Biographical Dictionary of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara

Sources:

• Bowers. Alfred. Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Uni. of Chicago Press.

• Goodbird, Edward. Goodbird the Indian: His story. Minnesota Society Press; St. Paul, c1985.

• "Three Affiliated Tribes Cultural Page". MHA Times. vol. 8:2 , (January 12, 1996)., pp. 4.

Another story of hunting bear:

Sources:

• Libby, O.G. The Arikara Narrative of the campaign against the Hostile Dakotas, June, 1876. Rio Grande Press, Inc. Glorieta, N.M. 1976.

• Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.  The North American Indian, being a series of volumes picturing and describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska.  New York, Johnson Reprint Corp. [1970, c1907-30], p.178.

Peter Beauchamp or Sitting Bull was born on June 15, 1877,  to Peter "Pierre" Beauchamp (Frenchman with the American Fur Company) and Woman Goes Out (daughter of Sahnish Chief White Shield) on the Fort Berthold Reservation.  Peter grew-up at Like-a-Fishhook Village. On June 15, 1898 he was taken with a group of pupils escorted by Anna Dawson to Hampton Institute in Virginia. After completing school in January of 1902 Peter made his home in Nishu and married Adeline Z. Powell (a  school teacher at Shell Creek).  He was elected to the tribal council and served as the Chairman from 1942 - 1944.  Peter was fluent in both Sahnish and English languages which served the people well as a tribal representative.  Of his notable accomplishments was securing pensions for 148 Arikara Scouts and dispatchers, who served/worked  with the United States government.  Peter also organized the Old Scout Society and facilitated the creation of the original Old Scout Cemetery at Like-a-Fishhook Village.  He traveled to Washington, D.C. on a number of occasions to seek the return of land taken from the Three Affiliated Tribes by the government.  He also worked in a number of different professions such as a road foreman. Indian Court Judge, rancher/farmer, and Superintendent of the Sahnish Congregational Sunday School at White Shield, ND.  He was actively involved in church affairs and became a minister in the Congregational Church.  Peter Beauchamp lived to the age of 83 and died on August 29, 1960.

Sources:

_{Brudvig, Jon L. Ph.D. Hampton Normal & Agricultural Institutes American Indian Students, 1878-1923 / Compiled and edited from American Indian student files held in the archives of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia.. c1994, 1996.
Original location: http://www.umary.edu/~jlbrud/Hampton/HUINDBIO.htm}

The history and culture of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Sahnish (ARIKARA) / North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.. Bismarck, N.D. : North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, c2002., p140.

Sources:

• Lewis & Clark : Assiniboin Indians.  National Geographic, c1996-2003.  Found at: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_004_4_12.html

• Jackson, "Journey to the Mandans,  p. 180.

• Life Long Learning Online: the Lewis & Clark Rediscovery Project. "Chief Black Cat".  Found at: http://www.l3-lewisandclark.com/ShowOneObject.asp?SiteID=31&ObjectID=281

• Sinew-Backed Elk Antler Bow.  Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University,  Found at: http://www.peabody.harvard.edu/Lewis_and_Clark/bow.html

• "Three Affiliated Tribes Cultural Page : Tribal chiefs of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara". MHA Times. vol. 7:8 , (March 1,

He was an Indian Court Judge at the beginning of the reservation period at Fort Berthold.

Sources:

Bowers, Alfred W.  Hidatsa social and ceremonial organization. 9; U.S. Government Printing Office, c1965.

 Bloody Knife or Nes-i-ri-pat was born about 1840, in the area of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in what is today North Dakota. His father was a Hunkpapa Dakota and his mother an Arikara. In his early years he was abused by the other boys (but mostly by Gall) his age because of his mixed Arikara/Dakota blood. Then Bloody Knife's mother finally had enough and left the Hunkpapa in 1856 with her three sons and returned home to her own people. She left behind with her husband Bloody Knife's sister. Bloody Knife returned to visit his father in 1860 at the mouth of the Rosebud river. When he arrived he would have been welcomed if it wasn't for his boyhood enemy, Gall who was a member of the Soldier band with great influence. Instead, he was beaten, striped, and chased out of the camp. In 1862 his two younger brother's were caught and killed while out on a hunting party by a war party led by Chief Gall (Bloody Knife's lifelong enemy).

During the Civil War the upper Missouri forts were left  with skeleton crews to protect the peaceful village people.  The Dakota during this time took over the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara hunting grounds and the village tribes did not venture too far from their fortified villages.   At the end of the Civil War Gen. Sully's Northwestern Indian Expedition of 1865 failed to find these hostile Dakota as he marched his troops throughout North Dakota. During this time  Bloody Knife served as a scout for Sully and was assigned to Company C, of the 4th. Cavalry. In the Fall he followed a Dakota trail through the Little Missouri Badlands, to the Powder River. They returned unsuccessful and were relieved in October of 1865. Also that year  Bloody Knife took a wife named She Owl.

