Piegan of the Blackfoot Tribe

Ancestral Homeland: Southern Alberta near Calgary; and near Browning, Montana

History
The Piegan Indians are one of the three major Blackfeet tribes -- the Blood, the Blackeet, and the Piegan.

During the 1700's there were inter-tribal conflicts with the Shoshone, Flathead and Kootenai, with the Piegan driving the Flathead and Kootenai west of the Rocky Mountains.

The Hudson Bay Company and its French traders were early non-Indian contacts during the mid-1700s to 1780. The company established the Cumberland and Buckingham trading houses.

The tribe was plagued with smallpox epidemics in 1780, 1837, 1869 and 1870 which depopulated the tribe each time.

On January 22, 1870 the Piegan village was attacked by the U.S. Cavalry and 174 were Indians were killed.

Fort Belknap and Blackfeet Reservations were established........

About a fourth of the tribe suffered starvation in 1883 and 1884 when the rations were short, and many died at Fort Shaw and Fort Belknap.

The population of the Piegan Tribe in 1800 was about 3,000. In 1996, it was approximately 18,000.

Brief Timeline

 * 1700: tribal enemies were the Shoshone or Snake
 * The Piegan forced the Flathead and Kootenai west of the Rockies
 * 1750: French traders came in contact with the tribe, including traders at Cumberland House in 1774 and traders from Buckingham House of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1780
 * 1780-81: Smallpox epidemic
 * 1821: Fort Benton constructed
 * 1837 and 1869-1870: Smallpox epidemics
 * 1851: Treaty of Fort Laramie
 * 1855: Treaty with the Blackfeet Nation - Lame Bull's Treaty
 * 1870: January 22, Piegan village attacked 174 killed by U.S. Cavalry
 * 1873: July 5, Blackfeet Reservation established and divided in thirds- Fort Belknap Reservation, Blackfeet Reservation and________
 * 1883-1884: about a fourth of the Piegan Tribe starved to death at Fort Shaw and Fort Belknap

Reservations
Blackfeet Reservation

Fort Belknap reservation

Additional References to the History of the Tribe

 * Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Piegan tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.

Agency
Blackfoot Agency 1855-69

Treaty

 * 1855 Treaty with the Blackfeet

Important Web Sites

 * Piegan Blackfeet Tribe Wikipedia