Chief Plenty Coups: Leading the Crow to a New Life   Term Paper ID:31707 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: A discussion of the leadership of the Crow Indians by Chief Plenty Coups, including pre-reservation life, reservation life, and efforts aimed at fighting for Crow rights with the U.S. government. Paper Introduction: Chief Plenty Coups Leading the Crow to a New LifeIntroduction Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow was born in the son of MedicineBird and his wife Otter Woman Chief Plenty Coups was named by his father as he had a dream that his son would count many coups live to an old age and become a chief Biography of Plenty-Coups All of thesepremonitions would be realized by Chief Plenty Coups and while he wasinstrumental in helping the Crow in battles against other Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. ChiefPlenty Coups undertook such conciliatory negotiations because he viewed allCrow as his children and understood the Crow could not survive in anoutright battle against the white man. His stance ofcollaboration and conciliation both with other Indian tribes and the whiteman were significant in promoting peace for his people as well asbenefiting them with better opportunities than other tribes. Bythe age of 26, Plenty Coups became Chief of the Crow. This would also diminish the effectiveness of the federal Indian office over their people (1 ). and Graetz, S. This analysiswill discuss the leadership of Chief Plenty Coups and the obstacles hefaced in his fight for the rights of his people.Body Before reservation life, Chief Plenty Coups rose to power due to hiswarrior skills. The advice Chief Plenty Coups often gave to Crow was that "educationis your most powerful weapon with which you are the white man's equal"(Biography of Plenty-Coups 5). Viewed on Oct 26, 2 4: http://www.thecre.com/fedlaw/legal26/ uscode25-331.htm. He also built a log cabin home, influencing otherCrow to take up these occupations and lifestyle. With the successful 199 settlement of this boundary fiasco, the tribe received a portion of their land back, plus an additional 4 , acres of school lands. Every eagle feather which represents a deed of valor by my race...I hope that the Great Spirit will grant these noble warriors have not given up their lives in vain and that there will be peace to all the men hereafter (Graetz and Graetz 2). A forest was destroyed by a storm, except for a single tree. Crow Country: Montana's Crow Tribe. 'When I think back, my heart sings because we acted as we did,' he declared shortly before he died in 1932 (17 ). He is generally credited with keeping Crook and hismen's fate from being the same as General George Custer at the battle ofLittle Bighorn. For his efforts, in 1921, Chief Plenty Coups was selected by thepresident to represent all Indian tribes at the dedication ceremony to theUnknown Soldier. At the outbreakof World War I, his encouragement to Crows to join the military providedmany with economic security and a means of expressing their warriorheritage. 1984. Plenty Coups: Chief of the Crows. Unlike other Indian tribes, thesavvy and leadership of Chief Plenty Coups helped stave off attempts toreduce the size of Crow lands. The aging Chief Plenty Coups slowlyyielded power to younger generation Crow, like Yellowtail and otherleaders. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Book, pp. Today Crow heritage and education are provided bythe Crow's own Little Bighorn College. The government promised nolegislation would pass unless it garnered tribal approval, if the Crowfound a method to end communal ownership of reservation lands. Chief Plenty Coups' conciliatory relationship withthe white man was often a source of controversy among other NativeAmericans. 2 2.Crow Act, The. government in their militarybattles against the Sioux as well as serving as the lead Indian scout forGeneral George Crook. Chief Plenty Coups aided the U.S. Heunderstood that the white man was a force that could not be overcome. In hisadvocacy of collaboration and mutual respect for whites and NativeAmericans, Chief Plenty Coups envisioned the modern world long before itarrived. However, Yellowtail viewed thesituation differently. 