Crow Nation

“ Whenever a Crow Indian dies his near relatives, male and female, sacrifice each a finger and sometimes two, and the loss of these people by sickness and enemies the last few years having been great, there is scarcely such a thing as a whole hand to be found in the Crow Nation. The men reserve the thumb and middle finger on the left and the thumb and two forefingers of the right hand to use the bow and gun, but all the rest are sacrificed. ”

“ Their chiefs declare that a Crow was never known to kill a white man excepting in self-defence.
As has been the fate of the North American savage since that dark December day when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, the Crows have been driven year after year from one of the most beautiful natural regions on the continent. Not only have the whites been the usurpers, but both the Sioux and the Cheyennes have been instrumental in confining them to a constantly decreasing area, until now the remnant of a once great nation is the ward of the government, and located on a limited reservation. ”

“ West from the Mandans there lived the Blackfeet nation. They roved through the Missouri country of northern Montana, and north into Canada.
The land of the Crows and of the Blackfeet overlapped. The two peoples were at war, on the plains and in the mountains.
By reason of their wars, the Crow nation had shrunk until they were down to seven thousand people, with many more women than men. But their warriors were tall and stately, their women industrious, their garb elegant. Their buffalo-hide lodges and their buffalo-robe clothing were the whitest, finest in the West. ”

“ Other tribes were continually attacking the Crows, killing their braves, and stealing their horses, and, of course, they were bound to make reprisals. In justice to the Crows I must say, that other tribes were generally the aggressors, until the policy was forced upon me of endeavouring to "conquer a peace." I thought, if I could make the Crow nation a terror to all their neighbours, that their antagonists would be reduced to petition for peace, and then turn their battle-axes into beaver-traps, and their lances into hunting knives. ”

“ The white adventurer failed to meet with jest the gale of laughter which presently drove him out of camp, leaving the Crow in possession. And the Crow was clever, distributing to the Blackfoot chiefs and medicine men gifts of axes and guns, of scarlet cloth and beads, every treasure the heart of man could covet, silks for the women, toys for the children, liquor by the keg. The Crow offered subsidy to every important leader, so long as he traded in safety with the Blackfoot nation. That night he had a wagon load of robes and a tribe drunk. ”

“ The Crows are a very reserved people, and it would be difficult to negotiate a treaty with them for the cession of any portion of their land. They have always refused to send a deputation to Washington, although repeatedly invited. Indeed, when I was their chief, I always opposed the proposition, as I foresaw very clearly what effect such a visit would produce upon their minds. The Crows, as a nation, had never credited any of the representations of the great wealth, and power, and numbers of their white brethren. ”

“ The next speaker was a Crow chief, who, standing by the council-table, said,—
"Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Crows, Father: I have been listening to your words, and they sound good. I hope you are not lying to each other. The Crows have long been the friends of the whites, and we want peace for all. We want powder, and when the white Father makes us presents, I want him to give us a good deal of ammunition." ”

“ We fight the Crows because they will not take half and give us peace with the other half.”
It is claimed that the Crows sprang from the Gros Ventres of the Missouri, whose language they speak. The Gros Ventres were a very weak tribe, or band, who had, by incessant wars with the surrounding tribes, become reduced to a very insignificant number of warriors. It is alleged, according to their tradition, that the Crows became a separate nation nearly two hundred years ago, because the tribe was becoming too numerous.
In the early years of the century the head chief of the Crows was A-ra-poo-ash. ”

“ They were a well-disciplined people. Women were given a voice in council but were most noted for their industry and skill. 69 According to Warren A. Ferris, Crow women were notoriously unfaithful, which, if true, was measurably contrary to the general condition among Indians. Among the men lust for fame was the end and purpose of life. Crow war psychology was a blend of cruelty, vanity, greed, foolhardiness, and magnificent courage. ”

“ No trial of strength and endurance, no test of bravery, no audacity of peril, hindered or made them afraid. They were more important than guns and munitions of war. The Crows made the best scouts, for two reasons: They had [pg 130] never taken up arms against the whites; all the neighbouring tribes battled against the Crows for the conquest of their land. The Crow scouts, therefore, aided the United States soldiers to conquer and drive out their hereditary foes that they might preserve their land and their homes. ”

“ Little Crow's father was friendly to the whites, and it was his dying wish that his son should assume the habits of civilized life and accustom himself to the new order of things, but the dying admonitions of the old man were of little avail and Little Crow soon became a dissolute, quarrelsome and dangerous Indian. ”

“ Never was there an attack more unexpected, nor a victory more easily obtained; and the discomfited Crow looked upon his two captors with an astonishment that he could not conceal. Their dress and tribe were altogether strange to him; and the scouts around the camp having brought in no report of any suspicious appearance or trail having been discovered, it could not be wondered at if he imagined that they must have pounced upon him from the clouds. ”

“ Over in the far corner of the field a flock of crows flew up from the waving corn. A white horse, drawing a buggy, was trotting along the road by the side of the cornfield. The driver had scared Mr. Jim Crow and all his chums. They flapped their big black wings as they flew. And they flew very straight, not like the pretty barn-swallows with their dark-blue wings. The swallow is a happy bird and skims and dances in the air like a fancy skater on the ice. But Mr. Jim Crow flies like an arrow. That is because he is always up to some mischief and forever running away when someone finds him out. ”

“ Whooping and yelling, and jumping from side to side like devils incarnate, they poured a shower of bullets and arrows upon the logs, yet not a Blackfoot was hurt; but several of the Crows, in spite of their antics, were shot down. In that ridiculous manner the fight continued for an hour or two. Now and then a Crow warrior, in an ecstasy of valour and vainglory, would scream forth his war-song, declare himself the bravest and greatest of all Indians, grasp his hatchet, strike it wildly upon the breastwork, and then, as he retreated to his companions, fall dead, riddled with arrows ”

