The Tongue River massacre was an attack by

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

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 ...

on a camp of

Crow 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 scientifical ...

people in 1820. According to some accounts, it was one of the most significant losses of the Crow tribe.

Background

The intertribal conflict between the Cheyenne and the Crow predated the arrival of whites in 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 ...

and Powder River areas.Stands In Timber, John and Margot Liberty (1972): Cheyenne Memories. Lincoln and London. The Lakotas were also enemies of the Crow. The 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 ...

of Lone Dog gives the year 1800-1801 as the winter when "Thirty Dakotas akotaswere killed by Crow Indians".Mallory, Gerrick (1893): Picture-writing of the American Indians. Lone-Dog's Winter Count. ''Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution'', 1888-'89. Washington, 1893, pp. 273-287. According to

American Horse American Horse ( lkt, Wašíčuŋ Tȟašúŋke) (a/k/a "American Horse the Younger") (1840 – December 16, 1908) was an Oglala Lakota chief, statesman, educator and historian. American Horse is notable in American history as a U.S. Army Indian S ...

's winter count, the Lakota retaliated the next year. Several Lakotas, aided by the Cheyenne, killed all the men in a Crow camp with 30 tipis and took the women and children captive.Mallory, Gerrick (1893): Picture-writing of the American Indians. ''Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution'', 1888-'89. Washington. The leadup to the 1820 massacre was a Cheyenne raid in 1819. A Crow camp neutralized 30 Cheyenne Bowstring warriors during a defense of the horse herds.Hyde, George E. (1987): Life of George Bent. Written From His Letters. Norman.

The attack

To avenge the loss of so many young men, the whole Cheyenne tribe carried its sacred arrows, Mahuts, against the Crow the next spring. A Lakota camp joined the war expedition.> They camped at Powder River, either in present-day

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 ...

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 ...

. Crows from a camp at the Tongue River chanced upon them just before dark. The Cheyenne and the Lakota realized they were discovered, and the warriors quickly prepared to make an attack on their foes. Meanwhile, the Crow camp organized a big war party to strike first and drive the enemies out of the Crow country. The two Indian armies crossed each other unnoticed during the night. The Crows lost the track and never found the camps on the Powder River. The Cheyenne and Lakota attacked the unprotected Crow camp at noon. With a camp with only women, children and old men, they were in control right from the start. They killed all the old men, captured the horse herds, took the women and children captive and reduced the camp to rubble. On the way back to Powder River, a disagreement started between the Cheyenne and the Lakota over the division of the more than 100 captives. During the heated discussion, an unknown number of Crow women and children were killed by the warriors. The battle is mentioned in the

Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...

American Horse's winter count. It tells of a Crow camp with 100 tipis. The Lakotas "killed many and took many prisoners".> This was likely the most severe blow to the Crow tribe on the battlefield in historic time.Linderman, Frank B.(1962): Plenty Coups. Chief of the Crows. Lincoln/London. Linderman, Frank B. (1974): Pretty Shield. Medicine Woman of the Crows. Lincoln and London. Due to the meager sources, it is difficult to name all war leaders and warriors involved in the fighting, provide exact figures of the strength of the camps, or the number of casualties. The attack may sometimes be confused with other big Cheyenne or Lakota victories over the Crow. Hoxie, Frederick E.(1995): Parading Through History. The making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805-1935. Cambridge. In 1876, James H. Bradley, chief of Crow scouts gave an account of the battle as understood by him.Bradley, James H.(1896): Journal of James H. Bradley. The Sioux Campaign of 1876 under the Command of General John Gibbon. ''Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana'', Vol. 2, Helena, pp. 140-227. Plenty Coups Edward Curtis Portrait (c1908)

Plenty Coups Edward Curtis Portrait (c1908)

Consequences

With the 1820 massacre, the Cheyenne and Lakota prevented themselves from ever becoming allies of the Crow, as they tried later during

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 ...

against the whites in the 1860s. The years following the devastating defeat resulted in attacks of revenge by the Crows, which the Cheyennes counter-revenged. Cheyenne warrior George Bent visited the scene of the massacre in 1865 with his tribe. It still showed evidence of the destruction in form of broken tipi poles. Here and there, they found old hand weapons of stone in the grass. With time, the Crow blamed the Lakota alone for the attack at Tongue River in 1820. More than 100 years later Crow chief

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 ...

told about the never forgotten massacre. In his opinion, the Crows had nearly been wiped out "that terrible day" in 1820. Crow woman

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 ...

expressed the same view while telling about her life and the Crows to Frank B. Linderman. The Cheyenne Indians lost the Sacred Arrows around 1830, when they tried to repeat the victory over the Crow in an attack on a hunting camp of Pawnee Indians.

References

{{coord missing, United States Native American history Crow tribe Lakota Massacres of Native Americans Massacres by Native Americans 1820 in North America