50 Events That Shaped American Indian History, Volume I and II

Defending the West, 1840–1890

Apache Resistance, 1849–1886

Ramon Resendiz and Rosalva Resendiz

Chronology

1835		Bounties for Indian scalps are made by the government of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico.
1845–1848		Mexican American War dispute over the U.S.–Mexico boundaries.
1848		The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed. The Rio Grande River becomes the U.S.–Mexico boundary, and the United States becomes responsible for protecting Mexicans from Indian raids.
1848–1849		Apaches raid and kill Sonorans.
1850		Massacre at Ramos.
1851		Massacre at Esqueda.
1851		The Carrasco Massacre: Geronimo’s family are killed.
1852		Mangas Coloradas and other Apache chiefs make a treaty with Major John Greiner and Colonel E.V. Sumner.
1853		Fort Atkinson Treaty is signed by Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Indians to secure the Santa Fe Trail for white settlers.
1861–1865		Civil War between the Union and Confederate states.
1861		The discovery of silver and gold in Apacheria leads to more intruders and more conflict.
1861		Mangas Coloradas goes to war against Americans and Mexicans.
1861		Bascom Affair: Chief Cochise is wrongly accused of kidnapping a child.
1862		Mangas Coloradas and Cochise attack Union soldiers in the Apache Pass Battle.
1863		Mangas Coloradas is killed.
1866		Commanding General Sherman argues for the removal of all tribes in order to provide an Indian-free corridor across the United States to be used by white settlers.
1866		Congress passes a resolution that would take away land from the Indians in order to complete the railroads.
1866		Army Reorganization Act of 1866 allows for Indians to enlist in the army or become scouts.
1866		The 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry units are created by Congress. The Cavalry and Infantry units are composed of black soldiers (Buffalo soldiers) with white officers.
1867		Medicine Lodge Treaties are made with Native Americans for their relocation to reservations.
1868		The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified. Citizenship is to be granted to every person born in the United States and guaranteeing equal protection under the law.
1869–1877		President Ulysses S. Grant institutes a peace policy toward Indians but also oversees military actions against the Apaches.
1870s		Bison are slaughtered to starve the Apaches and force them onto reservations. It is estimated that almost three million are killed.
1871		Camp Grant Massacre.
1871		Indian Appropriations Act ends the recognition of Indian tribes as sovereign nations. New treaties would treat Indians as individuals and wards of the government.
1872		Cochise-Howard Treaty.
1873		Lipan Apaches are killed in the Mackenzie Raid/Massacre or “Dia de los Gritos/Day of the Screams.”
1874–1877		Black Hills Gold rush brings miners and settlers, which further increases conflict in Apacheria.
1874		Texas Rangers are recommissioned in order to fight the Comanche, Apache, and Kiowa Indians.
1874		The U.S. Army is authorized to enter Indian reservation land in pursuit of resisting bands of Indians.
1875		Camp Verde Reservation is closed, and the Apaches are moved to San Carlos Reservation.
1879		The Women’s National Indian Association is founded by white reformers to promote assimilation and Christianization of Indians.
1879		Victorio declares war.
1880		Victorio is killed in Mexico, and his lieutenant Nana seeks revenge.
1881		The last of the Lipan Apache warriors are captured in Texas under the false promises of food. Over 200 Apaches are taken, and their chiefs are killed.
1881		Nana goes on a warpath from Mexico to New Mexico in vengeance.
1881		Nakaidolini, an Apache medicine man, advocating resistance to white settlers’ encroachment, is killed by U.S. soldiers.
1881		Helen Hunt Jackson writes and publishes A Century of Dishonor, in an attempt to call attention to the inhumane treatment of Indians.
1882		Indian Rights Association is founded by white male reformers advocating assimilation and citizenship.
1882		Battle of the Big Dry Wash: White Mountain Apaches take their last stand in Arizona and fail in their ambush of the 3rd and 6th Cavalry.
1882		Casas Grande Massacre.
1882		Geronimo breaks into San Carlos, killing two law enforcement officers and breaking out Apaches.
1883		Geronimo, Naiche, and Nana surrender to General Crooks.
1885		Geronimo and Naiche escape from San Carlos.
1886		Geronimo and Naiche surrender to General Crooks and then change their minds and finally surrender to Lieutenant Gatewood.
1887		The Dawes Act is passed. This act allows for reservation land to be given to individuals, for the subsequent sale of that property.
1913		Prisoners of war are released.

The Apaches

The Apaches lived in the land known today as Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, down to Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, and the Sierra Madre mountains. They lived and hunted from the Colorado River, to the Pecos River, and the Texas hill country, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, crossing over the Rio Grande River and into Mexico. From 1849 to 1865, the Apaches fought off a series of invasions by settlers on their ancestral lands. Apacheria, the land of the Apaches, belonged to tribes who were composed of bands related by the Athabascan language. The Apaches include the Plains Apaches, Lipan Apaches, Mescalero Apaches, Western Apaches, Jicarillas, Chiricahuas, and Navajos. They have been given many names, but they call themselves the Dine or the N’de (Induh), “the people.” With the conquest of the Americas, imperialism and expansionist policies which sought to acquire Apacheria at any cost, for the Apaches, who resisted, that meant they would be faced with their attempted extermination and genocide at the hands of various colonial powers.

The Apache wars were led by the Chiricahuas. While most of the Apaches had settled onto reservations, the Chiricahuas fought the Mexicans, the U.S. military, and white settlers. The Apaches were persecuted by both the Mexican government and the U.S. government. In 1848, Mexico lost the war to the United States and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. As part of the terms, the United States was charged with protecting the Mexican people from Apache raids, as well as placing the Apaches on reservations to live a life of farming. In the beginning, some of the Apaches made peace treaties with the U.S. government, however, racist policies, treachery, and corruption by U.S. agents resulted in conflict and vengeance.

Some of the Apache tribes agreed to move into reservations, as long as they were allowed to stay in their homeland, but the United States broke their treaties when white settlers wanted those lands. The peaceful Apaches were displaced once again and relocated to land that could not provide a living for them. Apaches were not war-like, but they did believe in vengeance and therefore, for every act of treachery that they received at the hands of the Mexican people, white settlers and/or the U.S. government, the Apaches declared war. Again and again, Apaches who sought peace were continuously faced with betrayal.

The Apaches were a matrilocal and matrilineal culture. When a man married a woman, he moved to her family’s tribal band. As a result of this type of marriage, the Apaches had strong bonds and alliances with many of their fellow tribes and bands, which were called upon during times of war and when seeking to hide from the U.S. government. Gender roles in the Apache culture were interdependent and both were valued. There was a sexual division of labor, but a female was allowed to become a warrior, as was the case with Lozen, Chief Victorio’s sister. Their sexual division of labor did not place women in a subordinate position. Instead, both roles were considered as complementary, with women managing economic activities, wealth, food preparation, child rearing, and house building. Men hunted, raided, waged war, and dealt with external relations. As conflict and war grew in Apacheria, the tribes and bands were forced to take their families on raids and war expeditions. This led to the increased participation of wives as warriors, fighting alongside their husbands. And if their husband was killed, the widow took his place as a warrior. Regardless of the gender-role training that girls underwent, all Apaches were prepared for war and were trained as such.

Treachery and Massacres

Although the Apaches had encountered the Spanish explorers, Apache conflicts began with the Mexicans and the United States in the 1830s. In 1835, the Sonoran government established the scalp bounty law, offering 100 pesos for a warrior’s scalp. Two years later, the Chihuahan government further offered 50 pesos for an Apache woman’s scalp, and 25 for a child’s. This became a genocidal enterprise in which U.S. citizens began to engage as well. Scalp hunters such as James Kirker incited revenge war parties from chiefs such as Mangas Coloradas and Cochise. The more that Apaches were killed and scalped, the more retaliatory killings from the Apaches.

Sidebar 1: Warriors

At the age of 15 or 16, young men were initiated into the ways of the warrior. The boy underwent physical training and learned the skills of war. He became an apprentice before becoming a warrior by serving on four raids or war parties. As an apprentice, he was responsible for helping his mentor prepare his meals and/or his weapons. Apprentices were trained for physical endurance, knowledge of their land, and field actions. As an apprentice, the boy did not engage in the raid or war directly. He stayed behind and was protected by the other warriors.

Warriors engaged in raiding and war parties. Raiding was done as an economic necessity for survival, while going to war was a result of an injury done to the them. For each act of treachery and death to the Apaches, war vengeance was the outcome. Vengeance was called upon by the women and would lead to a war dance in which warriors were invited to join. Joining a war party was voluntary, but not joining was considered an act of cowardice.

Before contact with the Europeans, their weapons consisted of bows, arrows, spears, clubs, stone knives, wrist-guards, and shields. The arrows were made from hard wood, and the sharpened tips were hardened by fire. Poison, made from deer’s blood and mixed with poisonous plants, was also sometimes used on arrows. After contact with the Europeans, Apache warriors traded with settlers and became extremely proficient in the use of firearms. Apaches adapted and learned to use the rifles most effectively in warfare. They noted that for shorter ranges, Henrys or Winchester repeating rifles were more effective, while single-shot rifles such as Springfields or Remingtons were better for longer ranges (Watt 2011a). Not only were they excellent marksmen, they also were great riders. All Apache women and men were great horse riders and tamers. They could ride their horses on the side, so as to not be noticed when retreating from a raid or war party.

In the summer of 1850, friendly Apaches were tricked by Mexicans from the city of Ramos. For many years, the Apaches had traded with these villagers, and when invited to join in the festivities and drink as much as they wanted, they went trustfully. When the Apaches had drunk too much and fallen asleep in the camp, they were brutally killed by soldiers and villagers with clubs. Their scalps were sold for money. The women and children were captured were sold into slavery. Apaches were always seeking peace, but this type of treachery resulted in their continuous seeking of vengeance. A war expedition was planned by Cuchillo Negro several months later, in which Chief Mangas Coloradas and Cochise led vengeance with 175 warriors (Betzinez 1987).

A year later, after the Battle of Ramos, Apaches were betrayed by the town of Esqueda. The Apaches visited the town for trading, and the Mexican people welcomed them. As in the case of the town of Ramos, they enticed the Apaches with mescal or aguardiente (liquor) until they were “dead drunk.” The men were slaughtered, and the women and children were sold into slavery. Most of the Apaches who were kidnapped died in captivity in California, except for one woman, Dilchthe, who was able to escape and walk back to her people (Betzinez 1987).

On March 5, 1851, Mexican General Carrasco massacred women and children while their warriors were away. The Chiricahua Apache bands living near Janos, Chihuahua, Mexico had made a peace agreement (June 24, 1850) with officials from Chihuahua, but not with the Sonora state, which blamed the Apaches for recent attacks. By the end of 1850, it was estimated that Apaches had killed 111 citizens from Sonora. In retaliation, General Carrasco’s army surprised two rancherias (villages), killing 21 Indians and capturing 62 women and children, who were sold into slavery. In this massacre, Geronimo’s family were killed, and it was this event that led to Geronimo’s hatred of Mexicans, which resulted in much vengeance by the future chief.

On April 30, 1871, innocent women and children were slaughtered while they slept near Camp Grant. Aravaipa and Pinal Apaches surrendered and placed themselves under the protection of Captain Whitman. Citizens from Tucson, Arizona, Mexicans, and white Americans planned the murder of the Apaches, along with the Papago Indians, who were enemies of the Apache people. They slipped into the camp and killed approximately 108 women and children, including babies and two boys. When the bodies were found, sexual violence was evident, as some women had been raped before being murdered. President Grant was outraged by the actions of civilians and demanded that the killers be arrested and put on trial. The defendants were pronounced not guilty, although they had admitted to such atrocities. The 29 children taken captive were either sold, enslaved, gifted, or adopted. In 1875, the survivors under Chief Eskeminzin were attacked again, resulting in more violence.

