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 to war. From
time to time expeditions may have gone out to kill enemies,--for glory, or
to take revenge for some injury,--but war had not yet been made desirable
by the hope of plunder, for none of their neighbors--any more than
themselves--had property which was worth capturing and taking
away. Primitive arms, dogs, clothing, and dried meat were common to all the
tribes, and were their only possessions, and usually each tribe had an
abundance of all these. It was not worth any man's while to make long
journeys and to run into danger merely to increase his store of such
property, when his present possessions were more than sufficient to meet
all his wants. Even if such things had seemed desirable plunder, the amount
of it which could be carried away was limited, since--for a war party--the
only means of transporting captured articles from place to place was on
men's backs, nor could men burdened with loads either run or fight. But
when horses became known, and the Indians began to realize what a change
the possession of these animals was working in their mode of life, when
they saw that, by enormously increasing the transporting power of each
family, horses made far greater possessions practicable, that they insured
the food supply, rendered the moving of the camp easier and more rapid,
made possible long journeys with a minimum of effort, and that they had a
value for trading, the Blackfoot mind received a new idea, the idea that
it was desirable to accumulate property. The Blackfoot saw that, since
horses could be exchanged for everything that was worth having, no one
had as many horses as he needed. A pretty wife, a handsome war bonnet,
a strong bow, a finely ornamented woman's dress,--any or all of these
things a man might obtain, if he had horses to trade for them. The
gambler at "hands," or at the ring game, could bet horses. The man who
was devoted to his last married wife could give her a horse as an evidence
of his affection.
We can readily understand what a change the advent of the horse must have
worked in the minds of a people like the Blackfeet, and how this changed
mental attitude would react on the Blackfoot way of living. At first, there
were but few horses among them, but they knew that their neighbors to the
west and south--across the mountains and on the great plains beyond the
Missouri and the Yellowstone--had plenty of them; that the K[=u]tenais, the
Kalispels, the Snakes, the Crows, and the Sioux were well provided. They
soon learned that horses were easily driven off, and that, even if followed
by those whose property they had taken, the pursued had a great advantage
over the pursuers; and we may feel sure that it was not long before the
idea of capturing horses from the enemy entered some Blackfoot head and was
put into practice.
Now began a systematic sending forth of war parties against neighboring
tribes for the purpose of capturing horses, which continued for about
seventy-five or eighty years, and has only been abandoned within the last
six or seven, and since the settlement of the country by the whites made it
impossible for the Blackfeet longer to pass backward and forward through it
on their raiding expeditions. Horse-taking at once became what might be
called an established industry among the Blackfeet. Success brought wealth
and fame, and there was a pleasing excitement about the war journey.
Except during the bitterest weather of the winter, war parties of Blackfeet
were constantly out, searching for camps of their enemies, from whom they
might capture horses. Usually the only object of such an expedition was to
secure plunder, but often enemies were killed, and sometimes the party set
out with the distinct intention of taking both scalps and horses.
Until some time after they had obtained guns, the Blackfeet were on
excellent terms with the northern Crees, but later the Chippeways from the
east made war on the Blackfeet, and this brought about general hostilities
against all Crees, which have continued up to within a few years. If I
recollect aright, the last fight which occurred between the Pi-kun'-i and
the Crees took place in 1886. In this skirmish, which followed an attempt
by the Crees to capture some Piegan horses, my friend,
Tail-feathers-coming-in-sight-over-the-Hill, killed and counted _coup_ on a
Cree whose scalp he afterward sent me, as an evidence of his prowess.
The Gros Ventres of the prairie, of Arapaho stock, known to the Blackfeet
as _At-séna,_ or Gut People, had been friends and allies of the Blackfeet
from the time they first came into the country, early in this century, up
to about the year 1862, when, according to Clark, peace was broken through
a mistake.[1] A war party of Snakes had gone to a Gros Ventres camp near
the Bear Paw Mountains and there killed two Gros Ventres and taken a white
pony, which they subsequently gave to a party of Piegans whom they met, and
with whom they made peace. The Gros Ventres afterward saw this horse in the
Piegan camp and supposed that the latter had killed their tribesman, and
this led to a long war. In the year 1867, the Piegans defeated the allied
Crows and Gros Ventres in a great battle near the Cypress Mountains, in
which about 450 of the enemy are said to have been killed.
