Today (January 23) is the 140th anniversary of what’s known as a the Baker Massacre.

SITUATION: In 1867, a Blackfoot indian in Montana called “Owl Child” stole a group of horses from a white man named Malcom Clarke.

WHITE MAN RESPONSE IN 2010 WOULD BE: Call the police who will take a report and do nothing. Convince yourself that the poor indians weren’t to blame. They were just tired of walking and needed a horse to ride. It was all your fault. If it wasn’t for you the indians would already have all the horses they needed. You as a white man can always get more horses.

ACTUAL WHITE MAN RESPONSE IN 1867: Clarke and his son tracked down Owl Child, took back the horses and gave Owl Child a severe beating in front of other Blackfoot indians.

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SITUATION CONTINUED: Two years later, Owl Child ambushed and murdered Malcom Clarke and severely wounded his son.

WHITE MAN RESPONSE IN 2010 WOULD BE: Surviving family goes on national TV to say they want justice - but ask the police to be lenient on the young indian. They publicly forgive the indians before the body is in the ground. They say Malcom got what was coming for taking the law into his own hands. They say this was all the white man’s fault for not doing a better job of caring for his red brothers. They start the Malcom Clarke Foundation For Indian Justice and hire well-known jewish social activist from the Southern Poverty Law Center to run it. Malcom’s surviving son adopts a little indian and promises to raise him to be a proud Blackfoot.

ACTUAL WHITE MAN RESPONSE IN 1869: Local ranchers are enraged. The Army is enraged. They demand the Blackffot indians kill Owl Child and deliver the body in two weeks. When two weeks pass, an angry General Sheridan sends out a squadron of cavalry commanded by Major Eugene Baker to find them. He orders: “If the lives and property of the citizens of Montana can best be protected by striking (the indian) band, I want them struck. Tell Baker to strike them hard.”

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SITUATION CONTINUED: January 23, 1870 . . . Major Baker and his men find an indian camp. Scouts tell him it’s the wrong camp. Baker doesn’t care and attacks anyway. There is deep snow on the ground and the indians are trying to keep warm. The cavalrymen sweep through the camp shooting indians and burning their lodges. Many indians are burned alive in the flames. Some indians flee to a nearby river where they hide in the freezing water. Many drown there and are swept away. A quick count shows Baker has killed 173 indians – historians believe most were probably women and children. They take 140 prisoners and chase them into the freezing prairee where they’re left to die. Examination of the bodies later showed that Baker attacked the wrong camp.

WHITE MAN RESPONSE IN 2010 WOULD BE: Hordes of media “personalities,” civil rights activists, jewish civil attorneys and politicians descend on the site of the massacre demanding justice. The United Nation condemns the massacre. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton conduct a prayer vigil attended by Barak Obama. Attorney General Holder sends the FBI to arrest Baker, Sheridan and every cavalryman involved. The white soldiers are paraded in a perp walk front of the cameras as they’re taken from their barracks. They are court-martialed and sent to prison. The families of the indians, with help from the ACLU, file a class action against the government. Michelle Obama opens the Blackfoot Peace and Justice Foundation and has Winnie Mandela and members of the MLK family cut the ribbon. Bill Clinton agrees to manage the foundation. Madonna, Sting, Bono, Lady Gaga, Barbara Streissand and Angelina Jolie become board members and help raise money.

ACTUAL WHITE MAN RESPONSE IN 1870: General Sheridan expresses full confidence in Major Baker’s leadership and prevents any official investigation of the incident. Major Baker takes part in many indian campaigns during the 1870s and eventually is promoted to full Colonel. He becomes ill and dies while on recuperative leave. See obituary here: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10F15FE345F15738DDDA80A94DA415B8484F0D3

Sheridan continues to lead the fight against the indians throughout the 1870s and by the time he becomes Commanding General of the US Army in the early 1880s, the race war against the indians is over. Sheridan is accused of brutality against the indians many times. He deliberately allows the extermination of the buffalo, knowing the indians will starve without it. On the other hand, Sheridan loved the West and is credited with saving Yellowstone Park. Mount Sheridan is named after him. He dies in 1888 and is burried with full honors at Arlington Cemetery.

CONCLUSION: [color="Red"]Conflict between the Blackfoot Indians and the white man declined after the Baker Massacre. The Blackfoot did not take part in the Indian Wars of the 1870s.

Most fled to Canada where the majority live today.