Four Bears

Mato-tope (also known as Ma-to-toh-pe or Four Bears, from mato "bear" and tope "four") (c. 1784 - July 30, 1837) was the second chief of the Mandan tribe to be known as "Four Bears," a name he earned after charging the Assiniboine tribe during battle with the strength of four bears. Four Bears lived in the first half of the 19th century on the upper Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Four Bears was a favorite subject of artists, painted by George Catlin and Karl Bodmer.

Four Bears grew up in an earth lodge in the Mandan village On-a-Slant Village. His father, Good Boy (or Handsome Child), was the village chief. Later the family lived in Mitutanka further north, founded about 1822, possibly by Good Boy.

Around 1830 the trading post Fort Clark was built less than 600 ft. (150 m) south of Mitutanka. At that time, Four Bears was a brave warrior among his people, famous for killing a Cheyenne chief in hand-to-hand combat. Besides the Cheyenne, Four Bears fought the Sioux, the Arikara, and the Assiniboine and once he killed two Ojibway women. The daring revenge upon the actual killer of his younger brother was still a topic among the Mandans in the early 1930s. Four Bears had learned the identity of the Arikara warrior, Bear Necklace, through fast and "self-torture" under an oak tree with a raven nest.

Catlin secured a robe recounting Four Bears' deeds in 1832, now preserved in the United States National Museum. Another robe of Four Bears collected by Catlin is lost.

The next to bring home a robe of Four Bears showing warrior exploits was Prince Maximilian zu Wied. This robe is in Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Germany. While other leading men were sturdy and tall, Maximilian described the ever-successful warrior Four Bears as a bit slim and only of average height. Four Bears' good fortune on the warpath came in part from a sacred bundle containing a rainbow-decorated robe.

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Wikipedia