[Footnote 1: Indian Sign Language, p. 70.]
An expression often used in these pages, and which is so familiar to one
who has lived much with Indians as to need no explanation, is the phrase to
count _coup_. Like many of the terms common in the Northwest, this one
comes down to us from the old French trappers and traders, and a _coup_ is,
of course, a blow. As commonly used, the expression is almost a direct
translation of the Indian phrase to strike the enemy, which is in ordinary
use among all tribes. This striking is the literal inflicting a blow on an
individual, and does not mean merely the attack on a body of enemies.
The most creditable act that an Indian can perform is to show that he is
brave, to prove, by some daring deed, his physical courage, his lack of
fear. In practice, this courage is shown by approaching near enough to an
enemy to strike or touch him with something that is held in the hand--to
come up within arm's length of him. To kill an enemy is praiseworthy, and
the act of scalping him may be so under certain circumstances, but neither
of these approaches in bravery the hitting or touching him with something
held in the hand. This is counting _coup_.
The man who does this shows himself without fear and is respected
accordingly. With certain tribes, as the Pawnees, Cheyennes, and others, it
was not very uncommon for a warrior to dash up to an enemy and strike him
before making any attempt to injure him, the effort to kill being secondary
to the _coup_. The blow might be struck with anything held in the hand,--a
whip, coupstick, club, lance, the muzzle of a gun, a bow, or what not. It
did not necessarily follow that the person on whom the _coup_ had been
counted would be injured. The act was performed in the case of a woman, who
might be captured, or even on a child, who was being made prisoner.
Often the dealing the _coup_ showed a very high degree of courage. As
already implied, it might be counted on a man who was defending himself
most desperately, and was trying his best to kill the approaching enemy,
or, even if the attempt was being made on a foe who had fallen, it was
never certain that he was beyond the power of inflicting injury. He might
be only wounded, and, just when the enemy had come close to him, and was
about to strike, he might have strength enough left to raise himself up and
shoot him dead. In their old wars, the Indians rarely took men
captive. The warrior never expected quarter nor gave it, and usually men
fought to the death, and died mute, defending themselves to the last--to
the last, striving to inflict some injury on the enemy.
The striking the blow was an important event in a man's life, and he who
performed this feat remembered it. He counted it. It was a proud day for
the young warrior when he counted his first _coup_, and each subsequent one
was remembered and numbered in the warrior's mind, just as an American of
to-day remembers the number of times he has been elected to Congress. At
certain dances and religious ceremonies, like that of the Medicine Lodge,
the warriors counted--or rather re-counted--their _coups_.
While the _coup_ was primarily, and usually, a blow with something held in
the hand, other acts in warfare which involved great danger to him who
performed them were also reckoned _coups_ by some tribes. Thus, for a
horseman to ride over and knock down an enemy, who was on foot, was
regarded among the Blackfeet as a _coup_, for the horseman might be shot at
close quarters, or might receive a lance thrust. It was the same to ride
one's horse violently against a mounted foe. An old Pawnee told me of a
_coup_ that he had counted by running up to a fallen enemy and jumping on
him with both feet. Sometimes the taking of horses counted a _coup_, but
this was not always the case.
As suggested by what has been already stated, each tribe of the Plains
Indians held its own view as to what constituted a _coup_. The Pawnees were
very strict in their interpretation of the term, and with them an act of
daring was not in itself deemed a _coup_. This was counted only when the
person of an enemy was actually touched. One or two incidents which have
occurred among the Pawnees will serve to illustrate their notions on this
point.
In the year 1867, the Pawnee scouts had been sent up to Ogallalla,
Nebraska, to guard the graders who were working on the Union Pacific
railroad. While they were there, some Sioux came down from the hills and
ran off a few mules, taking them across the North Platte. Major North took
twenty men and started after them. Crossing the river, and following it up
on the north bank, he headed them off, and before long came in sight of
them.
The six Sioux, when they found that they were pursued, left the mules that
they had taken, and ran; and the Pawnees, after chasing them eight or ten
miles, caught up with one of them, a brother of the well-known chief
Spotted Tail. Baptiste Bahele, a half-breed Skidi, had a very fast horse,
and was riding ahead of the other Pawnees, and shooting arrows at the
Sioux, who was shooting back at him. At length Baptiste shot the enemy's
horse in the hip, and the Indian dismounted and ran on foot toward a
ravine. Baptiste shot at him again, and this time sent an arrow nearly
through his body, so that the point projected in front. The Sioux caught
the arrow by the point, pulled it through his body, and shot it back at his
pursuer, and came very near hitting him. About that time, a ball from a
carbine hit the Sioux and knocked him down.
