The final Flathead Indian delegation headed back to their home in the Bitterroot Valley with heavy hearts knowing they’d have to wait another year, possibly two, before they finally got their “Black Robes.” Still, their long wait would soon be over, for in St. Louis, 3,000 miles from their homes, was Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, who would be tasked with accompanying them back to their lands to tend to their needs.
A Belgian By Birth
Things were not going well with the Potawatomi, mainly due to the white’s influence on them. They had a strong liking for alcohol, something De Smet certainly didn’t approve of, and they also began fighting amongst themselves. Sickness also befell them, and many began to die off. In February 1840 De Smet suddenly announced that things were at a serious juncture and that he’d personally travel to St. Louis to see them fixed.
The Gateway to the West
Verhaegen changed his mind and told De Smet he’d not be going back to Council Bluffs but instead into the Rocky Mountains for an initial meeting with the Flathead Indians residing there to ascertain what exactly the situation was and if a lasting mission there would be possible.
It was agreed that De Smet would travel overland with members from the American Fur Company as far as their Green River rendezvous in Wyoming. Fifty men and wagons as well as sixty pack mules set out on April 1st and they set a grueling pace of eighteen miles a day. The forty year-old De Smet developed a fever shortly after the voyage began and was forced to confine himself to the back of a wagon for most of the journey.
The group’s first real encounter with the Plains Indians occurred near the Laramie River when they met a group of Northern Cheyenne. De Smet was invited in for a feast of dog meat, which he rather liked, and was encouraged when the Indians took fondly to his sermons on the Ten Commandments. His decision to travel west reaffirmed, the group set out once again, reaching the Green River by June 30, 1840.
The Green River Rendezvous
By July 12th they had reached their goal, a large encampment of 1,600 Indians, mainly Flathead, Nez Pearce, and Pend d’Oreille, many of whom had travelled up to 800 miles to greet him. Several hundred baptisms took place by De Smet’s own reckoning, including two chiefs, one of whom was Big Face. From that time on no other priest was referred to as “Black Robe,” just De Smet.
The Indians needed to get to the best buffalo hunting grounds so they broke camp and headed to the Beaverhead River near Dillon, Montana. By August the Indians had gotten their fill of Buffalo and were ready to leave, as was De Smet. He decided to return to St. Louis before winter set in, and with a group of twenty Indian guides he set out on August 27, 1840.
Back to St. Louis
The party eventually reached the American Fur Company’s trading post on the Rosebud River, Fort Alexander, and from there headed to Fort Union, reaching it on September 20th. He met many other tribes on the way, including the Arikaras, Blackfeet Sioux, and Mandans.
The journey continued on to Council Bluffs, which they reached in December, and where he was reunited with the Potawatomi and other Jesuits. Winter began to set in and the Missouri River froze the very next day. Undeterred, De Smet continued journeying overland on horse and then by stage coach on December 14th.
He pulled into St. Louis on New Year’s Eve, having traveled nearly 5,000 miles and spending 249 days doing so. But he had fruits to show for his labors; sixteen different Indian tribes had made contact with him, and each of them left feeling a little more secure about the “Black Robe” influence coming onto their lands.
Baumler, Ellen. Montana Moments: History on the Go. Montana Historical Society Press: Helena, 2010. p 125.
Carriker, Robert C. Father Peter John De Smet: Jesuit in the West. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, 1995. p 31-64.
“History of St. Mary’s.” Historic St. Mary’s Mission & Museum. Web. Retrieved 7 June 2013 from Stmarysmission.org: http://www.saintmarysmission.org/history.html
Malone, Michael Peter; Roeder, Richard B.; Lang, William L. Montana: A History of Two Centuries. The University of Washington Press, 1976. p 62-3.
McLynne, Frank. Wagons West: The Epic Story of America’s Overland Trails. Random House: London, 2002. p 58-78.
"Pierre Jean De Smet." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Retrieved June 07, 2013 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404701747.html