Rains Fall (born 1843) was the Chief of the Wapiti Native American tribe during the late 19th century. He led the Wapiti in a brief war with the US Army in 1899, after which he was forced to lead his devastated tribe north into Canada to avoid further conflict.
Biography[]
Rains Fall was born in South Dakota in 1843, a member of the Wapiti Native American tribe. He became the chief of the Wapiti tribe during its relocation to a reservation by the United States government, and he preferred not to lead his people into a suicidal war with the whites. He fathered Eagle Flies and an elder son with his wife, but his wife and elder son were killed by the US Army. In 1899, with the help of the transcendental writer Evelyn Miller, he met with several American politicians and attempted to convince them not to move the tribe from their reservation, and, while in New Orleans, he hired Arthur Morgan to help the Wapiti steal an incriminating ledger from the Cornwall Kerosene & Tar refinery. However, Colonel Henry Favours and the Army made acts of war against the Wapiti such as destroying their sacred sites, and, when Morgan rescued the pro-Indian army captain Lyndon Monroe, a gun battle erupted with the Army. Rains Fall failed to restrain his tribe from mounting a raid on an oil refinery, and Eagle Flies was mortally wounded in the ensuing battle. The Wapiti were finally forced to relocate to Canada under Rains Fall's leadership, and, in 1907, he briefly returned to the USA to mourn his son's death. While there, he had a brief conversation with Morgan's friend John Marston at the Annesburg train station, and he then returned to his diminished tribe, which was now little more than a collection of a few families.