27 Facts About Plenty Coups

Plenty Coups was the principal chief of the Crow Tribe and a visionary leader.

Plenty Coups allied the Crow with the whites when the war for the West was being fought because the Sioux and Cheyenne were the traditional enemies of the Crow.

Plenty Coups had experienced a vision when he was very young that non-Native American people would ultimately take control of his homeland, so he always felt that cooperation would benefit his people much more than opposition.

Plenty Coups was born into the Crow tribe in about 1848 at the-cliffs-that-have-no-name, to his father Medicine-Bird and his mother Otter-woman.

Plenty Coups was given the birth name Chiilaphuchissaaleesh, or "Buffalo Bull Facing The Wind".

Plenty Coups is the English translation of his name, coming from the word coup, or act of bravery.

Early in his life, Plenty Coups started having prophetic dreams and visions.

Later, when he was 11 years old, Plenty Coups was challenged to have a vision which might guide his people's future.

Plenty Coups saw himself as an old man, living near a cold spring in the foothills of the Arrowhead Mountains.

Plenty Coups saw a forest; strong winds blew down the trees in the forest until only one tree was left standing.

Plenty Coups started learning early in life the ways of an Indian warrior.

Plenty Coups spent his youth fighting and learning alongside many other young warriors, including Medicine Crow, who would become a chief.

Plenty Coups soon gained a reputation for being fearless and cunning, like the wolf.

Plenty Coups became a member of the elite warriors of his tribe.

Plenty Coups was often looked to for guidance and advice, and spoke out often during tribal councils regarding their neighboring enemies, and their interaction with the encroaching white population and their government.

Plenty Coups was named a chief of the Crow at age 28.

Plenty Coups was thought to have between 50 and 100 feathers on his coup stick, each one representing an act of valor.

Plenty Coups became a chief in 1876, the same year as the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Plenty Coups was selected to represent the Crow in Washington, DC, where he fought successfully against US senators' plans to abolish the Crow nation and take away their lands.

Plenty Coups made many trips to Washington over ten years to protect his people.

Plenty Coups was fairly successful in doing so, and managed to keep the Crows' original land, despite many foreigners' desire to take the land for gold prospecting and other uses.

Plenty Coups told about his trip to Washington in 1880 to William Wildschut.

Chief Plenty Coups was selected as the sole representative of Native Americans for the dedication of the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier and gave a short speech in his native tongue in honor of the soldier and the occasion.

Plenty Coups placed his war-bonnet and coup stick upon the tomb, and they are preserved in a display case there.

Two Crow Indians, Coyote-runs and Braided-scalp-lock, assisted Plenty Coups in recounting his life to Linderman.

Plenty Coups told about vision quests, fights with the Cheyennes and the Lakotas and about the history of the Crows.

Plenty Coups told what little he knew about the Tongue River massacre on a big Crow camp at Tongue River in 1820.