Piegan Band of the Blackfoot Indians

Piegan Indians and horses, by Edward S. Curtis, 1910

Piegan Indians and horses, by Edward S. Curtis, 1910

The Piegan Indians, or Pikuni band of the Blackfoot Indians, are Algonquian-speaking people from the Great Plains. The Peigan were the largest of three Blackfoot bands that made up the Blackfoot Confederacy. The others were the Siksika and Kainai.

They were first thought to have lived west of the Great Lakes but later moved westward. However, according to oral history, the Blackfoot creation story is set near Glacier National Park in Montana. The people practiced some agriculture and were partly nomadic. However, as they moved to the Plains, they became great bison hunters and traveled more frequently. They were known for their beautiful craftwork designs in tepees, clothing, weapons, riding equipment, and war bonnets.

In about 1700, they were enemies with the ShoshoneFlathead, and Kootenai and pushed the latter two tribes west of the Rockies.

The Piegan’s first contact with the white man was with fur trader James Gaddy and the Hudson’s Bay Company explorer David Thompson during the winter of 1787-1788. When white settlers began to push westward, the Piegan were the southernmost tribe of the Blackfoot, roaming through the Rocky Mountains on the south side of the Marias River of Montana and along both banks of the Missouri River.

Medicine Pipe-Piegan, Edward S Curtis, 1910

Medicine Pipe-Piegan, Edward S Curtis, 1910.

During these years, the Blackfoot people suffered declines due to infectious disease epidemics for which they had no natural immunity. In 1837 a smallpox epidemic on the Plains killed 6,000 Blackfoot and thousands from other tribes.

Fort Belknap and the Blackfoot Reservation were established in Montana in 1855, and three years later, the Piegan in the United States were estimated to number about 3,700. By 1861, their numbers had dropped to just about 2,500.

On January 23, 1870, the U.S. Cavalry attacked a friendly Piegan village, and 173 Indians were killed. Almost all of them were women, children, and elderly men. The attack is known as the Marias Massacre.

The Blackfoot also suffered from starvation because of the disruption of food supplies and war. When the last buffalo hunt failed in 1882, that year became known as the starvation year. About a fourth of the tribe suffered starvation in 1883 and 1884 when the rations were short, and a fourth of the Piegan Tribe starved to death at Fort Shaw and Fort Belknap.

Today the Blackfoot live in both the United States and Canada. Many tribal members live with the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with tribal headquarters in Browning. More than 105,000 people identify as Blackfoot.

Piegan Woman by Edward S. Curtis, 1910.

Piegan Woman by Edward S. Curtis, 1910.

© Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated December 2022.

Also See:

Blackfoot Tribe

Native Americans – First Owners of America

Native American Photo Galleries

Native American Tribes List