As soon as the command abandoned the camp, the Indians reoccupied it, and under the fire of the sharpshooters, hauled down several of their teepees, hastily bundled together the greater portion of their plunder, packed a number of horses with it, and, mounting their riding ponies, the squaws and children beat a hasty retreat down […]
Stubborn Resistance of the Indians in the Pine Woods Read More »
Veterans of the civil war, and men who have been years on the frontier, who have participated in many of the most sanguine Indian campaigns ever fought, say this was the most hotly-contested field they were ever on. They tell us that never have they seen such cool and determined fighting, at such short range,
Testimony of Officers and Men as to the Courage and Fierceness of the Nez Percé Read More »
A grateful country has erected on the Big Hole battle field a fitting monument, a modest but enduring shaft of solid granite, which marks the scene of the bloody conflict and tells in mute but eloquent words the story of the victory won there. The base of the monument is five feet six inches square;
General Gibbon moved as rapidly as his means of transportation would permit, cover ing thirty to thirty-five miles per day. In his march through the valley he was joined by thirty-six citizens who did not sympathize with the kind treatment their neighbors had shown the fugitives, but who believed that they (the Indians) should be
The Mandan had a vague tradition of emigration from the eastern part of the country, and Lewis and Clark, Prince Maximilian, and others found traces of Mandan house-structures at various points along the Missouri; thus they appear to have ascended that stream before the advent of the ȼegiha. During the historical period their movements were
There has been much confusion concerning the definition and designation of the Hidatsa Indians. They were formerly known as Minitari or Gros Ventres of the Missouri, in distinction from the Gros Ventres of the plains, who belong to another stock. The origin of the term Gros Ventres is somewhat obscure, and various observers have pointed
Fort Shaw Industrial Indian Boarding School opened in 1891 in Montana. It was discontinued 30 June 1910, due to declining enrollment. In 1904, it had a famous girls’ basketball team that barnstormed its way to St. Louis playing basketball and performing, and won the “World Championship” at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. This census
1910 Census of Fort Shaw Industrial Indian School Read More »
The Epic of the Nez Percé: Refusing life on a government-selected reservation, Chief Joseph, Chief Looking Glass, Chief White Bird, Chief Ollokot, Chief Lean Elk, and others led nearly 750 Nez Perce men, women, and children and twice that many horses over 1,170 miles through Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana mountains, on a trip that lasted from June to October of 1877, until checked by Miles just short of the Canadian border at Bear Paw Mountain (1877). This manuscript depicts their story.
The following tribes at one time are recorded in history as having resided within the present state of Montana. If the tribe name is in bold, then Montana is the primary location known for this tribe, otherwise we provide the tribes specifics as it pertains to Montana and then provide a link to the main
Salish Indians. In western Montana originally, extending from the Rocky Mountains on the west; south to the Gallatin; east to Crazy Mountain and Little Belt Ranges, north to some hilly country north of Helena. Later they were centered farther west around Flathead Lake. The Salish belonged to the interior division of the Salishan linguistic family, to which they have given their name.
Chippewa Indians. The earliest accounts of the Chippewa associate them particularly with the region of Sault Sainte Marie, but they came in time to extend over the entire northern shore of Lake Huron and both shores of Lake Superior, besides well into the northern interior and as far west as the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota.
Nez Percé Indians. A French appellation signifying “pierced noses.” Also called: Â’dal-k’ato’igo, Kiowa name, signifying “people with hair cut across the forehead.” Anípörspi, Calapooya name. A-pa-o-pa, Atsina name (Long, 1823). A-pū-pe’, Crow name, signifying “to paddle,” “paddles.” Blue Muds, name applied by traders. Chopunnish, Lewis and Clark. Green Wood Indians, Henry-Thompson Journal. I’-na-cpĕ, Quapaw name.
The Blackfeet Reservation was established when the treaty of 17 Oct. 1855 was entered into on the shores of Judith River, in what was in 1855, the Territory of Nebraska.
Having discharged the onerous duties of his office for a few months, Governor Smith returned to the states, and Meagher again came to the front. Once more he proclaimed a special session of the legislature, the motive of which was that a law had just been passed by congress and approved by the president convening
Under the first quartz-mining law of Montana, 100 feet in length constituted a claim. The second legislature changed this to 200 feet along the lode, with all the dips, spurs, and angles, and 50 feet on each side of the lode for working purposes; but 1,000 feet of ground might be taken in each direction
Among these detained in Beaverhead Valley because wagons could not go through from Lemhi to Salmon River was a party of which John White and John McGavin were members. This company, about the 1st of August, 1862, discovered placers on Willard or Grasshopper Creek, where Bannack City was built in consequence, which yielded from five
