Five Crows was the maternal half-brother of Tuekakas, Old Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, and the brother-in-law of Peopeomoxmox. The richest of the Cayuse chiefs with over 1,000 horses, he was ruined financially by the Cayuse War that followed the 1847 Whitman Mission killings. Although he was not involved in the killings, he took one of the mission hostages, Lorinda Bewley, as his wife. After he was wounded in the Cayuse War the Nez Perce under Tuekakas nursed him back to health. Five Crows was popular with the Cayuse people and spoke often at the treaty council.