Tongue River Indian Massacre

Tongue River Indian massacre

Date	1820
Location	Tongue River in either Wyoming or Montana
Result	Cheyenne and Lakota victory

Belligerents

Cheyenne Indians and (Oglala) Lakota Indians

Crow Indians

Commanders and leaders

Unknown

Strength

The whole Cheyenne tribe, a camp of Lakotas

100 tipis in camp

Casualties and losses

Most likely very few, if any

All the men killed. An unknown number of woman and/or children already taken captive killed

The Tongue River Indian massacre was an attack by Cheyenne and Lakota Indians on a camp of Crow Indians in 1820. According to some Crows, it broke for ever the strength of the Crow tribe.^[1]^{:p. 190}

Background

The intertribal conflict between the Cheyennes and the Crows goes back a long time and started before the arrival of whites in the Yellowstone and Powder River area.^[2]^{:p. 127}

The Lakotas were also enemies of the Crow Indians. The Lakota winter count of Lone-Dog gives the year 1800-1801 as the winter, when "Thirty Dakotas [Lakotas] were killed by Crow Indians".^[3]^{:p. 273} According to American Horse's winter count, the Lakotas retaliated the next year. Several Lakotas, aided by Cheyennes, killed all the men in a Crow camp with 30 tipis and took the women and children captive.^[4]^{:p. 553}

The lead up

The lead up to the 1820 massacre was a Cheyenne raid in 1819. A Crow camp neutralized 30 Cheyenne Bowstring warriors during a defense of the horse herds.^[5]^{:p. 23}

To avenge the loss of so many young men, the whole Cheyenne tribe carried its sacred arrows, Mahuts, against the Crow the next spring. A Lakota camp joined the war expedition. (It may have been a camp of Oglala Lakotas, since the Oglala American Horse's winter count mentions the fight.)^[4]^{:p. 553} They camped at Powder River, either in present Montana or Wyoming. Crows from a camp at Tongue River westward chanced upon them just before dark. The Cheyenne and the Lakota realized they were discovered, and the warriors quickly prepared to make an attack on their foes. Meanwhile, the Crow camp organized a big war party to strike first and drive the enemies out of the Crow country. The two Indian armies crossed each other unnoticed during the night. The Crows lost the track and never found the camps at the Powder.^[5]^{:pp. 24-25}

The attack

The Cheyennes and Lakotas attacked the unprotected Crow camp at noon. With a camp with only women, children and old men, they were in control right from the start.^[2]^{:p. 130} They killed all the old men, captured the horse herds, took the women and children captive and reduced the camp to rubble.^[5]^{:p. 26} On the way back to Powder River, a wrangle started between the Cheyenne and the Lakota over the division of the more than 100 captives. During the heated discussion, an unknown number of Crow women and children were killed by the warriors.^[5]^{:p. 26}

The battle is mentioned in the Oglala Lakota American-Horse's winter count. It tells of a Crow camp with 100 tipis. The Lakotas "killed many and took many prisoners".^[4]^{:p. 553, fig. 776}

This was likely the most severe blow to the Crow tribe on the battlefield in historic time.^[1]^{:p. 190} ^[6]^{:p. 168}

Due to the meager sources, it seems impossible to give names of chiefs and warriors involved in the fighting, provide exact figures of the strength of the camps and the number of casualties. The attack may sometimes be confused with other big Cheyenne or Lakota victories over the Crow.^[2]^{:pp. 130-133} ^[7]^{:p. 55} James H. Bradley, chief of Crow scouts in 1876, has given an account of the battle as understood by him.^[8]^{:p. 179}

Plenty Coups Edward Curtis Portrait (c1908). Crow chief Plenty Coups told about the never forgotten massacre on a big Crow camp in 1820 to Frank B. Linderman.

Consequences

With the 1820 massacre the Cheyenne and Lakota prevented themselves from ever making an allied of the Crow, as they tried later during Red Cloud's War against the whites in the 1860s.^[7]^{:p. 91}

Later

The following years the devastating defeat resulted in attacks of revenge by the Crows, which the Cheyennes counter-revenged.^[5]^{:p. 27}

Cheyenne warrior George Bent visited the scene of the massacre in 1865 with his tribe. It still showed evidence of the destruction in form of broken tipi poles. Here and there, they found old hand weapons of stone in the grass.^[5]^{:p. 26}

With time, the Crow blamed the Lakota alone for the attack at Tongue River in 1820. More than 100 years later Crow chief Plenty Coups told about the never forgotten massacre. In his opinion, the Crows had nearly been wiped out "that terrible day" in 1820.^[1]^{:p. 190}

Crow woman Pretty Shield expressed the same view while telling about her life and the Crows to Frank B. Linderman.^[6]^{:p. 168}

References

1 2 3 Linderman, Frank B.(1962): Plenty Coups. Chief of the Crows. Lincoln/London.
1 2 3 Stands In Timber, John and Margot Liberty (1972): Cheyenne Memories. Lincoln and London.
↑ Mallory, Gerrick (1893): Picture-writing of the American Indians. Lone-Dog's Winter Count. Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-'89. Washington, 1893, pp. 273-287.
1 2 3 Mallory, Gerrick (1893): Picture-writing of the American Indians. Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1888-'89. Washington.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Hyde, George E. (1987): Life of George Bent. Written From His Letters. Norman.
1 2 Linderman, Frank B. (1974): Pretty Shield. Medicine Woman of the Crows. Lincoln and London.
1 2 Hoxie, Frederick E.(1995): Parading Through History. The making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805-1935. Cambridge.
↑ Bradley, James H.(1896): Journal of James H. Bradley. The Sioux Campaign of 1876 under the Command of General John Gibbon. Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana, Vol. 2, Helena, pp. 140-227.

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