He noted that she maintained “all the style of a man and chief” — that she had her weapons, her war horses, her status symbols — and that she had “two or three young women as wives” at the point of his writing.

Later accounts bring the number to four.

The wives managed the domestic affairs of her lodge.

In Crow society, the processing of bison hides, the preparation of food, the maintenance of the tipi and its contents — these were labor-intensive activities, and they fell primarily to women.

A chief who had accumulated significant wealth in horses and material goods needed domestic help to manage that wealth effectively.

Successful male chiefs often had multiple wives for exactly this practical reason.