Rocky Boy (Chippewa leader)

Not much is known about Asiniiwin's early life. Some speculate he was born and raised in Wisconsin, and migrated to the Montana region later on, as did many Chippewa. However, written historical records prove he was a native to Montana. He told a companion he was Chippewa and born somewhere between Anaconda, Butte, and Deer Lodge. He was the son of Chief Bobtail aka Alexis Piche Bobtail. His birth date was probably in either 1851 or 1852.

1864 Pembina Treaty

As a young man, Asiniwiin was a member of the band led by Monsomos (Moose Dung) or Red Robe, a signor of the 1864 Pembina treaty. Upon the death of Monsomos, Rocky Boy emerged as the dominant leader of this band.

1889 Red Lake Agreement

Although Chief Rocky Boy signed the 1889 Red Lake Agreement, his rights to the Red Lake nation have never been upheld. His lateral descendants are now working to reverse the exclusion of Rocky Boy's people from their Pembina homeland. Chief Rocky Boy and his family possess interests, rights and the right to be simultaneously enrolled in the Red Lake Nation per his status as a treaty signor, and upon the Rocky Boy Reservation.

1892 McCumber Agreement

In addressing the inequities of the .10 Cent treaty, the federal government held that Rocky Boy descendants were entitled to receive proceeds of the Pembina Judgments, resulting from the litigation that challenged the unjust payment of .10 / acre that the government paid in 1864. Chief Rocky Boy's original people, many of whom did not receive this payment, still do not accept the terms of treaty.

Illegal Land Sale of Thief River Falls, MN

In 1900 to 1904, the U.S. government sold up to 100,000 acres of land right out from under the Rocky Boy Band, an example of extreme malfeasance, that had been set aside for the former Monsomos Band, now Chief Rocky Boy's band. The allotting agent, James McLaughlin held a formal land sale of this land in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Rocky Boy's people never received the sale of this land; the million dollars from this land sale was distributed as a per capita to the Red Lake Nation.

Rocky Boy lived primarily in southwestern and western Montana. He was fond of the Great Falls, Montana, region. Rocky Boy led a band of about 130 men, women and children. Other Chippewa had settled on reservations of other tribes through no fault of their own. He worked to keep the Chippewa tribal identity alive in Montana, at a time when more whites were settling the land, and expected the Indians to disappear.

Many of Chief Rocky Boy's people failed to understand the implications of their true sovereign attributes and endured many decades with lack of access to an education. Ironically, this is the very reason Chief Rocky Boy petitioned for a homeland after the illegal sale of his 100,000 acres in Thief River, MN. In 1902, in a letter to President Theodore Roosevelt, he petitioned for a reservation and a chance to educate his people.[2]

Rocky Boy was the principal leader of the Montana Chippewa people. Other leaders who followed or worked with Rocky Boy were located around Montana. Some lived on other Montana reservations and tried to get the Ojibwa of those Montana reservations tribal recognition within these locations.

• Little Bear was a principal leader of some Cree people in western Canada, leading them to Montana as refugees after Riel's Rebellion.
• Buffalo Coat was an important Chippewa leader in the Great Falls region, including the regions around Fort Shaw, Montana, and to Fort Benton, Montana. In 1898 he asked for land and citizenship for the landless Chippewa in the Great Falls region. The United States refused to grant Buffalo Coat's people land and citizenship. The United States claimed they had no jurisdiction and, thus, were not capable of granting Buffalo Coat any land.
• Ka-na-bay-zhic-um, or Long Hair, was the chief of the landless Chippewa who lived near the Marias River, which is located north of Great Falls near present-day Loma, Montana, and Fort Benton. It includes land near the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and the Sweet Grass Hills.
• Kah-keesh-ka-wash-chah-bay-wo was the principal leader of the landless Chippewas on the Crow-Northern Cheyenne Reservation and the immediate region around the Billings, Montana, region. He may have played a role in the attempt by the Cheyenne to break off the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in 1897.
• Lucky Man was affiliated with Little Bear. He was probably native to western Montana or north central Montana. He fled up to Alberta and Saskatchewan around the time of the 1877 Nez Perce exodus with Little Bear. He returned to Montana with Little Bear.

Many others, including Rain of the Bow, Mah-chop, Pay-pah-mi-show-ait, and Nan-ome-sha, were also sub-chiefs. Each man led anywhere from 25 to 200 or more landless Chippewa, in Montana, Idaho and elsewhere. Each of them kept in contact with Rocky Boy to learn of any news of the establishment of new Chippewa Reservations. Their goal was to keep the Chippewa tribal identity alive.

Rocky Boy was forced off the Red Lake Reservation although he was a signatory of the 1889 Red Lake agreement. The Interior Agent James McLaughlin was a plague to Chief Rocky Boy's existence. McLaughlin would engineer the dispossession of Rocky Boy's Band on two occasions, in the late 1880s out of the Thief River Falls area; McLaughlin sold land right out from under the band. He would also dispossess the band through illegal imposition of the McLaughlin Roll that contained 451 names for approval for final enrollment. Of those 451 names, only 45 were actual biological Chippewa descendants. (Source: John C. Ewers Ethnological Report on the MT Cree and Little Shell Indians. (1974)

Rocky Boy could travel the following railroads for free: B.A. & P; Oregon Short Line; Rio Grande Western; and Southern Pacific Railroad. Rocky Boy had letters of recommendation from the governor of Idaho, as well as an Idaho District Judge, and several affluent citizens of Pocatello, which is next to the Fort Hall Reservation. He also had many letters of recommendation from many affluent people from Utah. He was obviously sought after in those locations to help the Chippewa living there, relocate to reservations.

In 1902, Rocky Boy commenced negotiating for a new Chippewa Reservation in Montana. He had several supporters among the whites, including Senator Dixon. Rocky Boy sent a letter to the President of the United States requesting a reservation. Rocky Boy's original band census, reflecting 139 men, women and children, was taken by Thralls B. Wheat at the order of the Secretary of the Department of the Interior. This roll was taken in 1908, and certified in 1909, Washington, D.C.

Many Chippewas and the Cree under Little Bear's leadership were still landless in 1910. Little Bear had no choice but to follow Rocky Boy as a result of the US Government's decision he and his subjects were Canadian Cree. Many Chippewa living on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation and Flathead Reservation continued to keep in contact with both Rocky Boy and Little Bear, as they continued the quest to find a reservation in Montana. Finally in 1916, the United States established the Rocky Boy Reservation. Rocky Boy did not live to see the establishment of the joint Chippewa-Cree Reservation. Many claim he was assassinated. After news of the establishment of the new reservation was learned of by the landless Chippewa and Cree, they commenced to relocate to the new Reservation.

Between 1900 and 1910, a period of great unrest occurred in Montana and the rest of the western United States, as the Land Acts took effect and Reservations were opened up to white settlement. Rocky Boy was instrumental in keeping the peace. That may likely be his main legacy. He died on April 18, 1916, at the age of 64 or 65.[3]

• Rocky Boy Reservation History
• Rocky Boy's Plight
• Rocky Boy's Travels
• Cree Village
• "Chief Bobtail aka Alexis Piche Bobtail (father of Rocky Boy)". Geni.com. Retrieved March 20, 2022.