Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-02-14
BY GEORGE NJ. CASEY


The name Of Mountain Chief,
gallant fighting man Of the Black
feet nation who died recently at
Browning at the age of "a. is in
deIfbIy linked with one Of the most
shameful deeds ever perpetrated
by the white race In its subjuga-
ton Of the Indians.
The chief character in this black
chapter Of conquest was one Brevet
Col. Eugene M. Baker, who, with four
troops of the Second cavalry, went
out from Fort Shaw to attack Noun
tain Chief, and either by design or
foolhardy mistake, instead fell upon
Blackfeet smallpox camp and massa-
cred close to 200 infirm Indians-old
men, women and children.
For sheer wanton butchery it was
equal or superior to anything that ever
happened in the long years of conflict
between red men and white. The Baker
battle on the Marias river was no
battle" whatever. Powerless to fight
back, and the victims of a surprise at
tack in the dead of night besides, they
could neither run nor fight. They were
simply annihilated.
The Incident at Fort Benton
There had been bad blood for some
time prior to the outbreak Of the Pie
gan war, of which the Baker battle
was the tragic denouement. An incl
dent which occurred in 1869 gave the
Blackfeet small cause to extend the
hand of brotherhood to the white men.
In the summer of that year four or
five wagons were attacked by Indians,
who were afterward discovered to be
fe FTof1ac
from Fort Benton and couple Of
white men were killed.
At this critical time, with the pop
ulace of Fort Benton in a tittery state,
the brother of Mountain Chief and a
14-year-old Blood youth, rode into the
post with special orders from Major
Alexander CulbertSon. These innocent
Indians were shot down like so many
coyotes by the civilized" whites.
The whites soon realized, of course,
that it was all a mistake but since the
killing of a mere Indian came under
the classification of legitimate sport, |
to all intents and purposes, the muir
derers went unpublished and Mountain |
Chief and his followers had no redress
save the warpath
There followed not long after the
murder by the Indians of Malcolm !
Clarke, who had retired from the |
American Fur Co. and was living with
his wife and family in the Prickly |
Pear valley near Helena. Clarke had |
married the daughter Of a chief of the |
Piegans and was held in high esteem |
among the Indians, who called him
the -Four Bears" because of his mar
velous kill of grizzlies.
Malcolm Clarke used all his fine
gifts of persuasion TO keep the In
dams hatred for the whites from vio-
lent outbreak but as incident followed
incident, he was soon hard put TO
protect his own skin. Mountain Chief,
who was his friend, once told him:
IT despise the whites; they have en-
croached on our territory; they are
killing our buffalo, which will soon
pass away; they have treated my ma
ton like dogs; and, hereafter, shall
no longer be responsible for depreda-
lions which may be committed by my
young men, for we, the Pi-kan-ies,
have been made to suffer for the bad
deeds of the other tribes. We do not
wish these palefaces to come to our
villages. If we desire to trade, we will
go into their forts, dispose Of our robes
and leave There is nothing in common
between usl With you, my friend, 1t
is far different; you have identified
yourself with us by marrying into the
nation and have children. Therefore,
we suffer you among us"
But subsequent developments proved
that with Malcolm Clarke it really
wasn't $50 far different"
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