Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-01-10

seemed generally to be guided by that
familiar saying,
H who fights. then u n away
May live to fight another day"
Washaki's on the situation
was that there were not many of the
Crows left, anyhow He did not feel
disposed to endanger the lives Of his
men by making them the targets of the
Crow s-harpshooters, who were concealed
in the timber.
Capture Much Loot
Indians, like white men, were not in
different to loot. They took all of it that
they could find, and it was always some
thing useful. After this battle. briggs
tells us, Our men brought in a very
large band of Crows horses n saddles,
and when they were unpacked I never
before saw such q pile Of buffalo robes,
blankets, bows n arrows. and guns"
And the Crow buffalo robes were the
best that could be procured, all the old
trappers assert. AS for the horses, the
Crows being expert horse s~tealers, and
often invading the Nez Perez country,
were apt to have choice stock.
The next morning the whole camp
turned out for the funeral of the Sho-
shones. Preceding, or following this cere-
mony, the squaws had the opportunity to
use their butcher knives. They made
thorough work of it, scelping every Grow
that remained unscalped by the war
riors. After watching them awhile, the
Mormon boy suggested to his Indian
mother that it might be a good idea to
scalp the Shoshones, and send their scalps
to the Crows. The suggestion was not
acted upon.
The boy saw so many scalped he be-
came nauseated.
So near as could be determined. briggs
thought there were about two hundred
horses taken; 81 Shoshones killed, and ID
dying later. There were, in all, 100
wounded.
The Crows lost 100 in battle, and many
more must have died Of wounds. Indians
had not attained the civilized ability to
NOV men down by thousands, instead Of
by hundreds.
briggs, who had earlier doubted the
courage of the Shoshones, no longer ques-
toned their bravery. How could he, after
seeing them engage a superior force n
come out of the fight victors!
Remain Three Weeks
The band remained at the lake for
three weeks in order to give the wounded
destined to live time to regain strength.
While there the women nursed the
wounded, and the warriors celebrated
their victory by endless dances with
chanted Accomplishments. They recount
ed their cOups, n proudly displayed the
scalps they had taken. If the wounded
craved silence, they did not get it-that
is not the way Of the Indians. The medi-
cine men themselves thought some kinds
OF noises were healing, and employed
them in their practice.
At the end Of the three weeks, the
tepees were taken down; the horses
rounded up n Washaki's band left
Henry's lake for Rock creek, where they
hunted the buffalo to their hearts con-
tent, undisturbed by Crow or Blackfoot
warhoop. They won this privilege by
their valor, and made the most Of 1t.
When we consider how numerous were
the robes taken from the Crows, 1t would
not seem necessary to kill buffaloes for
their hides. 1t vas not for these they
hunted but for the meat, and by this
time the buffaloes were fat from feed
ing on the fresh-sprung grass. Their
pemmican to be sure was bought at a
fearful price, but the victory they had
gained over the Crows meant that for
several years to come they need not be
on their guard against attacks from this
tribe, although 1T would not assure the
safety OF their horses.
One other tribe would always menace
their peaceful hunting along the Upper
Yellowstone, and that was the Prairie
eros Ventres. At least once in every TWO
years they visited their relatives, the
Arapahoes, from whom they were sepa-
rated many years before. There is no
record OF their visits being returned,
from which we infer that the Arapahoes
were none too anxious to recognize the
connection. However that may be the
life Of neither Indian nor white man
was spared when the Gros Ventres were
on their pilgrimage.
Attack Always Impending
The River Gros entries also came INTO
this locality. as did the Blackfeet, and
neither of these tribes were friendly to
the S~hoshones. The hunting excursions
Of any of the tribes were never UNDER
taken without fear OF attack. One other
advantage besides earning the respect OF
the Crows by their proving themselves