to 1903, Miles served as the last Commanding Gen ...
, an Army leader in the Great Sioux War, the big camp celebrated the victory over the Sioux.[Hoxie, ''Parading Through History'' (1995), p. 109.][Miles, Nelson A. (1897): ''Personal Recollections and Observations of General Nelson A. Miles''. Chicago and New York.]
Culture
Subsistence
The main food source for the Crow was the American bison
The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...
which was hunted in a variety of ways. Before the use of horses the bison were hunted on foot and required hunters to stalk close to the bison, often with a wolf-pelt disguise, then pursue the animals quickly on foot before killing them with arrows or lances. The horse allowed the Crow to hunt bison more easily as well as hunt more at one time. Riders would panic the herd into a stampede and shoot the targeted animals with arrows or bullets from horseback or lance them through the heart. In addition to bison the Crow also hunted bighorn sheep
The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...
, mountain goats
The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs and ...
, deer, elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
, bear, and other game. Buffalo meat was often roasted or boiled in a stew with prairie turnip
''Psoralea esculenta'', common name prairie turnip or timpsula, is an herbaceous perennial plant native to prairies and dry woodlands of central North America, which bears a starchy tuberous root edible as a root vegetable. The plant is als ...
s. The rump, tongue, liver, heart, and kidneys all were considered delicacies. Dried bison meat was ground with fat and berries to make ''pemmican
Pemmican (also pemican in older sources) is a mixture of tallow, dried meat, and sometimes dried berries. A calorie-rich food, it can be used as a key component in prepared meals or eaten raw. Historically, it was an important part of indigenous ...
''. In addition to meat, wild edibles were gathered and eaten such as elderberries
''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...
, wild turnip, and Saskatoon berries
''Amelanchier alnifolia'', the Saskatoon berry, Pacific serviceberry, western serviceberry, western shadbush, or western juneberry, is a shrub with an edible berry-like fruit, native to North America.
Description
It is a deciduous shrub or sma ...
.
The Crow often hunted bison by utilizing buffalo jump
A buffalo jump, or sometimes bison jump, is a cliff formation which Indigenous peoples of North America historically used to hunt and kill plains bison in mass quantities. The broader term game jump refers to a man-made jump or cliff used for hun ...
s. "Where Buffaloes are Driven Over Cliffs at Long Ridge" was a favorite spot for meat procurement by the Crow Indians for over a century, from 1700 to around 1870 when modern weapons were introduced. The Crow used this place annually in the autumn, a place of multiple cliffs along a ridge that eventually sloped to the creek. Early in the morning the day of the jump a medicine man would stand on the edge of the upper cliff, facing up the ridge. He would take a pair of bison hindquarters and pointing the feet along the lines of stones he would sing his sacred songs and call upon the Great Spirit to make the operation a success. After this invocation the medicine man would give the two head drivers a pouch of incense. As the two head drivers and their helpers headed up the ridge and the long line of stones they would stop and burn incense on the ground repeating this process four times. The ritual was intended to make the animals come to the line where the incense was burned, then bolt back to the ridge area.
Habitation and transportation
The traditional Crow shelter is the tipi or skin lodge made with bison
Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
hides stretched over wooden poles. The Crow are historically known to construct some of the largest tipis. Tipi poles were harvested from the lodgepole pine
''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, ...
which acquired its name from its use as support for tipis. Inside the tipi, mattresses and buffalo-hide seats were arranged around the edge, with a fireplace in the center. The smoke from the fire escaped through a hole or smoke-flap in the top of the tipi. At least one entrance hole with collapsible flap allowed entry into the tipi. Often hide paintings adorned the outside and inside of tipis with specific meanings attached to the images. Often specific tipi designs were unique to the individual owner, family, or society that resided in the tipi. Tipis are easily raised and collapsed and are lightweight, which is ideal for nomadic people like the Crow who move frequently and quickly. Once collapsed, the tipi poles are used to create a travois
A travois (; Canadian French, from French , a frame for restraining horses; also obsolete travoy or travoise) is a historical frame structure that was used by indigenous peoples, notably the Plains Aboriginals of North America, to drag loads ov ...