That same winter Gall, who had become a Chief came with four lodges of Hunkpapa Dakota to Ft. Berthold and encamped in the willows south of the Fort. They came to offer a peace alliance and were allowed to camp. Bloody Knife saw Gall and went immediately to the  ranking officer and informed that Gall had killed many white's and was trouble maker. The officer agreed to send troops with Bloody Knife to arrest Gall.  They reached Gall's camp as he was exiting his tipi and  was bayoneted in the chest by a soldier. The officer pronounced him dead, but Bloody Knife wasn't happy with yet and was about to shoot him when a lieutenant pushed the gun aside.  Gall's family quickly bound his wounds.

The next year Bloody Knife carried the mail on horseback between Ft. Totten and the western forts, through the hunting grounds claimed by the hostile eastern Dakota (Dakota who moved west after the Minnesota Massacre of 1862).  Carriers were so often killed by the Dakota that it was hard to find replacements.

Late spring of 1868 Bloody Knife and Red Legs were suspected of killing an old trapper by the name of La Franc for his furs.  That same spring on May 1st 1868, Bloody Knife enlisted on his first hitch (of eleven) as an Indian Scout at Ft. Stevenson. He was issued a Springfield 50/70 caliber Army rifle. Which was soon replace by a 50 cal. lever action 7 shot carbine. Among the scouts favorite duties was carrying mail, courier service, and guiding search parties for deserted soldiers.

After 1872, Fort Abraham Lincoln was established to protect  railroad construction crews building a rail line across North Dakota.  In next year 7th U.S. Cavalry, led by Col. George A. Custer, moved there and it became the most important fort in the Dakota Territory.  Bloody Knife & a number of other Arikara enlisted as scouts.  Bloody Knife was made Chief of these Indian Scouts.

9; Sept. 30th 1868, Blood Knife deserted and was not seen intil Feb. 4, 1869 when he led a scalping party on a 2 dead Dakota reported killed by Yellowstone Kelly. Afterwards the scalp dance carried on for days. On May 21, 1869 Bloody Knife re-enlisted at Ft. Buford and again on Feb. 18, 1870. He was discharged Aug. 18, 1870 and didn’t re-enlist until Sept. 30, 1870. On Dec. 28, 1870 his daughter died of an unspecified disease. In 1872 he was made a Corporal at Ft. Buford.

[Summer 1873, After being discharged from a six month enlistment at Ft. Lincoln as a Scout, Bloody Knife went on a drunk and while crossing on a Missouri Ferry got into an fight with the ferrymen and an Orderly Sergeant. The Sergeant tried to shot Bloody Knife but missed. The group of Indians left the ferry and when Bloody Knife reached the hill top he fired on the ferry]NDHQV.4#3.

[In 1873, he was chosen to scout for Gen. David S. Stanley's Yellowstone Expedition, that escorted the Northern Pacific Survey and exploring the Yellowstone river. [He took part in the fight against the hostile Sioux on that expedition.] On this campaign he served the newly-arrived Seventh Cavalry so well, that Lieut. Colonel George A. Custer induced him to transfer to his own command at Ft. Abraham Lincoln as Corporal of the Indian Scouts for the Black Hills Expedition of 1874.

He enlisted at Ft. Lincoln on May 30, 1874 for six months with the Black Hills Expedition spending July and August exploring the Black Hills. This was his last enlistment for Custer hired him as a civilian scout and guide for the fatal campaign against the Sioux in 1876. Bloody Knife was placed under Custer's command for the Black Hills Expedition, along with 100 other Arikara and Crow scouts. By the time they had reached the Black Hills almost all of the other scouts turned back for home fearing a Dakota attack. Bloody Knife remained. It was during this period that a great friendship developed between Bloody Knife and Custer. As a sign of their friendship he gave Bloody Knife a "starred" Handkerchief, an engraved silver medal, and promised to bring him to Washington D.C. after he won his next battle. [He was discharged on November 30, 1874, upon expiration of his six month service, as a Private of excellent and reliable character.

[One of his weaknesses was an inborn cruelty, and Custer recited an instance of this in his expedition to the Black Hills, 1874. In making a detour to behold a cave with promised wonders, they found a lonely old Sioux, and took him prisoner. Bloody Knife demanded his right to kill and scalp his old enemy-as he called in his own way. The General demurred, and the scout in a angry mood took the sulks and refused to be comforted. He dropped to the rear and rode alone the balance of the day, in dramatic humility and disgust.}N.D.H.Q.V. # 3

[Late in the Autumn of 1875, Bloody Knife had just returned from a hunting expedition and met the writer_________? The writer was asked by Bloody Knife. to join him in a hunting party into the Painted Woods area.

