Glacier County chief., 1939-10-27
Plenty Coups' First Scalp; Crow Youth Killed
Sioux Indian to Avenge Death of His Brother
By GLENDOL1N DAMON WAGNER

BY GLENDOLLN DAMON WAGNER
Greed, lust for power, thirst
for leadership, demand for terri
torial expansion, anxiety over
boundaries-those are not char
acteristics peculiar to the civilized
men of war-menaced Europe.
Seventy-five years ago the Crows
fought just as savagely to safe
guard their economic life. At that
time the Crow tribe claimed all
the land from Livingston to Abb
sarokee, and from the Big Horn
mountains to the Yellowstone river
Their economic security depended
chiefly upon buffalo, and also, there
fore, upon horses No vast plains, how
ever rich in buffalo grass, were of any
use without hunting horses. Hence
the Crows and their enemies reckoned
tribal wealth in terms of horses, Just
as nations today reckon their wealth
In terms of wheat, oil, coal, battle and
merchant ships, airplanes and SUBJ
marines.
The Crows were among the richest
and most powerful of all western In
dian tribes. Wealth then, as today.
aroused envy, fear and hatred. 1t
created enemies. Many battles were
fought to defend tribal rights and
tribal honor against the threat of
enemy invasion; Our peaceful Mon
time after time, by the blood of victor
and vanquished.
Chief Plenty Coups, shortly before
his death, related to me the story Of
the first battle Of which he had any
distinct Memories battle between
the Crows and the Sioux, on Blue
creek, in which his brother was killed.
Plenty Coups, at that time, was too
young to fight, but he remembered
the pang Of dread and pride with
which he watched his brother riding
out across the plains, taking his place
for the first time with the warriors,
and headed toward Blue creek. The
day before smoke signals sent up by
Crow wolves" had informed Chief
Sioux were seen invading Crow terri
tory. killing many buffalo. Plenty
Coups recalled the anxiety with which,
day after day, he awaited the return
of the Crow warriors and the grief
he felt when they did return, victori-
wounded. and one who had been killed
in battle. his brother. On that day
Plenty Coups put aside his carefree
boyhood and his boys games. He had
q definite aim to plan for and work
for. There remained to him, when he
became a man, the taking of life
of Sioux, as just price for his broth
er's life.
Plenty Coups' Vision
Many SHOWS rushed over his head
until Plenty CoupS too was man,
strong and fearless, eager to begin
his career as a Grow brave. He, like
most Grow boys, had marked the line
between adolescence and manhood by
going up into the mountain solitude,
alone, there to feast and to see
visions The vision that came to him,
after three days of fasting, he told
me, was that of an eagle, broad Of
wing, which lifted him up in strong
talons, bore him high into the blue,
and then safely to his people. The
eagle, therefore, was Plenty Coups'
strong medicine. Always after that,
he assured me gravely, in times of
danger, the eagle appeared In the blue
and circled directly over his head, and
So now, returning from the noun
tain, he was ready to join the braves
and make coup" taking the first
step upward on the long climb des-
tined to lead to craftsmanship. Eagerly
he waited an opportunity to encounter
the enemy, particularly the Sioux,
and make coup" by stealing horses,
or, possibly, if his medicine was good,
even by taking a scalp.
At length the chance came. Recently
Grow wolves" on lookout points re.
ported, by smoke, signals, that a band
of Sioux buffalo hunters had appeared
on the Musselshell Plenty Coups and
his friend, Big Shoulders, were sitting