. Travois are a horse-pulled frame structure used by plains Indians to carry and pull belongings as well as small children. Many Crow families still own and use the tipi, especially when traveling. The annual Crow Fair has been described as the largest gathering of tipis in the world.
The most widely used form of transportation used by the Crow was the horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
. Horses were acquired through raiding and trading with other Plains nations. People of the northern plains like the Crow mostly got their horses from people from the southern plains such as the Comanche and Kiowa who originally got their horses from the Spanish and southwestern Indians such as the various Pueblo people. The Crow had large horse herds which were among the largest owned by Plains Indian
Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of N ...
s; in 1914 they had approximately thirty to forty thousand head. By 1921 the number of mounts had dwindled to just one thousand. Like other plains people the horse was central to the Crow economy and were a highly valuable trade item and were frequently stolen from other tribes to gain wealth and prestige as a warrior. The horse allowed the Crow to become powerful and skilled mounted warriors, being able to perform daring maneuvers during battle including hanging underneath a galloping horse and shooting arrows by holding onto its mane. They also had many dogs; one source counted five to six hundred. Dogs were used as guards and pack animals to carry belongings and pull travois. The introduction of horses into Crow society allowed them to pull heavier loads faster, greatly reducing the number of dogs used as pack animals.
Attire
The Crow wore clothing distinguished by gender. Women wore dresses made of deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
and buffalo hide, decorated with elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
teeth or shells. They covered their legs with leggings during winter and their feet with moccasin
A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional panel o ...
s. Crow women wore their hair in two braids. Male clothing usually consisted of a shirt, trimmed leggings with a belt, a long breechcloth
A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and, at least partially, the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or ...
, and moccasins. Robes made from the furred hide of a bison were often worn in winter. Leggings were either made of animal hide which the Crow made for themselves or made of wool which were highly valued trade items made specifically for Indians in Europe. Their hair was worn long, in some cases reaching the ground. The Crow are famous for often wearing their hair in a pompadour which was often colored white with paint. Crow men were notable for wearing two hair pipes made from beads on both sides of their hair. Men often wore their hair in two braids wrapped in the fur of beavers or otters. Bear grease was used to give shine to hair. Stuffed birds were often worn in the hair of warriors and medicine men. Like other plains Indians the Crow wore feathers from eagles, crows, owls, and other birds in their hair for symbolic reasons. The Crow wore a variety of headdresses including the famous eagle feather headdress, bison scalp headdress with horns and beaded rim, and split horn headdress. The split horn headdress is made from a single bison horn split in half and polished into two nearly identical horns which were attached to a leather cap and decorated with feathers and beadwork. Traditional clothing worn by the Crow is still worn today with varying degrees of regularity.
The Crow People are well known for their intercut beadwork. They adorned basically every aspect of their lives with these beads, giving special attention to ceremonial and ornamental items. Their clothing, horses, cradles, ornamental and ceremonial gear, in addition to leather cases of all shapes, sizes and uses were decorated in beadwork. They gave reverence to the animals they ate by using as much of it as they could. The leather for their clothing, robes and pouches were created from the skin of buffalo, deer and elk. The work was done by the tribeswomen, with some being considered experts and were often sought by the younger, less experienced women for design and symbolic advice. The Crow are an innovative people and are credited with developing their own style of stitch-work for adhering beads. This stitch, which is now called the overlay, is still also known as the "Crow Stitch". In their beadwork, geometric shapes were primarily used with triangles, diamonds and hour-glass structures being the most prevalent. A wide range of colors were utilized by the Crow, but blues and various shades of pink were the most dominantly used. To intensify or to draw out a certain color or shape, they would surround that figure or color in a white outline.
The colors chosen were not just merely used to be aesthetically pleasing, but rather had a deeper symbolic meaning. Pinks represented the various shades of the rising sun with yellow being the East the origin of the sun's arrival. Blues are symbolic of the sky; red represented the setting sun or the West; green symbolizing mother earth, black the slaying of an enemy and white representing clouds, rain or sleet. Although most colors had a common symbolism, each piece's symbolic significance was fairly subjective to its creator, especially when in reference to the individual shapes. One person's triangle might symbolize a teepee, a spear head to a different individual or a range of mountains to yet another. Regardless of the individual significance of each piece, the Crow People give reverence to the land and sky with the symbolic references found in the various colors and shapes found on their ornamental gear and even clothing.
