The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, death, and graphic violence. 

A significant portion of the novel revolves around the Marias Massacre, a racist mass murder that took place in Montana Territory in 1870, which had violent repercussions on the Blackfeet Pikuni people. In the years after the American Civil War, tensions remained high between the European American settlers and the Amskapi Pikuni, who made up the largest contingent of the Blackfoot Confederacy and resided in Montana Territory. For their safety, the Pikuni were forced to resettle to the north of the Marias River.

In 1869, Owl Chief, a young Pikuni man with whom Clarke had a history of personal conflict, killed a rancher named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke’s death drove outrage from the white settlers, who turned to the US government for intervention. After Owl Chief was determined to have fled to Pikuni leader Mountain Chief for protection, US Army General Philip Sheridan dispatched Major Eugene Baker to launch a brutal strike on Mountain Chief’s band.

On January 23, 1870, Baker and his troops stationed themselves on a bluff overlooking a Pikuni camp. The camp was not led by Mountain Chief but by Chief Heavy Runner, who had documents attesting that his band was on peaceful terms with the US government and therefore under their protection.