Introduction of the White Man:
The Blackfeet had their first known meeting with white people in 1806 when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark met the tribe while mapping the Missouri River (Gibson, 2003, p. 23). Years after this meeting, the Blackfeet began to trade with British traders in Canada. They traded animal skins for gun and bullets which greatly changed their hunting and war tactics.
Image 1: Lewis and Clark
As white settlers pushed westward searching for farmland and gold the bison herds were greatly reduced. Settlers drove their herds of cattle through the hunting grounds and the first railroad cut through the migration paths of the bison. This greatly affected the Blackfeet and other Plains Indians as their main food source was suddenly vanishing. By 1860, few buffalo were left and the Blackfeet could no longer get food or shelter from their sacred buffalo (Gibson, 2003, p. 26). They began to rely on the government to supply them with food and signed a peace agreement which promised the Blackfeet $20,000 in goods and services in exchange for the Blackfeet to move onto a reservation (Gibson, 2003, p. 26). The Blackfeet relied on supplies sent from the government, although it would often take a long time to arrive, and when it got there, it was rotten. The Blackfeet called the winter of 1883-1884 Starvation Winter, as no government supplies came, there were no buffalo to hunt, and more than 600 Blackfeet died of hunger (Gibson, 2003, p. 28).
Disease:
The Blackfeet suffered devastating epidemics of smallpox, measles, tuberculosis and other diseases (The Blackfoot Gallery Committee, 2001, p. 59). Four major outbreaks of smallpox struck and killed many Blackfeet. About half of the nearly 5,000 Blackfeet died in these first outbreaks and in 1845 and 1869, outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases killed even more (Gibson, 2003, p. 24).
Baker Massacre
The Pikunni Blackfeet suffered incredible loss after Colonel Eugene Baker ordered a massacre on a village filled with few able bodied men since most were away hunting or overcoming a smallpox epidemic (Welch, 2010). Baker ordered his men to attack an Indian village of some thirty-seven lodges on the Marias River.The soldiers killed 173 Indians and captured 140 women and children and more than 300 horses (Ewers, 1957, p. 250). Unfortunately this was the wrong camp. It was the camp of friendly chief Heavy Runner. This loss was devastating for the Blackfeet as the white man hit them hard when they were at their weakest point.
Image 2: The Baker Massacre
Effects of U.S. Laws (Information received from Gibson, 2003)
- 1874:The government voted to change Blackfeet reservation borders which reduced the amount of Blackfeet land (p. 28)
- 1898: U.S. Congress passed the Curtis Act which got rid of tribal governments and made it illegal to practice traditional Indian religions (p. 29).
- Blackfeet children were sent to government and church boarding schools
- 1907: U.S. government adopted a policy of allotment on the Blackfeet Reservation which stated each family must live separately on their own land, not in a larger tribal group (p. 30).
- 1919: A drought destroyed crops and caused hunger among the Blackfeet which further reduced their population (p. 30).
- 1943: Indian Reorganization Act: Ended allotments and allowed tribes to choose their own government and openly practice their culture (p. 30).
Image 3: Holy Family Mission
The Holy Family Mission opened in 1890 on Two Medicine River and was a Catholic boarding school and served the Blackfeet for 50 years.
Image Citations:
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