Blackfoot vs. Cree : The Battle of Belly River
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- čas přidán 4. 11. 2022
- When an early morning ambush goes wrong, Cree and Blackfoot warriors meet in a brutal clash that would be the last intertribal battle in Canadian history.
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Links to Articles
"The Battle of Belly River"
canadaehx.com/2020/10/21/the-...
"Mysteries of Canada: The Battle of Belly River"
mysteriesofcanada.com/militar...
I knew a older Cree gentleman whom I worked beside for a number of years in a Northern Ontario sawmill. We got along well. One day I had come to work and mentioned that the previous day I had been talking to my mother and she mentioned how we had some and she wasn't entirely certain of it, either Blackfoot or Iroquois mixed in our family Ancestral make up. He stopped abruptly and looked me square in the eye and said. I'm supposed to hate you. I was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. So I asked him why he was supposed to hate me? That day I learned all about how the wars fought so long ago are still kept alive by the historical storytellers. After listening for the better part of the workday to all the injustices. I looked at Sam and said Well you might hate me but I don't hate you. What happened so long ago I had no control over. I still feel the same about you despite our histories. He said Yeah I don't hate you either. It is important to document history to learn from the mistakes our ancestors made and not repeat the same over. This was in 1973.
Seems that whites have a hard time imagining these ancient tribal hatreds. But in the bad old days many/most Indian people lived in a state of war with certain neighbors. You learned the hatred/fear at Mom's knee and kept that fear to your last day. Even today this situation has not completely gone away.
@@badgerrrlattin35 Trust me, the Irish and Scots hold old grudges far older than this. So do Sicilians and many other Europeans. We just don't discuss them with outsiders. And I'm a 4th generation American. I'd point out that right now the Russian leadership seems intent on fighting out the old wars with the Grand Duchy of Poland-Lithuania again on the old battlefields of the Ukraine. The Grand Duchy dissolved in the 1600's. Most people just don't watch or listen to the Russian language media, even in translation. Then there's Serbia.
@@brianmccarthy5557 majority of American people don't know their own history,never mind others history. It's a shame.
I’m an eastern Shoshone and I got hit in the head with a jack handle by a couple of Blackfeet in Washington state. It was an ambush. I am willing to put old tribal animosity aside and consider us all Indians, however it is not a good idea to let my Gaurd down. Some people just can’t let go, and I think it’s sick and wrong. Maybe someday we can all get along, I’m willing to.
@@surrelljr I'm sorry that people all over this world just cannot let go of the past and try to make something better out of our situations. But blaming others has always been a hallmark of civilization. Go in Peace and God bless.
Grew up with kids from Siksika, always felt shame for being so ignorant of their culture. The best friend I had from the rez told me this story, he made me a better person. He and his sister were killed by a drunk driver. I remember you Josh Breaker.
Rest easy Josh and sister
Rez Life is usually short. Peace to all the lost lives.
I'm from Siksika First Nation..
@@budb8226 I grew up just north east of caresland near where the 22x runs through now.
Okie!
My dad was born in glecien siksika res. He was the oldest child of 4 and he was the only child in the family taken by white folk in the 60s scoop. Residential school type shit.
He didn't find out his real name til he joined the army.
And was told his family hated him and got beat when he spoke his language.
Very sad. I wish we could reconnect with our family. I feel like I'm missing a part of my soul not knowing much about my culture or customs or my family. I met them once, and it was amazing.
My father was very messed up cause of his childhood and traumatic experiences in the army. It's hard ro get him to commit to going down to the rez.
When I was a boy I heard that there were still tensions between Blackfoot and Crees if they ever ran into each other in Alberta bars. That would have been in the 1970's!
I'm part ojibou and have blackfoot relatives, I can assure you its so.
Chief irv blackfoot would come have coffee with ma and pa ,he always said ,"what are you padawadamees doing on my land ".? I miss them all badly
It’s like that with a lot of tribes, nowadays I think it’s a waste of time.
This Néhiyaw man loves the Siksika.
I have a cree friend from Alberta who went down to Montana for work and ran into some Blackfoot Natives and they jumped him lol and this was only 5 years ago
i worked a wildfire in Alberta with 2 crews of First Nations firefighters, 1 Blackfoot and 1 Cree. i made some comment on how they seemed to keep to themselves and one of them told me this story of the big fight and how they kind of still held a grudge. i understand it better now, good job, thanks
Thank you for being a fire fighter.
Blackfoot Cree and Sarcee will forever hate each other, As a Blackfoot I’ve been told it’s cause of years of difference between the Cree and with the Sarcee it’s cause of the land basically being taken by the Canadian government and given to them as most people tend to forget Sarcee isn’t a tribe that’s been here for forever.
Probably because you are all Inbred in Europe!
My best Friend is Scottish and trust me they hate The English
Same with Welsh and Irish
So Rather you live under a rock or your Little Brain can't Retain that kind of information 😅
The adoption of crow foot finished the hate . We all buried the hatchet .
@@kyleklukas4808 adopted crowfoot?