Then there was a race between Baptiste and the Pawnee next behind him, to
see which should count _coup_ on the fallen man. Baptiste was nearest to
him and reached him first, but just as he got to him, and was leaning over
from his horse, to strike the dead man, the animal shied at the body,
swerving to one side, and he failed to touch it. The horse ridden by the
other Pawnee ran right over the Sioux, and his rider leaned down and
touched him.
Baptiste claimed the _coup_--although acknowledging that he had not
actually touched the man--on the ground that he had exposed himself to all
the danger, and would have hit the man if his horse had not swerved as it
did from the body; but the Pawnees would not allow it, and all gave the
credit of the _coup_ to the other boy, because he had actually touched the
enemy.
On another occasion three or four young men started on the warpath from the
Pawnee village. When they came near to Spotted Tail's camp on the Platte
River, they crossed the stream, took some horses, and got them safely
across the river. Then one of the boys recrossed, went back to the camp,
and cut loose another horse. He had almost got this one out of the camp,
when an Indian came out of a lodge near by, and sat down. The Pawnee shot
the Sioux, counted _coup_ on him, scalped him, and then hurried across the
river with the whole Sioux camp in pursuit. When the party returned to the
Pawnee village, this boy was the only one who received credit for a _coup_.
Among the Blackfeet the capture of a shield, bow, gun, war bonnet, war
shirt, or medicine pipe was deemed a _coup_.
Nothing gave a man a higher place in the estimation of the people than the
counting of _coups_, for, I repeat, personal bravery is of all qualities
the most highly respected by Indians. On special occasions, as has been
said, men counted over again in public their _coups_. This served to
gratify personal vanity, and also to incite the young men to the
performance of similar brave deeds. Besides this, they often made a more
enduring record of these acts, by reproducing them pictographically on
robes, cowskins, and other hides. There is now in my possession an
illuminated cowskin, presented to me by Mr. J. Kipp, which contains the
record of the _coups_ and the most striking events in the life of Red
Crane, a Blackfoot warrior, painted by himself. These pictographs are very
rude and are drawn after the style common among Plains Indians, but no
doubt they were sufficiently lifelike to call up to the mind of the artist
each detail of the stirring events which they record.
The Indian warrior who stood up to relate some brave deed which he had
performed was almost always in a position to prove the truth of his
statements. Either he had the enemy's scalp, or some trophy captured from
him, to produce as evidence, or else he had a witness of his feat in some
companion. A man seldom boasted of any deed unless he was able to prove his
story, and false statements about exploits against the enemy were most
unusual. Temporary peace was often made between tribes usually at war, and,
at the friendly meetings which took place during such times of peace,
former battles were talked over, the performances of various individuals
discussed, and the acts of particular men in the different rights commented
on. In this way, if any man had falsely claimed to have done brave deeds,
he would be detected.
An example of this occurred many years ago among the Cheyennes. At that
time, there was a celebrated chief of the Skidi tribe of the Pawnee Nation
whose name was Big Eagle. He was very brave, and the Cheyennes greatly
feared him, and it was agreed among them that the man who could count
_coup_ on Big Eagle should be made warchief of the Cheyennes. After a fight
on the Loup River, a Cheyenne warrior claimed to have counted _coup_ on Big
Eagle by thrusting a lance through his buttocks. On the strength of the
claim, this man was made war chief of the Cheyennes. Some years later,
during a friendly visit made by the Pawnees to the Cheyennes, this incident
was mentioned. Big Eagle was present at the time, and, after inquiring
into the matter, he rose in council, denied that he had ever been struck as
claimed, and, throwing aside his robe, called on the Cheyennes present to
examine his body and to point out the scars left by the lance. None were
found. It was seen that Big Eagle spoke the truth; and the lying Cheyenne,
from the proud position of war chief, sank to a point where he was an
object of contempt to the meanest Indian in his tribe.