[On, March 13, 1876 he was employed by the regimental Quartermaster of the Seventh Cavalry for duty as a civilian guide for the Sioux Expedition into the Montana territory was then being assembled at Ft. Lincoln. On May 17th, the troops & scouts were paraded inside of Ft. Lincoln. They traveled west toward the Yellowstone river. They camped for 5 days on the Little Missouri while a scouting party was sent upriver to look for signs of the hostile. camped at the mouth of the Rosebud and broke camp at 12:00 noon on the May 22, 1876

[Still on the Rosebud, but on the main Indian trail on the night of the 23rd. They spent the entire next day on the Rosebud until about 9:00 pm (Bloody Knife and a few other scouts were in the camp this night) when the Crow scouts returned with information. They quickly saddled up and rode all night till morning. On the morning of the 25th. they dismounted in a ravine on the west slope of divide between Rosebud and Little Big Horn and made coffee and rested.

until they reached the Little Big Horn country. The scouts soon realized and warned the Generals of the great number of Dakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. In the afternoon of June 25, 1876, the scouts had sighted the huge camp and prepared to attack. Custer divided his forces and sent Major Reno's advance battalion and the Arikara scouts along the western(left) flank(bank) of the Little Big Horn river.

After they burned the teepees a number of the enemy where spotted on the bluffs above the valley. The Capt. Tom Custer's men, Bloody Knife and Curly(Crow Scout) gave chase but found nothing.

Reno's Battalion advanced up the river valley with increasing resistance. The firefight got too thick so Reno ordered his troops to the bluffs. Custer also ordered the scouts to capture the enemies horses. As the scouts neared the huge camp, they split into two groups. Bloody Knife led one group towards the camp, and the other group turned toward the trees where there where many horses.

The battalion was fired on at Reno creek so they took shelter in a grove of cottonwoods and watered their horses. Bloody knife and Major Reno were talking when a Dakota bullet hit Bloody Knife in the head, splattering blood all over Reno.

The results of the ensuing battle are etched in history as one of the U.S. Army's worst defeats. After the battle, Bloody Knife's body was scalped and decapitated. Two young girls brought his head to their mother in the camp where she recognized it as her brother's and exclaimed "Gall finally got him!" [Two days after the battle Young Hawk was in the deserted camp of the Sioux looking for abandoned meat supplies. A soldier, carrying a scalp he had found mounted on a stick, asked Young Hawk if this was a Dakota Scalp. Young Hawk took one look and recognized the gray streaked hair of Bloody Knife.] The remains of Bloody Knife where probably interned in the valley on June 27 or 28 by Col. John Gibbon's me. After Bloody Knife's death his wife, She Owl came to Ft. Berthold on April 14, 1879 to claim his back pay of $91.66.

Bob Tail Bull, born in 1834 was a member of the Awatixa Hidatsa proper band and was a prominent Sub chief under  Chief Crows Flies High. He was also keeper of the Waterbuster clan bundle and co-owner of the Earthnaming Bundle.  He was also a leader of the Black Mouth Society.  Bob Tail Bull helped lead the Hushga Band of Crows Flies High of Hidatsa and Mandan fleeing the imposition of "white" education, governance, and loss of traditional life. He returned with the Band in 1894.  He died at the age of 67 in 1901. [see photo]

Sources:

The history and culture of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Sahnish (ARIKARA) / North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.. Bismarck, N.D. : North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, c2002, 128.

Buffalo Bird Woman (Mahidiweash or Maxidiwiac) was born at the Awatixa Hidatsa village on the Knife River to Hidatsa Chief Small Ankle and Want-to-be-a-woman (Weahtee) about 1839. Her childhood was name was Good Way.  She was born into the Prairie Chicken clan of her mother and was a Water-Buster clan child of her father. She would be raised in a large family her father who married four sisters and the grandparents that also lived with them.  Her brothers were Wolf Chief, Bearstail, Flies Low, Red Kettle and Full Heart, and a sister named Cold Medicine.  The Hidatsa and Mandan were devastated by the Small-pox epidemic of 1837 and in an effort to find a safer home from the increasing attacks of their enemies the Dakota the two tribes moved North on the Missouri River when Buffalo Bird Woman  was about four years old to establish Like-a-fishhook Village.  At the age of six her mother died from small-pox and her grandmother Turtle raised her her.  About 1866 she marriage a man named Magpie, but the marriage only lasted about a year.  Magpie passed away a year later from lung sickness.  Before 1869 she married a Mandan named Son-of-Star and son had their only child named Goodbird. Buffalo Bird Woman was know as an active woman who often had her morning cook fire started before anyone else. About 1885, tribal members where force to accept individual allotments or homesteads and the family moved to the Independence Hill area.  In 1906 anthropologist and Presbyterian minister Gilbert Wilson came to recorded the stories and attitudes to the great changes she had seen during her lifetime.   Her son  Edward Goodbird or Tsa-ka-ka-sa-ki served as their interpreter for twelve years. The result of was a trilogy of books that captured the life and culture of the Hidatsa before the reservation period.  His writings centered on the agricultural techniques used by the Hidatsa and she was know as an expert.  The freindship that became of this endeavor brought Buffalo Bird Woman to honor Wilson by adopting him into her Prairie Chicken clan in 1909.  She was remembered as having a keen memory, being a modest, hard working mother that never wanted to learned English and remained true to her culture & ways.   Maxidiwiac passed on in 1932. 

