(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Indians 101: American Indians and Montana statehood in 1889. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-17 When the United States reorganized its government by adopting a constitution in 1787, American Indian tribes were recognized as sovereign nations, meaning that dealings with the tribes was to be done by the federal government rather than the various state governments. As territories, particularly those in the west, became states, Indian tribes retained their sovereignty and were supposed to be immune from state laws. In 1889, Congress passed a federal Enabling Act which required Montana to hold constitutional conventions as a prerequisite of statehood. The federal act declares: “That the people inhabiting said proposed states do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to all lands owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes; and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the congress of the United States.” In Montana in 1889, voting was restricted to citizens, without regard to race or color. At this time American Indians were not considered citizens regardless of their place of birth and were thus not able to vote. In addition, Montana made sure that Indians would be unable to vote by specifically excluding from voting “Indians not taxed.” Buffalo had been the primary food for many Montana Indians for generations and during the nineteenth century, the United States had declared war on the buffalo as a way of defeating the Plains tribes. The great herds that had once grazed freely on the vast Great Plains were gone and by 1889, in Montana and Wyoming, there were only an estimated 200 buffalo left in Yellowstone National Park. Briefly described below are some of the Montana Indian events of 1889. Fort Belknap Reservation The Fort Belknap Reservation had been created for the Gros Ventre (see Indians 201: A very short overview of Montana’s Gros Ventre Indians) and Assiniboine (see Indians 101: A brief overview of the Assiniboine Indians) Indians. In 1889, the Gros Ventres on the Fort Belknap Reservation learned of Wovoka’s message from Gros Ventres who had visited the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. In his book Montana 1889, Ken Egan reports: “The Ghost Dance reaches Fort Belknap at a moment of cultural and spiritual demoralization, for the Aaniiih and Assiniboine have been confined to a small reservation in accord with the 1888 Sweetgrass Treaty. The bison are gone, the sacred ceremonies are banned, and the ways to honor—acquiring wealth through horses, giving away to those in need, and war deeds—have evaporated.” Fort Peck Reservation The Fort Peck Reservation had been created for Assinboine and Sioux bands. The Indian agent for the Assiniboine and Sioux on the Fort Peck Reservation reported a total of 1,702 Indians on the reservation. He also reported that the Indian built 160 log cabins in the past year and that no allotments had been made as the Indians were not yet ready to take lands in severalty. In 1889, five Yanktonai Sioux warriors left the Fort Peck Reservation for a raid on the Crow. Three weeks later they returned empty-handed. Historian Anthony McGinnis, in his book Counting Coup and Cutting Horses: Intertribal Warfare on the Northern Plains 1738-1889, writes: “This was the last recorded ‘formal’ war party on the northern plains.” Northern Cheyenne Reservation The Northern Cheyenne reservation was home to the Cheyenne who had refused to relocate to a reservation in what would become Oklahoma. In 1889, Wovoka’s Ghost Dance reached the Northern Cheyenne. Porcupine, White, and Magpie are among the Cheyenne leaders of the new dance. In 1889, Cheyenne roadman Leonard Tyler brought the peyote religion to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. In her University of Montana M.A. Thesis, The Northern Cheyenne, Missionaries, and Resistanceon the Tongue River Reservation 1884 through 1934, Nancy Pahr writes: “The doctrine of peyotism taught acceptance and accommodation to the new conditions the Northern Cheyenne were experiencing.” She goes on to say: “It reinforced many traditional religious acts and beliefs that were outlawed in other Cheyenne ceremonies. Peyotism represented a way to endure the current conditions on the reservation.” Cattle ranchers requested that the Northern Cheyenne Reservation be abolished. There had been some conflict between the ranchers and the Cheyennes since an incident in 1884 between a cowboy and Black Wolf. Crow Reservation In 1889, American Indian religions and ceremonies deemed associated with these religions were illegal. Grey Blanket and another Crow man were arrested and confined to jail for several days because they had gone to the mountains to “dream and make medicine” (that is, to engage in a vision quest ceremony). There was, of course, no trial. In 1889, a Blood (a Canadian tribe) war party captured 40 horses from a Crow camp. The U.S. Army set out in pursuit and recaptured 10 of the horses. Canadian authorities arrested three of the Bloods. Flathead Reservation In 1855, the United States negotiated the Treaty of Hell Gate with the Pend d’Oreilles, Flatheads (Bitterroot Salish), and Kootenai which established what would become the Flathead Reservation. However, the Flatheads, whose homelands were not included in the new reservation, insisted on their own reservation in the Bitterroot Valley. In 1889, a drought wiped out the Flathead farms as well as the farms of their non-Indian neighbors in the Bitterroot Valley. Chief Charlo agreed to move his Flathead band to the reservation in the Jocko Valley. Charlo said: “I will go. I and my children. My young men are becoming bad. They have no place to hunt. My women are hungry. For their sake I will go.” While waiting for the move, the government’s promised supplies did not arrive, and starvation set in. In 1889, Flathead chief Arlee died. Arlee had been appointed as head chief by the American government after Charlo refused to move his people from their homelands in the Bitterroot Valley to the Flathead Reservation. Railroad In 1889, the Great Northern Railway attempted to hire a Blackfoot guide to show them the location of Marias pass, but the Blackfoot were unwilling. In his book All Aboard! For Glacier: The Great Northern Railway and Glacier National Park, C. W. Guthrie reports: “They must have known that another railroad would bring more settlers and crowd them into an ever shrinking reservation. There was no reason or will to aid the discovery of Marias Pass.” A Flathead guide, Coonsah, finally agreed to show them the pass. More American Indian histories Indians 201: The 1887 Crow uprising Indians 101: Sioux Opposition to Railroads in Montana in 1872 Indians 101: Montana gold and the Indians Indians 101: The Fur Trade in Northwestern Montana, 1807-1835 Indians 201: Montana Indians and Fort Manuel Lisa Indians 201: The Heavy Runner Massacre Indians 101: The Battle of the Rosebud Indians 101: American Indians in Montana and Washington 150 years ago, 1873 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/17/2199724/-Indians-101-American-Indians-and-Montana-statehood-in-1889?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/