The
Crow tribe originally lived along the Missouri River. They called
themselves Absaroke (bird people). In the 18th century the Crow migrated
to the area near the Rocky
Mountains.
The Crow became buffalo hunters. This
brought them into conflict with other tribes in the area such as the
Arapaho,
Comanche,
Kiowa, Pawnee,
Sioux,
Shoshoni,
and the Ute.
The
Crow were willing to form an alliance with the United States against
their traditional enemies. In
1873 Plenty
Coups
became the chief of the Mountain Crows. He
maintained friendly relations with the Americans and supplied scouts
for the Sioux Campaign led by General George
A. Custer in 1876. His men also took part in the 1877 Nez
Perce
operation.
In
1883 Plenty
Coups
went
to Washington to discuss the possibility
of payments being paid for Crow land. He also managed to bring an
end to a brief uprising by Crow warriors in 1887. Plenty
Coups became the the principal chief of the Crows
in 1904. During the First World War he urged
young Crows to join the American armed forces.
Today most Crow live in
Montana, near the Little Bighorn. In 1990
there were over 9,000 Crow in the United States.
Crow
Warrior
(1)
George Donner, letter to a friend (27th
June, 1846)
We arrived here (Fort Laramie) yesterday without meeting any serious
accident. Our company are in good health. Our road has been through
a sandy country, but we have as yet had plenty of grass for our cattle
and water.... Two hundred and six lodges of Sioux are expected at
the Fort today on the way to join the warriors on the war against
the Crows. The Indians all speak friendly to us. Two braves breakfasted
with us. Their ornaments were tastefully arranged, consisting of beads,
feathers, and a fine shell that is got from California, bark variously
colored and arranged, and the hair from the scalps they have taken
in battle... Our provisions are in good order, and we feel satisfied
with our preparations for the trip.
(2)
Virginia Reed, Across the Plains in
the Donner Party (1891)
At Fort Laramie was a party of Sioux, who were on the war path going
to fight the Crows or Blackfeet. The Sioux are fine looking Indians
and I was not in the least afraid of them. They fell in love with
my pony and set about bargaining to buy him. They brought buffalo
robes and beautifully tanned buckskin, pretty beaded moccasins, and
ropes made of grass, and placing these articles in a heap alongside
several of their ponies, they made my father understand by signs that
they would give them all for Billy and his rider. Papa smiled and
shook his head; then the number of ponies was increased and, as a
last tempting inducement, they brought an old coat, that had been
worn by some poor soldier, thinking my father could not withstand
the brass buttons!
On
the sixth of July we were again on the march. The Sioux were several
days in passing our caravan, not on account of the length of our train,
but because there were so many Sioux. Owing to the fact that our wagons
were strung so far apart, they could have massacred our whole party
without much loss to themselves. Some of our company became alarmed,
and the rifles were cleaned out and loaded, to let the warriors see
that we were prepared to fight; but the Sioux never showed any inclination
to disturb us... their desire to possess my pony was so strong that
at last I had to ride in the wagon, and let one of the drivers take
charge of Billy. This I did not like, and in order to see how far
back the line of warriors extended, I picked up a large field-glass
which hung on a rack, and as I pulled it out with a click, the warriors
jumped back, wheeled their ponies and scattered. This pleased me greatly,
and I told my mother I could fight the whole Sioux tribe with a spyglass,
(3)
Nelson
Miles, Personal
Recollections and Observations (1896)
In June,
1878, I decided to make a march up the valley of the Yellowstone to
examine a route for a telegraph line and visit the camp of the Crow
Indians and the Custer battleground on the Little Big Horn. With a
few staff officers and one troop of cavalry as escort, we moved up
the valley of the Yellowstone. It was an interesting march. At the
mouth of the Big Horn I found the large camp of Crows, some fifteen
hundred in number. They had always been on friendly terms with the
government and were rich in Indian property. They had splendid lodges
made of buffalo and elk hides, with an abundance of Indian paraphernalia.
It was estimated that the tribe had at the time twelve thousand horses
or Indian ponies. The Crows were ever friends of the white race and
bitter enemies of the Sioux, and knowing that the country had been
cleared of hostile Sioux, they rejoiced with exceeding joy and hailed
us as conquerors of their lifelong enemies. It
took them three days to "paint up"; they adorned themselves
and their horses in most gorgeous array.