Among the Blackfeet a war party usually, or often, had its origin in a
dream. Some man who has a dream, after he awakes tells of it. Perhaps he
may say: "I dreamed that on a certain stream is a herd of horses that have
been given to me, and that I am going away to get. I am going to war. I
shall go to that place and get my band of horses." Then the men who know
him, who believe that his medicine is strong and that he will have good
luck, make up their minds to follow him. As soon as he has stated what he
intends to do, his women and his female relations begin to make moccasins
for him, and the old men among his relations begin to give him arrows and
powder and ball to fit him out for war. The relations of those who are
going with him do the same for them.
The leader notifies the young men who are going with him on what day and at
what hour he intends to start. He determines the time for himself, but
does not let the whole camp know it in advance. Of late years, large war
parties have not been desirable. They have preferred to go out in small
bodies. Just before a war party sets out, its members get together and sing
the "peeling a stick song," which is a wolf song. Then they build a sweat
lodge and go into it, and with them goes in an old man, a medicine-pipe
man, who has been a good warrior. They fill the pipe and ask him to pray
for them, that they may have good luck, and may accomplish what they
desire. The medicine-pipe man prays and sings and pours water on the hot
stones, and the warriors with their knives slice bits of skin and flesh
from their bodies,--their arms and breasts and sometimes from the tip of
the tongue,--which they offer to the Sun. Then, after the ceremony is over,
all dripping with perspiration from their vapor bath, the men go down to
the river and plunge in.
In starting out, a war party often marches in the daytime, but sometimes
they travel at night from the beginning. Often they may make an all night
march across a wide prairie, in passing over which they might be seen if
they travelled in the day. They journey on foot, always. The older men
carry their arms, while the boys bear the moccasins, the ropes, and the
food, which usually consists of dried meat or pemmican. They carry also
coats and blankets and their war bonnets and otter skin medicine. The
leader has but little physical labor to perform. His mind is occupied in
planning the movements of his party. He is treated with the greatest
respect. The others mend his moccasins, and give him the best of the food
which they carry.
After they get away from the main camp, the leader selects the strongest of
the young men, and sends him ahead to some designated butte, saying, "Go to
that place, and look carefully over the country, and if you see nothing,
make signals to us to come on." This scout goes on ahead, travelling in the
ravines and coulées, and keeps himself well hidden. After he has
reconnoitred and made signs that he sees nothing, the party proceeds
straight toward him.
The party usually starts early in the morning and travels all day, making
camp at sundown. During the day, if they happen to come upon an antelope or
a buffalo, they kill it, if possible, and take some of the meat with
them. They try in every way to economize their pemmican. They always
endeavor to make camp in the thick timber, where they cannot be seen; and
here, when it is necessary, on account of bad weather or for other reasons,
they build a war lodge. Taking four young cotton-woods or aspens, on which
the leaves are left, and lashing them together like lodge poles, but with
the butts up, about these they place other similar trees, also butts up and
untrimmed. The leaves keep the rain off, and prevent the light of the fire
which is built in the lodge from showing through. Sometimes, when on the
prairie, where there is no wood, in stormy weather they will build a
shelter of rocks. When the party has come close to the enemy, or into a
country where the enemy are likely to be found, they build no more fires,
but eat their food uncooked.
When they see fresh tracks of people, or signs that enemies are in the
country, they stop travelling in the daytime and move altogether by night,
until they come to some good place for hiding, and here they stop and
sleep. When day comes, the leader sends out young men to the different
buttes, to look over the country and see if they can discover the enemy. If
some one of the scouts reports that he has seen a camp, and that the enemy
have been found, the leader directs his men to paint themselves and put on
their war bonnets. This last is a figure of speech, since the war bonnets,
having of late years been usually ornamented with brass bells, could not be
worn in a secret attack, on account of the noise they would make. Before
painting themselves, therefore, they untie their war bonnets, and spread
them out on the ground, as if they were about to be worn, and then when
they have finished painting themselves, tie them up again. When it begins
to get dark, they start on the run for the enemy's camp. They leave their
food in camp, but carry their ropes slung over the shoulder and under the
arm, whips stuck in belts, guns and blankets.
