Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation

Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, are a Native American group comprising a union of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples, whose native lands ranged across the Missouri River basin in the Dakotas. Hardship, losses from infectious disease and forced relocations brought the remnants of the peoples together in the late 19th century.

Today, the nation is based at the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. The Tribe consists of about 12,600 enrolled members. Nearly 4,500 live on the reservation; others live and work elsewhere.^[1]

Qualification changes

In 2010 the tribe passed amendments emphasizing blood quantum or minimum amounts of tribal ancestry to qualify individuals for membership and as candidates for public office. Individuals must have at least 1/8 Mandan, Hidatsa, or Arikara ancestry (the equivalent of one great-grandparent) to become an enrolled member of the MHA Nation. Before the amendment's passage on November 3, 2010, membership was open to any individual with "Lineal Descent" from a tribal member. This amendment passed by a vote of 616 for and 477 against. 2,583 people were registered to vote.

In the same election, the membership of the Three Affiliated Tribes voted on an amendment regarding the eligibility of individuals as candidates for public office of the tribe. As of November 3, 2010 a person must have at least 1/4 Mandan, Hidatsa, or Arikara ancestry (the equivalent of one grandparent) to qualify as a candidate for the Tribal Business Council. This amendment passed by a vote of 693 for and 400 against. 2,583 people were registered to vote.

Tribal council

The current tribal business council is Chairman Tex G. Hall (At-large), who was elected November 2, 2010; Vice-Chairman Scott Eagle (New Town 2008-2012); Treasurer Mervin Packineau (Parshall 2002-2014); Secretary V. Judy Brugh (4 Bears 2006-2014); Arnold Strahs (Mandaree 2008-2012); Frank White Calfe (White Shield 2004-2012); and Barry Benson (Twin Buttes 2006-2014). A term for a Tribal Council member lasts a duration of 4 years when elected. There are no term limits for council members.

Mandan

Main article: Mandan

The Mandan are a Native American tribe currently part of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota. At the height of their historic culture, the Mandan were prosperous and peaceful farmers and traders, noted for their excellent maize cultivation and crafting of Knife River flint. They built earthen lodge villages of considerable technical skill, and cultivated many varieties of maize. They were a more sedentary people than other, more nomadic tribes of the Great Plains.

Lewis and Clark stayed with the Mandan when they passed through the Upper Missouri region on their expedition to the Northwest, including five months in the winter of 1804-1805. Sakagawea, a Shoshone who had been kidnapped and adopted by the Hidatsa at an early age, joined the expedition as an interpreter and native guide. Because of her contributions, she was honored with an image on the U.S. dollar coin. On the return trip, the expedition brought a Mandan chief with them back to Washington, DC.

The smallpox epidemic of 1837–1838 decimated the Mandan, leaving approximately 125 survivors and destroying their society. They banded together with the Hidatsa to survive. Later, when the Arikara were forced northward by wars with the Lakota, they also settled with the Hidatsa and Mandan. When European-American settlers began arriving in this territory in number in the late 19th century, the US relocated the three tribes to the Fort Berthold Reservation. Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the tribes formed a tribal government which they called the Three Affiliated Tribes, a self-governing unit. Today about 30 individuals are confirmed Mandan full-bloods.^{[citation needed]} Most members of the tribe have varying amounts of Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara ancestry.

Some explorers described the Mandan and their structures as having "European" features, as the Europeans struggled to relate the new sights to what they knew. In the 19th century, a few people used such anecdotes to speculate that the Mandan were, in part, descended from lost European settlers who had arrived at North America before 1492, or the voyage of Christopher Columbus. One legend associated them with Welsh ancestry. Historians and anthropologists have found no evidence to support such a theory.^[2]

Hidatsa

Main article: Hidatsa

Pehriska-Ruhpa of the Dog Band of the Hidatsa, c. 1832-1834, by Karl Bodmer.

The Hidatsa, called Moennitarri by their allies the Mandan, are a Siouan-speaking people. The Hidatsa name for themselves (autonym) is Nuxbaaga ("Original People"). The name Hidatsa, said to mean "willows," was that of a band's village. When the villages consolidated, the tribe used that name for their people as a whole.

Their language is related to that of the Crow nation. They have been considered a parent tribe to the modern Crow in Montana. The Hidatsa have sometimes been confused with the Gros Ventre, another tribe which was historically in Montana. In 1936, the Bureau of Indian Affairs compiled the Tribe's Base Roll listing all Hidatsa as "G.V.", for Gros Ventre. Today about 30 full-blood Hidatsa are members of the Affiliated Three Tribes. Most Hidatsa people have ancestry also of the Mandan and Arikara tribes.

Arikara

Main article: Arikara

The Arikara call themselves Sahnish.^[3] The Arikara were forced into Mandan territory by conflict with the Lakota (Sioux), between the Arikara War and the European-American settlement in the 1870s. The Arikara lived for many years near the Ft. Clark trading post, also called Knife River.

In 1862 they joined the Hidatsa and Mandan at Like-a-Fishhook Village, near the Fort Berthold trading post. For work, the Arikara men scouted for the U. S. Army, stationed at nearby Fort Stevenson. In 1874, the Arikara scouts guided Custer on the Black Hills Expedition, during which his party discovered gold and prompted European-American desire for the lands, which the Lakota considered sacred.

In 1876, a large group of Arikara men accompanied Custer and the 7th Cavalry on the Little Big Horn Expedition. Arikara scouts were in the lead when US Army forces attacked the widespread encampment of thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors and families. Several scouts drove off Lakota horses, as they had been ordered, and others fought alongside the troopers. Three Arikara men were killed: Little Brave, Bobtail Bull, and Bloody Knife. During the subsequent confusion, when the scouts were cut off from the troopers, they returned to the base camp as they had been directed. After the battle, in which Custer and some 260 other US troops were killed, the search for scapegoats resulted in some critics mistakenly accusing the scouts of having abandoned the soldiers.

Notable tribal members

• Edward Lone Fight (b. 1940), chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes
• Tex G. Hall

Notes

1. ^ "ND Indian Affairs Commission - Statistics & Data"
2. ^ This is the legend of Madoc ab Owein, popularized in relation to the Mandan in the 19th century by the painter George Catlin. No substantive evidence has been found by historians or anthropologists."The discovery of America.... by a Welsh Prince?", Historic- UK
3. ^ "History: The Sahnish (Arikara)." Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. (retrieved 29 Sept 2011)

References

• Gilman, Carolyn, Mary Lane Schneider, et al. The Way to Independence: Memories of a Hidatsa Indian Family, 1840-1920. St Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1987. ISBN 0-87351-209-X.
• Libby, Orin G., ed. Arikara Narrative Of Custer's Campaign And The Battle Of The Little Bighorn, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998. ISBN 0-8061-3072-5.
• Hammer, Ken. With Custer in '76, Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1976.
• Matthews, Washington. Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians, U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey, 1877.
• Nichols, Ron. Men with Custer, revised ed. Hardin, MT: Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, 2000.
• Wilson, Gilbert Livingstone, Ph.D. Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: an Indian Interpretation, University of Minnesota, 1917.

External links

• Three Affiliated Tribes home page
• Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden - Hidatsa agriculture
• Leon Wolf's Complaint - Hidatsa gestural language
• Discovering Lewis and Clark, history of tribe and interviews with members