Thanks for this educational video. My mother is from the Piapot Band tribe in Saskatchewan, Canada. She was born on the reserve there and her grandfather my great-grandfather Chief Abel Watetch is an Saulteaux Cree who served in World War One with the Canadian Riflemen regiment under General Curry, and he's also the direct nephew of Chief Payepot and the author of the book "Payepot And His People".
Thank you for your telling of this teaching it’s so important that we gather and tell each other’s stories of history,my grandfather who was 3/4 Cree married my Grams who was full blooded southern Piegan,their marriage was of great importance cause they loved each other so dearly and would argue so fiercely over many,many topics and subjects they lived into their late eighties and nineties,they even showed all of us great love and patience,my Grams was the one who told me of our culture and religion of the bundle carriers and our ceremonies such the Sundance and the Opening of the Pelts bundle and our thunder bundle when these great stories are told and handed over great respect and care must be honored before we tell our great feats of battle and how to do our most sacred ceremonies?Sokapi.
*I agree. Most bands in from the prairies in Canada are all related by blood without exception. So literally these grievances mostly instigated by the fur trade practices were the original cause of these skirmishes & reprisals which culminated in this war. Maskipitoon or Broken Arm a renown & much feared by the Blackfeet had been killed two years earlier while on a peace mission to the Blackfeet. The Many Feathers band young men seeing he was unarmed took his scalp to be able to say they had taken the scalp of this famous warrior. The circumstances of his demise was the main catalyst for this war. Seeing it was the last & most recent war it is little wonder that it is still remembered. The last survivors of this war died in the 1950's so it was direct family history & further exacerbated by the fact that these people knew each other by their names & families often related to each other. The tragedies of 'commerce' or low-level warfare as expressed in Leviathan by Hobbes...*
*Research the 'Rum Wars' [my name for this practice] or the wanton use of doctored alcohol by the Hudson's Bay Company in the vain of the opium wars....*
I'm blackfoot, Cherokee and Irish mixed I'm really really enjoying these stories ,thank you for the awesome video and article .thank you so for all your hard work and energy that you put into each article and video ,great work.
@@theeverydayillusion7790 I am biracial 💯
@@theeverydayillusion7790 LOL 🤣
😂
White isn’t a nationality we all are mixed with something it doesn’t change our ancestors or are bloodline . Please treat people like you wanna be treated instead of cutting them down with ya close mindedness. But thanks for the share I’m also Cherokee , Blackfoot and Norse decent I got a lot of rebel fighting blood inside me . And I do follow the native beliefs and so do my kids.
Which band do you vote in ?
This is similar to the battle at Red Ochre Hills March 1866 along the South Saskatchewan River but this time the Blackfoot were routed with few Cree casualties. Issac Cowie visited the battle site around 1870 and he stated the whole area was thick with the bones of the fallen warriors.
I grew up in Elbow SK. There is a monument near the marina dedicated to that battle.
If this is the same battle that I read about a while back, part of the reason the Blackfoot were so successful at repelling the Cree was that they had repeating rifles that they recently acquired.
Lol what about before contact? Did have have repeating Bows or just Awesomeness
You must be Cree Because you have to read about your culture and you guys just sucked up to White people and lost ur culture
Plains cree whooped them with bows and horses
@@tommygiroux6512keep telling you self that
The Ute, who befriended my Great great grandparents, fought a pitched battle against Cheyanne and Arapaho Dog Soldiers on our homestead ranch in the 1860s in South Park, Colorado Territory.
Intertribal warfare was a fact of life for the Indian bands as much as it existed for the diverse European groups more newly encroaching from the east.
What a non-sequitur! What does warfare between "diverse European groups" have to do with warfare between tribes of Indians? How can you be so psychologically ignorant as to be unaware that you do not speak/cannot apologize for European people? As you said, they are a diverse group. "Encroaching" implies an undue intrusion. Do you not understand that is your opinion, and not a historical fact? This is a religious ideal that you hold simply on faith, without any evidence. You announce your race, you confess your race, you suffer a Marxist death from an oppressor from someone whose family befriended those who other whites "intruded against" - look how much perversity is in your short fantasy! And that's all it is, your fantasy.
You could have talked about anything, but you had to draw some equivalency between the two groups - no doubt to turn attention away from the vast difference in developments between them. But.. do you see how what you actually did DRAWS attention to that fact, making YOU racist? You are the one perpetuating racism. That urge you feel to make things equal is the root of tyranny because to bring one up puts another down, which is not your right. Beware enforcing your ignorant nonsense on others.
My great-grandfather was the sheriff of Huerfano County. He married into the Dutton family that had several thousand acre ranch in what is now Trinidad. I wonder if our families ever traded livestock together.
I grew up around Lethbridge Alberta Canada and this battle is well known in the community, both native and non-native. They say you can still find arrow heads in the old man river from this battle. From time to time rumors would spread about how the bad blood would rear its ugly head with people looking to settle old scores with fresh violence, thankfully it never really came to that. There is still tension to this day between the Bloods and the Cree, makes for great bar fights. Interesting history.