On May 18, 1873, Captain Mackenzie rode into Mexico, without permission from the Mexican government, to ambush and slaughter Kickapoos, Lipans, and Mescalero Apaches. The Kickapoo village was first destroyed, and from there the army went from the Lipans to the Mescalero village, where both male and females fought. Many Apaches escaped to the mountains and reconvened at other camps. The Apaches remembered Mackenzie’s raid as “Dia de los Gritos” (the Day of the Screams). Women, men, and children were killed by gunshots or bayonets. The villages were destroyed and burned. Many Apaches hid in holes, covered by weeds, which was a technique they used to hide from enemies. Forty women and children were taken captive. Seventy-five Lipan and Mescalero warriors regrouped near a creek. On October 6, 1873, Lipan Apaches set out on a warpath, seeking revenge from all frontier towns.

Chiefs of the Resistance

The Apache chiefs had tried to find peace with the Mexican and U.S. governments, but due to continuous treachery, broken treaties and corrupt agents who starved the Apaches on the reservations, the chiefs rose against the U.S. government, the Mexicans and the white settlers. The situation became worse when they were again displaced from the reservations that were in their homelands. Gold was found, and settlers wanted the Apache lands. Railroads wanted to set up their tracks. Ranchers wanted to fence cattle in. Apaches were dispossessed of their homeland and forced to fight against the Mexican government, the U.S. government, and all the settlers encroaching on their territories.

Warriors became chiefs by demonstrating bravery and skill, as well as possessing a power or spiritual gift. Most chiefs were medicine men, and because of their spiritual power, they inspired loyalty. There were many chiefs who created alliances and fought, beginning with Pisago Cabezon to Geronimo’s and Naiche’s final surrender in 1886.

Resistance at the Turn of the Century

In 1881, Apaches left the San Carlos reservation, led by Geronimo, who went to join Chief Juh, Nana and Naiche (Cochise’s son) in the Sierra Madre. As a young man, Geronimo (Goyakla) fought under Mangas Coloradas in the late 1840s and 1850s. While away on a raid, he lost his family in the Carrasco Massacre of 1851. In this massacre, Geronimo lost his mother, wife, and children. That initial betrayal fired Geronimo’s hate for the Mexican people for the rest of his life. Although Naiche, Cochises’s son, was the hereditary leader of the tribe, Geronimo was considered the true leader. Geronimo was a shaman with the power to foretell the outcome of a battle, and the ability to control men.

Chiricahua Apache leader Nana fought alongside Mangas Coloradas and was married to a sister of Geronimo. After defeat in 1886, the Chiricahuas were prisoners of war in Florida and Alabama. They were not allowed to return to their homelands but in 1894 were relocated to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, part of Indian Territory, where Nana died two years later in 1896. (National Archives)

In 1875, the Apaches were moved from Ojo Caliente and forced to relocate in the San Carlos reservation. Victorio, Nana, Loco and Geronimo were among this group. The men were placed in shackles and loaded into wagons. Escorting the Apaches were the Buffalo soldiers of the 9th and 10 Cavalry. The cavalry was composed of newly freed blacks, under the command of white officers. At San Carlos, many feuding tribes and bands were placed together, causing further conflict. San Carlos was inhospitable and plagued with disease.

In 1882, Geronimo attacked San Carlos, killing two law enforcement officers. Over 100 Apaches joined him and followed Geronimo to Mexico to Juh’s (Long Neck) camp in the Sierra Madre. Another story said that Chief Loco and his people were forced to leave with Geronimo. Chief Loco had been living on the San Carlos Reservation peacefully since the days of Victorio. Chief Loco and his people became “hostiles” and were forced to join the war.

That same year, Geronimo and Juh attempted to make peace with the Mexicans from Casas Grandes. A third of their people made camp outside of Casas Grandes and sent a woman to request peace talks. The Apaches and Mexicans met and were told that all previous hostilities would be forgiven. The Mexicans provided liquor, and while the Apaches rested in their camp, they attacked them and killed them. Geronimo and Juh were able to escape from the Casas Grande massacre.

After the Casas Grande incident, Juh and Geronimo split the band. Juh went into hiding in the Sierra Madre, while Geronimo headed west to raid and attack Sonora and then proceeded to raid into the United States to acquire ammunition. After the successful attacks, Juh and Geronimo rejoined and camped together for a few weeks. Juh then returned to the Sierra Madre and Geronimo continued onwards to raid Sonora. After a few months, Juh rejoined Geronimo again. Juh had been attacked by the Mexicans and had lost his wife and many of his people. Geronimo, along with other chiefs, continued to fight. In the Battle of the Canyon, they ambushed Mexican soldiers and then retreated into the Sierra Madre. Soon after, they planned to attack Chihuahua and take prisoners, which they could exchange for Apaches which had been captured at Casas Grande and in the attack against Juh. They were unable to exchange the prisoners, as Geronimo foretold that their base camp had been captured by General Crook and therefore left to the aid of their people.

Nana, Loco, Geronimo, and Naiche surrendered to General Crook, and 300 Apaches returned to San Carlos in 1883. According to their oral history, the female warriors Lozen and Dahteste negotiated their return to San Carlos’s Turkey Creek area (Perdue 2001). Juh did not go to the reservation, but his people did. Juh had died. One version says that he had gotten drunk and fallen off a cliff with his horse (Betzinez 1987), while another story simply states that he drowned, after advising his people to fight to the death (Ball 1988).

In 1885, it was rumored that the leaders of the Apaches were going to be sent to Alcatraz, a prison in California. Geronimo and Naiche left the reservation with 140 followers and 40 warriors, including Lozen and Dahteste. On March 25, 1886, Lozen was sent to negotiate peace with General Crook and requested that their people be allowed to return to San Carlos to be with their families. General Crook agreed to those terms, and Geronimo’s band surrendered. Geronimo and Naiche did not trust that the U.S. government would abide by those conditions and left with Lozen and a few followers.

Chiricahua Apache prisoners, including Geronimo (first row, third from right), sit on an embankment in Arizona outside their railroad car in 1886. Before Geronimo’s surrender on September 4, 1886, he and his forces were the last independent Native American warriors to refuse to acknowledge the presence of the U.S. government in the West. In 1875 the Apache faced forced removals. (National Archives)

Geronimo had been correct in those assumptions. General Philip Sheridan and President Grover Cleveland did not approve of the terms. The Apache leaders and their people were to be imprisoned. General Crook was then replaced by General George Miles, who sent 5,000 soldiers to capture 36 Apaches. By August 1886, Lozen and Dahteste were sent to open up negotiations for surrender and met with Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood. There were no negotiations. All of the Apaches at San Carlos, along with all the Apache scouts who had worked for the U.S. government, were sent to Florida. Since the Apaches wanted to be with their families, on September 3, 1886, Geronimo’s and Naiche’s band surrendered. Loco, Geronimo, Naiche, Lozen, and Nana became prisoners of war. By 1890, over 100 of the 500 Apaches sent to Florida had died due to disease. By 1913, they were finally allowed to return to their people, but by that time, many more had died of disease.

Guerrilla Warfare

Guerrilla warfare tactics made it extremely difficult for the U.S. military to truly defeat the Apache people. In order to capture them, the U.S. government had to employ and rely on Apache scouts. It is noted that one of the best warriors and leaders of guerrilla warfare was Victorio, who knew how to strategize effectively. Victorio’s success is credited to the tactical flexibility, adaptation, and close-knit relationships of his people. Individuals were always prepared to act decisively.

Sidebar 2: Principles of War

For Native Americans and the Apaches, the goal in warfare was to inflict the most damage while suffering minimum loss. In order to achieve this, Apaches rigorously trained both males and females. Although there was a division of labor by gender, both women and men were expected to undergo training in physical endurance, hunting, fighting, and weaponry. But in order to ensure their survival, intimate knowledge of their land and environment was necessary. Apaches learned where to find water and food in places where others could not. They also learned the art of concealment. Apaches protected their families by hiding in mountains in difficult-to-reach terrain.

One integral aspect of Apache culture was raiding, an economic activity that provided sustenance and wealth. Raiding involved the seizing of property from enemies, but the goal was never to kill unless provoked. The goal of warfare was to kill the enemy, and this was to avenge the death or treachery inflicted on their people. Both males and females participated in raiding and warring.

The wisdom of the elders was respected, but to become a leader, warriors had to prove themselves. Leaders with spiritual power became the chiefs and gained a following, as it was believed that they were favored by the spirit world.

The Apaches had two main principles that helped them in guerrilla warfare: tactics and strategy. Apaches strategized and planned their targets so as to avoid any casualties, always ensuring that there were various exit strategies. Their tactics in warfare involved the use of decoys as well as ambushes with a quick retreat.

Warfare Techniques

The three main techniques used by the Apaches were evasion, ambush, and attack. Evading the enemy was crucial to survival when being pursued. Apaches were always prepared to scatter and regroup in case of an emergency, with a prearranged location determined. This gave the Apaches a higher chance of survival. Knowledge of the environment was necessary in order to conceal themselves from the enemy, as well as to find food and supplies. Decoys were also used to help Apaches escape, sending groups of warriors in an opposite direction or leaving false trails for the scouts. False trails were left by cutting the telegraph lines and hiding the damage to make it difficult for the enemy to find the problem or doing the opposite and making it evident that the line had been destroyed. In order to slow down the pursuit, the army horses and mules were killed or crippled. When moving, the main group travelled with guards around them. There were guards on the left and right, as well as flanks of guards in the front and rear. The guards were located many miles away in order to be able to maneuver the main group into hiding in case of a threat.

Biographies

Pisago Cabezon, Mangas Coloradas and Cochise

Pisago Cabezon, Mangas Coloradas, and Cochise and were some of the most notable chiefs who were part of the beginning of the Apache Wars. Pisago Cabezon was a prominent leader, and Cochise’s father, Mangas Coloradas (“Red Sleeves”), was known as a fierce warrior. It was said that he earned that name because his sleeves dripped with blood, while another version says that it was his fondness for wearing the enemy’s colorful clothing and uniforms.

In 1838, Pisago Cabezon sought peace with the government of Chihuahua and moved his people near Janos. For Pisago Cabezon, as well as for Mangas Coloradas and Cochise, that meant that they could not attack the people of Chihuahua, but they could still conduct their raids in Sonora. These attacks provoked much indignation from the Sonorans and led to a military campaign. Elias Gonzalez led an army and attacked the Apaches near Janos, killing 80 women and children. Their hair and ears, and the women’s genitals were cut off as trophies. This attack on innocent women and children led to another revenge war. Mangas Coloradas made a call for a war party and resumed the war with Mexico, killing people from Chihuahua and Sonora.

In 1846, after much more revenge killing had occurred, Pisago Cabezon sought peace from Chihuahua. Pisago Cabezon was approached by James Kirker, an old friend turned scalp-hunter, who volunteered to help Pisago Cabezon make peace with Chihuahua again. Cochise, his son, was wary of the white man and warned his father that it was rumored that James Kirker had become a scalp hunter, killing Apache and Mexican women and children. Pisago Cabezon, wanting peace, met with James Kirker outside Galeana, where they held festivities for three days. While Pisago Cabezon and his people slept drunk, they were clubbed to death. One-hundred-thirty Apaches were killed and scalped.

From this treachery, Cochise learned, “… the People had no friends … the White Eyes were just as false as the Mexicans … peace may be more deadly than war.… Power cannot save you, if you drink enough whiskey” (Aleshire 2001, 62). With the death of his father, Cochise turned to vengeance and rose as a leader in his tribe. Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and Cuchillo Negro gathered 175 warriors and attacked Galeana, killing anyone in their path.

