The Participation of Chief Plenty Coups at the Interment Ceremony of the WWI Unknown Soldier Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921 by Daniel A

The Participation of Chief Plenty Coups at the Interment Ceremony of the WWI Unknown Soldier Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921 By Daniel A. Stewart (Lozo), Former Sentinel of the Guard No. 214 (1979-1980), Tomb of the Unknown Soldier February 27, 2017

Chief Plenty Coups Chief Plenty Coups at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Public domain photograph November 1921 prior to 50 ton marble capstone being placed on crypt Used by permission of Putt Thompson, Little Big Horn Battlefield Trading Post

Summary:

Chief Plenty Coups (sometimes misspelled “Coos”) of the Crow Indian Nation of Montana was chosen by the United States government to represent his and other American Indian nations at the interment of the World War I unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921. During the four years of sustained combat from 1914 through 1918, eight million soldiers died. In 1921, the remains of 1,237 American soldiers buried in France rested beneath tombstones marked Unknown. This paper recounts Chief Plenty Coups’ participation in the burial services of the unknown soldier, including the aged chief’s spontaneous prayer at the solemn graveside ceremony. The American Indian artifacts presented to the unknown soldier will be examined. These highest of military honors are the war bonnet and coups stick. And an examination will be made of the historic and political rationale for why this great Indian leader was chosen to represent all Indian nations on this occasion. During World War I, Crow and other American Indian soldiers enlisted in the United States Army as proud Americans. Chief Plenty Coups was an Army Scout who fought with General Crook at the Battle of the Rosebud in Montana on June 17, 1876 only eight days and about sixty five miles southeast of the location of General George Armstrong Custer’s defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. A deeper understanding of the life of Chief Plenty Coups and his participation at the interment of the unknown soldier in 1921 reveals another dimension of the meaning of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Crow Indians Serving in World War I:

Chief Plenty Coups strongly encouraged young Crow men to serve in the United States Army during World War I:

“This is your chance to prove that you are warriors, just as your fathers and grandfathers were in the old days. This is a new day, with new challenges and opportunities. You are Americans – the first Americans! Be proud of your noble heritage. Prove your patriotism by fighting for America.” (1)

A Crow tribal report lists the names of thirty-eight Crow men who fought in the war. (2) Crow Nation population was 1,826 in 1905 and 1,679 in 1930. In 1998 there were 9,814 enrolled members of the Crow Tribe. (3)

Chief Plenty Coups’ Selection to Represent American Indians at the Interment of the Unknown Soldier:

The process by which the United States government selected Chief Plenty Coups to represent all Indian nations at the grave side interment of the unknown soldier is obscure. Written documents of the process supporting authorization of Chief Plenty Coups’ participation in the ceremonies have not been located by scholars. However,

1 given Chief Plenty Coups’ status as Chief of the Crow Nation, his inter-tribal leadership role, and national reputation as cultural ambassador and shrewd statesmen likely all contributed to his emergence as the Indian Nations representative at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1921. Whatever the selection process was, Brigadier General William Lassiter informed Plenty Coups that he was to decorate the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Armistice Day (4). Chief Plenty Coups was then 73 years old.

Chief Plenty Coups’ association with the United States government began when he was a senior military scout during the Indian wars of the northern plains in the late 1800s and continued in his role as a chief helping oversee the settlement of his tribe on the Crow Reservation in Montana. His diplomatic role to the United States government continued in the early 20th century. A 2001 research study sponsored by the Montana Committee For The Humanities states:

“It is logical that given Plenty Coups’ national profile in the 1909 and 1913 Wanamaker projects, and his long association with leaders of the United States, including Presidents, Senators and Congressmen, Generals, and Bureau of Indian Affairs Agents, that this decision was easy to make, and was handled informally. The Native American leaders had accepted his influence and leadership at previous events.” (5)