224, 41 Stat. He talks to use through his 'whispering spirit.' We are likebirds, with a broken wing. Indian Leadership. Efforts to achieve peace among the great tribes of the United States. Chief Plenty Coups was responsible for leading the Crow during thetransition to a new way of life. As a consequence, the titles of an estimated 65 , acres are currently clouded. ChiefPlenty Coups refused to agree to changes and believed that a united effortwould once more defeat the U.S. In battles with theLakota, Plenty Coups' parents and brothers were killed, which may haveinfluenced the direction his life took. Manhattan, KS: Sunflower University Press. In his retirement he often acted as elder statesman of the Crownation and all Native Americans. The transition to reservation existence was not easy for any Indiantribe. TheCrow Act did not guarantee the Crow would be free of interference.However, despite provisions of the Crow Act, many of its assurances werenot enforced and land ownership continues to be an issue which impacts theCrow people to this day. By the 185 s, the Crow began to settle into reservation life. Chief Plenty Coups was one of the first NativeAmericans to successfully adopt farming and ranching, which eventually madehim financially secure. Once the Crow were restricted to reservation life, Chief PlentyCoups went about leading his people with the spirit of adaptation andcooperation he saw in his great vision after the death of his family at thehands of the Lakota Sioux. As Hoggatt (1993) explains: Plenty Coups continued to defend the rights of his community and expressed no second thoughts about his lifelong conciliatory policy toward the whites, maintaining that it helped his people repel the most drastic inroads on their freedom. The payment that Chief Plenty Coupsnegotiated was much larger than payments made to other tribes. A. Showing his willingness to acquiesce for the good of his people,Chief Plenty Coups deferred to Robert Yellowtail after a period of debate.Robert Yellowtail spoke on behalf of the Crow to President Woodrow Wilson.During this era, Wilson had promoted self-determination for all people.The combined efforts of Yellowtail and Plenty Coups resulted in the passageof the Crow Act of 192 , representing a new period in Crow politics. Robert Yellowtail, whose education washad at the urging of Chief Plenty Coups, worked with Plenty Coups andothers to defeat the bill. This effort would see a rift develop between ChiefPlenty Coups and his protégé Robert Yellowtail. This tree held the lodge of the Chickadee, who survived the storm because he was a sharp listener who learned from others and knew where to pitch his lodge (Biography of Plenty-Coups 2).This vision provided Chief Plenty Coups with a style of cooperation andadaptation that would serve him well as leader of the Crow duringreservation life. Senator in 1919 created a turning point in Crow history. Viewed on Oct 26, 2 4: http://lib.lbhc.cc. NE: University of Nebraska Press. He fought tirelessly inWashington for potential payments to Crow for their land. Though many originally felt disdain toward his relations with thewhite man, in 19 8 many Crow saw firsthand that Chief Plenty Coups'leadership was in their own best interest. society. Book Rags, Inc. As settlers began to move West anddemanded more and more land, Chief Plenty Coups was instrumental infighting for the rights of his people as their representative to the U.S.government. Without his strong, sensitive, daring, and caring leadership, itis likely the Crow Indians would have fared much worse during thenineteenth and twentieth centuries' turbulent periods of transition. The deedalso provided for a museum to be created in one of the rooms of his two-story home on the property. The efforts of Chief Plenty Coups in leading the Crow duringreservation life were instrumental in improving the lives of all Crow. B. My eyes aregrowing dim. By 1911, Chief Plenty Coups and hissupported had successfully defeated three bills sponsored by MontanaSenator Joseph Dixon to open Crow lands to white settlers. U.S. In one section of the book, Chief PlentyCoups remembers being a little boy and being envious that the mothers ofbrave Crow would sing their praises. Code, Ch. Hisadoption of ranching and farming helped to provide the Crow nation with asound economy. 192 .Graetz, R. In general,his views on the need for adapting to a new way of life made the transitionto reservation life less traumatic for many Crow. My heart is cold within me. Nevertheless, despite suchvictories, there continue to be struggles over Crow water and mineralrights. Yellowtail made a plea to halt the bill and theaction never hit the floor of the Senate. mt.us/about/history/plentyco.htm, 1-11. 