This is the captivating true story of a female American Indian hunter and warrior called Woman Chief and her relationships with mountainmen, traders, trappers and other tribal leaders.

Story: This book tells the story of a determined young woman who rose through the ranks of her tribe to became a chief. Born in the Atsina tribe in 1800, the 10-year-old girl was abducted by a small band of Crow hunters. The River Crow adopted the girl into the tribe and renamed her Pine Leaf, but before tribal women could train her to be a lodge woman, she convinced her mentors she would be of greater benefit to the tribe if they allowed her to train as a hunter and warrior.

Around 1828, a black mountain man and trapper named James Beckwourth (also called Jim Beckwith) moved in with the River Crow. Pine Leaf competed with Jim for nearly ten years, particularly in fighting and hunting. It is rumored that they had a stormy relationship which ended when he left the Crow. Jim later dictated Woman Chief's early exploits to historian Thomas Bonner. To learn more about Jim Beckwourth, visit: www.beckwourth.org.

Many legendary figures in the West knew Woman Chief, including Bill Williams, Kit Carson, John Fremont, Jim Bridger, Ed Rose and Edwin Denig. All of these individuals are mentioned in the book.

WWC Website: For more information about Woman War Chief and where she traveled, visit the website dedicated to this book: http://www.womanwarchief.com  The website contains detailed maps and excerpts from the text.

Purchase: Print copies of Woman War Chief are available from Amazon and from the author. To purchase a signed copy, contact Jerry at: jalvusmatney@aol.com. The eBook is available from Amazon and other eBook vendors.

Painting on top of page by George Catlin (photo of  painting now in public domain)

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