Hello
everyone! Today I learned about a very interesting and badass woman
of history! Her name was Pine Leaf, also known as Woman Chief and she
was a warrior of the Crow Nation. When Pine Leaf was just a small,
ten-year-old child, she was kidnapped by the Crow from her native
tribe of the Gros Ventre.
The
story of her kidnapping has two possible versions. The first possible
idea is that when she was kidnapped she talked her way out of being
killed on the spot by claiming to have actually been kidnapped by the
Gros Ventre recently and she got away with it by knowing some of
their language. The other option is a Crow warrior was actually
looking for a replacement for his deceased son.
Whatever
the truth is, she was raised to be strong and extremely good at
everything. She learned to ride a horse, shot her bow and cleaning
and carving a buffalo. She was a warrior who on her very first battle
killed two enemies and herded some nearby wild horses because she
wanted to.
Pine
Leaf was what the Native Americans call a two spirit, meaning she was
a different gender from the usuals. Most two spirits wore masculine
clothes but Pine Leaf did not. She always dressed like a woman. She
promised not to marry until she killed 100 enemies. A man who lived
with the Crow people in the 1880s named James Beckwourth claimed to
have married this woman for five weeks but these claims are thought
to be untrue.
What
was true was she married at least four women and did something the
Natives called counting coup. This meant they would tease the enemy
by doing something like running over the enemy unarmed and knocking
the person over. She lead the tribe as the War Chief for twenty
years.
In
1851 the Treaty of Fort Laramie brought new jobs for the former war
chief. She helped in negotiations between the tribes of Upper
Missouri and brought peace between her native tribe of Gros Ventre
and her current tribe of the Crow. Unfortunately, after many years of
peace, Pine Leaf was ambushed by the Gros Ventre and murdered.
Sources:
Radeska,
Tijana Pine Leaf was a Woman Chief and warrior of the Crow people
2016 9-20
Smallwood,
Karl Pine Leaf, The Badass Female Native American Chief 2016 5-11
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