Some of the clothing that the Crow People decorated with beads included robes, vests, pants, shirts, moccasins and various forms of celebratory and ceremonial gear. In addition to creating a connection with the land, from which they are a part, the various shapes and colors reflected one's standing and achievements. For example, if a warrior were to slay, wound or disarm an enemy, he would return with a blackened face. The black color would then be incorporated in the clothing of that man, most likely in his war attire. A beaded robe, which was often given to a bride to be, could take over a year to produce and was usually created by the bride's mother-in-law or another female relative-in-law. These robes were often characterized by a series of parallel horizontal lines, usually consisting of light blue. The lines represented the young women's new role as a wife and mother; also the new bride was encouraged to wear the robe at the next ceremonial gathering to symbolize her addition and welcoming to a new family. In modern times the Crow still often decorate their clothing with intricate bead designs for powwow and everyday clothing.
File:Holds The Enemy- Crow Indian-E.A Burbank.jpg, Painting of Holds The Enemy, a Crow warrior with split horn headdress and beaded wool leggings by E. A. Burbank
File:Hó-ra-tó-a, a Brave.jpg, Hó-ra-tó-a, a Crow warrior with headdress, bison robe, and hair reaching the ground. Painted by George Catlin
George Catlin (July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American adventurer, lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the Old West.
Traveling to the We ...
, Fort Union 1832.
File:Crow moccasins white with beadwork of red flowers.JPG, Crow moccasins
A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional panel o ...
File:Crow beaded moccasins from around 1940.JPG, Crow moccasins
A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional panel o ...
,
Gender and kinship system
The Crow had a matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's Lineage (anthropology), lineage – and which can in ...
system. After marriage, the couple was matrilocal
In social anthropology, matrilocal residence or matrilocality (also uxorilocal residence or uxorilocality) is the societal system in which a married couple resides with or near the wife's parents. Thus, the female offspring of a mother remain l ...
(the husband moved to the wife's mother's house upon marriage). Women held a significant role within the tribe.
Crow kinship is a system used to describe and define family members. Identified by Lewis Henry Morgan
Lewis Henry Morgan (November 21, 1818 – December 17, 1881) was a pioneering American anthropologist and social theorist who worked as a railroad lawyer. He is best known for his work on kinship and social structure, his theories of social evol ...
in his 1871 work ''Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family'', the Crow system is one of the six major types which he described: Eskimo
Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...
, Hawaiian, Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
, Crow, Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...
, and Sudanese.
The Crow historically had a status for male-bodied two-spirit
Two-spirit (also two spirit, 2S or, occasionally, twospirited) is a modern, , umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ...
s, termed ''baté''/''badé'', such as Osh-Tisch
Osh-Tisch (Crow: "Finds Them and Kills Them")Also spelled ''Ohchiish''; from ''óhchikaapi'' "find". was a Crow ''badé''. A ''badé'' (also spelled ''baté'') is a male-bodied person in a Crow community who takes part in some of the social and cer ...
.
21st-century
Geography
The Crow Indian Reservation
The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe. Established 1868, the reservation is located in parts of Big Horn County, Montana, Big Horn, Yellowstone County, Montana, Yellowstone, and Treasure County, Montana, Treasure counties ...
in south-central Montana is a large reservation covering approximately of land area, the fifth-largest Indian reservation
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
in the United States. The reservation is primarily in Big Horn and Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
counties with ceded lands in Rosebud
Rosebud may refer to:
* Rose bud, the bud of a rose flower
Arts
* The name of Jerry Garcia's guitar from 1990 until his death in 1995.
* In the 1941 film ''Citizen Kane'', the last words of Charles Foster Kane and an overall plot device.
* "Ros ...
, Carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
, and Treasure
Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...
counties. The Crow Indian Reservation's eastern border is the 107th meridian line, except along the border line of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation
The Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation ( chy, Tsėhéstáno; formerly named the Tongue River) is the federally recognized Northern Cheyenne tribe. Located in southeastern Montana, the reservation is approximately ...
.
The southern border is from the 107th meridian line west to the east bank of the Big Horn River
The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its ban ...
