Qualla: Marias Massacre https://qualla.com/marias-massacre en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:04 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/c/8/8/e/marias-massacre-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Marias Massacre https://qualla.com/marias-massacre Marias Massacre: Introduction https://qualla.com/marias-massacre/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Chief Heavy Runner ran toward the soldiers waving a piece of paper above his head. It was a safe conduct pass from the Indian Bureau, proof that his band was peaceful, that they were the wrong camp. The soldiers shot him down. On January 23, 1870, along the Marias River in Montana Territory, Major Eugene Baker's cavalry had been sent to punish the band of Mountain Chief for raids on white settlements. Instead, in a dawn attack on a camp full of people weakened by smallpox, they killed approximately 200 Piegan Blackfeet, the vast majority of them women, children, and older men. Scout Joe Kipp, who recognized Heavy Runner's camp and tried to stop the attack, counted 217 dead.

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]]> Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/8/8/e/marias-massacre-wp/c88e-marias-massacre-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Marias Massacre: The Murder That Started Everything https://qualla.com/marias-massacre/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Malcolm Clarke was a fur trader and rancher who had once attended West Point before being expelled for fighting. In 1867, a young Piegan warrior named Owl Child stole horses from Clarke, retaliation for Clarke's role in losing horses that Owl Child blamed on him. Clarke and his s...

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]]> Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/8/8/e/marias-massacre-wp/c88e-marias-massacre-the-murder-that-started-everything.mp3 0:06 2 full Marias Massacre: Orders to Strike Hard https://qualla.com/marias-massacre/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. General Philip Sheridan wanted the Blackfeet punished. "If the lives and property of the citizens of Montana can best be protected by striking Mountain Chief's band," he wrote, "I want them struck. Tell Baker to strike them hard." Sheridan intended a dawn attack in deep winter, t...

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]]> Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/8/8/e/marias-massacre-wp/c88e-marias-massacre-orders-to-strike-hard.mp3 0:06 3 full Marias Massacre: The Wrong Camp https://qualla.com/marias-massacre/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. When Baker's column found the Piegan encampment on the frozen Marias, scout Joe Kipp recognized that it belonged to Heavy Runner, a chief considered peaceful and explicitly protected by orders from Colonel de Trobriand at Fort Shaw. Kipp told Baker this was the wrong camp. Baker'...

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]]> Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/8/8/e/marias-massacre-wp/c88e-marias-massacre-the-wrong-camp.mp3 0:06 4 full Marias Massacre: The Killing and Its Cover-Up https://qualla.com/marias-massacre/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Baker's men counted 173 dead Blackfeet; Kipp later said the true number was 217. Only one cavalryman died, a Private McKay. Another soldier broke his leg falling off his horse. Agent William Pease interviewed survivors and reported a death toll of eighteen older men, ninety women...

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]]> Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/8/8/e/marias-massacre-wp/c88e-marias-massacre-the-killing-and-its-cover-up.mp3 0:06 5 full Marias Massacre: A Policy Changed by Outrage https://qualla.com/marias-massacre/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The massacre backfired politically. News of the slaughter of women and children, many sick with smallpox, provoked public outrage that ended Sheridan's campaign to place Indian affairs under military control. President Ulysses S. Grant instead pursued what became known as the Pea...

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]]> Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/8/8/e/marias-massacre-wp/c88e-marias-massacre-a-policy-changed-by-outrage.mp3 0:06 6 full