Editing Jerry Potts (section)

==Early life==
Potts was born in or before 1840<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/potts_jerry_12E.html|title=Biography – POTTS, JERRY – Volume XII (1891-1900) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography|website=www.biographi.ca|access-date=2020-01-23}}</ref> near [[Fort McKenzie]], [[Montana]]. He was the only child of his [[Kainai Nation|Kainai]]-[[Cree]]<ref>The enemy Plains Cree called the Kainai ''Miko-Ew'' - "stained with blood", i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel." Therefore, the common English name for the tribe is the "Blood tribe."</ref> mother, ''Namo-pisi'' (Crooked Back), and Andrew R. Potts, a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[fur trade]]r. Upon the death of his father in 1840, Jerry was given to [[American Fur Company]] trader Alexander Harvey by Namo-pisi prior to rejoining her tribe. A violent, vindictive man, Harvey neglected and mistreated Potts before deserting him in 1845. American Fur Company trader Andrew Dawson of [[Fort Benton, Montana]], a gentle man who was called "the last king of the Missouri," adopted young Potts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cowboycountrymagazine.com/2010/10/jerry-potts/|title=Jerry Potts|last=Mason|first=Terri|date=2010-10-08|website=Canadian Cowboy Country Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-23}}</ref> He taught the boy to read and write and allowed him to mix with the Native Americans who visited the trading post to learn their customs and languages.

In his late teens, Potts, who adopted the carefree mannerisms of the frontier, joined his mother’s people and, from then on, drifted between them and Dawson. During this time, Potts passed all the nai-Cree rites of passage including the final agony of the [[Sun Dance]] wherein the fledgling brave is tied to a pole by thongs threaded through his chest muscles. Successful completion of this rite meant the youth had achieved glory by tearing himself loose either immediately or by staying tied to the pole in absolute silence for up to three days and then tearing loose. Potts chose to remain the full three days for such was his nature. He also belonged to several of the secret warrior societies which prevailed in large numbers throughout the Blackfoot nation. Still, he wore Euro-American clothing most of the time including a fashionable hat that sported a wide headband.