When Mangas Coloradas found out that there was a war between the United States and Mexico (1846–1848), the warriors of the Chiricahua continued their war on the Mexican people. Mangas Coloradas, Cochise, and Narbonna, a Mexican who had been adopted by the Apache and had risen to chief, continued their war with Mexico. By the late 1840s, the Apaches had forced many Mexicans to leave. In the State of Sonora, “twenty-six mines, thirty-nine haciendas and ninety-eight ranches” were abandoned (Sonnichsen 1990, 37).

Eventually, Cochise married Dos-teh-seh, “Something Already Cooked by the Fire,” who was Mangas Coloradas’s daughter. She had been trained in the arts of the woman, but also as a warrior. It was said that she also had the power, as her father, which included war strategy. Dos-teh-seh accompanied Cochise on raids until she became a mother but continued to provide counsel and guidance to him.

After the death of Pisago Cabezon, Cochise became a chief at a young age, by demonstrating his skills as a warrior and by providing food for his people. Cochise, as other chiefs, was a medicine man and gifted with spiritual power. It was said that bullets could not touch him. Therefore, many warriors aligned themselves with him.

While Mangas Coloradas and Cochise continued to attack the Mexicans, another chief sought peace and settled near Janos. Mangas Coloradas, and Cochise, honoring the peace treaty of Chief Yrigollen, focused their attacks on Sonora. Sonorans grew angry about the continuous raids and lashed out and attacked the peaceful Apaches at Janos. Twenty-one people were killed, as well as chief Yrigollen, and 62 Indians were captured and sold as slaves.

When the United States won the Mexican American War, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, the U.S. army approached Mangas Coloradas and informed the Apaches that their land was now American land. Mangas Coloradas was tactful and agreed to respect the Americans, but continued to wage war against the Mexican people in Sonora and Chihuahua. In January of 1850, 200 Apaches under Mangas Coloradas won a battle at Pozo Hediondo (“Stinky Well”), where they killed 26 soldiers and wounded 46 under the command of Sonoran Captain Pesqueira.

As white settlers came to Apacheria, conflict intensified, and the Apache fought Mexicans and Americans, at the same time trying to make peace. In 1861, Cochise was accused of kidnapping a child, Mickey Free. Cochise and some of his men were invited to speak with Lieutenant Bascom, who prepared an ambush and arrested them. They were invited to visit, and when Cochise’s party was inside the tent, soldiers surrounded it. Cochise escaped by cutting the tent, but his companions were kept as prisoners and eventually killed. Cochise began a war of revenge, for he had lost relatives at the hands of Bascom. Within two months, Cochise had killed 150 whites.

From 1861 to 1865, the United States was involved in a Civil War between the North and the South. During this period, Apaches had a respite from invaders. On July 15, 1862, Mangas Coloradas and Cochise confronted Union soldiers moving through the Apache Pass. Five hundred Apaches ambushed General James H. Carleton’s California Volunteers. Although the Apaches did not defeat the Union soldiers, it was an important battle as it was the largest gathering for the Apaches, with 500 warriors.

In 1863, Mangas Coloradas was captured by treacherous means and taken to Fort McLane, where he was placed under arrest and killed by two guards. The murder of Mangas Coloradas further exacerbated the hostilities against the military and the settlers in Arizona and northern Mexico. At the loss of his father-in-law, Cochise’s anger resulted in the loss of 5,000 American lives.

On October 13, 1872, Cochise made peace with the U.S. government and settled into reservation life in San Carlos. By June 1873, Cochise was dead. He had contracted malaria.

Victorio, Nana and Lozen

In 1870, Chief Loco and Chief Victorio (Bi-du-ya) agreed to enter a reservation in their homeland Ojo Caliente. By 1875, they were removed from their ancestral lands to the San Carlos reservation in Arizona, where conditions were intolerable. There was no grass and no game to hunt. The water was bad, and only cacti grew there. The area was infested with mosquitoes, which killed many Apaches through disease. Living in San Carlos became intolerable, and by 1877, Victorio left the reservation and returned to Ojo Caliente, while Nana (Kas Tziden), his second in command, went to the Mescalero reservation in New Mexico.

Victorio escaped from the San Carlos reservation in Arizona was due, in part, to a corrupt agent. Agent Godfroy was starving and freezing the Apaches to death. Victorio and Nana left for a Mescalero reservation, where the agent allowed them to stay, but feeling unsafe when law enforcement appeared, Victorio left for Ojo Caliente. With 60 warriors, Victorio attacked the army outside of Ojo Caliente to avenge the death of his kin, as well as to pressure the United States. Victorio hoped to pressure the U.S. government into honoring its promise to let his people reside in their ancestral lands. At the Mescalero reservation, Lipan Apaches were arrested, but eventually released by mistake, and when they had the chance they left and joined Victorio. General Edward Hatch suspected that Victorio was getting supplies from the reservation and ordered the Indians to be disarmed. He placed 250 men, women, and children under arrest. Other Apaches were able to escape, while the army shot at them. Those who survived joined Victorio as well.

On August 21, 1879, Chief Victorio declared war against the U.S. government. In his fight against the United States, he was accompanied by his sister Lozen, who was a respected female warrior and considered to be Victorio’s right hand. Victorio was believed to have the power of strategy, which his sister also possessed, while Nana was said to have power over rattlesnakes and ammunition.

Victorio was noted as one of the best warriors for being highly skilled in the art of guerrilla warfare. Apaches strategized and chose their targets carefully, always considering the safety of their families. They would ambush and quickly disappear, knowing quite well how to erase their trails. The military would pursue them, but catching up to them was difficult, since Apaches would hide in the mountains, where it was difficult for the army to enter. For the Apaches, success was determined by how much damage they did, and how many casualties of their people were avoided. From September 1879 to October 1880, Victorio was engaged in five campaigns against the United States, and in three against the Mexicans, where he defeated and outmaneuvered his enemies (Watt 2011b).

After winning many battles against the U.S. military, on May 23, 1880, Victorio had a skirmish with U.S. troops, losing warriors and horses. He retreated to Mexico, where he was ambushed on October 14, 1880, by Colonel Joaquin Terrazas at Tres Castillos. All of the warriors were killed. According to Apache tradition, Victorio killed himself with his own knife rather than be killed by the enemy. Not only did male warriors fight at this last battle, females died fighting as well. Some Apaches escaped, but nearly 100 women and children were taken captive as slaves.

Lozen was not by Victorio’s side, as she had stayed behind to assist in a pregnancy. After the delivery of the child, Lozen killed a longhorn, stole a horse, and avoided the enemy as she tried to help the woman and infant return to the Mescalero reservation. At her arrival, she was told of her brother’s death and went south to rejoin Nana, who had survived as well. It is said that many believed that if Lozen had been by Victorio’s side, such ambush would have never happened. Lozen was gifted with the ability to find the enemy. She would summon the power through a ritual in which she extended her arms with her palms up, and prayed. It is said that a tingle in her palms indicated the direction of the enemy, or if that her hands turned purple, it signaled that the enemy was extremely near. Lozen and Nana later joined Juh, Naiche, and Geronimo in the last Apache fights.

When Victorio was killed, Nana was away on a mission to acquire ammunition. Upon his return, he found survivors and headed for safety to the Sierra Madre. When they returned to bury the dead, he found Victorio with the knife in his chest. Nana then prepared to go on a revenge expedition. Nana was one of the oldest warriors, and although he was in his seventies, he was respected as one of the fiercest warriors. He was half-blind and walked with a limp, but he was reputed as a great rider and fighter. He had been born under Spanish rule and fought under Mangas Coloradas.

A campaign of revenge began weeks after the death of Victorio. Small parties of warriors trailed and killed some of Colonel Terraza’s men. Nana’s warriors continued to strike as they moved from Mexico to New Mexico and back to Mexico, killing at a mining town and later near Fort Cummings. As the band kept moving, they found more survivors who joined the group. From July to August 1881, Nana took revenge on the people of New Mexico and Mexico. Nana’s raid covered over 1,000 miles. It was considered legendary, and with a small band of 15 to 40 warriors, Nana killed, wounded, and stole. Nana’s band fought soldiers and civilians and managed to win most of their battles, while avoiding capture by 1,000 soldiers in pursuit (Thrapp 1967). Eventually, they settled briefly in the Sierra Madre Mountains.

DOCUMENT EXCERPTS

General George R. Crook (1830–1890), who was considered one of the leading fighters against the Native Americans, wrote in admiration of his enemy. General Crook recognized that

“In fighting them we must of necessity be the pursuers, and unless we can surprise them by sudden and unexpected attack, the advantage is all in their favor. In Indian combats it must be remembered that you rarely see an Indian; you see the puff of smoke and hear the whiz of his bullets, but the Indian is thoroughly hidden in the rocks, and even his exact hiding place can only be conjecture.”

Source: Crook, George R. “The Apache Problem.” Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States. Vol. 7, p. 262. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1886.

Ambushes were a technique used to cause the maximum damage to the enemy while avoiding losses. Decoys were subtle and used to lure the enemy. Ambushes were used “to drive the enemy off and take plunder, to end a pursuit, or to kill as many of their opponents as possible” (Watt 2011b, 476). Preparing an ambush required strategizing. A location had to be selected that would allow the Apaches to retreat unharmed. Ambushes targeted the horses and the mules first and then the soldiers. When ambushes were successful, the Apaches proceeded to attack and kill off their enemy, but if at any point they felt that they might have major losses, the Apaches were always ready to retreat. Direct attacks were also done, but careful consideration was always taken in weighing the likelihood of success.

In 1886, General Crook wrote “The Apache Problem” and noted that the Apache warriors were formidable foes. He understood that the Apaches were fighting for their land. Because of their great skills, he also knew that the only way to find and capture the Apaches would be to employ their same tactics, which led to the employment of Apache scouts.

These Indians recognized at once the inferiority of their bows and arrows to the firearms of the European colonist, and for this reason, if no other, as a rule were almost uniformly friendly in their first encounters with the white settlers, and it was not until they became convinced that their country would soon be overrun by the new race that they ventured, as a last resort, to engage in hostilities …

“We have before us the tiger of the human species. To no tribe in American can these remarks apply with more force than to the Apaches of Arizona … It has taken the expenditure of countless treasure and blood to demonstrated that these naked Indians were the most thoroughly individualized soldiers on the globe; that each was an army in himself, waiting for order from no superiors—thoroughly confident in his own judgement and never at a loss to know when to attack or when to retreat.…

Source: Crook, George R. “The Apache Problem.” Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States. Vol. 7, pp. 257, 269. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1886.

Further Reading

Aleshire, Peter. Cochise: The Life and Times of the Great Apache Chief. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2001.

Ball, Eve. An Apache Odyssey: Indeh. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988.

Barrett, S. M. Geronimo’s Story of His Life. Manchester, UK: Corner House Publishers, 1980.

Betzinez, Jason. I Fought with Geronimo. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Company, 1959.

Colwell-Chanthaponh, Chip. “Western Apache Oral Histories and Traditions of the Camp Grant Massacre.” American Indian Quarterly 27(3&4) 2003, 639–666.

Cozzens, P., ed. Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, 1865-1890: The Struggle for Apacheria. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001.

Guidotti-Hernandez. “Embodied Forms of State Domination: Gender and the Camp Grant Massacre.” Social Text 104 28(3) 2010, 91–117.

Lekson, Stephen H. Nana’s Raid: Apache Warfare in Southern New Mexico. El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1987.

Lockwood, Frank C. The Apache Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1938.

Opler, Morris E. An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social & Religious Institutions of the Chiricahua Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1941.

Robinson, Sherry. I Fought a Good Fight: A History of the Lipan Apaches. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2013.

Shapard, Bud. Chief Loco: Apache Peacemaker. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010.

Sonnichsen, C.L., ed. Geronimo and the End of the Apache Wars. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990.

