Battle of the Belly River

First Nations battle in what is now Alberta, Canada

Date	October 25, 1870
Location	Present day Lethbridge, Alberta
Result	Decisive Blackfoot victory

Belligerents

Blackfoot Confederacy

Cree

Commanders and leaders

Big Leg
Black Eagle
Heavy Shield
Crow Eagle
Bull Back Fat
Button Chief

Big Bear
Little Pine
Little Mountain
Piapot

Strength

500-800 warriors

Casualties and losses

40 killed
50 wounded

200-400 killed

The Battle of the Belly River was the last major conflict between the Cree (the Iron Confederacy) and the Blackfoot Confederacy, and the last major battle between First Nations on Canadian soil.

The battle took place within the present limits of the city of Lethbridge on the banks of the Oldman River, which at the time of the battle, was called the Belly River. A devastating outbreak of smallpox had reduced the strength of the Blackfoot, and a Cree war party had come south in late October 1870 to take advantage of that weakness. An advance party of Crees had stumbled upon a Peigan camp and decided to attack instead of informing the main Cree body of their find.

The Blackfoot and the Cree were fighting to gain control of the Cypress Hills boundaries and in the fall of 1870 there was a battle between them called the "Battle of Belly River." Big Bear and Little Pine led the Cree’s and attacked a Blood First Nations camp. The next day, well armed Peigans entered the battle and defeated the Cree, approximately 200-400 Crees died in the battle. Eventually the Cree and Blackfoot negotiated peace and access to the Cypress hills.^[1]

Soon word passed to other Blackfoot, Blood and Peigan camps in the immediate area, and warriors were sent to join battle. After several hours of trading shots, a Blackfoot party gained the high ground and made the Cree positions untenable. The retreat became a rout, and up to 300 Cree warriors were killed trying to make their escape.

Approximately a year after the battle, the Cree and Blackfoot made a formal peace. This was formalized by Crowfoot, a Blackfoot chief, ritually adopting Poundmaker, an up-and-coming Cree leader in 1873. Treaty No.7, between the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Crown, was signed in 1877. In 1906, the town of Lethbridge was founded near the battle site. The battle itself is commemorated in Indian Battle Park.

References

^ Dodson, 14, quoted at https://web.archive.org/web/20160401180710/https://treaty6education.lskysd.ca/1870

External links

The Shrine of Dreams

Blackfoot Confederacy

Tribes or Nations

Blackfoot-speaking	Kanai or Blood Piikani, Northern Peigan or Blackfoot Siksika or Blackfoot Amskapi Pikuni, South Piegan or Blackfeet
Later members	Gros Ventre or Atsina (circa 1793–1861) Tsuutʼina or Sarcee

Traditional territory in green, reserves and reservations in orange.

Communities

Reservations (US)	Blackfeet Indian Reservation (South Piegans) Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (Gros Ventres)
Reserves (Canada)	Blood 148 Piikani 147 Siksika 146 Tsuu T'ina 145

Culture

History

War with Shoshone (circa 1730s-1800s)
1775–1782 North American smallpox epidemic
1837–1838 smallpox epidemic
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) (with USA)
War against the Crow and Gros Ventre (circa 1861–1867)
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) (with USA)
Battle of the Belly River (against the Cree, 1870)
Marias Massacre (by US Army, 1870)
Peace with the Cree, circa 1871, (symbolized by Crowfoot's adoption of Poundmaker in 1873)
US land annexation, migration to Canada (1874)
Treaty 7 (with Canada, 1877)
Starvation winter (1883–1884)
Sweetgrass Hills Treaty (with USA, 1887)