168-176. As Graetz and Graetz maintain, "Itwas this very philosophy that sought Plenty Coups to enlist young RobertYellowtail and others to help defeat the many Congressional bills intendedto open the reservation to non-Crows" (2). Essential Speeches, 1. Chief Plenty Coups was remarkable in his ability to adapt,collaborate, and promote peace during the era in which he lived. It was always going on- this talking among our elders, both men and women-and we were ever listening. In thatspeech he proposed one last great council where all chiefs could eat,smoke, and say farewell. He was also instrumental in representinghis people to the U.S. In 1883, his skillfulleadership and representation of the Crow put him at the head of thedelegation negotiating with the Dawes Commission. I am old" (Coups 1). government, including his successful efforts atprotecting Crow lands that resulted in the Crow Act of 192 . government after reservation settlement. However, Chief Plenty Coups maintained thememorial was not for him. There were four deeds required to make one a Crow Chief,including stealing horses from the enemy, striking the first coup againstan enemy in battle, capturing weapons from the enemy in combat, and leadinga successful war party. The BIA was lax in complying and the regulation was constantly violated. Further: A victorious Crow delegation that defeated the efforts of a powerful U.S. He encouraged them to goto school and then return back to the reservation where they could puttheir knowledge to use to aid all Crow. Chief Plenty Coups wasinstrumental in efforts to bring about peace among the tribal nations. Chief Plenty Coups was named by his father,as he had a dream that his son would "count many coups, live to an old age,and become a chief" (Biography of Plenty-Coups 1). Such was the case for the Crow, but under the leadership of ChiefPlenty Coups, a skillful negotiator, the Crow made the transition moresuccessfully and profitably than many other tribes. The Crow would eventually begin to view Chief Plenty Coups as astrong, sensible leader, being faced with the unequal numbers and power ofthe white man. Chief Plenty Coups demonstrated his respect for whitesin 1928, when he deemed that 4 acres of his land in Pryor, Montana, wouldbe set aside to be used as a park and recreation ground for interactionbetween Crows and whites. Whenit was apparent that the white man would repel any efforts by the tribes toretain their traditional lands and lifestyle, Chief Plenty Coups made aspeech seeking peace among the great tribes of the United States. American Heritage, 51(3), 65. Even so, it was the victories promoted by the efforts of ChiefPlenty Coups in the early twentieth century that positioned the Crow todefend their rights as well as enabling them to become more self-sufficient. As he stated in this speech, "The white man'smedicine is stronger than ours; his iron horse rushes over the buffalotrail. 751. Again, as Graetz and Graetz explain: A segment of the 192 law put a limitation on non-tribal land ownership: a stipulation that was to be enforced by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. government as representative of his people: He saw the buffalo disappear and spotted buffalo, or cattle, appear in their place. It was a trip to Mount Vernon that had promptedChief Plenty Coups to execute the deed of trust for the park. Works CitedBiography of Plenty-Coups. In Plenty Coups: Chiefof the Crows, Frank B. 2 4.Berger, T. TheNorthern Pacific Railroad had to negotiate with Chief Plenty Coups to gainaccess to routes through Crow lands. In that year, the members ofthe Crow nation rallied behind Chief Plenty Coups after internal warringthreatened chaos: "Plenty Coups demonstrated his power in 19 8, when thetribe abandoned an internal factional struggle and united behind him tofight the first of the bills which proposed to open the reservation towhite settlement" (Biography 2). Viewed on Oct 6, 2 4: http://www.bookrags.com/biography/plenty-coups/, 1-7. The success in the 199 s of Crow land rights can be directly tracedto the efforts of Chief Plenty Coups and the Crow he encouraged to helpfight for Crow rights, like Robert Yellowtail. As one article maintained: Plenty Coups stated that the park was to be a memorial not to him, but to the Crow nation, and that it should be "a reminder to Indians and white people alike that the two races should liver and work together harmoniously" (Biography of Plenty- Coups 5).The grounds granted by Chief Plenty Coups are now a state park and hisoriginal room-size museum was replaced by a new building in the 197 s.Conclusion There is little doubt that the Crow owe a great deal of theirheritage and present legacy to Chief Plenty Coups. As he shares with Linderman: This talking between our mothers, firing us with determination ourselves, made us wish we were men. Nevertheless, the increasingnumber of settlers and westward expansion saw another attempt to undermineCrow lands in 1919. In Chief Plenty Coups: The Final Dignity,Frederick Krieg maintains that though the "government recognized ChiefPlenty Coups as head chief by 189 , it may not have been until after thedeath of Chief Pretty Eagle in 19 4 that his people gave him the samehonor" (Biography 2). 