Crow Topics – Access Genealogy

Use Of Tobacco Among North American Indians

Tobacco has been one of the most important gifts from the New World to the Old. In spite of the attempts of various authors to prove its Old World origin there can be no doubt that it was introduced into both Europe and Africa from America. Most species of Nicotiana are native to the New World, and there are only a few species which are undoubtedly extra- American. The custom of smoking is also characteristic of America. It was thoroughly established throughout eastern North and South America at the time of the discovery; and the early explorers, from Columbus on, speak of it as a strange and novel practice which they often find it hard to describe. It played an important part in many religious ceremonies, and the beliefs and observances connected with it are in themselves proof of its antiquity. Hundreds of pipes have been found in the pre-Columbian mounds and village sites of the eastern United States and, although these remains cannot be dated, some of them must be of considerable age. In the southwestern United States the Basket Makers, an ancient people whose remains are found below those of the prehistoric Cliff Dwellers, were smoking pipes at a time which could not have been much later than the beginning of our era.

The Tribes West of the Mississippi – Indian Wars

By treaties concluded by the agents of the United State government at different periods, nearly all of the Indian tribes have been induced to remove west of the Mississippi. Those who remain in the haunts of their fathers are chiefly converts to Christianity, and in a half civilized state. Many of the tribes have dwindled into insignificance, yet the few who remain are proud to maintain their distinctive appellation, and support the independence of their old clan. The most powerful and numerous tribes in the northwest are the Sioux, or Dacotahs, the Blackfeet, Crows, and Pawnees. A few of the … Read more

General History of the Western Indian Tribes 1851-1870 – Indian Wars

Up to 1851, the immense uninhabited plains east of the Rocky Mountains were admitted to be Indian Territory, and numerous tribes roamed from Texas and Mexico to the Northern boundary of the United States. Then came the discovery of gold in California, drawing a tide of emigration across this wide reservation, and it became necessary, by treaty with the Indians, to secure a broad highway to the Pacific shore. By these treaties the Indians were restricted to certain limits, but with the privilege of ranging, for hunting purposes, over the belt thus re-reserved as a route of travel.

Indian Hostilities in California and New Mexico – Indian Wars

In New Mexico, which became a part of the United States territory at the same time as California, the Indians are numerous and far more formidable than those farther west. The Apache Indians and Navajo Indians are the most powerful tribes west of the Mississippi. Being strong, active, and skillful, war is their delight, and they were the terror of the New Mexicans before the territory was occupied by the United States troops. The Pueblo Indians are among the best and most peaceable citizens of New Mexico. They, early after the Spanish conquest, embraced the forms of religion and the manners and customs of their then more civilized masters. The Pimos and Maricopos are peaceable tribes who cultivate the ground and endeavor to become good citizens. They are much exposed to the irresistible attacks of the Apache Indians and Navajo Indians, and, very often, the fruits of their honest toil become the plunder of those fierce wanderers.

Games of the Plains Tribes

Amusements and gambling are represented in collections by many curious devices. Adults rarely played for amusement, leaving such pastime to children; they themselves played for stakes. Most American games are more widely distributed than many other cultural traits; but a few seem almost entirely peculiar to the Plains. A game in which a forked anchor-like stick is thrown at a rolling ring was known to the Dakota, Omaha, and Pawnee. So far, it has not been reported from other tribes. Hoop Game Another game of limited distribution is the large hoop with a double pole, the two players endeavoring to … Read more

Treaty of August 4, 1825

For the purpose of perpetuating the friendship which has heretofore existed, as also to remove all future cause of discussion or dissension, as it respects trade and friendship between the United States and their citizens, and the Crow tribe of Indians, the President of the United States of America, by Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson, of the United States’ army, and Major Benjamin O’Fallon, Indian agent, with full powers and authority, specially appointed and commissioned for that purpose, of the one part, and the undersigned Chiefs, Head men and Warriors, of the said Crow tribe of Indians, on behalf of their tribe, … Read more

Indians of the Great Western Prairies

Upon the Yellowstone, and about the headwaters of the Missouri, the most noted tribes are the Crows and Blackfeet. Bordering upon them at the north and northeast are their enemies, the Ojibbeways, Knisteneaux, and Assinaboins, of some of whom brief mention has been made in former chapters. In 1834 the Blackfeet were computed to number over thirty thousand, but when the small-pox swept over the western country, in 1838, they were frightfully reduced. By the returns of 1850, they were represented as amounting to about thirteen thousand. As these Indians are among the farthest removed from the contaminating influence of … Read more

Montana Land Patents – Crow Tribe

Agreement of May 14, 1880

The chiefs of the Crow tribe of Indians now present in Washington hereby give their own consent and promise to use their best endeavors to procure the consent of the adult male members of said tribe to cede to the United States all that part of the present Crow reservation in the Territory of Montana described as follows, to wit: Beginning in mid-channel of the Yellowstone River, at a point opposite the mouth of Boulder Creek; thence up the mid-channel of said river to the point where it crosses the southern boundary of Montana, being the forty-fifth degree of north … Read more

Treaty of May 7, 1868

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, on the seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and between the undersigned commissioners on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of and representing the Crow Indians, they being duly authorized to act in the premises. Article 1. From this day forward peace between the parties to this treaty shall forever continue. The Government of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire … Read more