Hi I'm a cree from central Alberta and yes it is true that there is still bad blood between Blackfoot and crees.
some bands of Blackfoot were on good terms with Cree people , intermarriage and camping together . It wasn't always black and white .
was married to a Blackfoot woman have one son with her.Very rank people don't know what I was thinking that a cree and Blackfoot could be married can never work
@@gabepowder4568 maybe you were the problem
maybe but I lived with the Blackfoot for a lot of years I do have Blackfoot friends but the majority of them have a lot of them still carry that feud with us crees . Aho
@@gabepowder4568 I highly doubt it was because of tribal differences more along the lines of compatibility
I'm Plains Cree (Little Pine Sask. Treaty 6) with bloodlines in Tsuu T'ina, Siksika and Blackfoot and I live in Lethbridge, Alberta. Everything involved here is my direct history and it's still talked about regularly. I see the field of battle everyday when I walk in the coulee.
We hope we have done honor to your history!
My cCree spouse and i live in the heart of Blackfoot country. Nice to hear stories from my neck of the woods
Can't wait thank you for your hard work.
Here's what I think. This video and the others on this channel I have seen are extremely well written. Some of the best I've seen on the internet really They are a pleasure to watch so please keep them coming.
Love your videos, man. Keep it up!
Great video. Great narration. Extremely interesting.Thank you very much.
Love this content, really puts into perspective how bloody and chaotic Indigenous style warfare was back then.
Very interesting to learn about the people’s and their history and of the land itself. I live in Michigan in a farmhouse which was built in 1860, before this battle took place, so it seems odd that my house was standing while inter-tribal conflicts were still taking place.
The Blackfeet apparently had bad blood with the Nez Perce as well. When completely exhausted and close to surrender, Chief Joseph apparently sent two Nez Perce scouts to see if there was a way to Canada through Blackfeet territory. The Blackfeet are said to have killed both men for their repeating rifles.
Bs
I love this channel more then I can find words to express.
Near Lethbridge, Alberta, not "Saskatchewan" Alberta. The sun sets in the West in that area. Otherwise this was a great listen. The story is fairly well known locally and there is a park commemorating the battle which occurred within the current Lethbridge city limits. Well done
History at The OK Corral, that was a most Excellent telling of The Battle of Belly River. Having Grown up in Alberta, Canada, for many years, prior to moving to Wyoming. I had the Opportunity too stop at the Interpretive Pull out? Many times there at Lethbridge, Alberta & Read about the Battle. Unfortunately the Description was Very Brief, & not nearly as Complete as Your interpretation was. Your's was Very Impressive I thought & Concise as well as Very well Rounded Entirely.
Thank You so much for Sharing it with US. And I will always Look Very Fondly for More Great Stories, in the Future by You Folk's.
Do the battle of three ponds, it was another major battle like this one, but this time the Blackfoot killed 20+ cree woman and the Cree retaliated, and got their revenge killing 300+ Blackfoot during a harsh winter near hobemma.
Absolutely fascinating series.
I lived on the black feet reservation many years ago in Browning Montana. Believe me when they start drinking, they fight everybody. Funny coincidence. I had a Cree buddy tell me one time while we were sitting at the bar. You see that big engine, Keep an eye on him, hes going to try to kick your a$$. $hit sure enough, He came right at me. The only reason why I won the fight was because the other guy was more drunk.😂 It was a good night, nobody got killed.
A good night, nobody got killed.................
She be against the law to furnish alcohol to any Native American.
You speak the truth: Spent time there too,,, near cut bank,,,,,, at the Pioneer Bar,,,, and the Warbonnet in Browning,,,,, it was safer in Afghanistan at night,, daytime,, not so bad . It is a different world
@Larry Baker On the Black Feet reservation and most all of Montana reservations have no problem being called Indians. The high school mascot is called the Indians. As far as alcohol, If you're over 21, you're an adult. If you want to kill yourself, life choices.
@@larrybaker9924 Im Indian,,, who are you to decide that for me? Do your kids smoke pot??
I really like these inter-tribal videos.
While i think it's important to learn about their battles with colonists and all, i genuinely think these battles are more interesting. There's something rather Medieval about it, it carries the same epicness (literary wise) as vikimg battles and William Marshall.
Very interesting. That battle happened right out my back door in the valley. Your photo is not an accurate photo of the site. But a very interesting video. Thanks
As I understand native American history the Cherokee were the only nation that could read and write. Saying that makes me appreciate the time consuming work that you do. To listen to both sides of a particular story and tell the story as fairly as possible. For this I am grateful. Enjoyed 👍👍
Many native groups learned how to read and write, especially those who converted to Catholicism. That goes back in the 1600's in what is now most of Canada and the US. The Pueblos and the natives of Central and South America had their current written languages developed with Catholic priests mostly in the 1500's. Of course many had their own writing systems before that. There is no evidence yet that the great mound building civilizations of North America like the Natchez, who closely resembled the Nahuatl and Mayan cultures, had a writing system of their own in pre-Columbian times but it's worth noting that the Cherokee and other Civilized Tribes are descendents or cousins of the great urban mound building cultures. The Cherokees are unique in that it was the Cherokee Sequoyah who created their written language. Like most Cherokee by that time he was of mixed race but identified, and was recognized, as a tribal member by his maternal line of descent. Many other native languages have a written form but, like several European languages (e.g. Russian), they were developed by foreign missionaries rather than by indigenous converts.
