Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 30 99
(Imuks-ay'k-ni), from the Followers of the Buffalo;
and the Crooked Backs (Namo-pi'si), from the
Many Tumors.
Of the major bands and their affiliates, the
Followers of the Buffalo was undoubtedly the
largest and for many years the most influential.
The earliest known leader was Bull Back Fat who
was described in 1833 by George Catlin (1926,
1:33) as "the head chief of the Blackfeet nation;
he is a good-looking and dignified Indian, about
fifty years of age." After a quarter century of
warfare between the Blackfeet and the Americans
following the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Bull
Back Fat was the man who finally established
peace in 1832. He later permitted the American
Fur Co. to construct Fort Piegan on the Upper
Missouri and added to his own influence when
his daughter married one of the traders. After the
chiefs death in 1842, the leadership of the Followers
of the Buffalo was taken by his son, also
known as Bull Back Fat.
The domination of the Blood tribe by the
Followers of the Buffalo began to erode during
the late 1840s. This was due in part to the change
in leadership and to the fact that Seen From Afar
became chief of the rival Fish Eaters band. Not
only was the new leader a flamboyant man with
an enviable war record, but about the same time
as he assumed leadership, his sister. Holy Snake,
married the chief trader of the American Fur Co.,
Alexander Culbertson. The combination of Seen
From Afar's aggressive leadership and his influence
with the traders soon tipped the balance of
power away from the Followers of the Buffalo.
At the signing of the treaty with the American
government at Judith River in 1855, Bull Back
Fat and Seen From Afar were recognized as the
two leading chiefs of the tribe, but the latter was
given the signal honor of being the first to sign
the document.
One of the problems experienced by the Followers
of the Buffalo was that some of the bands
that had separated from it had exerted such
independence that they could not be counted
upon for support in tribal political matters. For
example. Many Spotted Horses of the Many Fat
Horses band considered himself to be equal in
stature to Bull Back Fat. He was one of the signers
of the 1855 treaty and later, when he was drawn
into a dispute within his own band, he abandoned
it and took over the leadership of the Lone
Fighters, a non-Followers of the Buffalo group.
Furthermore, when the second Bull Back Fat
died, the leadership of the band was taken by his
son-in-law. Father Of Many Children, but the
chief's nephew, the third Bull Back Fat, disputed
the choice and separated with a number of followers
to form the All Short People band. Needless
to say, this group was not a supporter of the
parent band.
Meanwhile, the Fish Eaters were able to maintain
the allegiance of all its offshoot bands. In
fact, the Many Brown Weasels and Six Mouths
often travelled with the Fish Eaters, while the
Bear People were ultimately absorbed back into
the parent band.
By the time the Bloods gathered on the Bow
River in 1877 to negotiate a treaty with the
Canadian government, the Followers of the Buffalo
were still numerically the largest band in the
tribe, but its leader. Father Of Many Children,
was ineffectual and so old that he had to be
carried about on a travois. Many people considered
his son. Hind Bull, to be a likely successor to
the position, but the old man had been unwilling
to resign. The Fish Eaters, on the other hand,
were led by 47-year-old Red Crow.
The government recognized Father Of Many
Children and Red Crow as the two chiefs of the
tribe, but when the former declined the position
of treaty head chief. Red Crow astutely arranged
for it to be offered to a patriarch. Rainy Chief,
who was a leader of one of the Fish Eaters'
offshoot bands. Accordingly, Red Crow for all
practical purposes became the sole head chief of
the tribe.
Red Crow further consolidated his position
when the treaty money was distributed. Each
chief was asked to identify the members of his
band so their names could be written on the
paysheets and their money given out. The Followers
of the Buffalo and their offshoot bands all