Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

86 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
falo hunting was possible for the Gros Ventres
much longer than for the Arapahoes, and there
was a good trade in buffalo robes until the 1870s.
Individuals could exchange robes for provisions
at the trading companies situated on or near the
Missouri. The difficulties faced by Gros Ventres
during the mid-nineteenth century were more
often those precipitated by war with other tribes
than by the threat of military attack from Whites
(Ewers, 1974). The Gros Ventres were not bothered
by incursions from White settlers until the
1870s. The intermediary role in Indian-White
relations seems to have been conferred only sporadically
and, according to Flannery (1953:36)
without formal installation by elders (see also
Lewis, 1942:42-43).
At the Blackfoot treaty council in 1855, Isaac
Stevens requested each tribe to authorize a head
chief to serve as main spokesman for the tribe.
Despite Flannery's informants' assertion that Sitting
Woman assumed this role, treaty proceedings
do not so indicate. The Piegan, Blood, and Northern
Blackfeet were represented by "head chiefs,"
but the Gros Ventres presented no one spokesman.
Stevens unsuccessfully tried to promote
Bear Shirt as Gros Ventre head chief; instead,
at the council eight "principal chiefs" (headmen),
acting in unison, signed the treaty (NA,
1855; Hatch, 1856:625-626). When F.V. Hayden
(1862:340) met the Gros Ventres in 1855, he
described them as "united in their undertakings"
but mentioned no intermediary chiefs. Until the
mid-1860s, there were no individuals who consistently
served as spokesmen.
By the 1860s, Sitting Woman, a famous warrior
and "the bravest man in the [Gros Ventre] nation"
according to the agent, was acknowledged
by the Gros Ventres as "head chief (Upson,
1864:440). Sitting Woman signed the treaties of
1865 and 1868 in his capacity as the Gros Ventres'
tribal chief (NA, 1865; NA, 1868b). Although
Agent Upson noted that the Gros Ventres were
"the best governed tribe in the Blackfeet nation"
and that "the head chief's word is law," this
statement is most probably an exaggeration.
Flannery's informants related stories about Sit­
ting Woman's bravery, but also about his responsiveness
to the expectations and wishes of his
tribesmen. In 1868, at the height of his reputation,
Sitting Woman and several other war chiefs
"abandoned the tribe" and with only 29 lodges
of followers joined the "hostile Sioux" despite the
Gros Ventre tribe's firm commitment to peace
with Whites (NA, 1868a). It is likely that the
intermediary role became less relevant after Congress
failed to ratify the treaty agreements of 1865
and 1868. In any case, since the other tribes in
the "Blackfoot Nation" were involved in sporadic
clashes with Whites, it was difficult for the Gros
Ventres, who were fewer and weaker than the
Piegan, Blood, and Blackfeet tribes, to cultivate
friendly relations with Whites.
In the 1870s, after Sitting Woman's death, no
individual appears to have been acknowledged as
Gros Ventre intermediary chief by government
officials or traders or by the Gros Ventres themselves.
It may be that after 1870 the Gros Ventres
were increasingly suspicious of Whites; although
the agent reported that smallpox was contracted
from "half-breeds" in Canada, the Gros Ventres
blamed Whites for the outbreak of the disease
(NA, 1869). In 1872, the Gros Ventres had two
prominent leaders, each of whom led a portion of
the tribe. White Eagle (referred to as second in
authority to Sitting Woman in 1867 by Wright,
1867:256) and his people stayed to the south and
allied themselves with the Crows, and Young
Man Bear and his people roamed to the north in
the vicinity of the Cypress Mountains (Stuart,
1872; NA, 1872). Subsequently, no individuals
were named as intermediary chiefs until after the
1878 establishment of the Fort Belknap Agency
for the Gros Ventres and Upper Assiniboines.
During the nineteenth century, the Gros
Ventre age grade system began to collapse. Alltribal
religious ceremonies became less frequent,
and the influence of elderly ritual authorities
waned. It is possible that tribal gatherings became
less feasible because there were frequent epidemics
during the century, and in these times it was
the custom for the tribe to scatter. Devastating
population loss also may have undermined re-