. The line travels downstream to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is a national recreation area established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, following the construction of the Yellowtail Dam by the Bureau of Reclamation. It straddles the border between Wyomin ...
and west to the Pryor Mountains
The Pryor Mountains are a mountain range in Carbon and Big Horn counties of Montana, and Big Horn County, Wyoming. They are located on the Crow Indian Reservation and the Custer National Forest, and portions of them are on private land. They li ...
and north-easterly to Billings. The northern border travels east and through Hardin, Montana
Hardin is a city in and the county seat of Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,818 at the 2020 census.
It is located just north of the Crow Indian Reservation.
History
The city was named for Samuel Hardin, a friend o ...
, to the 107th meridian line. The 2000 census reported a total population of 6,894 on reservation lands. Its largest community is Crow Agency.
Government
Prior to the 2001 Constitution, the Crow Tribe of Montana was governed by its 1948 constitution. The former constitution organized the tribe as a general council ( tribal council). The general council held the executive, legislative, and judicial powers of the government and included all enrolled, adult members of the Crow Tribe, provided that women were 18 years or older and men were 21 or older. The general council was a direct democracy
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...
, comparable to that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
.
The Crow Tribe of Montana established a three-branch government at a 2001 council meeting with its 2001 constitution. The general council remains the governing body of the tribe; however, the powers were distributed to three separate branches within the government. In theory, the general council is still the governing body of the Crow Tribe, yet in reality the general council has not convened since the establishment of the 2001 constitution.
The executive branch has four officials. These officials are known as the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...
, and Vice-Secretary. The Executive Branch officials are also the officials within the Crow Tribal General Council, which has not met since 15 July 2001.
The current administration of the Crow Tribe Executive Branch is as follows:
* Chairman: Frank White Clay
* Vice-Chairman: Lawrence DeCrane
* Secretary: Levi Black Eagle
* Vice-Secretary: Channis Whiteman
The Legislative Branch consists of three members from each district on the Crow Indian Reservation. The Crow Indian Reservation is divided into six districts known as The Valley of the Chiefs, Reno, Black Lodge, Mighty Few, Big Horn, and Pryor Districts. The Valley of the Chiefs District is the largest district by population.
The Judicial Branch consists of all courts established by the Crow Law and Order Code and in accordance with the 2001 Constitution. The Judicial Branch has jurisdiction over all matters defined in the Crow Law and Order Code. The Judicial Branch attempts to be a separate and distinct branch of government from the Legislative and Executive Branches of Crow Tribal Government. The Judicial Branch consists of an elected Chief Judge and two Associate Judges. The Crow Court of Appeals, similar to State Court of Appeals, receives all appeals from the lower courts. The Chief Judge of the Crow Tribe is Julie Yarlott.
Constitution controversy
According to the 1948 Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
, Resolution 63-01 (Please note: in a letter of communication from Phileo Nash, then Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to the B.I.A. Area Director, as stated in the letter and confirmed that 63-01 is an Ordinance in said letter) all constitutional amendments must be voted on by secret ballot or referendum vote. In 2001, major actions were taken by the former Chairperson Birdinground without complying with those requirements. The quarterly council meeting on 15 July 2001 passed all resolutions by voice vote, including the measure to repeal the current constitution and approve a new constitution.
Critics contend the new constitution is contrary to the spirit of the Crow Tribe, as it provides authority for the US Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
(BIA) to approve Crow legislation and decisions. The Crow people have guarded their sovereignty and Treaty Rights. The alleged New Constitution was not voted on to add it to the agenda of the Tribal Council. The former constitution mandated that constitutional changes be conducted by referendum vote, using the secret ballot election method and criteria. In addition, a constitutional change can only be conducted in a specially called election, which was never approved by council action for the 2001 Constitution. The agenda was not voted on or accepted at the council.
The only vote taken at the council was whether to conduct the voting by voice vote or walking through the line. Critics say the Chairman ignored and suppressed attempts to discuss the Constitution. This council and constitutional change was never ratified by any subsequent council action. The Tribal Secretary, who was removed from office by the BirdinGround Administration, was the leader of the opposition. All activity occurred without his signature.