It was a scene
for an artist that can never be reproduced. I have often regretted
that Frederic Remington was not with me. Their steeds were painted
in most fantastic colors and decorated with spangles, colored horsehair,
and hawks' feathers. They seemed as wild as their riders, racing,
rearing, and plunging, yet controlled by the most expert horsemanship
in the world. The warriors were painted and bedecked in every
conceivable way, no two alike. Their war jackets were adorned with
elk teeth, silver, mother-of-pearl, beads, and porcupine quills of
the richest design and rarest workmanship. Some wore bear-claw necklaces,
and human scalplocks dangled from their spears. Their eagle-feathered
war bonnets waved in the air, to obtain each one of which required
the choice feathers of eight eagles and years of patient and skilled
hunting. They passed in review, performed several manceuvers, and
finally divided into two bodies and fought the most spirited sham
battle I have ever witnessed. The most interesting feature of the
whole display was the mimicry of nature by the Indians in war and
hunting. Some of the Indians and their ponies were painted so perfectly
that it was impossible to distinguish them against a background of
green grass, foliage, or sage-brush. This art of making themselves
indistinguishable was highly developed among the Indians.
(4)
Nelson
Miles, Personal
Recollections and Observations (1896)
The cause
of the Indian War of 1876-77 in the Northwest may be briefly stated.
That country originally belonged to the great Crow Tribe of friendly
Indians. The Sioux Indians drifted from the region of the Great Lakes,
and as they were driven west, in turn, they drove the Crows back to
the mountains. The Sioux, or cutthroats, as they were called, finally
took the name of the Dakota Nation, made up principally of Uncapapas,
Ogalallas, Minneconjoux, Sans Arcs, and Brules. Also affiliated with
them were the Cheyennes, Yanktonais, Tetons, Santees, and Assiniboins.
They claimed the whole of that northwest country, what is now North
and South Dakota, northern Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, and eastern
Montana.
In 1869 the government,
in consideration of the Indians giving up a large part of their country,
granted them large reservations, known as the Spotted Tail and Red
Cloud agencies, and other reservations west of the Missouri. It also
allowed them a large range of country as hunting-grounds, and, in
addition, agreed to give them stated annuities. It was distinctly
understood that the government would keep white people from occupying
or trespassing upon the lands granted to the Indians. In the main,
the Indians adhered to the
conditions of the treaty, but unfortunately the government could not,
or did not, comply with its part of the compact. Between the years
1869-75 the pressure of advancing civilization was very great upon
all sides. The hunters, prospectors, miners, and settlers were trespassing
upon the lands granted to the Indians.
It was generally believed
that the Black Hills country possessed rich mineral deposits, and
miners were permitted to prospect for mines. Surveying parties were
allowed to traverse the country for routes upon which to construct
railways, and even the government sent exploring expeditions into
the Black Hills country, that reported evidences of gold fields. All
this created great excitement on the part of the white people and
a strong desire to occupy that country. At the same time it exasperated
the Indians to an intense degree, until disaffection developed into
open hostilities.
(5)
John
F. Finerty, Warpath and Bivouac
(1890)
Their horses - nearly
every man had an extra pony - were little beauties, and neighed shrilly
at their American brethren, who unused to Indians, kicked, plunged
and reared in a manner that threatened a general stampede. "How!
How!" the Crows shouted to us, one by one, as they filed past.
When near enough, they extended their hands and gave ours a hearty
shaking. Most of them were young men, many of whom were handsomer
than some white people I have met. Three squaws were there on horseback,
wives of the chiefs.
The head sachems were
Old Crow, Medicine Crow, Feather Head, and Good Heart, all deadly
enemies of the Sioux. Each man wore a gaily colored mantle, handsome
leggings, eagle feathers, and elaborately worked moccasins. In addition
to their carbines and spears, they carried the primeval bow and arrow.
Their hair was long, but gracefully tied up and gorgeously plumed.
Their features as a rule were aquiline, and the Crows have the least
prominent cheek bones of any Indians that I have yet encountered.
The squaws wore a kind of half-petticoat and parted their hair in
the middle, the only means of guessing at their sex. Quick as lightning
they gained the center of our camp, dismounted, watered and lariated
their ponies, constructed
their tepees or lodges, and like
magic the Indian village arose in our midst. Fires
were lighted without delay and the Crows were
soon devouring their evening meal of dried bear's
meat and black-tailed deer.
(6)
Speech made by Old Crow in 1876, quoted by John
F. Finerty in his book, Warpath
and Bivouac (1890)
The great white chief
will hear his Indian brother. These are our lands by inheritance.
The Great Spirit gave them to our fathers, but the Sioux stole them
from us. They hunt upon our mountains. They fish in our streams. They
have stolen our horses. They have murdered our squaws, our children.
What white man has done these things to us? The face of the Sioux
is red, but his heart is black. But the heart of the pale face has
ever been red to the Crow.
The scalp of no white
man hangs in our lodges. They are thick as grass in the wigwams of
the Sioux. The great white chief will lead us against no other tribe
of red men. Our war is with the Sioux and only them. We want back
our lands. We want their women for our slaves, to work for us as our
women have had to work for them. We want their horses for our young
men, and their mules for our squaws. The Sioux have trampled upon
our hearts. We shall spit upon their scalps. The great white chief
sees that my young men have come to fight. No Sioux shall see their
backs.Where the white warrior goes there shall we be also.
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