[3][4] Eagle Woman's early diplomacy was for peace, while her efforts after the relocations to reservations focused on convincing the Sioux to adapt to the new era and compromise.

She won a local trade war, when government official attempted to shut down her trading post to establish a monopoly on the reservation, and continued to serve as a mediator and community leader throughout white encroachment on native lands during the Black Hills Gold Rush, including being selected by the U.S. government as part of a delegation to Washington, D.C. in 1872.

[3] Eagle Woman, while living at the fort, adopted the settlers' lifestyle, but as Picotte often spent long periods of time away, she would return to her tribe.

[3][9]: 162–3  The family traveled down river toward their ancestral home for William's burial, eventually contracting to deliver 10 miners to Fort Randall on their way.

[3] En route, the couple was surrounded by Santee Sioux who had recently led the Lake Shetek massacre;[6] however, one of the warriors recognized Eagle Woman and allowed them passage after she informed them that she had gifts for the local lodge and was also transporting one of her sons for burial.

[10] The Galpins negotiated the release of some of the Santee's captives upon reaching Fort LaFramboise, and a party was dispatched to ransom the two women and four children.

[6] Father Pierre-Jean De Smet sought out Eagle Woman in 1868, as she, "being of Sioux birth and a near relation to several war leaders, [exercised] great influence among her people.

She later recounted that she had to persuade Sitting Bull's people not to kill De Smet, after his delegation's arrival was met with a band of hostile warriors.

There, De Smet introduced Eagle Woman to William Tecumseh Sherman, who was at the time, leading the very Indian Peace Commission that had just completed the treaty with the Sioux, and was now tasked with implementing it.

As the government forced the Sioux into farming on barren land, a way of life that was alien and bewildering to these people of the open plains, and with little of the aid promised in the treaty, the Galpins distributed goods for free to the needy.

"[7]: 6  She contacted the military representative for the reservation, and had him supply provisions for a "feast of reconciliation",[7] and she distributed gifts to those she knew felt the most slighted.

[7] Having given her blessing to Harmon and Lulu, Eagle Woman traveled with her daughter by river boat and train to Chicago, to obtain a wedding dress.

[7] In 1873, the agency at Grand River was moved to Standing Rock on account of flooding, and Eagle Woman followed, setting up her new trading post there.

Eagle Woman herself helped to mediate this dispute that had delayed the shuttering of her own store, and Harmon wrote on her behalf to congressman John T.

[15]: 147 By 1876, Eagle Woman had turned the Indian agent into an ally, and had coordinated with him to establish the first Catholic day school in the area, with books and supplies provided for the students, and her own daughter Louise hired as instructor.

This quickly lead to violations of the treaty on the part of thousands of miners immigrating to the area, and subsequent increases in violent conflicts.

She, along with Hunkpapa leaders and thousands of Lakota warriors, including Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, met with the Indian commissioners backed by a hundred cavalry.

When the roamers became unruly, "singing defiance and brandishing their weapons",[7]: 16  the police force moved to separate them from the federal troops, and to form a protective ring around the commissioners.

[15]: 148–9  She did not support the "Sell or Starve" policies and the Act of 1877, which resolved to cut off all government rations to the Sioux until they agreed to peacefully cede the Black Hills.

Your affectionate mother Eagle Woman spent her final years at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation with friends, her daughters, and grandchildren.

[5]: 69 On December 18, 1888, Eagle Woman died at her daughter Alma's home, the Cannonball Ranch[2][6] in modern-day Morton County, North Dakota.

[14] Eagle Woman was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame as a Champion of Excellence in 2010, for her "attempts at peaceful compromise" between "Native American Indian and white societies".