Denig wrote about Woman Chief in his “Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri,” a document he composed in 1855-56, the year after her death.

He had known her for approximately twelve years — since around 1843 or 1844 — which means the bulk of his acquaintance with her coincided with the later part of her military career and the full period of her chiefly authority.

He begins by stating that the case of a woman achieving chiefly rank among the Crow was singular — that he knew of no precedent for it among any of the upper Missouri tribes.

This establishes the exceptional character of her achievement from the perspective of a man who had observed these societies for over two decades.