Kuilix (meaning "Red Shirt" or "Red One"), also known as Kuiliy, Mary Quille, and Marie Quilax, was a woman of the Kalispel or

Pend d'Oreilles The Pend d'Oreille or Pend d'Oreilles ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington (state), Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples r ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. She was the leader of a team of warriors who rescued other warriors while fighting the

Blackfeet The Blackfeet Nation (, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Montana. Tribal members primarily belong ...

in 1842. Father

Nicholas Point Nicholas Point; (10 April 1799 – 4 July 1868), was a French Catholic priest, artist, and member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). He is known primarily for the drawings and watercolors he created during his missionary work in the mid-19th ce ...

, a Jesuit priest who witnessed the battle, wrote:

The first Pend Oreille to dash out at the enemy was a woman named Kuilix, 'The Red One,' ... Her bravery surprised the warriors who were humiliated and indignant because it was a woman who had led the charge, and so they threw themselves into the breach where nature's shelter had protected the enemy. The Blackfeet immediately shot four shots almost at point-blank range; yet not a single Pend d'Oreille went down. Four of the enemy—some claim it was only two—managed to escape death by hiding in the thickets, but the rest were massacred on the spot.

Kuilix also took part in battle against the

Crow tribe The Crow, whose Endonym and exonym, autonym is Apsáalooke (), are Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a List of federally recognized tribes in the United St ...

in 1846. Father Point also described this incident:

The famous Kuilix ... accompanied by a few braves and armed with an axe, gave chase to a whole squadron of Crows. When they got back to camp, she said to her companions, 'I thought that those big talkers were men, but I was wrong. Truly, they are not worth pursuing.'

Women of both the

Pend d'Oreille The Pend d'Oreille or Pend d'Oreilles ( ), also known as the Kalispel (), are Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau. Today many of them live in Montana and eastern Washington of the United States. The Kalispel peoples referred to their pr ...

and the related Flathead tribe traditionally took an active role in warfare, frequently entering into a battle. They also joined ritual dances dressed as warriors.

Sources

*Will Roscoe
Kuilix, Pend d'Oreille Warrior Woman
from ''Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America'', Palgrave/St. Martin's Press, 1998 Year of birth unknown Year of death missing Military personnel from Montana Native American women in warfare Women in 19th-century warfare Interior Salish 19th-century Native American women {{NorthAm-mil-bio-stub

See also

Sources