De Smet, Pierre Jean (1801–1873), a Belgian Catholic missionary in the United States Northwest. He came to the United States in 1821, entered the Jesuit order, and was ordained a priest in 1827. In 1838 he began missionary work among the Potawatomi Indians near present-day Council Bluffs, Iowa. In 1841 De Smet went to the Oregon country to begin mission work in the Pacific Northwest. He also traveled over most of the western plains region, and won the respect and trust of many Indian tribes.
Father De Smet often acted as mediator between warring tribes, and he made peace between Indians and whites. In 1868 during an Indian uprising, De Smet walked into the camp of Sitting Bull, the Sioux chief, and won a temporary peace. He made many trips to the eastern United States and to Europe, seeking money and recruiting missionaries. He is said to have traveled 180,000 miles (290,000 km). His writings include Western Missions and Missionaries (1859) and New Indian Sketches (1863).