@@brianmccarthy5557 that is great to know. I am interested in all civilizations. My point is to say that they don't have a library but rather their knowledge comes from an oral tradition. However if you know where I may find such a written history by North or South American I would love to read them. What is the name of South American civilization that a Spanish priest saved from the Conquistadors ?
@@brianmccarthy5557 name 3 Central American cultures with native writing systems
@@jamesdeen3011 they invented their own written language, but plenty of natives could read and write. it goes without saying that literacy today is the norm among native americans too - I know its not what you meant, but we ought to remember how these nations still exist!
Also the Mayans, Zapotecs, Olmecs, Aztecs, and possibly other indigenous peoples of Mexico had glyphic writing not unlike Chinese or ancient Egyptian, so what you say only really holds true of those in the United States
@@sankarchaya yes I knew they existed, no thanks to the conquistadors. And you are right I merely wanted to say that I appreciate his work and to say thanks. I can also say thank you for your response. I'm sure with your info I can look it up. 👍👍
Thanks for the details on this battle! It sounds similar to a story in the English textbook for 10th graders when I taught at LTCHS in Red Deer, close to Maskwecis (formerly Hobbema), in the 80s. In this story the young men (300?) left the tribe to raid on their own. They successfully attacked a small villiage but were attacked themselves by a much larger force on horseback. 5 or six times the horse warriors charged. Finally, the original group cut their way out of the battle, 2 warriors helping one wounded. Eventually, one survivor was sent to get help, as it was winter and the remaining warriors had next to no clothes (they had stripped down to fight and their clothes had been taken by their enemies). He ran for 24 hours, almost without stopping, before reaching the chief’s tent, where he couldn’t be killed when delivering the news of who lived and who died. The following summer the tribe purchased better rifles and the elders led a raid of retribution. I have never forgotten the most important line from the story: “That is what made us men-such joy and sadness, as quickly as a hand turning.” I never knew the location of the battle or the tribes involved. Does anyone know if this is the same or a different battle? Thanks.
This battle was written up in one of the old English textbooks used in Alberta - but I don't remember all those details from it, so I don't know if I'm thinking of the same story .....
Love your stories.
I like your work. subscribed
Excellent video, I enjoy your stories of enter tribal warfare. It is a topic frequently omitted in the history of the west
*Because for the most part it is a white myth...*
@@nun_bel_eever Yeah tribes didn’t have warriors before the white devil came, they all held hands in peaceful solidarity 🙄 please think for yourself
@@humboldtharry1289 *I do think for myself & know my history not some fucking joke in a white man's book...*
*Idiot sticks relying on their high scFOOL education. Sad....*
*@History at The OK Corral Peeapote is a very bad & almost irreverent pronunciation of the chief's name. It would sound in English accent as 'Pie uh pwat' which meant Sioux Secrets or Keeper of the Sioux Secrets as he was half Sioux & Cree like his band. This band wintered in the Cypress hills & hunted buffalo on the prairie. You also showed Poundmaker who was Cree by birth but adopted by Crowfoot a reknown Blackfoot chief & whose band for the most part abstained from this battle or properly rout of the Cree. The two chiefs who led the Cree were Big Bear & his headman Little Pine well known Battleford or the Eagle Hills Cree whose summer hunt required progressively further forays into this area to maintain their annual hunts. A few years earlier a most well known & respected Cree chief Mas-kip-ee-toon or Broken Arm much feared by the Blackfoot had been converted to Christianity & became a staunch advocate for peace between these warring nations. Members of a Blackfoot chief named Many Feathers' band exacted revenge upon an unarmed Broken Arm who had approached their camp on a peace mission & young men realizing he was unarmed sought to make a name for themselves by taking his scalp. This act set the tone for a misguided revenge by the Cree which ended in disaster for the Cree.*
*@GiasJulii julii A recent hate which was because of the Cree being armed with guns prior to the Blackfeet obtaining them. The Hudson's Bay Company commercialized the hunting which used to sustain them in their own lands. Once the Cree had hunted out their lands to supply the Hudson's Bay Company they had no choice but to expand their territory to try to stay fed. There were 30,000 kegs of rum annually brought into Hudson's Bay which was diluted with various admixes including opium derivatives into 300,000 kegs. The Hudson's Bay wouldn't trade any merchandize until all of the furs had been expended on this concoction. Let it be known that these drugged Indians were incited to go after more territory while in this state. Further they were given goods on credit due next year which required them to obtain new trapping areas. Also when Hudson' Bay men were angry with a particular tribe they would incite their 1/2 Cree children or alternately their 1/2 Blackfeet children to violence on behalf of the Company & these feuds became bitter & longstanding memories as they didn't exist prior to the whites arrival. Before this time in order to be killed by another tribe you had to offend well known tribal customs of contact.*
*While there was conflict as there is with any peoples it was not conducted in the senseless European way of standing in a line with a brightly colored jacket to present a target to the enemy as this was the way the crown kept its power. Why do you think that your ancestors were willing to come here with no land or resources in their pockets?*
*As always your ancestors took our fighting strategies & adopted them as your own & to this day airborne call on one of the most prominent Chiefs when they bail from an aircraft...*
Inter-tribal warfare
@@humboldtharry1289 some that did hold hands in solidarity, the Haudenosaunee, were a model that the invading white man copied forming their gov't after breaking away from the yoke of the British monarchy
My step father was a full blood Cree. We lived on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. I never heard of this. Thank you for the story. One small item, though, the Blackfeet in the US call themselves Blackfeet, NOT Blackfoot. Don’t know if it’s different in the US, but my friends have Blackfeet relatives in Cardwell.
