As always, beautiful story and stunning pictures! Your pictures of this time, or at least in this medium, have an 'impressionist' feel to them, at least to me.
Found all sorts of links to Runing Eagle, including these...
en.wikipedia.org
ed-resources.net
americanheritage.com
This link has a long story about Running Eagle as well as others. It would be really interesting to meet the Museum Director at the Smithsonian who seems to know so much about her and others in this area….
bookrags.com
I enjoyed this story too….
RUNNING EAGLE
[Brown Weasel Woman, Pitamakan] (d. c.1878), known for her skills as a warrior, probably was born during the Hudson’s Bay trading era. She was a member of the Piegan tribe of the Blackfeet nation.
Brown Weasel Woman assumed the household duties when her mother became ill, although she disliked domestic routine. At a young age she was taught by her father, a warrior, to shoot a bow and arrow, and accompanied him on buffalo hunts, learning to shoot well enough to kill buffalo. On one of these hunts they encountered an enemy party. Her father’s horse was shot as they were retreating to camp; she returned and picked him up, unloading the fresh meat on her horse. They returned to the camp, where she was praised for her bravery. Her father died soon after.
Her mother died after learning of the father’s death, and Brown Weasel Woman took over the care of her brothers and sisters. Having no interest in marriage, she brought a widow into her lodge to help with the household and to care for the children. From then on, she carried a rifle inherited from her father and acted as the head of the family.
Brown Weasel Woman’s first war experience came soon after her parents’ deaths. Crow warriors had stolen some horses, and Blackfeet warriors went in pursuit of them. Told by the warriors to return to camp, she nevertheless trailed behind them. Several days later, the party reached the enemy camp.
During the raid, Brown Weasel Woman and a male cousin captured eleven horses. On the return to their camp, while the rest of the party rested under cover, she kept watch on the trail from a nearby butte. When she saw two enemy riders approach the horses, she ran down the butte with her rifle, caught hold of the rope of the herd’s lead horse to keep the rest from running away, shot one of the enemy, and forced the other to turn back. Instead of reloading her rifle, she grabbed the fallen enemy’s firearm and shot at, but missed, the man as he fled.
Still not accepted as a full warrior, she followed the advice of the wise elders and went out to fast and seek a vision. After four days and nights alone, she received a vision giving her the power necessary for leading a successful warrior’s life. From then on, the people considered her a person with special powers guided by the Spirits, and she was named Running Eagle by the chief, Lone Walker. She went on many raids and was allowed to tell of her exploits in the Medicine Lodge Ceremony. She became a member of the Braves Society of young warriors, and led many war parties.
Running Eagle died during one of these raids sometime after 1878. Near the Sun River, in a battle with a large party of Flathead warriors, she was clubbed from behind and killed. Trick Falls in Glacier National Park bore the name Pitamakan in her honor until it was renamed by white settlers.
Her name appears as Running Eagle Pe Tu on the Blackfoot Agency census of 1877 to 1878, but it is absent after that time.
References
Ewers, John. “Deadlier Than the Male.” American Heritage 16 (June 1965): 10–13.
Hungry Wolf, Beverly. The Ways of My Grandmothers. New York: William Morrow, 1980.
Pratt, Grace Roffey. “Female War Chief of the Blackfeet.” Frontier Times 45 (1971): 22–23, 46.
Schilz, Thomas, and Jodye Lynn Dickson Schilz. “Amazons, Witches and Country Wives: Plains Indian Women in Historical Perspective.” Annals of Wyoming 59 (Spring 1987): 48–56.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Blackfoot Agency Census. 1877–1878.
—Audrey M.Godfrey
bookrags.com |
