24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



Knife River. It was during this period, 1782-1800, and as a result 

 of some serious losses at the hands of the Sioux, that the three Hidatsa 

 and the nine or more Mandan village groups reorganized for mutual 

 defense. In 1790 a large force of Sioux attacked the Hidatsa; be- 

 cause of the distance between the villages, the Awatixa at Rock 

 Village and the Awaxawi, who had survived an attack on them and the 

 Nuptadi Mandan, were unable to provide assistance. Nevertheless, 

 by 1796 the Mandan groups had aU moved out of the Heart River 

 region and had consolidated their position in a limited area immedi- 

 ately below the Knife River Hidatsa villages. 



Close intervillage and intertribal cooperation developed. One 

 group of Arikara, who previously had had close ties with the Awigaxa 

 Mandan near the Grand River, moved north at this time and settled 

 nearby at the Greenshield site opposite Washburn. They did not 

 get along well with the other Mandan and Hidatsa groups and were 

 soon driven out. The Awaxawi had abandoned their village near 

 Square Buttes after the epidemic of 1782 to live in one of the Mandan 

 villages. However, once the earth lodge population was concentrated 

 near the Knife River, they moved into a village of their own (site 32) 

 situated between the Mandan and Hidatsa. There they continued 

 to live as an independent village group until after the epidemic of 1837. 

 They then abandoned their own village organization and united with 

 the Awatixa. 



The Hidatsa, Awatixa, and Awaxawi occupied the same village sites 

 between 1795 and 1837 although the Hidatsa-proper had some diffi- 

 culty in integrating their population. Quarrels occasionally broke 

 out, one resulting in the building of Cherry Creek Village on the Little 

 Missouri River. These close contacts, between slightly different cul- 

 tural groups of Hidatsas and Mandans endeavoring to preserve their 

 independent village systems, resulted in the breakdown of cultural 

 differences through intergroup borrowing and intermarriage. Never- 

 theless, something of the cultural differences between these groups is 

 still preserved in native interpretations and traditions. The assimila- 

 tion process of the Hidatsa groups was rapid after 1782. 



With the heavy losses suffered from smallpox in 1837, a second 

 period of reorganization followed. Many living at Hidatsa village 

 considered rejoining the River Crow. In fact, many did move there 

 permanently. Other Hidatsas from this village moved upstream when 

 the epidemic broke out and built an earth lodge village near the mouth 

 of the upper Knife River which they occupied until 1845. The 

 Awaxawi and Awatixa remained on the Knife near the Mandan until 

 1845, when, in company with the Nuitadi Mandan, they undertook 

 the building of Fishhook Village where they were rejoined by many 

 Hidatsa households. The problem of resolving several traditions was 



