Editing Plenty Coups (section)

==Last great chief==
[[File:War bonnet and coup sticks given to the World War I Unknown by Plenty Coups Chief of the Crow Nation- Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - Arlington National Cemetery - 2012-05-19.jpg|thumb|War bonnet and coup sticks used by Plenty Coups during dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1921, on display at Memorial Amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery]]
Plenty Coups was named a chief of the Crow at age 28.  As a young man and chief, he was a fierce and well-respected warrior.  He was thought to have between 50 and 100 feathers on his coup stick, each one representing an act of valor.  Many times over, he had fulfilled the four requirements for becoming a chief.

===Fighting to protect a nation===
Plenty Coups became a chief in 1876, the same year as the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]].  Six Crow warriors worked as scouts for General Custer at this time, and were allied with the white man in order to fight their own primary enemies during this period: the Lakota, Sioux and Cheyenne.  According to the interpretation of Plenty Coups' vision, cooperating with the white man was the only way to ensure the Crow's future survival in a white man's world.

===Speaking to protect a people===
He was selected to represent the Crow in Washington, D.C., where he fought successfully against U.S. senators' plans to abolish the Crow nation and take away their lands.  He made many trips to Washington over ten years to protect his people.

He was fairly successful in doing so, and managed to keep the Crows' original land (although it amounted to only 80% of what they were originally allotted), despite many foreigners' desire to take the land for gold prospecting and other uses.  Many other Native Americans tribes were relocated to reservations on entirely different land than where they had lived their lives.

Plenty Coups told about his trip to Washington in 1880 to William Wildschut. The travel east was by Fast Wagon or train. It was described as "a big black
horse with his belly nearly touching the ground".<ref>Nabokov, Peter: "Plenty Coups Travels to Washington." ''Native American Testimony''. New York, 1978,
pp. 176–181 [178].</ref>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

===Dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier===
[[File:Unknown soldier burial ceremony 20.jpg|thumb|Crow Nation chief Alaxchíia Ahú ("Plenty Coups"), the only tribal representative at the burial of the Unknown Soldier of World War I at Arlington National Cemetery]]
Chief Plenty Coups was selected as the sole representative of Native Americans for the dedication of the [[Tomb of the Unknowns|Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier]] and gave a short speech in his native tongue in honor of the soldier and the occasion.  He placed his war-bonnet and coup stick upon the tomb, and they are preserved in a display case there.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 7, 1921 |title=Will Lay Bonnet On Hero's Grave |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2998788// |newspaper=[[The Washington Herald]] |location=Washington, DC |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=August 12, 2015 }} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Camurat |first=Diane |date=1993 |title=The American Indian in the Great War: Real and Imagined |publisher=University of Paris |oclc=249794594 |url=http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/cmrts/Cmrt8.html#f61 |access-date=August 12, 2015 }}</ref>