Stout, Joseph A. Apache Lightning: The Last Great Battles of the Ojo Calientes. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Thrapp, Dan L. The Conquest of Apacheria. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967.

Watt, Robert N. “Apaches Without and Enemies Within: The U.S. Army in New Mexico, 1879–1881.” War in History 18(2) 2011a, 148–183.

Watt, Robert N. “Victorio’s Military and Political Leadership of the Warm Springs Apaches.” War in History 18(4) 2011b, 457–494.

Dakota War of 1862

Angelique EagleWoman (Wambdi A. WasteWin)

Chronology

1803		France sells its colonizer rights to mid-North America to the United States in a transaction referred to as the “Louisiana Purchase,” which includes the homelands of the Dakota peoples.
1805		Lieutenant Zebulon Pike is commissioned to negotiate the first U.S. treaty with the Dakota leaders to secure a nine-mile-square tract to build the U.S. Fort Snelling; first treaty has an open-ended payment term that the U.S. Senate fills in to set its purchase price.
1825		Council for the Treaty of Prairie du Chien called by U.S. representatives to set up territorial boundaries between multiple tribal nations to begin individual treaties for land cessions.
1830		The Treaty of 1830 involves a land cession for a tract of land 20 miles wide from three Dakota bands: Mdewakanton, Wahpekute and Wahpeton.
1836		The Treaty of 1836 extends the boundary line of the state of Missouri into Dakota lands and involves a further land cession with the Wahpekute, Sisseton, and Upper Mdewakanton.
1837		The Treaty of 1837 contains the land purchase by the United States of all Mdewakanton land east of the Mississippi River and includes the islands in the river.
1849		Minnesota Territory established with a plan to remove the Dakota peoples from their lands under governor and ex officio superintendent of Indian Affairs Alexander Ramsey. White settlers are constantly encroaching upon Dakota lands.
1851		At the council called by the United States for the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, alcohol was served, and following the treaty-signing, newspapers report the sale of 21 million acres of the world’s finest land. Tribal leaders are directed to sign their “x” marks on another paper and later discover that the document was for creditors’ claims to be deducted from the land purchase amount.
1853		The 1851 Treaty is amended by the U.S. Senate, striking out the provisions for permanent reservations on either side of the Minnesota River, without notification to the Dakota leadership.
1858		During a trip to Washington, D.C., Dakota leaders are coerced in an all-night meeting to sign another set of treaties relinquishing the northern lands along the Minnesota River and dividing the southern lands into allotments, or lose all of their lands.
June 1862		Treaty food rations are late in arriving, while the Dakota and Nakota peoples suffer starvation conditions. Local traders refused to extend credit for those gathered, numbering over 5,000.
August 17–18, 1862		Certain groups of Dakota leadership decide to go to war to reclaim their homelands after the deceptive practices of the U.S. government, local traders, and encroaching white settlers.
September 24, 1862		Chief Taoyateduta moves all captives to Camp Release and departed with a number of families to the westward plains for buffalo hunting, ending the war.
November 1862		At the conclusion of a military criminal panel put together by General Henry Sibley, condemned and imprisoned Dakota families are marched to Fort Snelling. A total of 303 men are listed for execution by General Sibley.
December 6, 1862		U.S. President Lincoln affirms the execution of 39 Dakota men by public hanging (one would be exonerated prior to the hanging), and the authorization is received by General Sibley.
December 26, 1862		Largest mass execution in the history of the United States when 38 Dakota men are publicly hanged on a specially built scaffold in Mankato, Minnesota.
1863		Two federal laws are enacted: one to nullify all treaties with the Dakota, and the second to permanently remove the Dakota from Minnesota and seize their lands. Dakota peoples are scattered to the four directions, including relocating to Canada.

Dakota Leaders and the U.S. Government, 1850s

As Dakota leaders interacted with the U.S. government, they were frequently deceived into relinquishing their homelands and resources for survival. Through a series of coercive treaties in the 1850s, the United States pushed the Dakota peoples into smaller portions of their homelands that would not sustain the tribal communities. With the largest land swindle of 21 million acres in 1851, the Dakota leaders attempted to continue to provide for their communities and convince U.S. leaders of the hardship imposed on them.

By the early 1860s, white settlers in Minnesota encroached on much of the Dakota homelands and called for the annihilation of the peoples. Against this backdrop in 1862, the treaty-guaranteed food rations were late, and the Dakota peoples were suffering starvation conditions. After the denial of food from storehouses and the inhumanity of the local whites towards their condition, the Dakota leaders decided to go to war. The U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 took place for approximately a month, from mid-August to mid-September. Following the end of the War, the majority of those who fought left the area. Those who remained were condemned as prisoners of war. Thirty-eight men were condemned to death by hanging by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. On December 26, 1862, the largest mass execution in the history of the United States took place in Mankato, Minnesota.

The U.S. Plan for Land Dispossession of the Dakota Peoples

The Dakota peoples consisting of the Mdewakantons, Sissetons, Wahpekutes, and Wahpetons lived in a vast area of abundant stewarded lands when Europeans entered mid-North America. As the United States was formed and sought to expand from the eastern seaboard, U.S. officials followed a campaign of land acquisition from the Dakota peoples. From 1805 to 1858, a series of U.S. treaties, written in the English language using legal terms and improperly interpreted to gain consent, were entered into with the Dakota leadership.

Execution of Dakota Indians in Mankato, Minnesota, on December 26, 1862. This hanging of 38 Dakota remains the largest mass execution in U.S. history. (Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

On April 30, 1803, France sold its interest in mid-North America to the United States. The claimed interest by France included the homelands of the Dakota peoples. Soon afterward, the United States authorized Lieutenant Zebulon Pike to negotiate a treaty in the Dakota territory to construct a fort. The U.S. treaty document had an open-ended payment term for the purchase of a nine-mile-square land area. When the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty three years later, the payment term was filled in as “two thousand dollars, or deliver the value thereof in such goods and merchandise as they shall choose” (Treaty with the Sioux, Sept. 23, 1805). From this first negotiation for a land purchase, the uneven bargaining of the U.S. government was apparent.

By 1825, U.S. expansion was planned through acquisition of the fertile meadows, forests, and lakes home to many tribal nations in mid-North America. In order to acquire these lands, a plan was followed, beginning with calling a council of tribal leadership for the Prairie du Chien treaty. Representatives of the Dakota, Chippewa, Menominee, Winnebago, Iowa, Sac and Fox, Potawatomi, and Ottawa tribes gathered to meet with U.S. Colonel William Clark and Territorial Governor Lewis Cass. The purpose of the treaty was to designate boundary lines between the tribal territories so that the U.S. officials would enter into individual tribal negotiations for land cessions. Some leaders resisted the boundary lines and tried to explain the shared resources and use by the tribal peoples to Clark and Cass. The leaders were given alcohol, and eventually the treaty council was concluded with the boundaries set.

In the treaties of 1836 and 1837, the Dakota leadership allowed the expansion of the Missouri boundary northward and allowed for U.S. use of the lands east of the Mississippi River and the islands within it. Each successive treaty moved the Dakota people further west within their homelands. The final and largest land purchase was coerced from the Dakota leadership in 1851.

With the treaty of 1851, the United States claimed to acquire 21 million acres from the Dakotas, the largest land purchase by the U.S. government.

Deteriorating Conditions for the Dakota Peoples in the 1850s and 1860s

Through these dealings with the U.S. government, the Dakota peoples became forced to live on smaller and smaller reserved lands in their original homelands. In 1849, the Minnesota Territory was established, and white settlers began to move into the Dakota homelands. By the 1850s, the U.S. plan to dispossess tribal nations of their lands was being routinely implemented. A treaty council was called on July 18, 1851, with the Dakota peoples. In describing what took place, historians have noted the deceptive practices used to garner the “x” marks of the leaders.

All the standard techniques were employed by the commissioners. The carrot and the stick—and at least once the mailed fist—were alternately displayed, as the occasion seemed to demand. If the Indians asked for time to consider the terms offered them, they were chided for behaving like women and children rather than men. If they asked shrewd, businesslike questions, the commissioners uttered cries of injured innocence: surely the Indians did not think the Great Father would deceive them! If they wanted certain provisions changed, they were told it was too late; the treaty had already been written down. (Meyer, 77–78)

Although tribal leaders requested no changes be made upon ratification, the U.S. Senate struck out the provisions of the treaty reserving homelands on the north and south sides of the Minnesota River. The new term added that a home would be designated at some future time. The 1851 Treaty payment terms were misrepresented to the Dakota leaders and the actual land price set by the United States amounted to six cents per acre.

Further, Governor Ramsey tricked the Dakota leaders into signing credit receipts from local traders for the land payments to be first applied to those statements.

Each Indian, as he stepped away from the treaty table, was pulled to a barrel nearby and made to sign a document prepared by the traders. By its terms the signatories to the treaty acknowledged their debts to the traders and half-breeds and pledged themselves, as the representatives of their respective bands, to pay those obligations. No schedule of the sums owed was attached to the document, but after the ceremony was over the traders got together and scaled down their claims (originally estimated at $431,735.78) to the round sum of $210,000; the half-breeds were to get $40,000. (Meyer, 80)

U.S. President Thomas Jefferson masterminded the plan to allow private and public trading posts to hold tribal peoples in debtor/creditor relationships to force land sales. Tribal peoples were known for their integrity in seeking to fulfill and pay off proper debts. By keeping them in a state of indebtedness, the private and U.S. traders worked with the U.S. government to force land sales. In a private letter to Indiana Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison in 1803, Jefferson set forth his plan.

To promote this disposition to exchange lands, which they have to spare and we want, for necessaries, which we have to spare and they want, we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and influential individuals among them run in debt, because we observe that when these debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop off by a cession of lands. (Prucha, 22)

Through this type of trickery at the highest levels of the U.S. government, Dakota leadership was purposefully deceived in their dealings with the U.S. Indian agents, the federally licensed Indian traders, and the entire U.S. leadership.

As white settlers swarmed into the Dakota lands, the hunting and harvesting of traditional resources became difficult to maintain. The Dakota peoples became dependent on the traders’ supplies and the treaty rations. In 1858, a group of the Dakota leaders traveled to Washington, D.C., to seek justice on the treaty payments, stop the encroachment on their homelands, and have their complaints addressed. Instead, federal officials in D.C. imposed two more treaties that purported to purchase the northern lands along the Minnesota River and divide the southern lands into plots. At an all-night session, the tribal leaders were coerced by Commissioner of Indian Affairs Charles Mix to place “x” marks on these treaties or lose all of their lands entirely.

From the 1850s to the 1860s, Indian agents used treaty rations and other items to favor those families adopting Christianity and farming. For those continuing the traditional cultural lifestyle, food was withheld, leading to greater debts with the local traders. Whites entering lands reserved for the Dakota peoples were not repelled by the U.S. officials. These conditions would lead to the final push by the Dakota to reclaim their homelands and way of life along the Minnesota River.

The Dakota Decision to Go to War

In July 1862, the Dakota peoples and the related Yankton/Nakota peoples gathered to receive treaty food rations at the Indian agency. The rations were late, and the people were starving. With storehouses of food locked and surrounded by soldiers, the Indian agent Tom Galbraith meted out the bare minimum to keep the Dakotas and Yanktons alive for another three weeks. The local traders also cut off all credit accounts.

By August 15, Itancan Taoyateduta (Chief His Red Nation, also known as Chief Little Crow) requested provisions to the lower agency and a timeline on when the food would be delivered. He made the statement that “when men are hungry, they help themselves” referring to the food owed under the treaties and the locked storehouses (Meyer, 114). Agent Galbraith asked the local traders to reply. Andrew Myrick gave a reply that was translated by a local reverend as “So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass” (Folwell, 232). Those who had gathered left angry at the trader’s words.

