Big Robber

Crow tribal flag

Father, we are a small nation, and these that are with me here have been selected to come and see you, and to do whatever is most for the good of the children of the Long Beaked Bird. We live a great way off, many days travel from here, and we have but little to do with the whites, but we are willing to be at peace with them. We believe it would be for the good of all to be at peace and have no more war...the sun and the moon and the earth are witnesses of the truth, and all that I have promised here will be fulfilled.

Crow leader at the Treaty of Horse Creek

          The young but formidable war chief chosen by the Mountain and River Crow to represent the tribes at the Treaty of Horse Creek on the North Platte River in September, 1851.  Big Robber's speech to the council the day after the Crow arrived made for a turning point in the negotiations with the Sioux.  The Crow were willing to accept boundaries to their homelands, and to select a single chief to speak for all of them.  This forced the hand of the Sioux and other tribes who were resisting actual boundaries and the condition that they pick a single spokesperson for their people. (Click here for more on the Crow)