Crowfoot

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For other uses, see Crowfoot (disambiguation).

Crowfoot in 1887

Crowfoot (c. 1830 – 25 April 1890) or Isapo-Muxika (Blackfoot Issapóómahksika, "Crow-big-foot"^[1]) was a chief of the Blackfoot First Nation in Canada

Crowfoot was born in 1830 in what would become the province of Alberta. His parents were Packs a Knife (Istowun-eh'pata) and Attacked Towards Home (Axkahp-say-pi). His brother Iron Shield became Chief Bull. His mother remarried to Many Names.

Crowfoot was a warrior who fought in as many as nineteen battles and sustained many injuries. Despite this, he tried to obtain peace instead of tribal warfare. When the Canadian Pacific Railway sought to build their mainline through Blackfoot territory, negotiations with Father Lacombe convinced Crowfoot that it should be allowed.

In 1877 Colonel James Macleod and Lieutenant-Governor David Liard drew up Treaty Number 7 and persuaded Crowfoot and other chiefs to sign it. Canadian Pacific Railway President William Van Horne gave Crowfoot a lifetime pass to ride on the CPR out of gratitude.

Though he was well respected for his bravery, Crowfoot refused to join the North-West Rebellion of 1885, believing it to be a lost cause. In 1886, Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald invited Crowfoot to Ottawa. Crowfoot went, as did Three Bulls and Red Crow, but soon fell ill and had to return from Ottawa.

Crowfoot died of tuberculosis at Blackfoot Crossing on April 25, 1890.