When the opposition challenged, citing the violation of the Constitutional Process and the Right to Vote, the Birdinground Administration sought the approval of the United States Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
(USDOI), Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
(BIA). The latter stated it could not interfere in an internal tribal affair The federal court also ruled that the constitutional change was an internal tribal matter.
Leadership
The seat of government and capital of the Crow Indian Reservation
The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe. Established 1868, the reservation is located in parts of Big Horn County, Montana, Big Horn, Yellowstone County, Montana, Yellowstone, and Treasure County, Montana, Treasure counties ...
is Crow Agency, Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
.
The Crow Tribe historically elected a chairperson of tribal council biennially; however, in 2001, the term of office was extended to four years. The previous chairperson was Carl Venne
Carl Venne (July 20, 1946 – February 15, 2009), whose Crow name was Aashiise Dakatak Baacheitchish, was, until his death, the chairman of the executive branch of the Crow Nation. He won a November 2002 special election held after the Septemb ...
. The chairperson serves as chief executive officer, speaker of the council, and majority leader of the Crow Tribal Council. The constitutional changes of 2001 created a three-branch government. The chairperson serves as the head of the executive branch, which includes the offices of vice-chairperson, secretary, vice-secretary, and the tribal offices and departments of the Crow Tribal Administration. Notable chairs include Clara Nomee
Clara Mae White Hip Nomee (May 12, 1938 – January 31, 2012) was an American politician and tribal leader who served as the Crow Chairperson, Chairwoman of the Crow Nation of Montana for five-terms from 1990 to 2000. Nomee was the first woma ...
, Edison Real Bird
Edison Real Bird was the chairman of the Crow Nation Tribal Council from 1966 to 1972. While in that position, he implemented several key democratic reforms, and oversaw the election of Pauline Small, the first woman to be elected in the Crow Na ...
, and Robert "Robie" Yellowtail.
On 19 May 2008, Hartford and Mary Black Eagle of the Crow Tribe adopted US Senator (later President) Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
into the tribe on the date of the first visit of a US presidential candidate to the nation. Crow representatives also took part in President Obama's inaugural parade. In 2009 Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow
Joseph Medicine Crow (October 27, 1913 – April 3, 2016) was a Native American writer, historian and war chief of the Crow Nation. His writings on Native American history and reservation culture are considered seminal works, but he is best kn ...
was one of 16 people awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merito ...
.
During the United States federal government shutdown of 2013
From October 1 to October 17, 2013, the United States federal government entered a shutdown and curtailed most routine operations because neither legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014 nor a continuing resolution for the interim ...
, the Crow Tribe furloughed 316 employees and suspended programs providing health care, bus services and improvements to irrigation.
In 2020, the Tribal Chairman AJ Not Afraid Jr. endorsed President Donald Trump's reelection, along with endorsing Republicans Steve Daines
Steven David Daines ( ; born August 20, 1962) is an American politician and former corporate executive serving as the junior United States senator for Montana since 2015. A Republican, he served as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-large ...
for the Senate, Greg Gianforte
Gregory Richard Gianforte (born April 17, 1961) is an American businessman, politician, software engineer, and writer serving as the 25th governor of Montana since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Gianforte served as the U.S. representa ...
for Governor and Matt Rosendale
Matthew Martin Rosendale Sr. (born July 7, 1960) is an American politician and businessman from Montana. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he is the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative fo ...
for the U.S. House.
Notable Crow people
* Eldena Bear Don't Walk (Crow/Salish/Kutenai, b. c. 1973), lawyer, judge, politician, first woman to serve as the Chief Justice of the Crow Nation
* Bull Chief (c. 1825 – unknown), war chief (pipe carrier), who fought against Lakota, Nez Percé, Shoshone, and Piegan Blackfoot warriors, he also resisted white settlement of Crow territory
* Curly (or Curley) (also known as Ashishishe/Shishi'esh, c. 1856 – 1923), Indian Scout and warrior
* Goes Ahead
Goes Ahead (1851 – May 31, 1919) was a Crow scout for George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. He was a survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and his accounts of t ...
or Ba'suck'osh
Goes Ahead (1851 – May 31, 1919) was a Crow scout for George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. He was a survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, and his accounts of t ...