In the days associated with the burial of the unknown soldier in early November of 1921, President Warren G. Harding received the Indian delegation on the White House lawn. Chief Plenty Coups, attended by Reverend John Frost, Baptist Minister, gave the president a beaded and quilled tobacco pouch. Chief Plenty Coups and the Crow and Sioux chiefs present were photographed with Charles H. Burke, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. (6)

Solemn Interment of the Unknown Soldier:

The World War I unknown soldier was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921. Nearly 100,000 people gathered among the rolling hills of the cemetery below trees festooned with the colored leaves of fall. 5,000 people were crowded into the Memorial Amphitheater for the funeral service. All aspects of the memorial ceremonies were transmitted to the multitudes present by loud speakers and across the country by telephone transmission. The focal point of the funeral service was the Memorial Amphitheater of white marble overlooking the Potomac River valley to the monumental skyline of Washington, D.C. beyond the river. In the elliptical shaped amphitheater, President Harding delivered his funeral address honoring the unknown soldier. During the solemn ceremonies at the burial of the unknown soldier, only President Harding was scheduled to speak. Following the funeral service in the amphitheater itself, the scene at the graveside ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the east side of the amphitheater is described by the New York Times:

“The burial ceremony around the sarcophagus facing the eastern entrance to the amphitheatre (sic) was just as impressive as the program inside the great ellipse. After the remains had been borne through the apse to the sarcophagus by the active pallbearers, the honorary pallbearers formed on either side of the sarcophagus which was faced by President and Mrs. Harding, Vice President and Mrs. Coolidge, the senior foreign delegates to the arms conference, Marshal Fock, Admiral Beatty, Generals Diaz and Jacques, General Pershing and staff and members of the Cabinet. Supreme Court and Congress, who stood with bared heads while Chaplain Brent recited the committal ceremony.

To the right of the sarcophagus stood Mrs. R. Emmett Digney, President of the National American War Mothers, and Mrs. Juda McCudden, who came to this country with a floral wreath from the British War Mothers. To the left stood Chief Plenty Coos (sic) of the Crow Indian Nation, and five other Indian Chieftains in war bonnet and Indian ceremonial regalia, and Representative Hamilton Fish, Jr. of New York. Mr. Fish and the British and American War Mothers placed separate floral pieces on three corners of the grave, and then Chief Plenty Coos advanced, delivered a brief oration in the feeble voice of an elderly man overflowing with emotion and laid his war bonnet and coups stick upon the sarcophagus.

When the aged Indian, with finely chiseled profile, removed his own feathered war bonnet and placed it tenderly on the marble edge of the sarcophagus and then lifted his arms in supplication toward Heaven, it constituted one of the outstanding features of the whole remarkable ceremony. Many Indian served in the American forces in the World War, and General Foch has paid them high tribute. When Chief Plenty Coos deposited the war bonnet today he acted in the name of all American Indians.” (7)

The ancient war bonnet and coups stick had been with his tribe for generations. The New York Times provides this record of Chief Plenty Coups’ comments:

“I feel it is an honor to the red man that he takes part in this great event, because it shows that the thousands of Indians who fought in the great war are appreciated by the white man. I am glad to represent all the Indians of the United States in placing on the grave of this noble warrior this coups stick and war bonnet, every feather of which represents a deed of valor by my race. I hope that the Great Spirit will grant that these noble warriors have not given up their lives in vain and that there will be peace to all men hereafter. This is the Indians’ hope and prayer.” (8)

In battle, the supreme act of bravery was to dash toward an armed enemy and physically touch his person with a coups stick or other war implement without inflicting a wound. This act of “counting coups” demonstrated the bravery and skill of the fearless warrior. Each act of counting coups earned the warrior a golden eagle feather. The richly ornamented war bonnet was made of thirty-six golden eagle feathers, elaborate beadwork, and dressed with four weasel furs. Each feather represents an act of valor by the warrior in battle. (9) War bonnets were formal battle regalia. Most by far were fashioned from twenty-three to thirty-two golden eagle feathers placed in a circle around the skullcap and trailing down the tail which could be up to eight feet long. During battle, the streaming tail of was held aloft in the rushing air behind the horse mounted warrior racing across the battlefield in the face of the enemy. The coups stick is a wooden staff six to nine feet long wrapped with bands of leather or felt. It was also adorned with a single row of golden eagle feathers, representing military honors won in battle. Every part of the feathered headdress and coups stick had a special meaning which would be understood by members of the tribe. (10)

