Margaret Poisal

Margaret Poisal (c. 1834–between 1883 and 1892) was "the only woman who was an official witness, interpreter, and consultant at many meetings and treaty councils held along or in close proximity to the Santa Fe Trail.

She married Thomas Fitzpatrick, an Indian agent, and they worked together negotiating peace between Native American tribes and the United States government.

[1] American pioneers migrated west to California and Oregon beginning in 1842, which resulted in reduction of buffalo herds and the destruction of the range.

[1] The Arapaho, who were allied with the Cheyenne,[1] lived on lands north of the Arkansas River and to the Boulder Valley.

The Arapaho people's territory extended from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Central and Southern Plains.

[9] Snake Woman was attacked by two drunken white men, and John Poisal risked his life saving her from sexual assault.

[6] Margaret's brother John was educated and worked as a trader, speaking English, Arapaho, and Spanish.

Snake Woman and the remaining children who lived at home joined the Arapaho at Sand Creek in Colorado.

[1] The Fitzpatricks settled in Westport, Missouri and from there traveled periodically to Native American villages on the Great Plains and along the Santa Fe Trail.

That year they lived with Snake Woman and her family in Denver for a time, to take advantage of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.

[3] The couple divorced after Wilmot mishandled their finances, which had resulted in the loss of most of Poisal's inheritance from Thomas Fitzpatrick.

[1] Fitzpatrick was a key party to the Fort Atkinson Treaty Council of 1853 in present southwest Kansas.

[10] Following Fitzpatrick's death, Poisal represented the interests of the Southern Arapahos in treaty councils and other meetings held along or near the Santa Fe Trail.

[10] After the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, Indian lands were encroached upon by white miners and settlers, many of whom did not want to form relationships with native peoples.

Poisal's uncle, Chief Left Hand, was killed in November 1864 during the Sand Creek massacre.

In the end, Native Americans were moved to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), giving up their hunter-gatherer tradition and to become farmers.

[14] She may have lived with her daughter Virginia Tomasine "Jennie" Fitzpatrick Meager in Indian Territory in her later years.