There is a band of lakotah called "those with black feet". From what I remember is the band survived a prairie fire. It is one of the 7 bands, now called tribes, of the Lakotah. It has a different name now days and I can remember all 7 bands right now.
The bunch in Canada are known as 'Blackfoot'.
@@ralphdavis6052 Sihasapa ( Blackfoot) live on the Standing Rock Reservation. and no h in Lakota
We are the blackfeet band of the Blackfoot confederacy and there's only two true bands of 5 and two bands were absorbed one by soiuxs and one by snakes after killing Custer never to return hence blackfeet souix and Blackfoot idaho
@@native4063 wait, you're Siksika? Since when did the Shoshone assimilate a Blackfeet band? You guys fought eachother
Stories like this always break my heart. Women and children being killed because, from the dawn of history, men must kill each other, for one reason or another.
3:13 Gros Ventre is pronounced "grow vant". It means "big belly".
Great presentation of an historical event which I was unaware of. This is a great fleshing out of an era which I believe is often just treated as melodrama. The west, both north and south of the U.S.,Canadian border is so fascinating .I have ancestors in the family tree named Potts, so will be checking out Jerry's story. One curiosity though,if this occurred north of the border with the U.S. was it just an oversight that (8:35) the Stars and Stripes appear in the artwork?
Fun fact: until 1905 and the Canadian Homestead Act that brought my four American grandparents to Canada, there was NO BORDER. IT didn't exist for people. You just showed up and moved in!!!!
@@Dwightstjohn-fo8ki Thanks for the facts, I learned something new today! Don't know how I missed that one, always have been sort of a history nerd. Best wishes to you my North American brother.
I suspect that the illustration was not specific to that battle but just one showing intertribal warfare. By 1870 that part of North American was certainly considered part of Canada.
canada map 1870
@@marcusaetius9309 Jerry Potts was born in 1840 at Fort McKenzie on the Missouri River. His father was a Scot named Andrew R. Potts who was working as a clerk for the American Fur Co. His mother was Namo-pisi or Crooked Back of the Kainai or Blood tribe of the Blackfoot Confederacy. He married two Piikani or North Piegan sisters. He worked as a scout and guide for the Whiskey Traders out of Ft. Benton Montana until the North West Mounted Police arrived in 1874. He worked as a scout, guide and translator for the NWMP until he died on July 14, 1896. He is still a legend in Alberta history. The Potts family still live on the Piikani Reserve and many of them are members of the RCMP.
@@anulfadventures
Thanks Jack 👍🏻
Thanks for covering this topic. This history is important to those of us who live in Western Canada, but it doesn’t tend to get the coverage it deserves.
Just a few points. In the intro, you mentioned Saskatchewan Alberta. This isn’t one place, it’s two. It would be like saying Texas Louisiana.
Also, the L in Saulteaux is silent. The word is pronounced So-To.
Also, it’s possible the way you said Piapot isn’t correct. Most people say Pie-A-Pott. I don’t know how he pronounced his name, but today everyone says Pie-A-Pott. This includes the people who live in the town and the reserve named after him.
Jerry Potts is about as bad-ass as they come. Thanks for mentioning him.
Excellent 👏👏👏
Don't ever underestimate the Niitsitapi.
I appreciate that you treat Native Americans as real people. I grew up in northern Minnesota and the Chippewa in the north hate the Sioux to the south. They had been warring for years over resources. I remember one Sioux kid in school insulting a Chippewa kid, 'Stupid Chippewa!'. They love each other just as the French love the English and the Germans love the French. People are people all over the world.
Well done, being a direct descendant of the southern piegan of the confederacy that resides in Montana. I remember hearing this story as a child.
Born in Canada and only just learned of this battle in the last week. CBC and education system did a poor job of teaching the history of our nation.
Born and raised in Canada, got most of my history from people who were here a century ago. Sometimes have had the privilege of hearing an elder of a different culture; very interesting.
@@absue Canadian history is "Upper Canadian (Ontario) history and "Lower Canadian (Quebec) history. Frenchmen Englishmen, beavers and canoes. Candian history is larger and richer than that. The East Coast fisheries were 3 times more valuable than the fur trade. Don't hear that often!
