Joseph Medicine Crow, an acclaimed Native American historian and last surviving war chief of Montana’s Crow Tribe, died at the age of 102.

Medicine Crow passed away on Sunday.

As a member of the Crow Tribe’s Whistling Water clan, Medicine Crow was raised by his grandparents in a log house in a rural area of the Crow Reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana.

His Crow name was „High Bird“. In times of his childhood he was listening to stories about the Battle of Little Bighorn from those who were there, including his grandmother’s brother, White Man Runs Him, a scout for Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer.

His grandfather, Yellowtail, raised Medicine Crow to be a warrior. The training began when Medicine Crow was just 6 or 7 years old, with a punishing physical regimen, included running barefoot in the snow to toughen feet and spirit.

In 1939 Medicine Crow became the first of his tribe to receive a master’s degree in anthropology. For decades he served as a historian, cataloging his people’s nomadic history by collecting firsthand accounts of pre-reservation life from fellow tribal members.

Herman Viola, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American Indians once said, that meeting Joe Medicine Crow meant shaking hands with the 19th century.

During World War II, Medicine Crow earned the title of war chief after performing a series of daring deeds, including stealing horses from an enemy encampment and hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier whose life Medicine Crow ultimately spared.

„Warfare was our highest art, but Plains Indian warfare was not about killing. It was about intelligence, leadership, and honor“, Medicine Crow wrote in his book Counting Coup in 2006.

Soon after returning from Europe, Medicine Crow was designated tribal historian by the Crow Tribal Council.

With his memory being prodigious, Medicine Crow could accurately recall decades later the names, dates and exploits from the oral history he was exposed to as a child. Those included tales told by four of the six Crow scouts who served at Custer’s side at Little Bighorn and who Medicine Crow knew personally.

Medicine Crow embraced the changes that came with the settling of the West. He worked to bridge his people’s cultural traditions with the opportunities of modern society. His voice became familiar to many outside the region as the narrator for American Indian exhibits in major museums across the country.

He walked in both worlds, the white one and the Indian world, and he was aware of the fact that education was the key to success.

Steve Bullock, governor of Montana, said Medicine Crow was an inspiration to his tribe and others.

President Barack Obama awarded Medicine Crow the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

During the White House ceremony, Obama referred to Medicine Crow as „a good man, a ‚bacheitche‘ in Crow.“

„ … (his) life reflects not only the warrior spirit of the Crow people, but America’s highest ideals,“ Obama said.

He was nominated for the Congressional Gold Medal and was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and Montana’s Rocky Mountain College.

Even after his hearing and eyesight faded, Medicine Crow continued to lecture into his 90s on the Battle of Little Bighorn and other major events in Crow history.

His wife died in 2009.

With the death of Medicine Crow an era comes to an end. May he rest in peace!