Fred Choteau Campbell, the youngest son of D.G. and America Cooley Campbell, was born in Shawnee, Kansas, in 1864. He attended Kansas University where he became a charter member of the Kansas University Athletic Association. After graduating, he taught school in Johnson County, Kansas.

In 1890 Campbell entered the U.S. Indian Service as a teacher in Genoa, Nebraska. He was later sent to the Fort Peck Indian Agency in Montana and in 1898 was appointed superintendent of the Fort Shaw Indian Training School. Campbell also served as superintendent of the Blackfeet Agency for ten years before becoming the district superintendent for Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Idaho. During his years with the Blackfeet, Campbell began several innovative programs including regular visits with Indians in their homes, annual mid-winter fairs, and the five-year industrial plan which was designed to have the Blackfeet become self-sufficient through agriculture and stock raising. In 1931 Campbell directed the 4-H Club Hi-Line Association Conference held at Rocky Boy Indian Agency.

Campbell received two Indian names during his years with the Indian Service, Red Head and Iron Shield. In addition, a mountain in Glacier National Park is named for him.

Campbell retired from the Indian Service in 1932 after forty years and settled on his ranch in Meagher County. A Republican, Campbell was elected to the state senate in 1938, representing Meagher County. During the 1939 legislature, he actively worked for the defeat of a bill that would allow the use of peyote by Montana Indians in religious ceremonies.

Campbell married Ella Mead, daughter of John Mead, in 1889. They had three children: Fred Cooley; Mary Freda, who married Peter LeRoy DesRosier; and Mead. Several years after the death of his first wife, Campbell married Sadie Malley. He died in October 1942 in Portland, Oregon.

Fred Cooley Campbell enlisted in the Army Air Force and was killed in action in World War I.