This isn’t really a defining moment or Canada’s history which is why you were not taught it there are a lot of events and battles you probably don’t know about it you are interested in this kind of stuff you have to look for it there’s only so much time in a school day/year
You mean all of the natives weren't peacefully holding hands, (in a big circle), singing to the blue corn moon, before the Europeans showed up?
Yes we were
@@nuksookoaw-pp1fsThen how do you explain this video?
@@josephoneil3093 this is battle is from the 1860s you Moron not Precontact
Thanks for telling the truth. Some folks want to pretend that American Indians are all peaceful non violent people.
Unfortunately Native on native violence is all too common. We are our own worst enemies.
TY very much for those forgotten histories - Guillaume - City of Tours - France
Great video about a little know topic. I really enjoyed it.
However, I'm not sure what you mean by Saskatchewan, Alberta. There is now a place called Fort Saskatchewan, but I don't think it was around during this battle and it is near the foothills of the Rocky mountains. Saskatchewan is the name of a river(s) and a province east of the province of Alberta.
I live near that geographical area, and events like this have shaped The first Nations people. The reverberations of such conflicts can still be felt today.
I very much like the effort you make to describe the distinctions between tribes. Language, culture, practices, beliefs, etc. . . . as distinct, perhaps, as Zulus to Austrians. One note on a slip of the tongue at 4:25, "the sun sinking on the EASTERN horizon?" A verbal typo, I know.
Ugh a verbal typo that will live infamy. 😭😂
great story 👏.. Jerry Potts was a legendary frontiersman of the Canadian west!
I read that if Jerry Potts would have lived in the United States, he would have been as famous as Daniel Boone or Jim Bridger.
Jerry Potts was a Blackfoot he spoke 7 prairie languages.
Of course white People and Metis try claim him
I have Blackfoot cousins and I've been in the Lethbridge area several times. I'd never heard of this fight though I knew of Charlie Potts. Thanks for covering it so well. Is there any idea of the total casualties and how they were distributed?
Blackfoot had 14 casualties and Cree had in the 350 casualties give or take
Jerry Potts.
You should do a battle on the Battle of the Brule between the souix and the Ojibwa
I am sure the Ojibwa kicked their ass. They kicked them all the way out of Minnesota.
George Grinnel’s book, ‘The Fighting Cheyenne’, told of a battle on Wolf Creek, in Oklahoma, between tha attacking Cheyenne, against Comanche and Kiowa bands. That would be an interesting subject for you to cover.
Where is this Wolf Creek. I live in Chickasaw territory near a wolf creek but don’t know if it’s the same as yours.
@@conradnelson5283 This is Wolf Creek in Northwest Oklahoma. This particular battle happened Norteast of Gage Oklahoma, where 25 Mile creek joins the bigger Wolf. 25 Mile was named so because in an expedition under George Custer, they had traveled 25 miles Southwest, from Camp Supply, which later became Ft. Supply. They knew the distance because they used a measuring wheel during their March, mapping the country as they moved.
@@conradnelson5283 I should make clear, Custer’s column traveled Southwest on Wolf creek where Camp Supply was then located on the Wolf. The present town of Ft. Supply is in that general area now. Wolf creek was dammed to form the present day Ft. Supply Lake.
Great story !! thanks :)
I could be wrong but I think Saskatchewan and and Alberta are different provinces. I don’t know of any town called Saskatchewan Alberta.
yes, they are separate provinces. There is no Saskatchewan, Alberta. I think he probably meant 'near the Saskatchewan border of Alberta'.
At least I would like to think so.
Saskatchatoon
There probably not enough info for you to make a video on… but the Battle of Battle Flat near black canyon city, AZ is an INCREDIBLE story of a battle between yavapai or Apache it’s unclear and prospectors! Epic! Woul love to see a video on that story of possible
Your channel is great and very objective! Other channels are very inaccurate and ignorant, some even mocking and making jokes. This is just history told as it happened
I'm Kwakiutl (BC, West Coast) and Piikani (Peigan, Blackfoot.) Living in Edmonton thats Cree territory, always interesting seeing Cree because many moons ago, my people were fighting them like this video has described
Big Knife Provincial Park along the Battle River in east-central Alberta is named after a battle between Blackfoot and Cree braves BigMan and Knife. Legend is they fought to their deaths.
This is a fairly good account of the battle, but I have a complaint to make. The photo shown of the river the Cree are trying to escape across is wrong. The Old Man River at Lethbridge is fairly wide and deep and difficult to cross, the stream in the video looks shallow enough to sprint across.
Another account of the battle recounts that Father Lacombe was in the Blackfoot camp when the attack occurred and while trying to stop the battle, he was struck in the head by a bullet, and tho not killed, was knocked unconscious. This was said to have infuriated the Blackfoot, and Chief Crowfoot was said to have shouted at the cree " You Dogs, you have shot Goodheart. You have killed the man of Prayer."
The Battle of Belly River by Baird that is linked here is a good account of what took place.
To put this battle in perspective, three years after this battle took place, the Lethbridge Hospital was built near this site or putting this another way, this is not a story about ancient history.