The war bonnet and coups stick Chief Plenty Coups presented to the unknown soldier are on view in the “Trophy Room” of the Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery. Display cases in the “Trophy Room” also contain medals of the highest military honors of many nations awarded to the unknown soldier, including the Medal of Honor of the United States, the Victoria Cross of the British Empire, the Croix de Guerre of the Republic of France, and the Gold Medal of Bravery of Italy to name a few. Visitors reverently file by these beautiful medals and often pause inquisitively when they stand before the display case containing the war bonnet and coups stick labeled simply, “Chief Plenty Coos, American Indians.”

Chief Plenty Coups inducted into the Crow Nation such notable figures of his time, such as French Field-Marshal Foch, commander of Allied forces in World War I, Vice President Curtis, former Governor Frank O. Lowden of Illinois, and Major General James G. Harbord. (11)

Biography of Chief Plenty Coups:

Researchers Rich Pittsley and C. Adrian Heidenreich summarize the great chief:

“This spiritual man was known all over the world. He was respected and honored as a warrior chief, as a patriot and leader, as a diplomat and statesman, as a tough negotiator and successful businessman. He was known as an ambassador for peace and racial harmony, and as a kind and compassionate servant to all his children, of all cultures.” (12)

In the summer of 1848, Plenty Coups was born at “the-cliff-that-has-no-pass” in the Yellowstone River Valley near Billings, Montana in the shadow of the tan sandstone cliffs that dominate the landscape. (13) He died at his home on the Crow Indian Reservation, Pryor, Montana, on March 3, 1932 (age 84). Plenty Coups’ Crow language name,

3 given by his grandfather, was Alaxchiiaahush, meaning “many achievements” or, more commonly, “Plenty Coups.” Coup is the French word for “stroke” or “blow.” “Plenty Coos” is an alternate spelling encountered in the literature. The traditional territory of the Crow Nation included most of Montana and north central Wyoming – the heart of the northern range of vast herds of buffalo herds and also home to an abundance of other wild game. In this Indian Garden of Eden, Plenty Coups experienced an idyllic Indian boyhood in which he honed both hunting and leadership skills.

Plenty Coups told his biographer, Frank B. Linderman (“Plenty Coups: Chief of the Crows”):

“’We moved camp very often, and this to me, and the other boys of my age, was great fun,’ the chief said. ‘As soon as the crier rode through the village telling the people to get ready to travel, I would find my young friends and we would catch up our horses as fast as the herders brought them in. Lodges would come down quickly, horses would be packed, travois loaded, and then away we would go to some new place we boys had never seen before. The long line of packhorses and travois reached farther than we could see, the dogs and bands of loose horses, all sweeping across the rolling plains or up a mountain trail to some mysterious destination, made our hearts sing with joy.’” (14)

When Plenty Coups was a young man, and the tribal village was camped near modern Billings, Montana, his mother died in a smallpox outbreak that decimated the Crow tribe. In an act of religious appeasement, two young warriors together raced their white war ponies off the high tan cliffs, hoping that their sacrifice would assuage the wave of smallpox deaths. Plenty Coups’ father later died in battle against the Sioux who were encroaching on Crow lands. An older brother later died in inter-tribal battle near where the Rosebud River empties in the Yellowstone River in southeastern Montana. In spite of these losses, Plenty Coups did not become discouraged or embittered. Plenty Coups grew into a tall, handsome young warrior recognized for his bravery, coolness in battle, spiritual insight, political equanimity, and fidelity to principles of fairness and generosity. His pleasant disposition, gifted storytelling skills, and ability to provide game made him a welcome friend among the Crow lodges of his village.