Bulls Eye was born in 1864 to Lean Bull and Otter Woman.  He was a volunteer scout and served on the Yellowstone and was with General Armstrong Custer at Fort Abraham Lincoln. Bulls Eye succeeded Long Bear as chief in 1912 and served as Chief until he died in 1928.

Sources:

Charging Eagle was born in 1829 to the famous Mandan Chief Four Bears and Brown Woman (Mandan) at Fort Clark. He spent his first eight years growing up in the Ft. Clark village that his grandfather Suk-shi (Good Boy) had established. Throughout his youth he went by the name of Bad Gun, which was given to him by his grandfather.  Charging Eagle's parents died in the 1837 Small-pox Epidemic that devastated the tribes of the region. Thereafter Charging Eagle and his two sisters went to live with their relative Blue Bug and her husband Entrails (Hidatsa) in the Hidatsa village on the Knife River. The next summer they moved to the Rock village and across the river to the Village of the Perished Children the year after.  At the age of ten, Charging Eagle became a warrior defending his village against a Dakota attack. By 1845, he was living at Like-a-Fishhook village.  In 1850, he received hunting and war medicines, which he wore in his hair for good luck. Charging Eagle also joined the age-grade societies of the Black Mouth’s and Buffalo Societies. He later sold his rights to the Black Mouths to obtain his father's sacred robe that was painted with a rainbow and used in the rain making ceremonies. In 1852, Charging Eagle participated in his first Naxpike or Sun Dance. He was pierced through the chest and hung over a cliff all night  in the "old way" taught to him by Good-Furred-Robe.  He would take part in the Naxpike six more times in his lifetime.  By 1859, Bad Gun had earned the name of Charging Eagle after taking an enemy scalp in battle.   There were many interpretations of his name such as: Flying Eagle, Running Eagle, Rushing Eagle, and Eagle that pursues the Eagle.  Today the most used interpretation is Charging Eagle.  On July 27, 1866, Charging Eagle signed the Agreement at Ft. Berthold under Red Buffalo Cow as the second chief of the Mandan. In 1875, he was chosen as a delegate to represent the three tribes of the Fort Berthold Agency in Washington, D.C.  The U.S. Government was planning a war expedition into the Little Big Horn country against the Dakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho and wanted the support of the Fort Berthold tribes. Charging Eagle opposed the idea and managed to delay the expedition for a year. Others attending the meeting where: Mandan, Dance-Flag and Running Face, Chas Packenau (interpreter) ; Arikara; Son-Of-Star, Bullhead, Black Fox, Peter Beauchamp (interpreter).  It was at this time that Charging Eagle married a Hidatsa woman named Woman-in-the-water.  In 1878, Charging Eagle was made Chief of the Working Band.  He also served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Indian Police Service from August 11, 1881 to June 30, 1883 taking a one month break in July 1882. He eventually became a Judge for the Court of Indian Offenses and served in this capacity between 1881 and 1886. It was about this time that the Fort Berthold Indian Agent, William Courtenay described him as "of unquiet temper and restless tongue". In 1897, he took his allotment and moved to the Little Missouri area to be close to his sons during his latter years. In 1898, Charging Eagle, Poor Wolf and Wounded Face requested from the Government that they be able to visit Washington, D.C. to delegate just compensation for lands taken during the building of the railroad through the reservation. In his remembrance, many landmarks bear his name: Charging Eagle Bay on Lake Sakakawea, Charging Eagle District, and as one of the Chiefs  remembered on the Four Bears Bridge bears.

Bowers, Alfred., Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. University of Chicago Press, c

Metcalf, George., River Basin Surveys Paper #26. Smithsonian Institution: Bureau of American Ethnology, c

Meyer, Roy Willard, 1925- The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri: The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. : Uni. of Nebraska Press, c1977.

