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Running Eagle Running Eagle, also known as Weasel Woman, was the only female war chief of the South Piegan (Blackfeet) people, and the only woman to be given a man's name. She was the oldest of two sisters and two brothers. Her parents both died when she was fifteen years old. Instead of splitting up the family and following separate paths, Running Eagle insisted that her siblings stay together as a family and make a good life for themselves. When it came time to marry, she refused her suitors as her ambition was to become a warrior. She would listen to the warriors as they gathered to talk, dance, or feast. When she was twenty, these warriors left the camp to raid a Flathead camp, and Weasel Woman traveled with them. Once they arrived at the Flathead camp, Weasel Woman proved herself braver by quietly seizing six of the best Flathead horses and returning to her party. With no casualties, they made their victorious journey home. Upon their return, the men put up a Medicine Lodge and welcomed Weasel Woman to tell of her victory. She was then given her name Pita Omarkan or Eagle Running, a name that once belonged to a very great chief. After this, Pita Omarkan was always included as part of the war party and was involved in successful raids on the Crow, the Sioux, and the Flatheads. She came to symbolize good luck and was later named chief of her people. During her ninth raid, she and her men were discovered by the Flatheads and killed. A beautiful waterfall in Glacier National Park, Montana, was named the Running Eagle Falls by the Blackfeet in remembrance of their brave and only female war chief.
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