As a boy of nine years old, Plenty Coups, like all American Indian men, received spiritual guidance in the vision quest religious rite. Many Indian men experienced addition visions throughout their lives. Plenty Coups’ key visions included seeing the buffalo all falling into a hole in the ground. One day, all of the buffalo would be gone. And in their place emerged speckled buffalo that would later be identified with domestic cattle. He also saw all of the trees of a forest falling down before a strong wind, save one tree with a chickadee bird in it. Spiritual elders interpreted that all of the American Indian tribes would pass away except the Crow Nation, if they allied themselves with the white people. Placing these spiritual insights into the context of the events of his time, Chief Plenty Coups made it his mission to continue to ally the Crow tribe with the United States which he believed would become the dominant society. He determined to be a tough negotiator and advocate for his people, while supporting the white people.

In his early adult years, Plenty Coups distinguished himself in inter-tribal warfare through his weapons skill, bravery, and composure under fire. He earned military honors by counting coups on his enemies. Counting coups roughly is equivalent to American military personnel being awarded medals for distinguished acts of bravery in battle. The first time Plenty Coups counted coups was during a boyhood hunting expedition in an encounter with a raging bull buffalo.

Plenty Coups became a chief in 1875 at the age of twenty-eight. Four prescribed deeds were required to become a chief: capture of a weapon from an enemy, strike first coup on an enemy, capture a horse picketed before a tepee in an enemy camp, and lead a war party that takes horses or scalps without loss of life. (15) Chief Plenty Coups counted coup no less than eighty times (source: wyomingplaces.pbworks.com).

Chief Plenty Coups first personal service to the U.S. Army occurred in 1876 when he volunteered as a leading scout to General Crook in the Sioux war taking place in Wyoming and Montana. A total of 260 American Indians of the Crow and Shoshone tribes fought alongside the United States Army of General George Crook and his 1, 050 men.

On June 17 1876, Plenty Coups distinguished himself at the Battle of the Rosebud in northern Wyoming by fighting bravely and helping save two U.S. Army officers, Hugh Scott and Guy Henry, who would later become generals. Most scholars believe that Plenty Coups and his Crow warriors along with Shoshone Chief Washakie and his warriors saved General Crook and his 1,050 man army from annihilation by Crazy Horse’s Sioux and the allied Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors who, on June 25, 1876, later wiped out General Custer and his men at the Battle of the Little Bighorn about sixty five miles to the northwest.

After the buffalo were gone in the 1880s, Chief Plenty Coups encouraged his people to settle permanently on the Crow Reservation and adopt a farming and ranching way of life. He advocated a “best of both worlds” strategy that included tending cattle and growing crops while working to preserve Crow Indian culture. In 1884, Chief Plenty Coups became one of the first Crow Indians to give up nomadic ways. He settled on a 320 acre allotment of land, built a house, opened a general store, and began farming.

In February of 1908, Chief Plenty Coups and other Crow leaders held counsel with Bureau of Indian Affairs Inspector James McLaughlin. Chief Plenty Coups stated:

“These white people are my people and we treated them nice in every way…there are no people in the world more faithful than the Crow Indian…and when there was a fight, after the battle whenever you found a little group of dead soldiers, you always found several dead Crow Indians lying beside them…we have let lands go that were valuable and we did not realize their value, and while we were paid for them, we realize now that the compensation was not adequate. We pity ourselves as a people yet we do not wish to die…I have never had any grudge against the white people. I have always followed the policies of the white man, and if a person complies with the requests of the white people uncomplainingly you have no reason to take their lands without our consent or by force.” (16)

The Chief Plenty Coups Legacy:

Following Chief Plenty Coups’ death on March 3, 1932, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress honored the great chief with a moment of silence. Having been confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, his funeral was conducted by The Most Reverend Edwin V. O’Hara, Roman Catholic bishop from Helena, Montana. (17) Much admired among white people, Crow Tribe members, and other Indian tribes, some Crow Tribal members have felt Chief Plenty Coups may have been too accommodative to the United States government and ceded more Crow lands than was necessary. The Crow Indian Reservation was originally 38 million acres, but by the 20th century the reservation was down to 1.8 million acres. Plenty Coups believed he did what was necessary for the survival of his people and their culture.