(also Walks Among the Stars, 1851–1919), Indian Scout and warrior, husband of Pretty Shield
* Hairy Moccasin
Hairy Moccasin (also known as Esh-sup-pee-me-shish) ( 1854October 9, 1922) was a Crow scout for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. He was a survivor of the Battle of the Littl ...
or Esh-sup-pee-me-shish (c. 1854 – 1922), Crow Indian Scout and warrior
* Half Yellow Face
Half Yellow Face (or Ischu Shi Dish in the Crow language) (1830? to 1879?) was the leader of the six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. Half Yellow Face led ...
or Ischu Shi Dish (c. 1830 – c. 1879), Crow Indian Scout and warrior, war leader (pipe carrier) and leader of the six Crow Scouts who assisted General George A. Custer
* Issaatxalúash, also Two Leggings
Two Leggings (Crow: Issaatxalúash) or Apitisée ("Big (Whooping) Crane") was a Crow ''Akdúxxiilee'' (warrior), ''Íipche Akeé'' (war leader or pipe carrier) and ''Bacheeítche'' (local group leader) of the ''Binnéessiippeele'' (River Crow Band ...
(mid-1840s – 1923); ''bacheeítche'' (local group leader) of River Crow, war leader (pipe carrier), during the first years of the reservation era
* Donald Laverdure, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs at the US Department of the Interior
* Joe Medicine Crow
Joseph Medicine Crow (October 27, 1913 – April 3, 2016) was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American writer, historian and Tribal chief, war chief of the Crow Nation. His writings on Native American history and reservation cult ...
, also PédhitšhÎ-wahpášh
Joseph Medicine Crow (October 27, 1913 – April 3, 2016) was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American writer, historian and Tribal chief, war chief of the Crow Nation. His writings on Native American history and reservation cult ...
(1913–2016), the last war chief (pipe carrier) of the Crow Tribe, educator, historian, author, and official anthropologist
* Janine Pease
Janine Pease is an American educator and Native American advocate. She is the founding president of the Little Big Horn College as well as the past president of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium and director of the American Indian Co ...
, an American Indian educator and advocate and the first woman of Crow lineage to earn a doctorate degree
* Wendy Red Star
Wendy Red Star (born 1981) is an Apsáalooke contemporary multimedia artist born in Billings, Montana, in the United States. Her humorous approach and use of Native American images from traditional media draw the viewer into her work, while al ...
, visual artist
* Plenty Coups
Plenty Coups (Crow: ''Alaxchíia Ahú'', "many achievements"; 1848 – 1932) was the principal chief of the Crow Nation ("Apsáalooke") and a visionary leader.
He allied the Crow with the whites when the war for the West was being fought, becaus ...
, Crow chief who cooperated with the government against other more hostile tribes, ensuring the Crow kept much of their traditional lands.
* Pretty Eagle
Chief Pretty Eagle (1846–1903) was a war chief, warrior, and diplomat of the Crow Nation. He was born in 1846 near present-day Crow Agency in Montana to the Mountain Crow division of the Crow Indians, one of three major divisions that made up ...
, fellow war chief of Plenty Coups, who worked with him to ensure the tribe's cooperation with the federal government.
* Pretty Shield
Pretty Shield (1856–1944) was a medicine woman of the Crow Nation. Her biography, perhaps the first record of female Native American life, was written by Frank B. Linderman, who interviewed her using an interpreter and sign language.Linderm ...
(c. 1856 – 1944), medicine woman
A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...
, wife of Goes Ahead, a scout at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
* Shows as He Goes
Shows as He Goes was a native American chief, most likely Apsaroke (Crow).
Shows as He Goes had several battles with the US cavalry on the Great Plains, fighting for his tribe's independence against the United States
The United States ...
, war chief
* Pauline Small
Pauline Small (November 30, 1924 – March 9, 2005) was the first woman to be elected to office in the Crow Nation, Crow Tribe of Indians. In 1966 she was elected to Crow Tribal Administration, Vice-Secretary of the Crow Tribal Council, hol ...
or Strikes Twice In One Summer (1924–2005), first woman to serve in Crow Tribal Council
* Frank Shively (c. 1877 – unknown), football coach
* Supaman
Christian Parrish Takes the Gun, known professionally as Supaman is an Apsáalooke rapper and ghost/thunder dancer who was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Crow Agency, Montana.
