Keywords
Blackfeet, Atsina, Lewis and Clark, fur trade, mountain men
Abstract
Next to grizzly bears and Mother Nature, the most feared enemy of American fur trappers traveling along the upper Missouri River were the Niitsftapi or Blackfeet, the "Original People" or "Prairie People." The Blackfeet Confederacy comprised the dominant military power on the northwestern plains. Blackfeet sought to maintain their hegemony by preventing American traders and trappers from trading with and strengthening the Shoshones, Crows, Flatheads (Salish), and Nez Perces. They accomplished this by harassing and attacking American trappers and stealing their horses and furs. Blackfeet enmity toward the Americans and their determination to keep them out of their neighborhood instilled apprehension and fear in the heart of virtually every traveler venturing along the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers before 1840.
Original Publication Citation
Buckley, Jay H. “Short Tempers and Long Knives: Hostilities between the Blackfeet Confederacy and American Fur Trappers from 1806 to 1840.” We Proceeded On 39, no. 2 (May 2013): 8-18.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Buckley, Jay H., "“Short Tempers and Long Knives: Hostilities between the Blackfeet Confederacy and American Fur Trappers from 1806 to 1840.”" (2013). Faculty Publications. 7394.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/7394
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2013-5
Publisher
Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
Language
English
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
History
Copyright Use Information
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