He was greatly disliked in Montana. White historians claim chief Little Bear was not native to Montana (the United States), especially during the 1880s, 1890s, on up to his death in 1921. However, a conspiracy hovers around the life of ogima Little Bear and his father who was ogima Big Bear, or in Anishinabe, ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa. Shortly before ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa died, he requested from his sons (he had several sons and one may have been ogima Rocky Boy for all we know) that they return to their original homeland the whites drove them out of. Ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa claimed he was driven out of his original homeland by the whites while still a young child. White historians claim that ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa was born in western Saskatchewan, in the 1820s. That information alone tells a story because the whites had yet to colonize Saskatchewan, as well as Montana, in the 1820s and 1830s. According to historical records, ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa wanted the one son of his who was devoted to peace, to return those Anishinabe people who wanted to return to their original homeland (Montana) because he knew the whites would tolerate him more than ogima Little Bear who may have been the famous Crazy Horse. Below is a photograph of ogima Little Bear or his Anishinabe name, ogima Imasees.
Since an obvious conspiracy is in place, it simply means ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa was not born in Saskatchewan but probably in either Montana or Idaho. Ogima Little Bear told reporters in 1913, that his father ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa, originally lived along the Snake River in the south of Idaho. However, we can't exclude the Great Falls, Montana region. Ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa claimed he originally lived along a mighty river which had a spring which had the sweetest and purest water he ever tasted, and a mountain was near that location. In the Great Falls, Montana region, is the mighty Missouri River with Giant Springs which is the largest freshwater spring in the United States, and the region is surrounded by mountains. An event (the Marias River Massacre) occurred in probably (white historians claim it occurred along the Marias River in January of 1870) what is now the Great Falls, Montana region on January 23, 1877. The Americans attacked the Chippewa's civilized settlements in the Great Falls, Montana region on January 23, 1877, driving the Chippewa's out. They fled first towards the west as told to do in the Seven Fires Prophecy, but the whites sent reinforcements to their forts located in Montana which forced the Anishinabek to flee up towards the Bear Paw Mountains, then up to Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan) to escape from the whites. They were warned in the Seven Fires Prophecy that they had to flee from the whites or they would be exterminated.
After arriving up to Canada, ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa settled his people among the Anishinabe people already living there and continued to return to the north of Montana to hunt for the few remaining buffalo and other wildgame. Ogima Mis-sta-hi Mus-squa and the 10,000s of Anishinabek under his leadership, continued to travel between Alberta, Montana, and Saskatchewan, between 1877 and 1885. Some war occurred but the battles were minor ones. Anishinabe ogimak knew the whites would not stop until they had stolen all Native American land. They expected another white military campaign against them and they were right.
In 1885, the whites launched the expected military campaign to steal the rest of the Anishinabek land. Infuriated with the backstabbing whites, ogima Little Bear, who may have been the famous Crazy Horse, joined with other enraged Anishinabe ogimak and fought the whites. They did not have the modern day weapons of war to equally fight the whites but they yet fought them anyway. The war is historically known as the 1885 Northwest Rebellion. There were few casualties in the war the whites easily won. Towards the end of the conflict, ogima Little Bear followed his fathers advice and returned back down to Montana. He had to change his name because as mentioned, he may have been the famous Crazy Horse.
Ogima Little Bear was first known as Imasees. And ogima Rocky Boy may have accompanied him back to their original homeland which is Montana of course. It will be up to future historians to learn if in fact Little Bear and Rocky Boy were related. Within the governments of Canada and the United States, are historical records which can prove Little Bear and Rocky Boy were related. We can't get to those historical records however.
After arriving back to his original homeland (Montana), the whites made it loud and clear that they didn't want ogima Imasees living in Montana. The whites loudly claimed that ogima Imasees was not a native born American Indian. That would be loudly claimed by the whites until ogima Little Bear's death in 1921. Ogima Little Bear settled once again in the Great Falls, Montana region which obviously upset the whites who even didn't want the Chippewa's who continued to live in the Great Falls, Montana region after the January 23, 1877 massacre, to live there. However, ogima Imasees bravely led many of the Chippewa's who fled up to Canada, back to the Great Falls, Montana region, and other Montana locations where they joined with the Chippewa's who continued to live in Montana after the 1874-1875 or 1876-1877 Black Hills War and Nez Perce War ended. Those Anishinabek under ogima Imasees leadership, may have numbered as many as 2,000. Ogima Little Bear led them to the Babb region of what is now the Blackfeet Reservation in late 1885 or early 1886. From there, they merged with other Anishinabek throughout Montana.
