Editing Crow people (section)

====1825–1849====

The Crows put up 300 tipis near a Mandan village on the Missouri in 1825.<ref>Jensen, Richard E. & James S. Hutchins (2001): ''Whell Boats on the Missouri. The Journals and Documents of the Atkinson-O'Fallon Expedition, 1824–26''. Helena and Lincoln, p. 143.</ref> The representatives of the US government waited for them. Mountain Crow chief Long Hair (Red Plume at Forehead) and fifteen other Crows signed the first treaty of friendship and trade between the Crows and the United States on 4 August.<ref>Kappler, Charles J. (1904): ''Indian Affairs. Laws and Treaties''. Vol. 2, pp. 244–246.</ref> With the signing of the document, the Crows also recognized the supremacy of the United States, if they actually understood the word. River Crow chief Arapooish had left the treaty area in disgust. By help of the thunderbird he had to send a farewell shower down on the whites and the Mountain Crows.<ref>Curtis, Edward S. (1970): ''The North American Indian''. Vol. 4. New York, p.48.</ref>

In 1829, seven Crow warriors were neutralized by Blood Blackfoot Indians led by Spotted Bear, who captured a pipe-hatchet during the fight just west of [[Chinook, Montana]].<ref name=Dempsey1965/>{{rp|8}}

In the summer of 1834, the Crow (maybe led by chief Arapooish) tried to shut down Fort McKenzie at the Missouri in Blackfeet country. The apparent motive was to stop the trading post's sale to their Indian enemies. Although later described as a month long siege of the fort,<ref>Denig, Edwin Thompson (1961): ''Five Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri. Siouc, Arickaras, Assiniboines, Crees, Crows.'' Norman, p. 181</ref> it lasted only two days.<ref>Audubon, Maria R. (Ed.) (1960): ''Audubon and his Journals.'' Vol. 2. New York, p. 179.</ref> The opponents exchanged a few shots and the men in the fort fired a cannon, but no real harm came to anyone. The Crows left four days before the arrival of a Blackfeet band. The episode seems to be the worst armed conflict between the Crows and a group of whites until the [[Crow War|Sword Bearer uprising]] in 1887.

The death of chief Arapooish was recorded on 17 September 1834. The news reached [[Fort Clark Trading Post State Historic Site|Fort Clark]] at the Mandan village Mitutanka. Manager F.A. Chardon wrote he "was Killed by Black feet".<ref name=Char1997>Chardon, F. A. (1997): ''F. A. Chardon's Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-139''. Lincoln and London, pp. 4 and 275.</ref>

The smallpox epidemic of 1837 spread along the Missouri and "had little impact" on the tribe according to one source.<ref>Hoxie, ''Parading Through History'' (1995), p. 132.</ref> The River Crows grew in number, when a group of Hidatsas joined them permanently to escape the scourge sweeping through the Hidatsa villages.<ref>Bowers, Alfred W. (1965): ''Hidatsa Social and Ceremonial Organization''. Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology. Bulletin 194. Washington, p. 24.</ref>

Fort Van Buren was a short-lived trading post in existence from 1839 to 1842.<ref name=Hox1995/>{{rp|68}} It was built on the bank of the Yellowstone near the mouth of Tongue River.<ref name=Char1997/>{{rp|315, note 469}}

In the summer of 1840, a Crow camp in the Bighorn valley greeted the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet.<ref name=Smet1905>De Smet, Pierre-Jean (1905): ''Life, Letters and Travels of Father Jean-Pierre De Smet, S.J., 1801–1873.'' Vol. 1. New York.</ref>{{rp|35}}

From 1842 to around 1852,<ref name=Kurz1937/>{{rp|235}} the Crow traded in Fort Alexander opposite the mouth of the Rosebud.<ref name=Hox1995/>{{rp|68}}

The River Crows charged a moving Blackfeet camp near [[Judith Gap, Montana|Judith Gap]] in 1845. Father [[Pierre-Jean De Smet]] mourned the destructive attack on the "petite Robe" band.<ref>De Smet, Pierre-Jean (1847): ''Oregon Missions and Travels over the Rocky Mountains in 1845–46.'' New York, p.177.</ref> The Blackfeet chief Small Robe had been mortally wounded and many killed. De Smet worked out the number of women and children taken captive to 160. By and by and with a fur trader as an intermediary, the Crows agreed to let 50 women return to their tribe.<ref>Bedford, Denton R. (1975): The Fight at "Mountains on Both Sides". ''Indian Historian'', Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 13–23, p. 19.</ref>