The child of parents who struggled with alcoholism, S ...
, also Christian Parrish Takes the Gun
Christian Parrish Takes the Gun, known professionally as Supaman is an Apsáalooke rapper and ghost/thunder dancer who was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Crow Agency, Montana.
The child of parents who struggled with alcoholism, S ...
, rapper and fancy dancer
* Noah Watts
Noah Watts (born December 29, 1983) is a Native American actor and musician, a member of the Crow tribe, and a descendant of the Blackfeet Nation. He bears the Crow name Bulaagawish, which means "Old Bull".
Biography
Noah Watts is a descendant ...
, also Bulaagawish
Noah Watts (born December 29, 1983) is a Native American actor and musician, a member of the Crow tribe, and a descendant of the Blackfeet Nation. He bears the Crow name Bulaagawish, which means "Old Bull".
Biography
Noah Watts is a descendant ...
(Old Bull), actor and musician, best known for his role as Ratonhnhaké:ton, the main character of Assassin's Creed III
* Bethany Yellowtail
Bethany Yellowtail (born 1989) is a Native American fashion designer based in Los Angeles, California. Known for her work that reflects her Indigenous heritage, she is an enrolled member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and a descendant of the Crow ...
(Crow/Northern Cheyenne), fashion designer based in Los Angeles
* Robert Yellowtail
Robert Summers Yellowtail (August 4, 1889 – June 20, 1988) was a leader of the Crow Nation. Described as a "20th Century Warrior", Yellowtail was the first Native American to hold the post of Agency Superintendent at a reservation.
Early ...
(1889–1988), leader of Crow Tribe, first Native American to hold position of Agency Superintendent
* White Man Runs Him
White Man Runs Him (''Mahr-Itah-Thee-Dah-Ka-Roosh''; – June 2, 1929) was a Crow scouts, Crow scout serving with George Armstrong Custer's 1876 expedition against the Lakota people, Sioux and Northern Cheyenne that culminated in the Battle o ...
(c. 1858 – 1929); Crow Indian Scout and warrior, step-grandfather of Joe Medicine Crow
* White Swan
White Swan (18501904), or Mee-nah-tsee-us in the Crow language, was one of six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn ...
, also Mee-nah-tsee-us
White Swan (18501904), or Mee-nah-tsee-us in the Crow language, was one of six Crow Scouts for George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry Regiment during the 1876 campaign against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. At the Battle of the Little Bighorn ...
(White Goose, c. 1850 – 1904), Indian Scout and warrior, cousin of Curly.
See also
* Crow language
Crow ( native name: ''Apsáalooke'' ) is a Missouri Valley Siouan language spoken primarily by the Crow Nation in present-day southeastern Montana. The word, ''Apsáalooke,'' translates to "children of the raven." It is one of the larger popula ...
* Crow religion
Crow religion is the indigenous religion of the Crow people, Native Americans of the Great Plains area of the United States.
The Crow Deity
In the Crow language the Creator has many names, such as ''Akbaatatdia'' (One Who Has Made Everything/M ...
* James Beckwourth
James Pierson Beckwourth (born Beckwith, April 26, 1798 or 1800 – October 29, 1866 or 1867), was an American mountain man, North American fur trade, fur trader, and explorer. Beckwourth was known as "Bloody Arm" because of his skill as a fighte ...
, a Black chief of the Crow tribe
* Pine Leaf
Bíawacheeitchish, in English Woman Chief (c. 1806 – 1858), was a ''bacheeítche'' (chief) and warrior of the Crow Nation, Crow people. Interested in traditionally male pursuits from an early age, she became one of the Crows' most significant le ...
