28 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 10 



Victor, the Principal Flathead Chief (Plate 8) 



Victor — 



Head Chief of the Flatheads — 



Victor has been confused by some writers with a contemporary of 

 the same Christian name who was head chief of the Lower Pend 

 d'Oreille. Father Palladino said that the Indians called the Flathead 

 Victor "Mitt to" and the Pend d'Oreille one "Pitol" to distinguish 

 them. (Palladino, 1894, p. 63,) Pierre Pichette translated Victor's 

 Indian name "Easy to Get a Herd of Horses." (See also Teit, 1930, 



P- 377-) 



Victor said that he had been quite a good-sized boy when Lewis 

 and Clark passed through the Flathead country in 1805 on their way 

 to the Pacific. His father, Three Eagles, is said to have been a chief 

 of the Flathead camp met by Lewis and Clark. (Owen, 1927, vol. 2, 

 p. 42 ; Wheeler, 1904, vol. 2, p. 65.) 



Victor's early years were molded by traditional Flathead religious 

 beliefs. Pierre Pichette said that in his youth Victor obtained rabbit 

 power by protecting a rabbit which was chased by a hawk. Some 

 years later while stealing horses from the Crow, Victor was thrown 

 from a stolen horse in the midst of the enemy encampment. He ran 

 and hid in some brush near the camp. Although the Crow searched 

 for him all through the next day they could not find him. The fol- 

 lowing evening Victor escaped. His rabbit power is credited with 

 having saved him. 



Victor was a minor leader of the Flathead when Father De Smet 

 and his colleagues founded St. Mary's Mission. He was among the 

 first Indians to accept Christianity and became the leader of the men's 

 society organized by the priests. Agnes, his wife, led the women's 

 society. Father De Smet credited Victor's leadership in the Catholic 

 society as an important factor in his choice by the tribe as head chief, 

 after the death of the octogenarian. Big Face, in late 1841 or early 

 1842. De Smet said Victor obtained tribal leadership "for no other 

 reason" than "for the noble qualities, both of heart and head, which 

 they all thought he possessed." 



In the summer of 1846 Victor led the Flathead buffalo hunt to 

 the plains, during which his people, augmented by 30 lodges of Nez 

 Perce and a dozen friendly Black foot, scored a signal victory in a 

 battle with the Crow. (Chittenden and Richardson, 1905, vol. 2, 



pp. 576-577-) 



Later that fall Victor took a prominent part in Father De Smet's 

 negotiation of a peace between the Flathead and Blackfoot at the 



