Marias Massacre
This resulted in public outrage and a long-term shift towards a "Peace Policy" by the Federal Government, as advocated by President Ulysses S. Grant.
He then appointed men recommended by various religious clergy—including Quakers and Methodists—as Indian agents, in hopes that they would be free of the corruption he had previously found in the department.
Rather than a widespread, organized conflict, such as Red Cloud's War,[2] a series of unrelated clashes marked the relations between the groups.
Clarke found success trading with Blackfeet tribes and eventually married a Native woman named Coth-co-co-na and had four children—Helen, Horace, Nathan, and Isabel.
Clarke then moved his family to the Rocky Mountains and undertook ranching with his second wife, a mixed-race Blackfoot woman named Good Singing.
[5] Clarke's murder created a climate of unrest in the region, as outraged white settlers demanded that the government protect them and suppress the outlaw Blackfeet.
Owl Child fled North and joined Mountain Chief's Piegan band,[8] which, although known for their hostility toward white settlers, did not conduct raids on the settlements.
Sheridan ordered: If the lives and property of the citizens of Montana can best be protected by striking Mountain Chief's band, I want them struck.
[11]Sheridan intended that the squadron conduct a dawn attack on the Piegan village; it had snowed heavily, and most of the Blackfeet would be sleeping or staying inside to keep warm.
[12] Following their father's death, Nathan and Horace Clarke intercepted the Second cavalry as they passed through the Prickly Pear Valley and received permission from Colonel Philippe Regis de Trobriand to join the expedition.
Baker needed to wait until Sheridan's division inspector general Colonel James A. Hardie reviewed the situation and reported back to him.
[2] Baker's command, consisting of four companies of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry, and 55 mounted men of the 13th U.S. Infantry, moved North from Fort Shaw on January 19, looking for Mountain Chief's band, which was purportedly located in the Marias River country.
[14] Scout Joe Kipp recognized that the camp belonged to Heavy Runner, considered peaceful and not to be attacked per orders from Fort Shaw commander Colonel Philippe Régis de Trobriand.
When told that the camp belonged to Heavy Runner, Baker responded, "That makes no difference, one band or another of them; they are all Piegans [Blackfeet] and we will attack them."
Baker then ordered a sergeant to shoot Kipp if he tried to warn the sleeping camp of Blackfeet and gave the command to attack.
Cobell was married to the sister of Mountain Chief and wanted to divert attention from his brother-in-law's camp, which he knew was about 10 miles (16 km) downstream.
William Birth of Company K boasted that they sliced open lodge coverings with butcher knives and shot the unarmed people inside.
[17][19] Colonel Regis de Trobriand reported to his superior officers on the success of the expedition, informing them that the "murderers, and marauders of last summer" had been killed.
Sheridan received de Trobriand's initial report on January 29, which was then forwarded to Sherman with the promise that "this will end Indian troubles in Montana."
So, he implied that Baker had attacked a "hostile" camp and that Heavy Runner had been killed by "his own fault" because he had left the safety of the trading post in search of whiskey.
[23] Blackfeet agent William B. Pease reported the massacre to his superior, Alfred Sully, on January 30 after interviewing the expedition's officers.
Based on his interviews with officers and survivors, Pease reported a death toll of eighteen older men, ninety women, and fifty children.
[14] When General Sherman received Baker's initial report, he ordered him to give a complete account, including "exactly the number, sex, and kind of Indians killed."
Major General Winfield Scott Hancock claimed that it was necessary for the troops to "fire into the lodges at the outset to drive the Indians out to an open contest."
[14] The Army and Navy Journal editorialized that "Colonel Baker's report of his scout against the hostile Piegan and Blood Indians shows incontestably that the march itself was a heroic one."
The editorial further explained that it "was not known how strong the Indians might be, and huddled as they were indiscriminately in the camp, the first fury of the attack fell alike on all ages and sexes."
When writer Frank Bird Linderman requested an interview for a story, Kipp refused because the military would hang him if he told what he knew about the massacre.
At Fort Ellis, Baker was in command of surveying expeditions into Yellowstone in 1871 and 1872, culminating in a skirmish between his forces and Indian warriors led by Sitting Bull at Pryor's Creek on August 14, 1872.
Nathan Clarke was "stabbed to the heart" on September 19, 1872 in Deep Creek, Montana by James Swan, a Métis man.
[31] In an attempt to raise the quality of appointees, Grant appointed as Indian agents numerous Quakers and other persons affiliated with religious groups.
