Hidatsa Indians

While wintering at Fort Mandan, November 1804 to April 1805
Location:Of the three Hidatsa villages located at the confluence of the upper Missouri and the Knife Rivers in modern-day North Dakota, the Hidatsa-proper occupied the largest, northernmost one at Menetarra. Two other tribes, the Amahami and the Minitari, were also known as Hidatsa.
Information: Unlike the Mandan, the Hidatsa regularly sent war parties as far west as the Rockies, where they battled the Shoshone and Blackfeet. During the winter of 1804-05, these Hidatsa were led by Le Borgne, or One Eye. Like the other Hidatsa tribes in the area, the Amahami and the Minitari, the Hidatsa proper were farmers. They served an important role in the local economy, providing corn, beans, and squash needed by their nomadic neighbors. Population counts around 1833 estimated there were about 2,100 Hidatsa in the three villages along the Missouri. A smallpox epidemic in 1837 wiped out many of the Hidatsa in the three villages, and the remaining Indians relocated to one village farther to the north. In 1845 a combined settlement of Hidatsa and Mandan moved up the Missouri River and founded Like-a-Fishhook Village.