On a frigid January morning in 1870, Colonel Eugene Baker led a raid on what he thought was the camp of a band of Piegan Indians led by Mountain Chief, who had been accused of killing a rancher near Helena. Unfortunately, Baker chose to ignore one of his scouts, who informed him they had the wrong encampment, and he ordered 380 soldiers to attack the camp of Chief Heavy Runner, who was known to be friendly to the settlers and even had a document to prove it. But when Heavy Runner tried to show Baker this document, another scout, Joseph Cobell, who happened to be married to Mountain Chief's sister, shot Heavy Runner, and the slaughter was on.
More than 200 Natives were killed, and it was later revealed that all but 20 or 30 of them were women and children, many of which were already deathly ill with smallpox. It is now considered the worst Indian slaughter in Montana's history. This month's episode features music from Gary Small's excellent album Wild Indians.