After they have crept up close to the lodges, the leader chooses certain
men that have strong hearts, and takes them with him into the camp to cut
loose the horses. The rest of the party remain outside the camp, and look
about its outskirts, driving in any horses that may be feeding about, not
tied up. Of those who have gone into the camp, some cut loose one horse,
while others cut all that may be tied about a lodge. Some go only once into
the camp, and some go twice to get the horses. When they have secured the
horses, they drive them off a little way from the camp, at first going
slowly, and then mount and ride off fast. Generally, they travel two
nights and one day before sleeping.
This is the usual method of procedure of an ordinary expedition to capture
horses, and I have given it very nearly in the language of the men who
explained it to me.
In their hostile encounters, the Blackfeet have much that is common to many
Plains tribes, and also some customs that are peculiar to themselves. Like
most Indians, they are subject to sudden, apparently causeless, panics,
while at other times they display a courage that is heroic. They are firm
believers in luck, and will follow a leader who is fortunate in his
expeditions into almost any danger. On the other hand, if the leader of a
war party loses his young men, or any of them, the people in the camp think
that he is unlucky, and does not know how to lead a war party. Young men
will not follow him as a leader, and he is obliged to go as a servant or
scout under another leader. He is likely never again to lead a war party,
having learned to distrust his luck.
If a war party meets the enemy, and kills several of them, losing in the
battle one of its own number, it is likely, as the phrase is, to "cover"
the slain Blackfoot with all the dead enemies save one, and to have a scalp
dance over that remaining one. If a party had killed six of the enemy and
lost a man, it might "cover" the slain Blackfoot with five of the enemy. In
other words, the five dead enemies would pay for the one which the war
party had lost. So far, matters would be even, and they would feel at
liberty to rejoice over the victory gained over the one that is left.
The Blackfeet sometimes cut to pieces an enemy killed in battle. If a
Blackfoot had a relation killed by a member of another tribe, and afterward
killed one of this tribe, he was likely to cut him all to pieces "to get
even," that is, to gratify his spite--to obtain revenge. Sometimes, after
they had killed an enemy, they dragged his body into camp, so as to give
the children an opportunity to count _coup_ on it. Often they cut the feet
and hands off the dead, and took them away and danced over them for a long
time. Sometimes they cut off an arm or a leg, and often the head, and
danced and rejoiced over this trophy.
Women and children of hostile tribes were often captured, and adopted into
the Blackfoot tribes with all the rights and privileges of indigenous
members. Men were rarely captured. When they were taken, they were
sometimes killed in cold blood, especially if they had made a desperate
resistance before being captured. At other times, the captive would be kept
for a time, and then the chief would take him off away from the camp, and
give him provisions, clothing, arms, and a horse, and let him go. The
captive man always had a hard time at first. When he was brought into the
camp, the women and children threw dirt on him and counted _coups_ on him,
pounding him with sticks and clubs. He was rarely tied, but was always
watched. Often the man who had taken him prisoner had great trouble to
keep his tribesmen from killing him.
In the very early days of this century, war parties used commonly to start
out in the spring, going south to the land where horses were abundant,
being absent all summer and the next winter, and returning the following
summer or autumn, with great bands of horses. Sometimes they were gone two
years. They say that on such journeys they used to go to _Spai'yu ksah'ku_,
which means the Spanish lands--_Spai'yu_ being a recently made word, no
doubt from the French _espagnol._ That they did get as far as Mexico, or at
least New Mexico, is indicated by the fact that they brought back branded
horses and a few branded mules; for in these early days there was no stock
upon the Plains, and animals bearing brands were found only in the Spanish
American settlements. The Blackfeet did not know what these marks
meant. From their raids into these distant lands, they sometimes brought
back arms of strange make, lances, axes, and swords, of a form unlike any
that they had seen. The lances had broad heads; some of the axes, as
described, were evidently the old "T. Gray" trade axes of the southwest. A
sword, described as having a long, slender, straight blade, inlaid with a
flower pattern of yellow metal along the back, was probably an old Spanish
rapier.
In telling of these journeys to Spanish lands, they say of the very long
reeds which grow there, that they are very large at the butt, are jointed,
very hard, and very tall; they grow in marshy places; and the water there
has a strange, mouldy smell.
It is said, too, that there have been war parties who have crossed the
mountains and gone so far to the west that they have seen the big salt
water which lies beyond, or west of, the Great Salt Lake. Journeys as far
south as Salt Lake were not uncommon, and Hugh Monroe has told me of a war
party he accompanied which went as far as this.