Mdewakanton Santee Dakota chief Little Crow, who had previously been hospitable and accommodating toward white settlers, led an uprising in Minnesota in 1862. Conflict had arisen when food promised in treaties was being withheld in the warehouses of traders, while many Dakota were dying from starvation. (Library of Congress)

Two days later, a few young men fought over stealing eggs from a farmhouse. When the white settlers inside came out, a confrontation ensued, leading to the young men killing three white men and two white women. When the young men returned to their families and informed them of what had taken place, the older men fully expected the U.S. military to retaliate by opening fire on all of the Dakota peoples. Under this pressure, the decision was made to go to war to clear the whites from the homeland, open the storehouses to feed the people, and defend the Dakota families. In reviewing this series of events, one historian has maintained that white settlers and officials had a motive to provoke an Indian war as a pretext for seizing all of the reserved Dakota lands (Meyer, 124).

The decision to go to war was not unanimous, with many adopting the white ways and cautioning against it. From oral history, Itancan Wambdi Tanka’s (Chief Big Eagle’s) statements have been preserved, detailing the human rights violations by the whites towards the Dakota peoples as a reason for the declaration of war.

Then many of the white men often abused the Indians and treated them unkindly. Perhaps they had excuse, but the Indians did not think so. Many of the whites always seemed to say by their manner when they saw an Indian, “I am much better than you,” and the Indians did not like this. There was excuse for this, but the Dakotas did not believe there were better men in the world than they. Then some of the white men abused the Indian women in a certain way and disgraced them, and surely there was no excuse for that. (Anderson & Woolworth, 1988)

Against this backdrop of racism, the Dakota leadership debated and finally some settled on war. Itancan Taoyateduta first counseled restraint but accepted his role to lead and the consensus among his men to fight.

The U.S.-Dakota War spanned mid-August to mid-September. Whites panicked, and newspapers added to the frenzy. The trader Andrew Myrick was one of the first shot, and his mouth was stuffed with grass (Folwell, 233). Some of the key events included a charge upon Fort Ridgely on August 20, with as many as 800 Dakota men participating. In describing the military maneuvers of the Dakota, the Dakota style of warfare was directed at competing against the opposing men and taking captives of civilians, women, and children.

While the main body of the Sioux warriors was alternatively attacking Fort Ridgely and New Ulm, smaller parties were carrying out raids all over southwestern Minnesota. Among the places where white casualties were heavy were Milford Township in Brown County, Lake Shetek in Murray County, and portions of Kandiyohi County. In most cases the men were killed, the women and children taken prisoner and held until the final defeat of the Indians at Wood Lake. (Meyer, 120)

On September 12, 1862, Itancan Taoyateduta sent word to General Henry Sibley that he wanted to make peace and end the war. The general sent back a harsh reply that peace was not an option. During the war, all sides lost lives with a final battle at Wood Lake. At this battle, an ambush was planned on the white soldiers encamped in the area. Before the ambush was set, a group of soldiers who were going to dig potatoes disrupted the plan, and the battle ensued with the Dakota scrambling for position. After the battle, with many Dakota killed, white soldiers mutilated and scalped the bodies of the dead (Anderson, 159).

Following that battle, the Dakota leaders set up a temporary camp named Camp Release and brought in all of the captives. Itancan Taoyateduta brought in his people on September 24 and then traveled westward for buffalo hunting, thus ending the war. General Sibley took three days to march to the camp, which was within a day’s journey for his troops. When he arrived, he immediately announced that all of those present were prisoners of war and released the 107 whites and 162 mixed-blood captives (Brown, 58). Most of the Dakota peoples at Camp Release had sheltered or helped the whites during the war and did not expect to be condemned as prisoners of war.

Aftermath and Military Criminal Panels to Execute Dakota Men

General Sibley took matters into his own hands and used his military officers as mock judges on three-man panels to prosecute and determine the fate of each Dakota man at Camp Release. As other units brought in Native men to the camp, they were also tried by the military panels for criminal acts. Under threat of execution, certain English-speaking men of mixed Dakota and white heritage were used as witnesses against those on trial. These sham trials led to the conviction of 303 Dakota men condemned to death, and 16 others sentenced to extended prison terms (Brown, 59). The manner directed to the Dakota peoples following the surrender at Camp Release has been referred to as “one of the blackest pages in the history of white injustice to the Indian” (Meyer, 123–24). Sibley was denied the authority to immediately execute those he had condemned and was ordered to march the Dakota men, women, and children to Fort Snelling.

From November 7 to 13, the men, women, and children were marched in the Minnesota winter with white mobs attacking them outside of towns. “While they were being escorted past New Ulm, a mob of citizens that included women attempted ‘private revenge’ on the prisoners with pitchforks, scalding water, and hurled stones. Fifteen prisoners were injured, one with a broken jaw, before the soldiers could march them beyond the town” (Brown, 60). Upon arrival at Fort Snelling, the Dakota men were separated and placed in Camp Lincoln while U.S. President Lincoln reviewed the list of those to be executed. He authorized Sibley to execute 39 of the 303, though one was later exonerated.

Sidebar 1: Minnesota Settlers’ Racism against the Dakota Peoples

The racial animus aimed at Dakota peoples by Minnesota settlers was evident in the newspaper accounts from the late 1850s and following the 1862 War. In an 1857 Red Wing Minnesota newspaper, an item was printed that stated, “We have plenty of young men who would like no better fun than a good Indian hunt” (Meyer, 101–2). Special agent Kintzing Prichette, from Washington, reported that there appeared to be “one sentiment to inspire almost the entire population, and this was, the total annihilation of the Indian race within their borders” in Minnesota (Meyer, 101–2).

Following the 1862 War, the newspapers published commentary calling for extermination of the Dakota peoples. The public sentiment was reported as bent on vengeance and calling for “Death to the murderous Sioux … Let vengeance swift, sure, complete and unsparing teach the red-skinned demons the power of the white man” (Folwell, 190). The portrayal of Native Peoples in this dehumanized characterization has been adopted in team mascots throughout contemporary Minnesota and the surrounding region in elementary through post-secondary educational institutions.

On December 26, 1862, the largest mass execution in the history of the United States took place in Mankato, Minnesota. A specially built scaffold was used for all 38 men to stand on with nooses around their necks and hoods on their heads. Many sang Dakota hymns and traditional songs as they waited for death. A large white crowd witnessed the executions. The Dakota men sentenced to prison were transported to Davenport, Iowa. Thirteen hundred Dakotas were held captive at Fort Snelling, with 300 dying that winter. White missionaries consistently sought to proselytize among those held prisoner at the fort.

In February of 1863, two federal laws were enacted to nullify the treaties with the Dakota and to remove them from the Minnesota area. Other features of the second federal law included provisions for the U.S. president to establish a reservation outside the borders of any state and have it divided for farming into 80-acre allotments, selling off of all reserved lands of the Dakota in the Minnesota area, and to use Dakota proceeds to buy farming implements with the express limitation that no direct funds would be delivered to the people themselves. Swept up in the anti-Indian sentiment, the Winnebago tribe was also removed by federal law from the Minnesota area.

In the aftermath, the Dakota peoples scattered to the four directions. Some remained in Minnesota, and others fled to Canada, and home reservations were eventually established in what became Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Commemorating the Forced March of the Dakota Peoples

Since 2002, Dakota peoples have walked together on commemorative marches to Mankato, Minnesota, every two years in November to honor the memories of those who were held as prisoners of war and those who were executed. Chris Mato Nunpa recounted that “[t]he marchers who participated in the Commemorative March 140 years after the 1862 event came from South Dakota, North Dakota, from reserves in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as well as from Nebraska and Minnesota” (Wilson, 67). Every two years another march is organized for healing and remembering the difficult time the Dakota peoples endured.

A participant in the 2004 march, Mary Beth Faimon, explained how the marches have been conducted. “The Dakota Commemorative Marches are grassroots organized events, initiated and planned by Dakota women who are descendants of those on the 1862 forced march … Decolonizing efforts were made throughout the march. For example, at each mile marker along the route, a flagged stake was placed in the ground bearing the name of an ancestor who was on the original march. Tobacco and prayers were offered. An eagle feather staff was carried high, leading walkers to the next highway mile marker for 150 miles. Each day began and ended with a ceremony” (Wilson 88).

In January 2012, a film was released, entitled Dakota 38. The film documents a spiritual journey of 38 Dakota riders on horseback during the winter of 2008 from Lower Brule, South Dakota, to Mankato, Minnesota, arriving on December 26, 2008. The riders endured blizzard conditions over the 330-mile journey, which has been planned on an annual basis since 2008.

Biography

Itancan Taoyateduta (Chief His Red Nation, referred to as Chief Little Crow by whites) was born in 1810 and was killed on July 3, 1863, in Minnesota. When he was born, his mother, Minio Kadawin (Woman Planting in Water), a chief’s daughter from the Wahpeton, would sit with him in silence in nature to allow him to enjoy solitude (Eastman 44). He was a fourth-generation leader on his father’s side. His grandfather’s name, Cetanwakuwa (Charging Hawk), had been mistranslated by the whites to mean “Crow” which is why they called him “Little Crow” as a misnomer. His father, Wakinyantanka (Big Thunder), was a great leader and died by an accidental gunshot wound. As he grew, he demonstrated great acts of bravery such as saving a friend who had fallen through ice, by tying a line and pulling them both to safety.

When he became the leader of the Eastern Dakota, he was known as a great hunter, had gained a reputation facing danger delivering messages to other Dakota leaders, and tried to compromise between the Indian ways and the white ways. A great orator and man of judgment, he led during some of the most difficult times facing the Dakota peoples. He was a leading spokesman for the treaty councils in 1851 and 1858. Throughout the negotiations, he stated his distrust that the agreements would be carried out. At the signing of the 1858 treaty, he reportedly stated: “That is the way you all do. You use very good language, but we never receive half what is promised or which we ought to get” (Diedrich 2014).

Throughout the U.S.-Dakota War, Chief His Red Nation masterminded strategic attacks on local forts and continued to fight with honor. For example, he refused to attack General Sibley’s army at Wood Lake during the night and waited for daybreak in an honorable way. He ended the Dakota War by releasing captives and those who had chosen to remain in the area at Camp Release. Returning to the plains, he sought assistance from the British at Fort Garry, but they refused to assist the Dakota peoples against the United States. Returning to Minnesota in July 1863, he was shot while gathering berries with one of his sons. His skull, arm bones, and scalp were displayed at the Minnesota state capitol until finally buried in 1971 at Flandreau, South Dakota.

DOCUMENT EXCERPTS

The largest public execution in the history of the United States was the hanging of the 38 Dakotas in Mankato in 1862. The Ikce Wicasta: The Common People Journal Winter 1999 volume was dedicated to “the 38 Dakotas hung at Mankato, Minnesota in 1862” and listed their names as follows:

Ti-hdo’ni-ca (One who forbids his house)

Ptan Du-ta (Red Otter)

O-ya’-te Ta-wa (His People)

Hin-han’-sun-ko-yag-ma-ni (One who walks clothed in an owls tail)

Ma-za Bo-mdu (Iron Blower)

Wa-hpe Du-ta (Red Leaf)

Wa-hi-na (I came)

Sna Ma-ni (Tinkling Water)

Hda In-yan-ka (Rattling Runner)

Do-wan-s’a (The Singer)

He-pan (Second child if a son)

Sun’-ka Ska (White Dog)

Tun-kan’ Ica’-had Mani (One who walks by his grandfather)

I’te Duta (Red Face)

Ka-mde’-ca (Broken to Pieces)

He-pi’-da (The third child if son)

Ma-hpi’ya A-I’-na-zin (Who stands on a cloud)

Henry Milford

Cas-ke’-da (The first born if son)

Baptiste Campbell

Ta-te’ Ka-ga (Wind Maker)

He In’-kpa (The tip of the horn)

Hypolite Auge

Na-pe’-sni (One who does not flee)

Wa-kan-tan-ka (Great Spirit)

Tun-kan’ Ko-yag I-na’-zin (One who stands close with his grandfather)

Ma-ka’-ta I-na’-zin (One who stands on the Earth)

Ma-za Ku-te Ma-ni (One who walks prepared to shoot)

Ta-te Hdi-da (Wind comes home)

Wa-si’-cun (Frenchman)

A-i’-ca-ge (To grow upon)

Ho-I’tan-in Ku (Voice that appears coming)

Ce-tan’ Hun-ka’ (The parent hawk)

Can-ka-had (Near the woods)

Had’-hin-hde (To make a rattling noise suddenly)

O-ya’-te A-ku’ (The coming people)

Ma-hu’-we-hi (He comes for me)

Wa-kin’-yan-na (Little thunder)

Minnesota Adjutant General Oscar Malmros issued General Order No. 41, setting a bounty on the scalps of any Dakota killed.