After settling down to live again in his original homeland, ogima Little Bear became the target of white hostility. Time after time, the whites announced that they wanted ogima Little Bear and his Chippewa's, to leave Montana. However, most remained. In 1887, the whites eradicated the huge Montana Blackfeet Reservation which covered most of the north of Montana, which led to many Anishinabe people slipping further into an economic nightmare. The United States eradicated the huge Blackfeet Reservation without Anishinabe approval. They tried negotiating with ogima Little Bear (they claim it was ogima Little Shell III but it was in fact Crazy Horse) to have him sign the 1887 Sweet Grass Hills Treaty which is more famously known as the 10 cent an acre treaty, but ogima Little Bear refused to sign the treaty. Negotiations continued up to 1891 when ogima Little Bear and his governments council including ogima Little Shell III, finally told the whites they would never sign the 1887 Sweet Grass Hills Treaty.
With the final Anishinabe reply, the United States forced ogimak Little Bear, Little Shell III, and the other Anishinabe ogimak who made up the government of the Anishinabe Nation, off Reservation rolls. Ogima Little Bear and the Anishinabek who obeyed him, became landless. Today, they are known as the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana. They are really the Little Bear Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana. Hundreds of Chippewa's stayed with ogima Little Bear after 1891. They lived throughout Idaho and Montana and kept in contact. In 1892, the United States set aside many new small Chippewa Reservations in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota, after they selected 32 Chippewa ogimak who did not have the authority to cede Anishinabe land, sign the 1887 Sweet Grass Hills Treaty, or the infamous 10 cent an acre treaty. They also set aside one very large Chippewa Reservation in Montana which is north of the Missouri River. Many of the Anishinabe people who stayed behind ogima Little Bear in Montana, ended up living near white settlements, or fleeing up to Canada, or westwards.
Ogima Little Bear knew he, as well as all other Anishinabe ogimak, could not stand up and fight the whites. They did not have the means to fight them. After the huge Montana Blackfeet Reservation was eradicated in 1887, diasporas up to Canada commenced. They would intensify as the whites became even more full of greed and selfishness. Ogima Imasees actively helped those Anishinabe people who wanted out of the nightmare, to flee up to Canada. In fact, many of them probably fled as far north as the Northwest Territories (the present day Northwest Territories) including Nunavut, and the Yukon.
In 1895-1896, American leaders, particularly in Montana, wanted all Anishinabe people out of Montana and actually attempted to round up as many as they could, and loaded them into train box cars and dropped them off in Canada. These Anishinabe people who did not want to leave Montana, supposedly returned back to Montana soon after they were dropped off in Canada. For all we know, the whites may have relocated them to Glacier National Park. Ogima Imasees was there to help the landless Anishinabek under his leadership. Many of them had no choice but to live near white settlements. Those white settlements included Anaconda, Billings, Butte, Choteau, Dearborn, Deer Lodge, Dupuyer, Garrison, Glasgow, Havre, Helena, Missoula, Plains and many others.
In 1904, the United States ratified the 1892 10 cent an acre treaty. Funny how it coincides with the establishment of a Chippewa Reservation (it was really land allotments) in the Flathead Reservation, and the theft of the northern part of the Crow Reservation. And the land allotments allotted to Indians could be eventually sold to whites. Starting after the ratification of the 10 cent an acre treaty, the United States commenced to eradicate the many Reservations set aside for the Chippewa's in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. It led to the Chippewa's reacting to their predicament with open hostility. By 1904, ogima Rocky Boy was the principle Anishinabe leader in the western United States. Ogima Little Bear had no choice but to follow ogima Rocky Boy. He had known since 1891 that the whites would not negotiate with him.
