Marias massacre
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The Marias massacre (also known as Baker's massacre) is a little-known massacre that took place in Montana during the late nineteenth century Indian Wars.
Relations between the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprising the Blackfoot, Blood, and Piegan tribes) and whites had been largely hostile for years ("Piegan War"). Amidst low-level hostilities, sometime in 1869, Owl Child, a young warrior, stole several of horses from Malcolm Clarke, a white trader. Clarke was able to track Owl Child down and beat him in front of his camp. Humiliated, Owl Child, with a band of rogue Piegans, sought revenge and killed Clarke at his trading post, also wounding his wife and son. The killing inflamed the public, which caused General Philip Sheridan to send out a band of cavalry (the Second US Regiment) led by Major Eugene Baker to track down and punish the offending party.
On January 23, 1870, they received a scouting report that the group of Piegans, led by Mountain Chief, was camped along the Marias River. They attacked the site at Willow Rounds, but Mountain Chief had been warned and left the area, so Baker's men instead ended up attacking the camp of Chief Heavy Runner, who had enjoyed friendly relations with the white men. As the men of the camp were mostly out hunting, the raid was a massacre of mostly women and children. A hasty count by Baker's men showed 173 dead (mostly women and children) with 140 women and children captured, while only one cavalryman died, after falling off his horse and breaking his leg. The prisoners were chased onto the prairie and left there. Mountain Chief's band escaped to Canada. Descendants of the victims retell the event through oral histories.
Many blamed Major Baker, a known alcoholic, for the massacre and failure to capture Mountain Chief's men. However, in the subsequent controversy, General Sheridan expressed his confidence in Baker's leadership, and managed to prevent an official investigation into the incident. Conflict between the settlers and the Blackfoot declined after this incident.
