Nov. 5 – On this day in Montana history in 1887 a young visionary named Sword Bearer was killed in a skirmish with U.S. Cavalry on the Crow Reservation. Sword Bearer had a spiritual experience that caused him to see himself as a prophet and savior of his people. He had caused such a stir on the reservation that the people of Billings were talking about forming a militia to put the uprising down. The uprising was even more surprising because the tribe had a record of peaceful relations with whites for a full decade after suppression of hostilities on the northern plains. His death is still controversial, and even the Billings Gazette said this about his vision: “It was one of the most remarkable incidents in the history of the northwestern Indians that nearly 200 of them should stand before 15 companies of soldiers and a battery of Hotchkiss rifles on the strength of such a belief.”