[The Baker Massacre is] "The greatest slaughter of Indians ever made by U.S. troops."
- Lt. Gus Doane, Commander of F Company, said of the 1870 attack
On an icy cold day along Marias River in Montana, a detachment of 200 soldiers from Fort Shaw ambushed and slaughtered a band of friendly, near-defenseless Piegan (Blackfeet) Indians in a cruel act of
military lawlessness that was considered heinous - even for the days of the Indian Wars.
The day was January 23rd, 1870. It has been reported that 1-2 feet of snow laid upon the ground and the temperature was near 40 below zero. At dawn the troops surrounded the sleepy village of Chief Heavy
Runner, who came out of his lodge waving papers and medals from the U.S. government... papers that proclaimed him 'friend' to the white man. Army scout Joe Kipp yelled out to the group that they were at
the wrong camp. It was too late. Joe Cobell, also a scout, shot andkilled the Chief. Within minutes the squad violently slayed elderly men, women, those sickened with smallpox and children. The camp,
absent of warriors on a hunting expedition, were easy prey for thebloodthirsty men hungry for conquest. When it was over, one soldier laid dead along with 170 to 215 innocent Piegan Indians.
Within hours, Commander Major Eugene Baker trekked his troop downstream to locate the hostile village of Mountain Chief, theactual group he was ordered to destroy. Gus Doane and his F Company was left behind at the Piegan village to incinerate what remained of Chief Heavy Runners village, loot the Indians belongings, burn the bodies, round up the escapees and gather the hundreds of Piegan ponies. Baker decided to attack the hostile camp the following
morning. At dawn he learned that Mountain Chief and his men deserted camp and moved on.
Though the Baker Massacre is notably one of the most merciless and gutless acts of tribal genocide in American history, the account rarely makes it into American history books because Bakers superiors
defended and affirmed his malicious acts, therefore covering up the unnecessary murders. No formal investigation was ever ordered, even though Horace Clarke, a civilian who was with the troops, swore Baker was drunk at the time and was hell-bent on punishing the Piegans for the death of Malcolm Clarke who was killed by a young Indian warrior
named Owl Child. Public outcries for the ruthless Indian slaughter were silenced with a press release that stated that the majority of the Indians killed were warriors and that once the Piegans ceded, the
soldiers ceased firing. The press release also stated that most women and children were set free, but failed to mention that the 140 captives were held in the freezing cold before being released into
the subzero weather without proper food or clothing. Left homeless, what remained of the Piegan people had to march up to 90 miles toFort Benton. Many froze to death along the way.
Captain Lewis Thompson, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, said " Only a few escaped.
The woods and streams were full of the dead�?
The annihilation of children was also dramatically softened. According to Baker and his superiors, many children were spared. This is a complete contradiction to Corporal Dan Starrs (2nd U.S. Cavalry) account where he later explained that [Major] "Baker had made known the paramount feature of his military policy when he announced as a
motto, ' Nits make lice. ' This was the customary way of indicating that children were not to be spared. With this general-extermination idea impressed upon the troops, the camp was quickly surrounded."
Tom LeForge, eyewitness to the slaughter, said: "I found a young sq**w hidden in the brush, nursing her baby. She jumped up, in great fear. She made signs ...saying, ' Wait until my baby gets its fill
from my breast. Then you may kill me. But let the baby live, I give it to you. She held the infant out toward me. I ignored her, turned aside and went away. A little while later I again passed that
thicket. There I saw the dead bodies of both the mother and child."
The possibility of Baker leading his men while intoxicated was never investigated by military officials, nor is it mentioned in Baker's service record. But his problems with alcohol was later reported in 1872 (when he was too drunk to lead his troops during and attack by Sioux in Montana), and he was court-martialed in 1873 due to problems
with his own men.
Joe Kipp, eyewitness, said: "The able-bodied Indians at that time were out hunting, and those who were killed were the Chief and such Indians as could not hunt, being the old men, women and children. The
Indians did not return the fire of the soldiers. Only one shot was fired by any of the Indians�?..."
The Blackfeet Indians still remember the Baker Massacre by returning to that same frigid Montana spot every January 23rd to perform a ceremony in honor of those who lost their lives over a century ago.
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