Martin Thomas Old Dog, Sr. was born on May 8th, 1906 to Chief Old Dog and  Many Dances. He was sent off to the Indian boarding schools at Flandreau, SD and Wahpeton, ND.  In 1942 he changed the family name from Old Dog to Cross. Martin Cross was a fluent speaker of Hidatsa and Mandan which would serve him well as a representative of the Three Affiliated Tribes. He served on the Tribal council for three terms; 1944-1946,1950-1952, and 1952-1956.    He was a member of the American Legion.  In the 1950's he was a founder and 1st President  of the North Dakota Council of Indian Tribes.   He was among the original founders of the National Congress of American Indians and served as their Vice President in 1953 In 1954 he was elected to the executive council of National Council of American Indians.  Martin also fought the creation of the Garrison Dam and the inundation of reservation lands for the Pick-Sloan project.  Also during his political life he fought against the impending termination movement in the mid-1950's to dissolve Indian reservations as sovereign political entities. Martin T. Cross passed on April 7th, 1964.

Sources:

Crow's Breast was born about 1820 probably at the Knife River villages near present-day Bismarck, ND.  He was a member of the Tamisik clan.  Of his early life not much is documented.  In the winter of 1856 Sir George Gore, the eighth Boronet, of Manor Gore, Country Danegel, Ireland, who wit Kit Carson came to the Upper Missouri region  to hunt and visited with Crow's Breast.   On Sept. 20, 1858 Crow's Breast is documented as holding a Goose Medicine Ceremony at Fort Atkinson to assure the return of the geese in the coming spring  Also in attendance  was Poor Wolf, Bear Hunter and other members of the band. _{(NDH, v.33:2)}   In 1864,Chief Crows Breast refused to join the Dakota in their war against the Americans.  Crow's Breast was listed a Head Chief representing the Hidatsa on an unratified Treaty dated July 27, 1866.  On November 1st, 1866, he   warned Capt. William G. Rankin of the 3rd. Battalion, 13th Infantry, Ft. Buford, that a large party of 2500 - 3000 Sioux warriors were on the war path 37 miles south._{(Innis, Sagas)}    We  also find a description of Crow's Breast at the age of 50.  He is described as being "Tall, straight, sturdy built at the age of 50 had no gray hair"._{(Trobriand, Military Life)}  Crow's Breast was a member of the Black Mouth Society and owner of the Woman Above Bundle, the Eagle Trapping bundle, and owned rights in the Naxpike ceremony.  Crow's Breast also was his portrait of by Stanley J. Morrow.

Sources:

"Crow’s Breast was a signer of the 1860 Ft. Berthold treaty. He was a Headman of the Blackmouth society. " ("Three Affiliated Tribes Cultural Page : Tribal chiefs of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara". MHA Times. vol. 7:8 , (March 1, 1996)., pp. 6.).

Innis, Ben, Sagas of the Smokey-Water : true stories reflecting historical aspects of the Missouri-Yellowstone confluence region, 1805-1910 : Williston, N.D : Centennial Press, c1985.

Like a fishhook village : Washington D.C.,  Dept. of Interior, 1972.

North Dakota History :Bismarck, N.D. : State Historical Society of North Dakota, vol. 33 : number 2.

Bowers. Alfred W. Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Uni. of Chicago Press.

Trobriand, Rbegis de., Military life in Dakota : the journal of Philippe Rbegis de Trobriand: Lincoln, NE : University of Nebraska Press, [1982] c1951.

In 1898, Crow Flies High led a group of his people to Williston, N.D. for a parade honoring the soldiers leaving for the Spanish-American War. He gave an exhibition of the old-time war dances, which was perhaps the last time that he danced for the public. Crow Flies High died of pneumonia at his home in Shell Creek in 1899. In his honor there is a butte above the Missouri River, and west of New Town, N.D. named after him. In April of 1996 many of the descendants of the Hushgaa re-enacted the return to Fort Berthold with a memorial ride commemorating the Hushgaa Band, their hardship, perseverance, determination, and commitment to preserve their culture.

Innis, Ben., Sagas of the Smoky-Water. Williston N.D. Centennial Press, 1985.

Meyer, Roy Willard, 1925- The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri: The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. : Uni. of Nebraska Press, c1977.

National Park Service. Midwest Archeological Center. "Garden Coulee" : found at: http://www.cr.nps.gov/mwac/fous/garden_coulee/History.htm

"Three Affiliated Tribes Cultural Page : Hushgaa Band-Early 1870’s to 1894-arrival at Shell Creek". MHA Times. vol. 8:11 , (March 22, 1996)., pp. 3.).

"Three Affiliated Tribes Cultural Page : Tribal chiefs of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara". MHA Times. vol. 7:8 , (March 1, 1996)., pp. 6.).

