Kakawissassa (Crow at Rest)
Kakawissassa, known as Crow at Rest or Lightning Raven, was a chief of the Arikara who met with Lewis and Clark during the expedition's visit to the Arikara villages in October 1804. He was one of three principal Arikara chiefs who engaged in diplomatic councils with the expedition, as Lewis and Clark attempted to broker peace between the Arikara and their Mandan neighbors to the north.
Biography
Kakawissassa, or “Crow at Rest,” was a principal chief of the Arikara who met with Lewis and Clark in October 1804 as the expedition passed through Arikara territory along the Missouri River in present-day South Dakota.
The Arikara were sedentary agricultural people who lived in earth-lodge villages along the Missouri. They had been devastated by smallpox epidemics in the late 18th century, which severely reduced their population and political power.
Kakawissassa was receptive to the expedition’s diplomatic overtures but the Arikara-American relationship would later deteriorate. In 1823, Arikara warriors attacked William Ashley’s trading party in one of the most significant armed conflicts between Americans and Plains Indians prior to the Indian Wars.