In 1906, the Chippewa's commenced to respond to their plight. According to white historians the Ute's (they were really Anishinabek) of the Uintah-Ouray Reservation of Utah, fled their Reservation to go to a northern Reservation (possibly the Northern Cheyenne Reservation or the 10 to 12 million acre Chippewa Reservation set aside north of the Missouri River in Montana) to hold negotiations over the loss of the Reservations. It is known as the 1906 Ute Trek. The Indians were captured just south of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, between the Powder River and Tongue River, in far northern Wyoming, on October 22, 1906. They supposedly requested to be relocated to the Cheyenne Agency Reservation of South Dakota. They were set aside a 144 sq. mi. Reservation within the Cheyenne Agency Reservation.
In 1908, the Chippewa's living on the 10 to 12 million acre Reservation north of the Missouri River in Montana, began showing signs of open hostility over the illicit eradication of the huge Reservation. The United States sent Indian Agent Frank Churchill to Montana, to negotiate with ogima Rocky Boy and possibly ogima Little Bear to an extent, about the unrest the Chippewa's were feeling about the loss of their Reservations. Churchill requested from the government of the United States to withdraw Valley County, Montana from white settlers. He claimed he needed to ascertain how many Chippewa's would be alloted land. He made the request to stop a possible Chippewa War. Churchill also requested from the government of the United States that a new closed Chippewa Reservation be set aside in Valley County, Montana. Both of Churchill's requests were granted. The United States enlarged the Fort Belknap Reservation to 2,160 sq. mi. The Fort Belknap Reservation was in Valley County, Montana at the time (1908-1909).
In 1909, the United States negotiated a deal with ogima Rocky Boy and also ogima Little Bear, and the Chippewa's under their leadership who were being held as POWS at Fort William Henry Harrison (the Chippewa's with ogima Rocky Boy were being held near Birdseye while the Chippewa's with ogima Little Bear were held near Montana City), in which a new Reservation for them was set aside in the Blackfeet Reservation near Babb. Next year (1910), it was announced that what is now Glacier National Park, had been officially created. That could be an indication that Glacier National Park was a Chippewa Reservation at the time (1909).
It led to serious disputes among the Anishinabe people living on the Blackfeet Reservation. Between 1910-1912, the last Chippewa Exodus off the Blackfeet Reservation commenced towards the south (supposedly the Garrison, Montana region but it was really what is now the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area) and elsewhere (Canada), and ogimak Imasees and Rocky Boy had no choice but to increase their efforts at forcing the United States to find another home (closed Reservation) for the landless Chippewa's. They succeeded in 1916. It was really 1912.
Rocky Boy Reservation was supposedly set aside in 1916, for the Anishinabe people who fled the Blackfeet Reservation. However, what is now the Rocky Boy Reservation was really the proposed new Chippewa Reservation Frank Churchill requested for in 1908-1909. Rocky Boy Reservation is really connected to the Fort Belknap Reservation and much larger. The whites actually built a fence around the entire Blackfeet Reservation in 1903. They were already in the process of ratifying the so called 10 cent an acre treaty and knew the Chippewa's would get upset.
Since that time, the Anishinabe people of Montana have not left their Reservations in Montana, to escape from the obvious evil intentions of the whites. After 1891, ogima Little Bear let ogima Rocky Boy speak for the Anishinabe people of Montana. He knew the whites disliked him and that it was more important to let ogima Rocky Boy negotiate with the whites. However, ogima Little Bear held more power over the Anishinabe people than ogima Rocky Boy did. In late 1913, ogima Little Bear sent letters to Anishinabe leaders in Idaho and Montana, notifying them that a new closed Anishinabe Reservation would soon be established. That Reservation is the Rocky Boy Reservation. Around 600 Chippewa's from Idaho and Montana soon relocated to Rocky Boy Reservation and the east side of Glacier National Park.
Ogima Little Bear died in 1921. He went to his grave still feeling the great enragement of having to have to deal with the spoiled rotten whites, who insulted him by claiming he was not native to Montana and forcing him to change his name from Crazy Horse to that of Little Bear. They robbed him of his role in history.