2 .Coups, Plenty. Chief Plenty Coups was particularly adept atcapturing horses, but he achieved all of these deeds numerous times. ChiefPlenty Coups, did, indeed, pull off many coups for his beloved people. ChiefPlenty Coups also became a small business proprietor when he opened ageneral store for his people. 2 .Hoggatt, S. Chief Plenty Coups: Leading the Crow to a New LifeIntroduction Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow was born in 1848, the son of MedicineBird and his wife Otter Woman. His opening of a retail trade store also provided incomethat was helpful in promoting the rights of his people. Afterwards they slowly became part of the nation's mainstream and self-sufficiency increased" (Graetz and Graetz 11).Chief Plenty Coups' efforts were instrumental in providing such a legacyfor the Crow. On the march, in the village, everywhere, there was praise in our ears for skill and daring (8).Had Plenty Coups' mother lived to witness her son become a man, there islittle doubt he would have heard praise for his skill and daring from herin leading his people to a new life and new era in Crow history. Indian leader. He wasinstrumental in advocating education for Crows. As Thomas Berger writes in AmericanHeritage: [T]he Crows have too often been underrated and sometimes even disdained for being allies of the white man...But it is only human to look kindly on those who share your enemies, and the outnumbered Crows had been at war with the aggressive and expansionist Sioux long before the arrival of G. 2 3.Coups, Plenty, and Linderman, F. Linderman provides an account of Plenty Coups' lifeas told to him by the aged Chief. One such fast produceda vision that would serve Chief Plenty Coups until the end of his life, onehe abided by in orchestrating peace with warring tribes and in hisrelations with the U.S. While many Native Americans and others criticize the CrowChief for siding with the white man, the fact that the Crow had often beenattacked by the Sioux made such collaboration in their best interest toPlenty Coups' way of thinking. As onebiographer writes, "After 19 4, he was effectively recognized as the singlemost important Native American tribal leader both by the federal governmentand his own people" (Biography of Plenty-Coups 1). Before this time the Crow existed on the edge of U.S. Also they were granted a permanent eighty-five million dollar trust fund; the interest from which is used for economic development, education, and youth and elderly programs(1 -11). Plenty Coups often fasted for hefelt it brought him powerful visions of the future. Certainly the education of Crow like RobertYellowtail and others were instrumental in securing the rights and economicprosperity of the Crow. The Mighty Chieftains. He was extremelysuccessful in his negotiations with the Northern Pacific Railroad. Congress. During 1915, Senator Henry Meyers tried to encroach upon triballands by sponsoring another bill. He also served as a greeter of visitorsto the Crow nation. Custer...In their day, the Crows were gallant and formidable warriors" (65). As Graetz and Graetz explain: The younger faction, influenced by Robert Yellowtail, sense that the best choices of action was to divide the unallotted lands among themselves, thereby stopping the U.S. All of thesepremonitions would be realized by Chief Plenty Coups, and while he wasinstrumental in helping the Crow in battles against other tribes,particularly the Lakota Sioux, Plenty Coups rose to prominence among hispeople and with the U.S. Government from eventually giving it away. In full Native American ceremonial regalia, the Chiefspoke in front of more than 1 , people: I am glad to represent all the Indians of the United States in placing on the grave of this noble warrior this coup stick and war bonnet. A survey of Crow lands along the 1 7th meridian went astray, in some places up to one mile, and deleted reservation property. He wasalso unique in promoting the value of education to his people. 1993.Williams, W. Billings, Montana: Northern Rockies Publishing Company. 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