Rose Crows Flies High also known as Eda-awa-ge'dah (Back To Earth and Mia-edu-gaah (Woman Above Everything) was born to George Parshall and Ruby White Bear-Parshall in the Shell Creek District of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation on February 22, 1918.   She attended Bismarck Indian School were she excelled in Basketball and tap dancing.  After school, Rose earned a certificate in nursing from the Evangelical Hospital in Bismarck, ND.  On June 30th, 1930, she married George Crow Flies High (son of Chief Drags Wolf) at the county courthouse in Stanley, ND.  She would raise a large family of ten, 8 daughters and 2 sons.  She was active in tribal politics and represented the western district of the reservation on the Tribe's council .  in 1968, Rose was elected as the first woman  to the Tribal Business Council.  She also worked as the Tribe's social worker and  presented testimony on public welfare issues for the Three Affiliated Tribes.  In the Spring of 1968, she  helped with the planning of the Poor People's March on Washington, D.C.   That June, along with another two hundred thousand demonstrators, she marched on Washington, D.C., to stay in Resurrection City, an encampment on the Capital Mall.  In the Fall of 1972, Rose made her first attempt  to become Chairwoman of the Three Affiliated tribes.  Although she was successful, after two months in being elected, her appointment was overturned through an election dispute.  In the next election Rose was successful and served from 1972 to 1974 and as a council woman from 1974 to 1978.  Rose was instrumental in many projects that make the landscape of the reservation. 

Alyce Spotted Bear, commented on Rose: "she was a very humble woman in her own way, and she accomplished a lot in terms of helping to build an infrastructure for the tribal government, because she was chairman at a time when we were making this transition from the BIA, or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, running our tribe, to letting the tribe run our own affairs. She accomplished a lot because she was wise enough to surround herself with people who knew how to navigate the bureaucracy of the federal government and the state governments. She was largely responsible for seeing that all the community buildings and the different districts on our reservation were built and in seeing that we had a tribal administration building built."

 such as the Four Bears Park, Four Bears Motor Lodge, the Three Tribe Museum, the Tribal Administration Building, the start-up of the Northrop Manufacturing Plant in New Town, and the Mine-Tohe Health Center.  She also served on many boards and committees such as the American Indian Travel Commission, the United Tribes Board of Directors, the Four State Health Board, and Plains woman, a monthly newsletter headquartered in Grand Forks, ND, New Town Nursing Home, the Joint Tribal Advisory Commission (JTAC), the Tribal Landowners Association, and North Dakota Women in Government.  In 1979, Rose along with Arthur Tom Mandan, and Ronald Little Owl filed a suit against Secretary of the Interior, Cecil Andrus, claiming the Bureau of Indian Affairs unlawfully asserted jurisdictional powers over the Three Affiliated Tribes. Rose also was know  for maintaining  her cultural heritage and was often seen dancing at pow-wows.  She  was also a member of the Enemy-Woman's Society.  Rose Crow Flies High died in January 9th, 1994.  Rose was laid to rest at the Parshall Community cemetery in Parshall, ND.

Sources:

Copeland, Joseph. "Tribal Election Features Two Veteran Politicians" Minot Daily News, Nov. 19, 1974.

Grinnell, Calvin. "Reservation Mourns Loss of Former Tribal Chairperson, Rose Crow Flies High". MHA Times, vol. 6:2 (January 14, 1994)

The history and culture of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Sahnish (ARIKARA) / North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.. Bismarck, N.D. : North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, c2002, 144.

Smithsonian American Art Museum. Campfire Stories With George Catlin an encounter of Two Cultures: Transcript Chiefs and Leaders Alyce Spotted Bear. Found at: http://catlinclassroom.si.edu/interviews/cl-spottedbear.html

Sources:

Bowers. Alfred W. Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Uni. of Chicago Press.

Four Bears was born to Two Tails.  He was also had rights in ownership of the Daybreak and Sunset Wolf ceremonial Bundles.  Four Bears was a war Chief in the hard times after the 1837 small-pox epidemic that had ravaged the population of the Knife River Villages. 

Weakened and susceptible to attacks from their enemies the Dakota, who  who greatly outnumbered them and wanted to extend their territory north of the Heart River to include the large Painted Wood bottoms near present-day Washburn, North Dakota. 

 By 1845, Four Bears had succeeded in convincing not only his own people but the Mandan and later in 1862 the Arikara to move into one new village further up the Missouri river that would be called Like-a-Fishhook village.  He would become that villages greatest war chief.

