Running Eagle and Her Warrior Legacy

An artistic recreation of Running Eagle riding into battle

She was born Brown Weasel Woman and was the eldest of five. She was a destined care-taker. Her path seemed predetermined for her, but these were not the plans that she had in mind. In her early life, she preferred to play with the boys than the girls and soon started to wear boy's clothing instead. Though her mother loathed these habits of hers, her father entertained them. He soon began to train her to hunt. By the time she was 15, she was joining the men on buffalo hunts (1). These hunts are extremely dangerous and required a lot of agility and skill to avoid being caught in the rampage. This proved her ability to utilize both weapons and horse riding which eventually helped her to become successful in battle.

Even after saving her father from a Flathead attack, her skills and thirst for battle were not accepted in her tribe at first. After she insisted on riding with the men for more than just hunts, the elders determined that she needed to seek guidance (1). She was instructed to go into the wilderness and fast until she received a message. While pondering at a waterfall (that is now named after her), she was visited by a spiritual presence that told her that she could become the warrior she desired as long as she refrained from having sex with a man. She agreed to these terms and reported her findings to her tribe. These conditions were accepted and she soon became the warrior chief of her people. Word spread about her terrifying legacy, and she was soon targeted as the most dangerous warrior of her tribe. She was given the name "Running Eagle", which was a significant and honorable name to be granted. She was the most impressive horse stealer, and she would steal up to 15 horses for her own men to use in battle. Running Eagle had many names, but the Flathead warriors would mostly refer to her as "Crazy Woman"(1).

Traditional women of the Blackfoot tribe on horseback.

There is both historic and mythological mystery behind Running Eagle and her legacy. Despite the spiritual message she received the message in her epiphany, she eventually became intimate with another male from her party (2). She died in battle against the Flathead tribe. She was caught off guard during battle by being clubbed on the head from behind (3). It was believed that she was stripped of her powers by breaking the spirit's conditions. This seemed to be more of a cultural explaination for her unexpected death in battle. In the name of vengeance, her allies killed six Flathead warriors in her honor (1).

After reading about this amazing warrior, I was disappointed to find so little information about her. As her story was passed down orally, what was left of her story were secondhand legends as opposed to historical recollection. This could be why I had such a difficult time finding academic resources- simply because there is no way to prove these recollections as factual. Some sources say that she was married before she joined the ranks of battle (2). Others say that she was never bound to a man in her life for she worried that it would harm her credibility as a warrior. Some sources also say that no man could never match her kill count or her horse-stealing count, which left her completely unimpressed. Personally, I would like to believe that one to be the truth!

Running Eagle Falls in Glacier Park, Montana

 There are many variations of her story which is upsetting considering that the truth of her story deserves to be recognized. It was enlightening to find a warrior woman who was a true warrior. She would soon bathe in the blood of her enemies than advocate for peace as we see most women in recorded history do. I entertained the thought of current media trying to "Disney-fy" the story of this agile killer who slew multiple men per raid and would carry their scalps home as trophies. It made me realize that recorded history has little space for cold-killer women. We would soon continue the motherly peace-maker narrative than the blood-spilling, gory one. Running Eagle paid patronage to the male traditions of her people. By following this path, she represents the foundations of combat in her culture. One thing that all the sources I found express is how her story is respected by the people of the Blackfoot tribe. They acknowledge her bravery and acts of warriorship. The waterfall where she received the spiritual message is in Glacier Park, Montana. It was named "Running Eagle Falls", and is considered to be a sacred place for the Blackfoot people.



Works Cited:

[1] Badass of the Week: Running Eagle, http://www.badassoftheweek.com/runningeagle.html.

[2] Decevski, Boban. "Native American Warrior Women of the 19th Century." The Vintage News, 28 Sept. 2016, https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/09/29/native-american-warrior-women-19th-century/.

[3] "Running Eagle." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Aug. 2019, .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Eagle