Woman Chief

Woman Chief

An illustration of Pine Leaf from
James Beckwourth's autobiography

Biawacheeitchish also know as Woman Chief was a chief and warrior of the Crow tribe. Woman Chief became a significant leader for the Crows', joining the Council of Chiefs as a member of the third ranking. Woman Chief is thought to be the same person as Pine Leaf from the description in the autobiography of James Beckwourth, an explorer and fur trader.

People of the Crow Tribe

James Beckwourth

At a young age of 10 years old, Woman Chief was taken from the Gros Ventres (White Clay Tribe) people as a prisoner during a raid. The Gros Ventres tribe is said to have originated in the current state of Montana. It is believed through folklore that Woman Chief was able to escape being slaughtered with the rest of her people by her ability to think quickly. A young Woman Chief told her abductors that she was originally from the Crow tribe and was kidnapped by the Gros Ventres years ago. The Crow tribe believed her lies due to the fact that she could speak a little of the Crow tribe language. Woman Chief's birth name was never discovered as she was soon adopted into the Crows (Sparrowhawk Tribe) and raised as a Crow warrior. Woman Chief was praised for her expertise in horse riding, marksmanship, and ability to field-dress a buffalo. Field dressing is when the organs are removed from the animal that was hunted, in this case the buffalo. Field dressing is necessary to preserve the meat and prevent bacteria. When Woman Chief's father had passed, she took on the leadership of his lodge. Woman Chief claimed fame as a warrior for a Blackfoot raid against them for a fort sheltering Crow and other families. Woman Chief was able to fight off multiple attackers and played a major role in the turning point of the raid. It was at this point that Woman Chief trained her own warriors and raided other settlements. It was after this that she was accepted as bacheeitche (chief) and was given the name Biawacheeitchish (Woman Chief). Woman Chief was involved in many peace negotiations with other Missouri tribes. She was able to negotiate peace with the Gros Ventres, her original tribe. After years of peace, Woman Chief was ambushed and killed by a group of the Gros Ventres tribe.

Woman Chief

James Beckwourth wrote in his autobiography about Pine Leaf, who is believed to be the same person as Woman Chief saying "she was 'the bravest woman that ever lived...she possessed great intellectual powers. She was endowed with extraordinary muscular strength, wit the activity of the cat and the speed of the antelope'" (Bizarre Victoria). Throughout Beckwourth's book, Woman Chief is described for being attractive without being sexualized simultaneously while portraying a strong personality. It was believed that Woman Chief had lost a brother in a previous attack on the village and vowed to avenge his death. She was 12 years old at this time and sweared to "never marry until she had killed a hundred of the enemy with her own hand" (Bizarre Victoria). Woman Chief was a two-spirit which is a term used by Native Americans to describe a "gender-variant individual" (Vintage News). Although Woman Chief was known to be two-spirited she always wore typical female clothes and never wore the men's garments.

Woman Chief was a woman warrior because she was able to overcome hardships and survive even at a young age. Vowing to avenge her brother's death was notable because it provided Woman Chief with a purpose for the warrior and woman she was. Being abducted at a young age and having the ability to think on her feet saved her life and ensured her both a home and a place of refuge. I believe that due to the events that occurred so early on in her life shaped her into the person she was; having to adapt to the death of loved ones and the constant fast thinking. Being known as two-spirit is important because it accented Woman Chief's ability to take on both female and male roles in the tribe and portray the characteristics of both. The fact that Woman Chief was able to organize many peace negotiations among different tribes shows that she is not only a fearless killer. I found it a bit ironic that the tribe that had eventually killed Woman Chief was her own birth tribe.

Work Cited

Radeska, Tijana. "Pine Leaf was a Woman Chief and warrior of the Crow people". The Vintage News, 24 Oct. 2017, https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/09/20/pine-leaf-was-a-woman-chief-and-warrior-of-the-crow-people-2/

Smallwood, Karl. "Pine Leaf, The Badass Female Native American Chief". Fact Fiend, 24 Oct. 2017, http://www.factfiend.com/pine-leaf-badass-female-native-american-chief/

Sylva, Carmen. "Woman Chief, Pine Leaf". Bizarre Victoria, 24 Oct. 2017, https://bizarrevictoria.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/woman-chief-pine-leaf/

"Field Dressing (hunting)". Wikipedia, 26 Oct. 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_dressing_(hunting)

"Woman Chief". Wikipedia, 24 Oct. 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_Chief