“ The leader had on his full dress, his medicine bag, and his head-dress of war-eagle plumes. All was hushed in silence, nearly equal to that of the grave; when suddenly the shrill war-whistle of the Crow chief rung through the Blackfoot lodges, and the wild war-whoop burst at once from a hundred throats. The chief was in the thickest of the fight. There was no pity for youth or age; the war-club spared not, and the tomahawk was merciless. Yelling like fiends, the Crow warriors fled from hut to hut, from victim to victim. Neither women nor children were spared. ”

“ Your voices are big and your hearts are small. These white men see that the Crows cannot protect their hunting grounds; they will not trade with a nation of cowards and women; they will trade with the Blackfeet, who own the country. The Blackfeet will go home and tell the people that three thousand Crows could not take ninety warriors. After this no nation will have anything to do with the Crows. I am ashamed to be found among the Crows. I told the white men that you could fight. Now I will show you how black men and white men can fight. ”

“ And just then Old Professor Jim Crow flew by with his little Black Book under his wing, and as soon as he saw the little bunny, he perched himself on a stump and turned to page forty-three:
"When you're young it's time to learn,
When you're older you must earn."
And the Old Gentleman Crow took off his spectacles and said: "Do you hear that?" and then he cawed three times and a half and put his spectacles back into the case and closed his little Black Book.
"Yes, sir," answered the little rabbit. "Every day I learn something. ”

“ His own people—they are very bad. He says he would do us good! He does us no good to chide us and say we are bad. True, we are bad—and were we as bad as the palefaces, it would become us to listen to him. Would my brother do us good? Then let him tell us how to make powder and we will believe in the sincerity of his profession—but let him not belie us by saying we are bad, like the palefaces!”
The Crows also have their legends of enchantment, as have other tribes.
Once upon a time a party of Crow Indians were out hunting the buffalo, and they had with them a blind man. ”

“ So they were no nearer the truth than before, and the thefts continued; for each day Jim Crow would make himself white in the chalk-pit, fly into the forest and destroy the precious eggs of some innocent little bird, and afterward wash himself in some far-away brook, and return to his nest chuckling with glee to think he had fooled the Blue Jay so nicely. ”

“ I asked Washakie if he thought that there was any real danger of the Crows coming to attack us. He said that he did not think they would come to fight us in this place, but that they might try to steal our horses, or even attack small bands of our Indians if they ran on to them away from camp.
Every once in a while after that we would have a Crow scare. If the Indians saw a cloud of dust, they thought the Crows were after them. They acted like a band of sheep that had been run by coyotes. Every little thing would scare them. ”

“ This small community is undoubtedly a part of the tribe of Crows, of whom I have already spoken, living at the base of the Rocky Mountains, who have at some remote period, either in their war or hunting excursions, been run off by their enemy, and their retreat having been prevented, have thrown themselves upon the hospitality of the Mandans, to whom they have looked for protection, and under whose wing they are now living in a sort of confederacy, ready to intermarry and also to join, as they often have done, in the common defence of their country. ”

“ Your unhappy brethren of Africa, differing from you only in the colour of their skins, are so dear to you, and you begrudge so little the twenty millions you have paid on their behalf, that you love to have a memento of them continually in your sight. Jim Crow is the representative of that injured race, and as such is the idol of your populace! ”

“ It was said that the range that rimmed the new land in on the east was impenetrable, that no man could cross through its wild passes; but in the dead of winter, long after the Crow tribe had taken to winter quarters in the lower valleys, some white man’s lone trail was often seen leading down out of these peaks which others shunned even in the warmth of summer. He was even welcome in the wigwams of the Crows and frequently he tarried for a few days in their villages, but his restlessness always drove him forth to leave his tracks in the secluded fastnesses of the winter hills. ”

“ I could tell you a story about the time when a war party of our people felt sorry for some Crow warriors. They had no horses. They were starving and freezing in the deep snow, and they could not fight any more. So our war party did not kill them. It is a true story. But I will tell you about the time when the Crows were sorry for the Arapahoes. It also happened. The Arapahoes tell it themselves. We know their stories and they know ours, for we are friends. While the people are getting ready for the sun dance, I will tell you. ”

“ The Osage chief had lost all his warriors, with the exception of four, his baggage and ammunition were in the hands of the enemy, and he well knew that his only remaining chance of retaining the support of his allies, was in vigorously pursuing the success which he had so opportunely gained. The Crow chief, on the other hand, disheartened by the loss and disgrace which had befallen his tribe, and vexed beyond measure at the detention of his son’s favourite wife, justly attributed both these misfortunes to an alliance which had brought no increase either to his power or his wealth. ”

“ In the mean time the runaway crow flew through the country, and when he was hungry he would stop at a farm-house and rob a hen's nest and eat the eggs. It was his knowledge of farm- houses that made him so bold; but the farmers shot at the thieving bird once or twice, and this frightened Jim Crow so badly that he decided to keep away from the farms and find a living in some less dangerous way. ”

“ The birds looked at him curiously, and one or two fluttered their wings in a timid and nervous way; but none of them, little or big, thought best to make any reply.
"Well," said Jim Crow, gruffly, "what's the matter with you fellows? Haven't you got tongues? You seemed to talk fast enough a minute ago."
"Excuse me," replied a bullfinch, in a dignified voice; "we haven't the honor of your acquaintance. You are a stranger."
"My name's Jim Crow," he answered, "and I won't be a stranger long, because I'm going to live here." ”