I'm a plains cree from moosomin first nation in Saskatchewan they never taught me this in school thanks for the history lesson 👍
Surprises me that until now, had heard nothing of the Belly River fight. When I was a kid, it seemed like my friends who were not Blackfeet, were all Cree.
Well done Sir
The history between the Cree and Blackfeet is a tragic one as they did not start of as bitter enemies. They were allies against the Shoshones and the Cree taught the Blackfeet how to use guns. The pressure from the fur trade changed everything
Oddly enough, some of my recent ancestors are both, Cree, and Blackfoot. 🤫
to all the people who said that the cree were a peaceful people had better look into their history of fighting between the blackfoot and the cree.
The Cree are a Beta tribe when Blackfoot walk in the Room
Also Gerry Pots has a fascinating story
This is the best old west channel by far
A commendable channel on western days of yore.
More stories of this sort even though I find it hard to believe such blood letting against neighbours was practiced.
More such stories of this nature please.
Subed thank you.
When there is a shortage of food, people will kill to survive. It happened in many places on earth where people decided that killing some was better than everyone starving together. Also, there are those who go wild in battle and will keep killing until they themselves are killed or until no enemy is left to kill. There were probably hundreds, maybe thousands, of slaughters that have taken place throughout the world in which so few survived that the names of the groups involved have been lost forever.
No Tribe in North Western Canada could stood the Blackfoot Confederacy at all we know. An author from Germany called the (1927)... as right Prussians.. and it was meant in the kind of honoring complement. All people in Germany at this time knew exactly the differences between all of the Indians. Liked, subscribed I call it a day! Good stuff anyway, God's Blessing from Northern Germany.
Maybe as joint unifiers? Hmm, what were Prussians doing in the same year as this battle. Wanting to unify, so they and France both start a war. Very sad. Speaking to old Germans, not all liked the Prussians either..
I recall talkin to my dad about not just our Blackfoot but all First Nations people's loss to the Europeans. He answered, "It was their fault", i.e. they did not have their act together enough to react to the worst enemy. That problem is still among us, can we do better today?
@@markj2305 I'm a half Prussian myself and in the context of the time after WWI were the times of the Prussians the good old times. The compare was meant to the warlike military position of the Blackfoot. And you're right not all Germans like the Prussians but I find it interesting that anybody feared them like the did with the Blackfoot.
@@ludwigderzanker9767 Then on the other side a great grandfather, Smit in Prussian Armie, Grossmuter von Uberlunkwits um Chemnitz, so Saxon. So perhaps my opinion is tainted. May we find a right that prevails over military might. Too bad Chief Broken Arm was slain, there may have been better resistance to or interaction with the European invaders.
Mark J., 40 miles from Oberlungwitz my mother was born. I believe in the peace at the end and in Jesus and in a better future. Kinda. Your dad was right, the Deutsches Reich was forced by the Prussians with violence. And canonboot policy. No north american Tribe wanted to press other People in a kind of kingdom and no Tribe had taken this. Our history is made by single persons. Not possible in Blackfoot (and Cree of course) societies. Best regards!
@@ludwigderzanker9767 Yes, I wonder how many Krupp children filled the trenches and inhaled the stenches that not factory but boardroom and Reichstag had wrought.
The root of all evil does much to deceive all, trying to get what is already given.
Tho we go thru many a hell, all will end well, His seed seems to die, but only starts livin'.
Gros Ventre is pronounced "Gro Von" and is french meaning big bellies. The actually name of this Tribe is Atsina, or White Clay people.
They are an offshoot of the Arapaho. They allied themselves briefly with the Blackfeet, had a falling out, and joined the Crees, Plains Ojibwe.
Another ally of the Blackfeet were the Sarsee, a small Athabaskan speaking Tribe living north of the Blackfeet in Alberta.
The Saulteaux are Plains Ojibwe.
6:25 you know what, that’s now my head canon of how it happened
Thanks for this telling of this famous battle! Just a correction on the pronunciation of Oldman River. Although the spelling would not indicate such, it is pronounced “old man, as in aged male person, not “oldmin” ad if it were named after someone by that name. The river was named after “the Old Man,” or “Napi.”
Dang it! We talked about this during recording and thought "Oldmun" would likely be the more Canadian pronunciation. No disrespect intended! Thank you letting us know!
@@historyattheokcorral and the Porcupine Hills are the "spine" of the Old Man. I believe that river is a Class 3 or 5 whitewater kayaking location now.
Wow! That was some wonderful research beautifully presented! A+ Work! Thank you! God bless our fine neighbors to the north! Potty Mouth Mike San Antonio, Texas.
Sounds like a normal day in their lives, constantly fighting, robbing, and killing each other.
brought to you by the HBC who introduced guns , powder and various diseases before that war happened but not as many were killed . Guns really changed the equation .
@@Skammee this isn't about Europeans. Just can't stand to not be a racist
@@emadbagheriJust show’s how much of an uneducated dumbass he is, doesn’t even know the sea of blood in his history or the blood spilled in the middle east for 20 year’s.