General Headquarters, State of Minnesota

Adjutant General’s Office

St. Paul, Minnesota, July 4th, 1863

General Order No. 41

The continued outrages of the Sioux Indians in the Big Woods, and in the rear of the U.S. outposts for the border defence, render it imperatively necessary that extraordinary measures should be adopted for the more complete protection of our frontier and the extirpation of the savage fiends who commit these outrages.

It is therefore ordered that a corps of volunteer scouts be organized immediately for sixty days, unless sooner discharged, to scour the Big Woods from Sauk Centre to the Northern boundary line of Sibley county.

The corps shall be composed of one Captain and from forty to sixty men, who shall be divided into squads of not less than five men under the immediate command of their own chosen leader, subject to the order of the Captain of Scouts.

Persons desiring to enlist in this corps will report immediately, by letter to this office.

As soon as one squad of not less than five men, has been formed, they will at once enter upon active service, without waiting for a mustering officer.

Each squad will be mustered in for pay as of the date when they entered into active service as aforesaid.

The leader of each squad will report frequently his movements and place where letters may reach him, to this office.

Men volunteering for this service will have to arm, equip and subsist themselves at their own expense, and will be paid for their services at the rate of one dollar and fifty cents per day. A compensation of twenty-five dollars will also be given to any body for each scalp of a male Sioux delivered to this office.

None but experienced hunters, scouts or marksmen will be accepted. Every organized squad, and the Captain of Scouts, as soon as the company is fully organized, will communicate and act in concert with the U.S. forces stationed on our frontier.

By order of the Commander-in-Chief

Oscar Malmros, Adjutant General.

Source: Annual Report of the Adjutant General. Minnesota Adjutant General’s Office, 1858, 132–33.

This order was later adjusted by General Order No. 44:

General Headquarters, State of Minnesota

Adjutant General’s Office

St. Paul, Minnesota, July 20th, 1863

General Orders No. 41 … is hereby modified so as to read as follows:

…

A reward of seventy-five dollars will likewise be paid to any person who is not mustered into the service of the State or of the United States for every hostile Sioux warrior killed by such person within the State, upon the production of the proper proofs at this office.

All persons proposing to act as independent scouts for the above reward of seventy-five dollars, and without any other compensation, will report their names and places of residence to this office.

By order of the Commander-in-Chief

Oscar Malmros, Adjutant General.

Source: Annual Report of the Adjutant General. Minnesota Adjutant General’s Office, 1858, 135–36.

A local newspaper responded:

Barbarism.—… Adjutant General Malmros, has issued an order offering a bounty of twenty five dollars for the scalp of any male Sioux. We look upon this proposition as a relic of the dark ages, barbarous, inhumane and unbecoming the enlightened age in which we live.… We have no objection to urge against killing the red devils who are guilty, but let the fair name of our State never be disgraced by paying a bounty to murder innocent children, even if they are Indians. God has made them what they are, and we have no right to take their lives unless forfeited by some act of their own. We hope the new Commander-in-Chief will at once revoke this disgraceful and objectionable portion of Order No. 41.

Source: Chatfield Democrat, July 18, 1863.

Further Reading

Anderson, Gary C. Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1986.

Anderson, Gary C. and Alan R. Woolworth, eds. Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1988.

Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970.

Diedrich, Mark F. 2014. “Little Crow,” American National Biography Online, April 2014. http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-00593.html

Eastman, Charles A. (Ohiyesa). Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains. Boston: Little Brown, and Company, 1918.

Folwell, William W. A History of Minnesota, Vol. II. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1961.

Meyer, Roy W. History of the Santee Sioux: United States Indian Policy on Trial. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1967.

Wilson, Waziyatawin Angela, ed. In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors: The Dakota Commemorative Marches of the 21st Century. St. Paul: Living Justice Press, 2006.

The Sand Creek Massacre, November 29, 1864

Jonathan Byrn

Chronology

1858		Gold is discovered in Colorado, and Denver is established.
1859		The Pike’s Peak gold rush commences.
February 28, 1861		Colorado Territory is established.
September 1861		The Treaty of Fort Wise is signed by the Cheyenne and Arapaho, reducing the hunting territory established in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) and creating a reservation between the Sand Creek and Arkansas River.
May 16, 1864		Chief Lean Bear rides out to greet a column of soldiers approaching his camp with Star, another Cheyenne, displaying his peace medal and document presented to him by President Lincoln in 1863 to demonstrate his peaceful intent. The troop commander orders his men to kill them. Cheyenne Chief White Antelope later states that this murder ignited the later hostilities that year.
June 11, 1864		The Hungate family, white settlers, are found murdered on their ranch southeast of Denver. The murders are blamed on Arapaho war parties, and many rural families move closer to towns, inciting further hostilities toward Indians in the region.
June 27, 1864		Evans’s “Proclamation to Friendly Indians of the Plains.” Colorado Territory Governor John Evans warns peaceful Indians not to associate with those causing hostilities and to identify themselves and gather at places like Fort Lyon, where provisions and safety would be provided.
August 10, 1864		Evans’s telegraph to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Evans sends an emergency telegraph to the army, claiming the Plains tribes were banding together for war against the whites. “It will be the largest Indian war this country ever had, extending from Texas to the British lines, involving nearly all the wild tribes of the Plains. Please bring all the force of your department to bear in favor of speedy re-enforcement of our troops, and get me authority to raise a regiment of 100-days’ mounted men” (Hoig 1961, 67).
August 11, 1864		Evans’s proclamation to Colorado citizens. Evans encourages and authorizes Coloradans “to kill and destroy, as enemies of the country, wherever they may be found, all such hostile Indians,” promising compensation and loot for those who participate (Hoig 1961, 68).
August 13, 1864		Evans’s proclamation authorizing a 100-days regiment. Evans and Col. John Chivington begin recruiting unemployed men in Denver and nearby mining towns after receiving funding authorization from Washington.
September 4, 1864		Chief Ochinee brings Black Kettle letter to Fort Lyon. The Cheyenne chief, his wife, and their escort, Eagle Head, run into a patrol, who disobey orders to kill Indians on sight, escorting the three to Fort Lyon to speak with Major Edward “Ned” Wynkoop, convincing him to meet with tribal leaders at Smoky Hill River. Wynkoop then agrees to arrange a meeting with Colonel Chivington and Evans.
September 28, 1864		Camp Weld conference. Cheyenne leaders meet with Colonel Chivington and Evans. Evans leaves negotiations to the military. Chivington leaves the chiefs confused about the result of the talks, and they are escorted back to Fort Lyon and encouraged to bring their people near the fort for safety until further word is heard on their offer of peace.
November 2, 1864		Major Wynkoop is replaced by Major Scott Anthony, Arapaho at Fort Lyon ordered to Sand Creek.
November 14, 1864		Third Colorado Cavalry mobilize to Fort Lyon.
November 28, 1864		Troops leave Fort Lyon, advancing on the Sand Creek encampment.
November 29, 1864		The Sand Creek massacre. The 700 troops of the First and Third Colorado Cavalries descend upon the peaceful encampment of about 600 mainly Cheyenne and Arapaho people. As many as 200 die there—many mutilated by the soldiers. Afterward, the camp is burned.
December 14, 1864		Captain Silas Soule and Lieutenant Joseph Cramer write letters to Major Ned Wynkoop vividly detailing the truth of the massacre. The officers’ letters eventually launch a congressional investigation of the attack, leading to the classification of the massacre and condemnation of Chivington and others.
December 22, 1864		Colonel Chivington’s Colorado volunteers return to Denver.
December 28, 1864		3rd Colorado Volunteers mustered out of service.
January 1865		Chivington resigns command of the First Colorado Cavalry. Following Chivington’s resignation, Col. Thomas Moonlight takes command of the unit and orders an investigation of the massacre.
January–May 1865		Almost simultaneously, Washington, Denver, and Fort Lyon begin investigations into the Sand Creek battle. The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the Civil War issues a report determining that the attack was a massacre.
April 23, 1865		Captain Silas Soule is murdered in Denver. He had been considered too fair to the Cheyenne and Arapaho people.
August 1, 1865		Governor John Evans resigns.
October 14, 1865		Reparations are promised. The Little Arkansas Treaty includes an apology for the Sand Creek massacre and provisions for reparations to be presented to relatives of the victims. Descendants had great difficulty in collecting these reparations, and filed a class action lawsuit in 2013.

The Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado

On the morning of November 29, 1864, 675 troops from the 3rd Colorado Volunteer Infantry, also known as the “Bloodless Third,” attacked the encampment of Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho located along the Sand Creek in Eastern Colorado near Fort Lyons. By mid-day, almost 200 Cheyennes and Arapahos lay dead and mutilated, the major contingent of the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho peace chiefs among them. The massacre served as a watershed moment for the Cheyenne and the Plains Wars, which occurred over the next two decades betweens Plains tribes and the United States Army.

Sand Creek Massacre, November 29, 1864, by Robert Lindneux. Native American Wars, United States, 19th century. The 1858 Colorado Gold Rush brought an onslaught of whites to Cheyenne and Arapaho lands. A 700-man Colorado Territory militia slaughtered a peaceful camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho in southeastern Colorado Territory that had approval from the nearby Fort to camp at the site. Approximately 170, mainly women, children, and the elderly, were murdered. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

The 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie is where the back-story of the massacre begins. Signed by the Cheyenne, the Arapaho, and numerous other Plains tribes, the treaty recognized demarcated territories for the signatory bands and represented an agreement for peace between not only the signatories and the United States, but also among each of the individual signatory bands as well. The treaty established official permission for settlers to travel through traditional territories unmolested and for military outposts to be established along the major immigration routes in exchange for treaty goods as well as annuity goods, which were to be provided to the tribe through the federal government. The treaty also established resolution procedures for when conflict arose between the signatory bands or between them and the federal government. As with many cases throughout the history of United States American Indian policy, the treaty served as a legal contract as long as it was deemed beneficial for the federal government and United States citizens. Unfortunately, the treaty was almost immediately challenged by the sheer number of settlers moving west into the demarcated territories.

During the 1850s, the westward expansion of the United States took a toll on Indian relations. As thousands upon thousands of settlers began the trek through the established territories, tensions began to run high, both for the settlers and Indian nations. This escalated even further for the Southern Cheyenne when gold was discovered in Colorado in 1858. The subsequent Pike’s Peak gold rush strained relations between the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and incoming settlers. The increased number of settlers and immigration into the area caused issues with the lifeways of the tribes, as the number of people coming through the area strained game populations and caused massive migrations, which made hunting for subsistence that much harder. This became a much larger problem as many began to establish roots in the Cheyenne and Arapaho territory laid out in the Fort Laramie Treaty. The treaty only allowed for safe passage through Indian territories but did not allow for the surrender of lands for settlement. Because of this strain and the need for more land, Colorado officials pressed the government to establish a new treaty to set up new boundaries, opening more land for settlement and restricting the Cheyenne and Arapaho.

