In March 1866, a battle was fought in this vicinity between Shoshone and Bannock Indians on one side and Crow Indians on the other for supremacy of hunting grounds in the Wind River basin. Crowheart Butte received its name because the victorious Washakie, chief of the Shoshones, displayed a Crow Indian's heart on his lance at the war dance after the battle. Most of the fighting took place near Black Mountain several miles to the north. In his youth and middle age, Washakie was a very mighty warrior, a wise chief, and friendly to white people, and no white man's scalp hung in his teepee.