The visionary chief made provision in his estate documents to provide 165 acres of land for establishing at his home in Pryor, Montana on the Crow Reservation for a park that would welcome both Indian and white people. Today, this land is a state park. Chief Plenty Coups had decided that this park would be one of his legacies to the American people following his visit to George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon:

“’Many years ago,’ he told me, ‘I stood beside the tomb of the first white Chief, George Washington, and felt glad to be there. I had heard much about this Chief, and had noticed that no man spoke harshly of his life or deeds, and that all held his name in reverence. I was one among many visitors at Mount Vernon that day, and yet there was no talking, no noise, because people were thinking of the great past and the unknown future. When people think deeply they are helped, and in the silence there I sent my thought to the Great White Chief in that other life. I spoke to him, and I believe he heard me. I said: “Great Chief, when you came into power the streams of your country’s affairs were muddy. Your heart was strong, and your tongue spoke straight. Your people listened, and you led them through war to the peace you loved. They remember your words even to this day, are helped and made strong by them. As you helped your people, help me now, an Absarokee chief, to lead my people to peace. I, too, have a little country to save for my children.” I felt then that he heard me, and I have not changed my mind. Mount Vernon is very beautiful. People travel far to see it. I planned then to leave my house and some land around it, as a park

for my people. …This spot was shown me in my great medicine-dream, and I want my people to possess it forever, just as white men own and keep the home of their great Chief, George Washington.’” (18)

Crown Indian Nation

The Crow name for their tribe is apsa-ro-ke, or Apsaalooke. The word has no known etymology, but it has been translated historically as a reference to a bird, something that flies, ‘sparrowhawk people.’ Other derivations ultimately resulted in the modern English name of Crow.

Sources indicate that the Crow Indians originated in their separation from the Hidatsa tribe. One report from the 1860s states that the Crow originated in the Bear Paw Mountains and at the Three Forks of the Missouri River and had no oral tradition of earlier migration or their separation from the Hidatsa. Other traditions report a dispute between two chiefs. This resulted in a Crow medicine man receiving a vision that the group was to journey west. When they arrived below Cloud Peak in the Big Horn Mountains of central Wyoming, the Great Spirit told the medicine man that this region was the new home of the Crow. The Crow obtained horses by the early 1700s from regional Indian tribes, fostering the transition to a horse and buffalo culture. Trade routes linked the Crow to both east and west coasts of the continent. (19)

In the first half of the 1800s, the several eastern Indian tribes were pushed ever westward by the expansion of the United States. This placed the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and several other tribes in direct competition for Crow territorial resources. The Crow were brave warriors, but they were outnumbered. Allying with the United States government was a strategic political initiative that even Plenty Coups’ father realized was necessary when he and other Crow chiefs signed a treaty of friendship and recognition with the United States in 1825. In this way, the Crow became the allies of the United States and remained so throughout the Plains Indian wars and beyond. In 1851 and 1861 other treaties were signed with the United States. In 1870, Crow Nation reservation life began and became a permanent necessity in the 1880s with the demise of the great buffalo herds due to overhunting by white people. In 1924 American Indians gained the right to vote in the Indian Citizenship Act.