In July 31st, 1851, Four Bears and a delegation representing the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara set out on a 1600 mile journey to speak at a gathering of Plains tribes to meet with the US Government and establish their territorial boundaries.  The delegation left from Fort Union with the Assiniboin delegation, Alexander Culbertson ( Agent in charge at Fort Union), and Fr. Jean-Pierre DeSmet (Jesuit Missionary) and followed the Yellowstone River south.  By August 11th, the delegation had reached Fort Sarpy on the mouth of the Rosebud River and waited for the Crow delegation for about a week. The delegation continued their journey and finally arrived at Horse Creek on September 8th, 1851.  On the 17th the delegation sign the treaty with the United States.  The Fort Laramie Treaty was written, establishing a reservation for the Gros Ventres (Hidatsa), Mandan and Arikara.  Four Bears signed for the Hidatsa, Iron Bear signed for Arikara, and White Wolf for the Mandan.  Four Bears became the "keeper" of a copy of the Treaty" that was painted on a buffalo hide.  In preparation for the Treaty signing Poor Wolf had helped define the  boundaries of Hidatsa lands according to tradition and stories associated tribal bundles. Four Bears would be killed while swimming near Fishhook Village in 1861.  A number of monuments have become landmarks at the For Berthold Indian Reservation dedicated to the War Chief and protector of Like-a-Fishhook village now stands in front of the Three Affiliated Tribes Museum.

Sources:

Life Long Learning Online: the Lewis & Clark Rediscovery Project. "Making Treaties".  Found at: http://www.l3-lewisandclark.com/ShowOneObject.asp?SiteID=31&ObjectID=512

Meyer, Roy Willard, 1925- The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri: The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. : Uni. of Nebraska Press, c1977., p. 103

("Three Affiliated Tribes Cultural Page : Tribal chiefs of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara". MHA Times. vol. 7:8 , (March 1, 1996)., pp. 6.).

Four Bears or Mahto-Topa of the Mandan was born about 1800 to Good Boy. He grew up along the Missouri River at the mouth of the Knife River. Located today near Stanton, N.D. it was one of the largest farming and trade centers of the Northern Plains. His early years coincided with the emergence of the "white man" into the Upper Missouri River Region and during his childhood probably witnessed many visits from the French, Spanish and finally the Americans. The Mandan welcomed these new people into their homes as friends, and so it was Four Bears developed a friendship that lasted until his deathbed.

Four Bears received his name from a battle against a war-party of Assiniboin. He stood his ground while the other Mandan fled and fought the Assiniboin so furiously that  they retreated. The Assiniboin later declared that Four Bears had fought with strength and ferocity of four bears charging. As custom dictates Four Bears depicted his war exploits as paintings on his tipi and clothing. Two buffalo robes depicting these war stories are kept in European museums today.  On one occasion Four Bears drew one of his exploits down  on paper which recounts a battle with a Cheyenne chief of which he told the story to German naturalist and explorer, Prince Maximilian zu Wied:

Mató-Tópe was, on that occasion, on foot, on a military expedition, with a few Mandans, when they encountered four Chayennes [sic], their most virulent foes, on horseback. The chief of the latter, seeing that their enemies were on foot, and that the combat would thereby be unequal, dismounted, and the two parties attacked each other. The two chiefs fired, missed, threw away their guns, and seized their naked weapons; the Chayenne, a tall, powerful man, drew his knife, while Mató-Tópe, who was lighter and more agile, took his battle-axe. The former attempted to stab Mató-Tópe, who laid hold of the blade of the knife, by which he, indeed, wounded his hand, but wrested the weapon from his enemy, and stabbed him with it, on which the Chayennes took to flight. Mató-Tópe's drawing of the scene... shows the guns which they had discharged and thrown aside, the blood flowing from the wounded hand of the Mandan chief .. and the wolf's tail at their heels - the Chayenne being distinguished by the fillet of otter skin on his forehead.

Four Bears grew into a strong warrior and established himself as a leader among his people through the Dog Soldier and Half Shorn Societies. He rose to eminence and became second chief without inheriting any bundles of his parents other than a sacred shield and the rain-calling robe. He had a successful war record and did much fasting. That would have never have elevated him to more than a war leader, but the many feasts that he gave to which the older hereditary bundle-owners were invited gave him the necessary prestige. Four Bears had a sacred robe with a rainbow painted on it that was thought to possess the power to invoke rain and to give luck.

He also augmented his prestige through participation in the Okipa Ceremony. Four Bear's gained further recognition in his second partaking of the Okipa Ceremony.

After an attack by the Arikara on the Mandan village, Four Bear's brother, who was guarding the horses outside the village, was missing for several days.  Four Bears was the first to the scene and found a lance still embedded in his brother's heart.  He returned to the village with the weapon where it was recognized as the spear of Won-ga-tap.   Four Bears walked through the village with the spear crying and proclaiming: "

"Let every Mandan (said he) be silent, and let no one sound the name of Mah-to-toh-pa—let no one ask for him, nor where he has gone, until you hear him sound the war-cry in front of the village, when he will enter it and show you the blood of Won-ga-tap. The blade of this lance shall drink the heart's blood of Won-ga-tap, or Mah-to-toh-pa mingles his shadow with that of his brother."
 