, a female chief of the Crow tribe
* Absaroka, a proposed state located in parts of Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
Citations
General references
* Thomas H. Leforge, ''Memoirs of a White Crow Indian'', The Century Co., 1928, hardcover, ASIN B00086PAP6
* Alma Hogan Snell, ''Grandmother's Grandchild: My Crow Indian Life'', University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2000, hardcover,
* Charles Bradley, ''The Handsome People: A History of the Crow Indians and the Whites'', Council for Indian Education, 1991, paperback,
* Frank B. Linderman, ''Plenty-Coups: Chief of the Crows'', University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1962, paperback,
* Frank B. Linderman, ''Pretty-shield: Medicine Woman of the Crows'', University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1974, paperback,
* Fred W. Voget and Mary K. Mee, ''They Call Me Agnes: A Crow Narrative Based on the Life of Agnes Yellowtail Deernose'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1995, hardcover,
* Frederick E. Hoxie, ''Parading through History: The Making of the Crow Nation in America 1805–1935'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1995, hardcover,
* Helene Smith and Lloyd G. Mickey Old Coyote, ''Apsaalooka: The Crow Nation Then and Now'', MacDonald/Swãrd Publishing Company, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, 1992, paperback,
* Henry Old Coyote and Barney Old Coyote, ''The Way of the Warrior: Stories of the Crow People'', University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2003,
* Jonathan Lear, ''Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation'', Harvard University Press, 2006,
* Joseph Medicine Crow, ''From the Heart of the Crow Country: The Crow Indians' Own Stories'', University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2000, paperback,
* Keith Algier, ''The Crow and the Eagle: A Tribal History from Lewis & Clark to Custer'', Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho, 1993, paperback,
* Michael Oren Fitzgerald, ''Yellowtail, Crow Medicine Man and Sun Dance Chief: An Autobiography'', University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1991, hardcover,
* Peter Nabokov, ''Two Leggings: The Making of a Crow Warrior'', Crowell Publishing Co., 1967, hardcover, ASIN B0007EN16O
* Robert H. Lowie, ''The Crow Indians'', University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1983, paperback,
* Robert H. Lowie, ''Crow Indian Art'', The Trustees, 1922, ASIN B00086D6RK
* Robert H. Lowie, ''Material Culture of the Crow Indians'', The Trustees, 1922, hardcover, ASIN B00085WH80
* Robert H. Lowie, ''Minor Ceremonies of the Crow Indians'', American Museum Press, 1924, hardcover, ASIN B00086D3NC
* Robert H. Lowie, ''Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians'', AMS Press, 1980, hardcover,
* Robert H. Lowie, ''Religion of the Crow Indians'', The Trustees, 1922, hardcover, ASIN B00086IFQM
* Robert H. Lowie, ''Social Life of the Crow Indians'', AMS Press, 1912, hardcover,
* Robert H. Lowie, ''The Crow Language'', University of California Press, 1941, hardcover, ASIN B0007EKBDU
* Robert H.Lowie, ''The Tobacco Society of the Crow Indians'', The Trustees, 1919, hardcover, ASIN B00086IFRG
* Robert H. Lowie, 1914, ''The Crow Sun Dance'', hardcover, ASIN B0008CBIOW
* Rodney Frey (ed.), ''Stories That Make the World: Oral Literature of the Indian Peoples of the Inland Northwest. As Told by Lawrence Aripa, Tom Yellowtail and Other Elders''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.
* Rodney Frey, ''The World of the Crow Indians: As Driftwood Lodges'', Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
External links
Crow Tribe of Montana, Apsaalooké
Crow Indians – Their Lands, Allies and Enemies
Little Big Horn College Library
Smithsonian
2001 Constitution
Untold London
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061016215516/http://www.picture-history.com/crow-index-001.htm Collection of historical Crow photographs
List of Crow Chiefs
Little Big Horn College
Little Big Horn College is a public tribal land-grant community college on the Crow Indian Reservation in Crow Agency, Montana. It has an open admissions policy and welcomes enrollment from any adult with a high school diploma or GED. The student ...
Library.
''Crow Indian Recipes and Herbal Medicine''
by Pretty Shield
Pretty Shield (1856–1944) was a medicine woman of the Crow Nation. Her biography, perhaps the first record of female Native American life, was written by Frank B. Linderman, who interviewed her using an interpreter and sign language.Linderm ...
's granddaughter, Alma Hogan Snell
Alma Hogan Snell (January 10, 1923 – May 5, 2008) was an American Crow tribal historian, educator, and herbalist. She was the granddaughter of Pretty Shield.
Snell lectured throughout the United States on the healing properties and benef ...
{{Authority control
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
Great Sioux War of 1876
Landmarks in Montana
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in North Dakota
Native American tribes in Wyoming
Plains tribes
Siouan peoples