In 1861, the government called together Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders at Bent’s Old Fort near present-day Lamar, Colorado. The fort had been leased by the government as an outpost to guard emigration trails west and was renamed Fort Wise. There, they discussed the impact of the emigration of the settlers on the Cheyenne and Arapaho and convinced the leaders to sign away much of their territory and to retreat to a new reservation along the Arkansas River between Sand Creek and New Mexico. Later, the headmen who signed the treaty, including Black Kettle and White Antelope, stated that they had not understood what they had been agreeing to when they signed the treaty. The reservation, known as the Sand Creek Reservation at the time, became the new home base for both groups. This severe restriction caused quite a bit of backlash among many factions of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, as their territory had been restricted to around one-thirteenth the size of what had been laid out in the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty.

One of the main complaints with the new treaty was the lack of representation during the negotiations. At Fort Wise, only six Cheyenne headmen and four Arapaho headmen had been brought together to determine the fate of the entirety of the southern bands. One of the primary bands in opposition to the treaty were the Dog Soldiers, one of the fiercest military societies in Cheyenne culture. They resented the restriction of the Cheyenne to the new reservation, as hunting was already strained and would be even more so in the region selected for the reservation. They also saw the immigration of settlers into their territory as a direct threat and an act of war, unlike the peace chiefs who had signed the treaty. While the Cheyenne disagreed with the treaty and saw many issues with its implementation, the Colorado government and settlers saw the treaty as a binding contract and viewed as hostile any Cheyennes or Arapahos who did not accept or abide by the regulations laid out in the treaty.

The vilification of the Cheyennes and Arapahos who did not honor the new treaty was one of the main driving factors behind the escalation of conflict between settlers and Indians in Colorado during the early 1860s. Following the Fort Wise Treaty, the Colorado government, as well as citizens, believed that the Indian population was contained and restricted to the Sand Creek Reservation. When the bands who did not agree with the treaty continued to hunt, travel, and live in their traditional territory, which had been ceded for settlement in the treaty, settlers and lawmakers became wary and increasingly hostile toward any Indians in the region. With the start of the Civil War, tensions heightened even more, and as the military presence fluctuated in Colorado, settlers began taking a hard-line stance against the Indian populations in the state who were seen as threats.

Sidebar 1: Cheyenne Dog Soldiers

The Dog Soldiers were one of the fiercest bands of the Cheyenne during the mid-18th century. Originally, the Dog Soldiers were one of the military societies among the Cheyenne made up of the fiercest warriors from among the bands. In the 1830s however, they broke away from the main body of the nation to form their own band. Porcupine Bear, the leader of the Dog Soldiers, was exiled after he protected his cousin by killing another who had attacked him in a drunken rage. The killing exiled him from the military society and made him an outlaw, placing him outside the tribe. Soon afterward, the Dog Soldiers followed him, absorbing the surviving members of the Masikota band of the Cheyenne after the Cholera Epidemic of 1849. The band then took the place of the Masikota during councils and in the camps.

As the peace talks increased between the Southern Cheyenne and the United States, the Dog Soldiers took a hard stance against the treaties, refusing to sign and relinquish territory to the settlers. This stance and their continued hostility toward territorial encroachment caused them to break away from the Southern Cheyenne and take up the region between the Northern and Southern Cheyenne. As settlers continued to move into the area, the Dog Soldiers increased attacks against settlements and supply trains. They were responsible for many of the raids and attacks on settlers, and following the Sand Creek Massacre, they often banded with the Northern Cheyenne Crooked Lance society member Roman Nose in retaliatory actions along the Platte and Powder Rivers. The Dog Soldiers continued to be a major military opponent to settlement and movement in the Smoky Hill River region until the Battle of Summit Springs in 1869, where they were almost wiped out (Hoig 1980, 48–49, 85).

In May 1860, John Chivington moved with his family to Denver, where he sought to establish missions in the mining camps in the South Park area. When the Civil War broke out, Colorado’s territorial governor, John Evans, attempted to commission Chivington as a Chaplain in the state’s volunteer regiment, but Chivington asked for a fighting position instead. Chivington rose quickly through the ranks in the regiment, and in 1862, he and his men played a major role in the battle at Glorietta Pass, New Mexico, where they attacked and captured a Confederate supply train. Returning to Colorado and a hero’s welcome, Chivington was quickly swept up in the movement for Colorado’s statehood and the subsequent political positions that would result from its acceptance into the union. Chivington possessed staunchly anti-Indian views and championed both removal and elimination of Indian groups who opposed western lifeways and expansion.

Following his return to Denver, Chivington and Governor Evans began the establishment of a hard-line stance against any Indians outside of the reservation. Many settlers were reporting the theft of cattle and other livestock as bands began branching out when buffalo and other game were run out of the area. Along with the livestock, other bands were raiding and taking revenge against the settlers for encroaching on traditional territories. These raids were further escalated following the murder of Cheyenne headman Lean Bear.

On May 16, Lean Bear’s band were in their buffalo hunting camp along the Smoky Hill River in Kansas. Early that morning, a detachment of the 1st Colorado Volunteer Cavalry approached the camp under the leadership of Lieutenant George Eayre. When the soldiers were spotted, Lean Bear and a group of leaders rode out to greet them. Lean Bear presented his peace medal and document presented to him by President Lincoln in 1863 to demonstrate his peaceful intent, but when they approached the column, Eayre ordered his men to fire on them. As they approached the bodies on the ground, they continued firing into them and then attacked the village. Eayre later reported that the Cheyenne had attacked his troops and therefore incited the skirmish, but several eyewitness accounts state otherwise. Cheyenne Chief White Antelope later stated that this murder ignited the later hostilities that year (Hoig 1961, 51-53). As news of Lean Bear’s murder spread–, factions of the Cheyenne took to warring with the settlers as a means of revenge. One of the largest groups supporting this action were the Dog Soldiers, who set about attacking wagon trains, supply lines, and ranches for recompense over the respected leader’s death.

The tension came to a head in June of 1864, when a settler family, the Hungates, were found murdered on their ranch southeast of Denver. The murderer or murderers were never found, but the general feeling of Colorado citizens was that it was an act of war by the Arapaho or Cheyenne. The bodies of the family were removed from the cabin and brought to Denver, where they were put on display for the public, fueling the anti-Indian sentiment that was growing in Colorado. Following the murders, Governor Evans issued a proclamation warning peaceful Indians not to associate with those causing hostilities, instructing them to identify themselves and gather at places like Fort Lyon, where provisions and safety would be provided. This proclamation set the stage for the massacre that was just a few short months away.

Following the Hungate murders, many rural settlers began to pull in toward the major towns, likely for perceived protection from hostile Indian raids. This period saw increased hostility toward Indians in the towns and an increasing number of military attacks on Indian camps and groups who were encountered during patrols. Over the next few months, Governor Evans stepped up his campaign against the Indians of the territory, authorizing more patrols in the ceded territories and increased military presence in the towns. He began wiring Washington for approval to raise volunteers for hundred-day terms of service to protect Colorado and in August, further escalated by sending an emergency telegraph to the army stating that the Plains tribes were banding together, preparing for all-out war against the American settlers in the Western territories. The following day, Evans published an announcement to Colorado citizens, encouraging them “to kill and destroy, as enemies of the country, wherever they may be found, all such hostile Indians,” The proclamation promised compensation as militia members for the volunteers who reported their actions. The same day, his authorization to raise the militia under hundred-day service limits came through, and he and Colonel Chivington set about increasing the ranks of the volunteer infantry and cavalry of the state, sending recruiters to blanket the mining towns and the unemployed in Denver and the surrounding towns (Hoig 1961, 68).

With the influx of manpower following the proclamation and recruiting efforts, the volunteer regiments increased their activities and presence in the ceded territories, causing heightened tensions among the peaceful bands of the Cheyenne and Arapaho. In September, Major Wynkoop received a letter from Black Kettle in response to the message sent out by Governor Evans earlier, stating that the peace chiefs would go along with the relocation plan and had prisoners to exchange. Wynkoop led a small expedition to the Smoky Hill River area to meet with the Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders, convincing them to come to a formal parlay at Camp Weld outside of Denver. The Camp Weld Council, on September 28, set the tone for Indian relations for the next few months, and unfortunately set up the peaceful chiefs of the Cheyenne and Arapaho for disaster at Sand Creek. Governor Evans and Chivington reluctantly met with the Cheyenne and Arapaho representatives. The Indian leadership attempted to negotiate peace with Governor Evans, who accused them of allying with Sioux factions in making war against the settlers and the United States. Evans questioned the leaders on who had perpetrated the various attacks and atrocities that had occurred over the summer, including the Hungate murder and several attacks on supply trains. Chivington then stated that the only way he knew of dealing with enemies, either white or Indian, was to “fight them until they lay down their arms and submit to military authority,” telling the leaders to go to Major Wynkoop at Fort Lyons when they decided to comply (Hoig 1961, 120).

Problems started at Fort Lyons in November, when Major Wynkoop, who was in favor with the Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders, was relieved of duty and transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas. His replacement, Major Scott J. Anthony, was under orders to be hard toward any Indians who came to surrender or submit to military control until the conflicts with the tribes were sorted out, based on false reports of friendliness to hostile groups by the previous command. Following orders from his commanding officers, Anthony refused rations to the tribes who had moved close to the fort until orders were issued for them, allowing the men to hunt in order to feed the growing number of people there. He stated in his letters that a good number of the men of the bands were still at the Smoky Hill and Platte Rivers with stock and hunting to feed the groups. This would play a major role in the massacre at the end of the month, as Anthony required the surrender of all arms from the bands near the fort, leaving these groups with very few men to fight in the case of an attack, and perceivably no weaponry to fight with even if they had been there. The aggressiveness of Major Anthony did not come across well with many of the Arapaho, however, and many left the encampment at Sand Creek, warning the Cheyenne against trusting Anthony. The only exception was Left Hand’s band, who stayed behind with Black Kettle’s encampment (Fowler 2015, 384-85).

Around the same time, Chivington set out with the 3rd Volunteer Infantry, a portion of the 1st Volunteer Infantry, and 1st Volunteer Cavalry from Denver, marching for Fort Lyons and arriving there on the 27th. There, the Colonel spoke with Major Anthony and others who had been there with Wynkoop, who stated that the encampments were friendly and had obeyed all orders for submission and surrender of arms. This, as well as the arguments of several of his officers, including Captain Silas Soules, did not phase the colonel, and on the night of the 28th, the group formed and left Fort Lyons for the encampments. Early the next morning, the troops across the encampment and herds of Black Kettle’s band, where Chivington ordered the unit to commence an attack on the camp, cutting them off from their horse herd and retreat. Black Kettle’s lodge had a long pole displaying an American flag, a symbol that was meant to communicate to the troops that they encampment was friendly, as he had been assured by Major Wynkoop and others at Fort Lyons before. He and White Antelope pleaded with their people to stay and show they were peaceful, and both men attempted to communicate they were not threats to the troops, but the messages were in vain. White Antelope was gunned down in the creek where he was signaling to the troops by raising his hands and crossing his arms across his body, a sign that he was unarmed and friendly. Black Kettle remained at his lodge with his wife for a time before finally fleeing the camp.

Artillery quickly established positions above the village and began to fire down among the lodges, as the infantry and cavalry charged in on horseback and foot. Chivington is reported to have yelled, “Remember the murdered women and children on the Platte!” and to have given orders to take no prisoners. The men cut off the Cheyenne from the herds and effectively surrounded the encampment, catching the bands in a crossfire. Some of the Cheyenne and Arapaho in the encampment tried to put up a defense in the creek bed but had only limited weapons because of their submission to Anthony’s orders earlier in the month. They were quickly broken up, and the rest of the encampment continued to flee in many different directions. Soon, the main body of fighting in the village was broken up by groups of soldiers chasing down those who had escaped the camp and the main attack, and reportedly only 200 of the 700 troops were engaged in the attack on the main encampment. Silas Soule purposefully did not order his troops to fire on the village and primarily observed the one-sided attack from the creek bank, moving southward and away from the fire.