 Four Bears kept the  lance with his  brother's blood still on it and .  Four years later, he prepared for battle by fasting for seven days and completing the Okipa ceremony. He also cut the tip of a finger off and offered it to the "People Above."  In a vision he received, a raven came to him and told him who had killed his brother and how to go about getting revenge. Four Bears followed the raven's advice, he traveled 200 miles to the Arikara village and walked into  Won-ga-tap's lodge while he and his slept, ate his food, smoked his pipe, and stabbed him with his own spear.   He returned home  successful. In the early 1830's the Mandan were visited by the artists George Catlin and Carl Bodmer, whom became close friends and admirers of Four Bears. The paintings that these artists did of Four Bears made him the best known Native American of the Upper Plains prior to the 1837 Small-pox epidemic that decimated about 87 percent of the Mandan Tribe. George Catlin Described Four Bear as

According to Catlin's own account, Four Bears treated Catlin with much  ceremony. Four Bears had treated him to a feast served six or seven of his wives and  escorted him arm-in-arm through the village. (To read an online version of the account) Catlin was impressed by the fact that although Four Bears was only a sub-chief under the hereditary Chief, his prestige perhaps surpassed all  others through  his  strength and eloquence.  Four Bears became a casualty of this epidemic that arrived on the steamboat "St. Peter". Four Bears died on July 30, 1837.

Catlin tells of his friend Four Bear's death as related to him from the trader Kipp.

"This fine fellow sat in his lodge and watched every one of his family die about him (of the smallpox), his wives and his children...when he walked out, around the village, and wept over the final destruction of his tribe; his braves and warriors all laid low; when he came back to his lodge, where he covered his whole family with a number of robes, and wrapping another around himself, went out upon a hill at a little distance, where he laid for several days...resolved to starve himself to death. He remained there until the sixth day, when he had just strength enough to creep back to the village, when he entered the horrid gloom of his own wigwam, and laying his body alongside of the group of his family, drew his robe over him, and died on the ninth day... So have perished the friendly and hospitable Mandans" (Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians, Vol. II, pp. 257-59, 1841).

His descendants were the only survivors and successors eligible to become hereditary chiefs. His son Good Boy attained status as chief but soon died of the small-pox. Another son named Bad Gun later took over as a chief and cared for Four Bear's sacred bundles and tradition of this great Mandan Chief.

"My friend one and all [he is supposed to have said], listen to what I have to say-Ever since I can remember, I have loved the Whites, I have lived with them ever since I was a boy, and to the best of my knowledge, I have never wronged a White Man, on the contrary, I have always protected them from the insults of others, which they cannot deny. The 4 Bears never saw a White Man hungry, but what he gave him to eat, drink, and buffaloe skin to sleep on, in time of need. I was always ready to die for them, which they cannot deny. I have done everything that a red skin could do for them, and how have they repaid it! With ingratitude! I have never called a White Man a Dog, but today, I do Pronounce them to be a set of Black harted Dogs, they have deceived Me, them that I always considered as Brothers, has turned out to be My Worst enemies. I exhalt in, but to day I am Wounded, and by Whom, by those same White Dogs that I have always Considered, and treated as Brothers. I do not fear Death m,y friends. You Know it, but to die with my face rotten, that even the Wolves will shrink with horror at seeing Me, and say, to themselves, that is the 4 Bears the Friend of the Whites-

Listen well what I have to say, as it will be the last time you hear Me. think of your Wives, Children, Brothers, Sisters, Friends, and in fact all that you hold dear, are all Dead, or Dying, with their daces all rotten, caused by those dogs the whites, think of all that My friends, and rise all togather and Not leave one of them alive. The 4 Bears will act his Part". [Meyer, Roy Willard., The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1977., pp, 94

Bodmer, Karl. Karl Bodmer's America. Josslyn Art Museum & Uni. of Nebraska Press. 1984.

Bowers, Alfred., Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Uni. of Chicago Press.

Catlin, George, 1796-1872.  Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and conditions of the North American Indians ; written during eight years' travel (1832-1839) amongst the wildest tribes of Indians in North America / New York : Dover Publications, [1973]

Gallaghe, Marsha V.,  Four Bears.  Omaha, Neb. : Joslyn Art Museum, (n.d.)  Found at:http://www.joslyn.org/permcol/native/pages/fourbear.html

Meyer, Roy Willard, 1925- The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri: The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. : Uni. of Nebraska Press, c1977.

Taylor, Colin., The O-Kee-Pa and Four Bears: an insight into Mandan ethnology. London: The English Westerners' Society "Brand Book" Vol. 15, no. 3, Publication No. 188, 188, (April 1973)