The last of the horse wars: intertribal, cross-border warfare in southern alberta and northen montana territory, 1878-1893
Date
2012-09-06
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Abstract
From 1883 until the autumn of 1889, Canadian Kainai (Blood Indians) waged cross-border warfare against American A’aninin (Gros Ventres) and Nakota (Assiniboine) of the Fort Belknap Agency in northeastern Montana. Enmity between these indigenous plains peoples had carried over from hostilities at the end of buffalo days and was perpetuated due to a strong continuity of warrior and equestrian culture in the 1880s, which endured despite efforts of the Canadian Dominion Government to “civilize” their Blackfoot wards through Christianity and agriculture. The few historians who have studied this little known conflict have emphasized the success of the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) in ending it. However, this thesis will demonstrate that NWMP efforts were often ineffective and the reasons behind the Kainai decision to end the hostilities were complex, encompassing environmental change and an independent modification of cultural ethos. This thesis illuminates this conflict, its causes, and its resolution.
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Native American Studies
Citation
Marsh, C. (2012). The last of the horse wars: intertribal, cross-border warfare in southern alberta and northen montana territory, 1878-1893 (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28228