Writer’s Comment:

As a former Sentinel of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1979 through 1980, this writer esteems the great Chief Plenty Coups with love and honor as a visionary leader who endeavored to do his best for the Crow Tribe, all American Indian Nations, and indeed all Americans. His meaningful role at the interment of the unknown soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on November 11, 1921 was a prayerful act encouraging unity and peace for all mankind. And his legacy lives on to this day.

Appendix 1:

The Tomb Guard Creed

My dedication to this sacred duty Is total and wholehearted In the responsibility bestowed on me Never will I falter And with dignity and perseverance My standard will remain perfection. Through the years of diligence and praise And the discomfort of the elements I will walk my tour with humble reverence To the best of my ability. It is he who commands the respect I protect His bravery that made us so proud Surrounded by well-meaning crowds by day Alone in the thoughtful peace of night This soldier will in honored Glory rest Under my eternal vigilance. (20)

Footnotes:

(1) Rich Pittsley And C. Adrian Heidenreich, Montana Committee For The Humanities Research Fellowship, March 25, 2001, “The Legacy of Plenty Coups (Alaxchiiaahush)”, pg. 13 (2) Untitled Report of 23 pages listing the names of Crow Indian men who have served with the U.S. military from the mid-1800s through the Iraq War. Wyoming Room of the Sheridan County Public Libarary, clip file on “Crow Indians.” (3) William C. Sturtevant, General Editor, Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13 Plains, Part 2, Publisher: Smithsonian, 2001, pg. 714 (4) Charles Crane Bradley, Jr., After the Buffalo Days: Documents on the Crow Indians From The 1880’s to the 1920’s, Master of Education Thesis, Montana State University, August 1970, pg. 341 (5) Frederick C. Krieg, Plenty Coups, His Final Dignity. Montana, The Magazine of the Western History, Autumn 1966, pg. 36 (6) Rich Pittsley And C. Adrian Heidenreich, Montana Committee For The Humanities Research Fellowship, March 25, 2001, “The Legacy of Plenty Coups (Alaxchiiaahush)”, pg. 22 (7) “100,000 Gathered On Arlington Hills,” New York Times, November 12, 1921 (8) John C Ewers. A Crow Chief’s Tribute to the Unknown Soldier. The American West, November 1971, Vol. VIII, No. 6. (9) “Plenty Coups guided Crow into Future,” The Billings Gazette, Sunday Magazine, May 1, 1966. (10) Thomas E. Mails, The Mystic Warriors Of The Plains, Publisher: Doubleday, 1972, pg. 302 and 380 (11) “Aged Chief Of Crow’s Tribe Dies,” Sheridan Press, Friday, March 4, 1932 (12) Rich Pittsley And C Adrian Heidenreich, Montana Committee For The Humanities Research Fellowship, March 25, 2001, “The Legacy of Plenty Coups (Alaxchiiaahush)”, pg. 1 (13) Frank Bird Linderman, Plenty-Coups, Chief of the Crows, Publisher: John Day, 1972 reproduction of original 1930 edition, pg. 6 (14) “Plenty Coups guided Crow into future,” The Billings Gazette, Sunday Magazine, Monday, April 10, 1989. (15) William C. Sturtevant, General Editor, Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13 Plains, Part 2, Publisher: Smithsonian, 2001, pg. 704 (16) Rich Pittsley And C. Adrian Heidenreich, Montana Committee For The Humanities Research Fellowship, March 25, 2001, “The Legacy of Plenty Coups (Alaxchiiaahush)”, pg. 11 (17) “Aged Chief Of Crow’s Tribe Dies,” Sheridan Press, Friday, March 4, 1932 (18) Frank B. Linderman, Plenty-Coups, Chief of the Crows, Publisher: John Day, 1972 reproduction of original 1930 edition, pg. 239–240 (19) William C. Sturtevant, General Editor, Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 13 Plains, Part 2, Publisher: Smithsonian, 2001, pg. 695–696 (20) Philip Bigler, In Honored Glory, Arlington National Cemetery: The Final Post, Publisher: Vandamere Press, 1987, pg. 77-78