Did the video say the location of the incident was “Saskatchewan,Alberta?” You might want to check that. Those are the names of two Canadian provinces.
How dare you tell the disturb the "narrative" of the peaceful first peoples!!!! Good video
W Channel
Good documentary. You do not do justice to the weapon disparity. The Cree has mussel loaded musket versus the Blachfoots Winchester repeaters, a true force multiplication.
I recently made a friend with a Blackfoot man and messaging. Many of us don’t carry that beef, I’m sure there’s some that do. If you want to go deeper then the beef we were one nation before we parted ways.
Thanks for the video from south central BC. The best book I've found on the legendary Jerry Potts is "Bear Child - the life and times of Jerry Potts" by Roger Touchie. Anyone coming out of Lethbridge headed west should stop at the site.,
Had these young Braves listened to their Elder. This wouldnt have happened. Alas young Braves were killed almost to a man. Before they were left to try to walk back to their camp. A very informative video. 💪🏻✨🙏🏻
This is the battle I've always heard about growing up from my siksika relatives, keep in mind that although relations were rocky at times the Cree and Stonies of alberta were allies in pushing the Crow, Shoshone, Flathead tribes further south but don't take it from me, look it up.
Lol you did you Mossum tell you that? The Stonies was Scared of the BLACKFOOT and they paid us not to kill them.
Cree were useless and couldn't come to or through BLACKFOOT territory because we to Deadly. LOOK IT UP
@@makoyiniito1897 no, it's well documented. Also I found no such claims in my research about having to pay off a tribe to have permission to live but I encourage you to look it up there's no point in debates on CZcams.
Maybe Talk to some Elders instead of reading books.
Morley Alberta (Still here)when Sitting bull Fled to Canada
7:04 Mountain Chief was Pikuni not Siksika or Blackfoot, since you keep differentiating between bands I figured you made a mistake and said he was from the Siksika, unless you choose to refer to one band of the confederacy separately (Bloods) and then refer to Mountain Chief as a Blackfoot confederacy chief, which he was, instead of a Siksika (Blackfoot band) chief, which he was not.
Just like animals we are. War war war war
We? We aren’t the same. We’re the aboriginals of the Americas, y’all aren’t. But yeah, y’all do think of us as animals. What did that lady call us? Indigenous Creatures? Y’all always seen us as such.
@@buffalobilly6926 She didn't call you or the indians animals. She said 'like the animals WE are' meaning all human race. There's blood and atrocities in EVERY war on the planet and I can certainly assure you that the indians are more honorable than most.
@@buffalobilly6926 i think she’s talking about the human race as a whole
Great story.
Blackfoot were from South of the Red Deer River, to the North wete the Cree which is a general term for many tribes across the prairies that includes the Nakota, Dakota and Sioux as well as Metis who aren't technically a tribe but halfbloods, part Indigenous and part Western European, like me.
True, and typically the European half of the Metis was French Canadian. 👍🏻
Worldwide, it’s always Individual, Family, Tribe in that order.
As far as I know, this is the biggest and bloodiest battle within what is now Alberta, and almost no one here has ever heard of it.
Battle at Big Knife near an Alberta provincial park, Blackfoot and Cree. Blackfoot at Fort Pitt
@@tobias1959 Do you have a link to an article on that? I'd be interested in learning more. I only found articles on the battles of Cut Knife and Fort Pitt, both in Saskatchewan and both between Cree and Canadian government forces in the Northwest Rebellion. Both also smaller than the Battle of Belly River.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Knife_Provincial_Park the Park but interesting history as to it's name Big Knife
@@tobias1959 Interesting. Alberta has a lot of place names that are direct translations from Indeigenous names.
@@5h0rgunn45 Interesting place Rupertsland.
I'm blackfoot , that's a cool story 😎
The Cree were overconfident and had poor scouting and intelligence.Anger and thirst for revenge made them impatient .
Umm no they Cree are scrub and can't fight! Lol
Probably use to killing woman and Children and this is what happens when you fight Men lol
It's still happening today,trust me i live on a Cree reserve in Saskatchewan and people from here go to work in Alberta and say they have to lie that their Blackfoot so as not to get beat up ✌🤔
You can't lie about being Blackfoot we are too awesome
So does this take place near the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan, or does it take place in FORT Saskatchewan, Alberta. Kinda confused cuz you said Saskatchewan, Alberta which isn’t a place lol 😂
Those Blackfoot sound Pretty awesome.
Amo Siksikaitsitapii Skoonatapi
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The sun began to set “in the eastern horizon” ?! You must have misspoke?
great story .. Jerry Potts was a legendary frontiersman of the Canadian west!
He spoke 7 Native languages and 40+ kills
HOKC should do a story on the Old Wives lake massacre
Thank you for the suggestion! Have not heard of this.
Both sides to every conflict will always commit atrocities, but one side will always leave out what they've done. It is when you hear from both sides that you truly learn what happened. If you were on either side of the conflict you should listen to what the other side says. You may not have done anything wrong, but if someone at some point from your side did it only makes it tougher on you as the enemy will make you pay for your sides evil deeds.
Great story… wow