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JIM BECKWOURTH: An African American Becomes Chief of the Crow Indians

© Mary Trotter Kion

It is the summer of 1825. On Henry's Fork of the Green River the first Mountain Man Rendezvous has come to an end. The whisky kegs are empty. Old lies and old stories, some being one and the same, have been told. Some new ones were added.

A newcomer is among these buckskin-clad men this summer. He is a young mulatto. His name is Jim Beckwourth. Like one of the older mountain men here, Caleb Greenwood, Beckwourth hails from Virginia.

Sometime after this rendezvous Greenwood and Beckwourth, with some other trappers who are camped in the heart of Blackfoot country, are attacked by the Blackfeet. The Indians' attempt to acquire some new scalps for their collection fails. Instead, their scalps are added to the collection of the mountain men.

The following day the trappers are overtaken by some Snake Indians. After hearing of the fight with the Blackfeet, the traditional enemy of the Snake, these friendly Indians express their regret that they had not been there to pursue them. Together, the mountain men and the Snakes travel towards the head of Green River where they all camp for several days. By then it is early September and time to look towards the fur-trapping season that was is at hand.

Before the trappers leave camp on Green River some Crow Indians, who are also friendly to the whites, arrive and see the fresh scalps hanging on the trappers' lodge-poles. When they ask about them they are told of the attack the Blackfeet made on them.

The Crows want to meet the brave souls that defeated the fierce Blackfeet. Greenwood points Beckwourth out as the one who took most of the scalps. The Crow insist on meeting a man this brave. As Jim could speak very little of their language at that time, Greenwood relates the tale of the fight. But Greenwood also tells the Indians that Beckwourth is a Crow, which opens up a whole new discussion with the Crows demanding an explanation.

Greenwood reminds the Crow of an attack they'd had many winters ago by the Cheyenne. The Indians remember the incident, admitting that the Cheyenne carried off many of their women and children. The older mountain man tells them that Beckwourth had been just a little boy then and was one of those children captured by the Cheyenne. The Crows want to know what Jim is doing with white men if he is a Crow.

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