Editing Blackfoot Confederacy (section)

=== Further encroachment by Canada and United States ===
[[File:Chief Mountain, Blackfeet.jpg|thumb|Colorized photograph of chief [[Mountain Chief]]]]

During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S. government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies.<ref>Murdoch, ''North American Indian'', 34</ref> In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.<ref>Gibson, 26</ref>

In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.{{Clarification needed|reason=what kind of outlaw, what kind of trouble|date=June 2023}}

Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin.<ref>[http://blackfootdigitallibrary.com/en/asset/joe-upham-tells-story-bakers-massacre Joe Upham (descendant of Heavy Runner) tells the story of the Bakers Massacre] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021185238/http://blackfootdigitallibrary.com/en/asset/joe-upham-tells-story-bakers-massacre |date=21 October 2014 }}, Blackfoot Digital Library, accessed 6 February 2011</ref> The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blackfootdigitallibrary.org/|title=Welcome – Oki – Blackfoot Digital Library|access-date=9 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110621010914/http://www.blackfootdigitallibrary.org/|archive-date=21 June 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General [[Philip Sheridan]] to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
[[File:Frances Densmore recording Mountain Chief2.jpg|thumb|[[Frances Densmore]] plays a recording for chief [[Mountain Chief]] for the [[Bureau of American Ethnology]] in 1916.]]

On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile [[Mountain Chief]], further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention.  Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Marias Massacre|url=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-mariasmassacre.html|work=Legend of America|access-date=21 May 2013}}</ref>

Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S. Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to [[Fort Benton, Montana|Fort Benton]].

{{blockquote|The greatest slaughter of Indians ever made by U.S. Troops|Lieutenant [[Gus Doane]], commander of F Company}}

As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the [[United States Congress]] and press were outraged. General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]] reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at [[Wounded Knee Massacre|Wounded Knee]] and [[Sand Creek Massacre|Sand Creek]], the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.

The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various ''Nehiyaw-Pwat'' bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near [[Fort Whoop-Up]] (called ''Akaisakoyi'' – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called [[Battle of the Belly River]] (near [[Lethbridge]], called ''Assini-etomochi'' – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.

The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.<ref>Murdoch, ''North American Indian,'' 28–29</ref>

The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.<ref>Gibson, 27–28</ref>

In efforts to [[Cultural assimilation of Native Americans|assimilate]] the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to [[American Indian boarding schools|boarding schools]], where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing.<ref name="Gibson, 31-42">Gibson, 31–42</ref> In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a {{convert|160|acre|ha|adj=on}} farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development.<ref name="Gibson, 31-42" /> The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.<ref name="Murdoch, North American Indian, 29">Murdoch, ''North American Indian,'' 29</ref>

In 1934 the [[Indian Reorganization Act]], passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures.<ref name="Murdoch, North American Indian, 29" /> In 1935, the [[Blackfeet Indian Reservation|Blackfeet Nation]] of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.<ref name="Gibson, 35-42">Gibson, 35–42</ref>