Crow Reservation

Crow Agency Report of Special Agent Walter Shiraw on the Indians of the Crow reservation, Crow agency, Custer County, Montana, July and August 1890. Names of Indian tribes or parts of tribes occupying said reservation: Mountain and River Crow. The unallotted area of the Crow reservation is 1,712,960 acres, or 7,364 square miles, and was established, altered, or changed by treaty of May 7, 1868 (15 U. S. Stats., p. 649); agreement made June 12, 1880, and approved by Congress April 11, 1882 (22 U. S. Stats., p. 42), and agreement made August 22,1881, approved by Congress July 10, 1882 … Read more

Crow Indians

Crow Indians. A translation, through the French gens des corbeaux, of their own name: Absároke, “crow-, sparrowhawk-, or bird-people.” Also called: Handeruka, Mandan name. Haideroka, Hidatsa name. Hounena, Arapaho name, signifying “crow men.” Issl£ppo’, Siksika name. Kangitoka, Yankton Dakota name. Ka’-xi, Winnebago name. Kihnatsa, Hidatsa name, signifying “they who refused the paunch,” and referring to the tradition regarding the separation of these two tribes. Kokokiwak, Fox name. Long-haired Indians, by Sanford (1819). O-e’-tun’-i-o, Cheyenne name, signifying “crow people.” Par-is-ca-oh-pan-ga, Hidatsa name, signifying “crow people” (Long, 1823). Stemchi, Kalispel name. StBmtchi, Salish name. Stimk, Okinagan name. Yaxka’-a, Wyandot name, signifying “crow.” … Read more

Treaty of September 17, 1851

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, in the Indian Territory, between D. D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian affairs, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, Indian agent, commissioners specially appointed and authorized by the President of the United States, of the first part, and the chiefs, headmen, and braves of the following Indian nations, residing south of the Missouri River, east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the lines of Texas and New Mexico, viz, the Sioux or Dahcotahs, Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, Crows, Assinaboines, Gros-Ventre Mandans, and Arrickaras, parties of the second part, on the seventeenth day of September, A. … Read more

Houses of the Crow Tribe

Parfleche box "Crows, Montana Ter. J. I. Allen." Length 28 inches, width 13 1/2 inches. (U.S.N.M. 130574)

Before the separation of the Crow from the Hidatsa they may have occupied permanent villages of earth-covered lodges, such as the latter continued to erect and use until very recent years. But after the separation the Crows moved into the mountains, the region drained by the upper tributaries of the Missouri, and there no longer built permanent structures but adopted the skin tipi, so easily erected and transported from place to place. Many of their tipis were very large, beautifully made and decorated, and were evidently not surpassed in any manner by the similar structures constructed by other tribes of … Read more

Crow Indian Research

Crow (trans., through French gens des corbeaux, of their own name, Absároke, crow, sparrow hawk, or bird people). A Siouan tribe forming part of the Hidatsa group, their separation from the Hidatsa having taken place, as Matthews (1894) believed, within the last 200 years. Hayden, following their tradition, placed it about 1776. According to this story it was the result of a factional dispute between two chiefs who were desperate men and nearly equal in the number of their followers. Archives, Libraries and Genealogy Societies AccessGenealogy Library – Provides a listing of our on line books, books we own, and … Read more

Crow Tribe

Crow Lodge of Twenty-five Buffalo Skins, 1832–33

Crow Indians (trans., through French gens des corbeaux, of their own name, Absároke, crow, sparrow hawk, or bird people). A Siouan tribe forming part of the Hidatsa group, their separation from the Hidatsa having taken place, as Matthews (1894) believed, within the last 200 years. Hayden, following their tradition, placed it about 1776. According to this story it was the result of a factional dispute between two chiefs who were desperate men and nearly equal in the number of their followers. They were then residing on Missouri river, and one of the two bands which afterward became the Crows withdrew … Read more

Crow Census Database

Blackfeet Tribe in War

The Blackfeet were a warlike people. How it may have been in the old days, before the coming of the white men, we do not know. Very likely, in early times, they were usually at peace with neighboring tribes, or, if quarrels took place, battles were fought, and men killed, this was only in angry dispute over what each party considered its rights. Their wars were probably not general, nor could they have been very bloody. When, however, horses came into the possession of the Indians, all this must have soon become changed. Hitherto there had really been no incentive … Read more

Blackfoot Tribe, Past and Present

Fifty years ago the name Blackfoot was one of terrible meaning to the white traveler who passed across that desolate buffalo-trodden waste which lay to the north of the Yellowstone River and east of the Rocky Mountains. This was the Blackfoot land, the undisputed home of a people which is said to have numbered in one of its tribes the Pi-k[)u]n’-i 8000 lodges, or 40,000 persons. Besides these, there were the Blackfeet and the Bloods, three tribes of one nation, speaking the same language, having the same customs, and holding the same religious faith. But this land had not always … Read more

Hidatsa

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 out its inapplicability, especially to the well-formed Hidatsa tribesmen. According to Dorsey, the French pioneers probably translated a native term referring to a traditional buffalo paunch, which occupies a prominent place in the Hidatsa mythology and which, in early times, led to a dispute and … Read more