When the fighting finally subsided in the afternoon, the troops set about mutilating the bodies of the slain Cheyenne and Arapaho; scalping women, children, and men, cutting their fingers, ears, and noses off, even removing the genitals of many and cutting open pregnant women to remove fetuses and wombs. When the troops returned to Denver on December 22, they displayed the gruesome trophies on their gear, their hats, and their persons as they paraded through the streets. The 3rd Colorado Volunteers were then mustered out of service on December 28. The massacre ended with between 130 and 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho lying dead and mutilated in and around their encampments at Sand Creek, among them the peace chiefs White Antelope, One Eye, Yellow Wolf, and Left Hand. The lodges and belongings of the survivors were also destroyed by the troops after the battle (Hoig 1961, 145–62).

Chivington was held to be a hero when he first returned to Denver, but he faced considerable backlash when he finally reported to his superiors on the incidents during his campaign along Sand Creek. His report, filed on December 16, vilified Captain Soules and others for cowardice in battle, and several were arrested but later released for the same charge. Soules and others quickly wrote their friend Major Wynkoop at the Division Headquarters in Kansas, who forwarded their reports on to Washington, where an investigation was instigated into the actions of units under Chivington’s command during the campaign. Wynkoop was returned to command at Fort Lyon and conducted the field investigations for the Department of the Army there, taking affidavits and testimony that were presented before the board during the investigation. Chivington resigned his commission on January 4, avoiding court martial, but the investigation found him to be the primary responsible party behind the action.

When the investigation board arrived in Denver, Soules was one of the first to testify against Chivington and about the events that had transpired the previous November. Soon afterward, he was killed in the street by a member of the 2nd Volunteer Infantry. The commission continued their investigation until the end of May, when they convened and returned to Washington. The congressional investigation found that the attack had been a massacre and condemned what happened, but it did not charge any of those responsible. The Little Arkansas Treaty of 1865 includes an apology from the United States government for the Sand Creek Massacre and provisions for reparations to be presented to relatives of the victims of the massacre. Unfortunately, there is argument as to whether descendants ever received these reparations, and a class action lawsuit was filed in 2013 (Hoig 1961, 163–76; Fowler 2015, 384–85).

Biographies of Notable Figures

Black Kettle

Little is known about Black Kettle’s life before the mid-19th century. He is believed to have been born sometime between 1800 and 1807, and most of his life was spent in the territory between Kansas and Colorado. The Cheyenne were a nomadic people, so there is no real way to pinpoint where he grew up or where he was born. When he married his wife, Medicine Woman, he was brought into the Wutapiu Band of the Southern Cheyenne, where he rose to the position of headman and was brought into the Council of Forty Four, the traditional Cheyenne governing structure outside of the military societies, around 1854. Between 1858, when he is first noted in the American historical record, and his death in 1868, he participated in numerous peace and treaty talks with the United States government and its representatives.

At Sand Creek, Black Kettle escaped, even after returning to rescue his wife, who had been seriously injured in the attack. After the attack, many Cheyenne became bent on retaliation toward the settlers and the army, carrying out raids on wagon trains and ranches in the area. Black Kettle continued to promote peace and pacifism in interacting with American forces and settlers, which divided the Cheyenne even further. In October 1865, he and other leaders signed the Treaty of the Little Arkansas River, exchanging land in Colorado for southwestern Kansas, but restricting the Cheyenne from accessing traditional hunting grounds in Kansas.

A small portion of the Southern Cheyennes followed Black Kettle and other leaders to the Kansas reservations, while many left for the Dakotas to join with the Northern Cheyenne. A smaller contingent under the leadership of the war chief Roman Nose ignored the treaty and continued to carry on their nomadic lifestyle, starting the campaign by Sherman against the Plains groups in an effort to force them onto their assigned reservations, and sparking a series of conflicts between Roman Nose’s band and any settlers or army presence they came across. The Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 divided Black Kettle’s group even further when they did not receive provisions that had been promised in the treaty.

Four years later, Black Kettle and the remnants of his band were camped along the Washita River in an area that had been set aside as a temporary reservation in Oklahoma. They were a part of a large winter encampment of about 6,000 Cheyenne, Kiowa, Apache, and other bands. In early November, a group of Indians from different nations raided white settlements on the Saline River, north of the encampment, and some of the warriors involved were rumored to be in Black Kettle’s camp. General Sheridan launched a campaign against the raiding in 1868 on the backs of General George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry. On November 27, 1868, Custer led his cavalry into Black Kettle’s camp at dawn in a quick, violent, and fairly one-sided action, forcing many to flee. The majority of those killed were women and children, including Black Kettle and his wife, who were shot in the back off of their horse at the edge of the river. Along with the hundred or so Cheyenne killed at the Battle of the Washita, the soldiers shot and killed most of the Indian horses and burned down their lodges so they could not return, after they had looted what they could carry (Green 2008, 126–28).

Colonel John Chivington

John Milton Chivington was born in Lebanon, Ohio, to a farming family. His father died when he was young, and as a result of the family struggling, he received only a basic education. He began working a timber business when he came of age, but in his early twenties Chivington began studies to become a Methodist minister. His first appointment was to Payson Circuit in the Illinois Conference in 1844, and he moved from position to position for the next few years, often serving as a type of law enforcement officer within the parish. In 1853, he served as a Methodist missionary to the Wyandot Nation in Kansas, a part of the Kansas–Nebraska Annual Conference. Chivington was an outspoken abolitionist, which caused a rift among pro-slavery congregation members, and he soon left Kansas Territory for a new parish in Omaha, Nebraska, following advice from close friends and an incident when he took to the pulpit with two loaded revolvers for protection.

In May 1860, Chivington moved with his family to Denver, where he sought to establish missions in the mining camps in the South Park area. He was elected Presiding Elder of the new Rocky Mountain District and served in that capacity until 1862. When the Civil War broke out, Colorado’s territorial governor attempted to commission Chivington as a chaplain in the state’s volunteer regiment, but Chivington asked for a fighting position instead. Rising quickly through the ranks, Chivington, as a major in the First Volunteer Regiment, played a major role in the battle at Glorietta Pass, New Mexico, where his troops attacked and captured the Confederate supply train, a maneuver that garnered his acclaim as a military hero as it stymied the Confederate advance following their defeat of Union forces in the battle (Van Dusen 2013, 33).

Upon returning to Colorado, Chivington was met with public acclaim and encouragement to pursue a political career, as Colorado was petitioning for statehood and would have congressional seats opening following the petition’s approval. During that time, the tensions between settlers and Native Americans in the region escalated, and Chivington began campaigning against any talks of peace, dismissing any notions of a peaceful resolution with the Cheyenne even at public meetings, including one of church deacons in 1864.

Chivington’s anti-Indian rhetoric was popular in Denver at the time, as Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and other militant factions had carried out a campaign against what they saw as encroachment by settlers into lands they did not agree should be ceded through treaty negotiations. Following his promotion to the rank of Colonel, Chivington took command of the 3rd Colorado Volunteer Regiment. In September 1864, he participated in the Camp Weld conference with prominent Cheyenne leaders and Territorial Governor John Evans, negotiating peace terms with the peace-seeking bands of the Cheyenne (under Black Kettle, White Antelope, and Bull Bear) and the Arapaho (under Neva, Na-ta-nee, Heap of Buffalo, and Bosse). Following the conference, the Cheyenne were sent back to the Sand Creek encampment, and the Arapaho were ordered to join the encampment there as their requests were considered. The camp is where Chivington and his detachment carried out the attack on November 29, 1864, attacking the camps of the same leaders and their bands whom he had communicated with during the Camp Weld meetings a few weeks earlier.

Following the Sand Creek campaign, Chivington returned to public acclaim in Denver, including a celebratory parade through the town upon the unit’s return. For several weeks, he spun the massacre as a great military victory for the 3rd Colorado, but soon accounts from officers who did not agree with the accounts presented by Chivington and his supporters caused a major rift in public sentiment for the unit and Chivington as a leader. As the sentiment shifted, Chivington resigned his commission in February 1865 before the formal investigation into the incident could bring him up on charges for court-martial. The backlash after the investigation concluded that the event had indeed been a massacre, which cost Chivington any hopes of a future in politics, and he left Colorado to tend to the estate of his late son in Nebraska, where he married his son’s widow and attempted to start a freight-hauling business. He later returned to Ohio to run a newspaper and attempt to return to politics in 1883, but he was pressured out of the race because of his role in the Sand Creek Massacre. Following this loss, he returned to Denver to serve as a deputy sheriff before his death from cancer on October 4, 1894.

DOCUMENT EXCERPTS

The excerpts below are from letters sent to Major Edward “Ned” Wynkoop, who was relieved of his post at Fort Lyons prior to the massacre. These letters, sent by Captain Silas Soules and Lieutenant Joseph Cramer, detail the events of the massacre as they actually occurred, contrary to the accounts Colonel Chivington promoted to the media in order to obtain public favor and approval for the events, as well as to bolster his political career.

Excerpts from Captain Soules’ Letter to Major Ned Wynkoop, Dated December 14, 1864

… We arrived at Black Kettle and Left Hand’s Camp at day light. Lieut. Wilson with Co.s “C”, “E” & “G” were ordered to in advance to cut off their herd. He made a circle to the rear and formed a line 200 yds from the village, and opened fire. Poor old John Smith and Louderbeck ran out with white flags but they paid no attention to them, and they ran back into the tents. Anthony (indecipherable) with Co’s “D” “K” & “G”, to within one hundred yards and commenced firing. I refused to fire and swore that none but a coward would. For by this time hundreds of women and children were coming towards us and getting on their knees for mercy. Anthony shouted, “kill the sons of bitches” Smith and Louderbeck came to our command, although I am confident there were 200 shots fired at them, for I heard an officer say that Old Smith and any one who sympathized with the Indians, ought to be killed and now was a good time to do it. The Battery then came up in our rear, and opened on them. I took my comp’y across the Creek, and by this time the whole of the 3rd and the Batteries were firing into them and you can form some idea of the slaughter. When the Indians found that there was no hope for them they went for the Creek, and buried themselves in the Sand and got under the banks and some of the Bucks got their bows and a few rifles and defended themselves as well as they could. By this time there was no organization among our troops, they were a perfect mob—every man on his own hook. My Co. was the only one that kept their formation, and we did not fire a shot.

The massacre lasted six or eight hours, and a good many Indians escaped. I tell you Ned it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized. One squaw was wounded and a fellow took a hatchet to finish her, she held her arms up to defend her, and he cut one arm off, and held the other with one hand and dashed the hatchet through her brain. One squaw with her two children, were on their knees begging for their lives of a dozen soldiers, within ten feet of them all, firing—when one succeeded in hitting the squaw in the thigh, when she took a knife and cut the throats of both children, and then killed herself. One old squaw hung herself in the lodge—there was not enough room for her to hang and she held up her knees and choked herself to death. Some tried to escape on the Prairie, but most of them were run down by horsemen. I saw two Indians hold one of another’s hands, chased until they were exhausted, when they kneeled down, and clasped each other around the neck and were both shot together. They were all scalped, and as high as half a dozen taken from one head. They were all horribly mutilated. One woman was cut open and a child taken out of her, and scalped.

White Antelope, War Bonnet and a number of others had Ears and Privates cut off. Squaw’s snatches were cut out for trophies. You would think it impossible for white men to butcher and mutilate human beings as they did there, but every word I have told you is the truth, which they do not deny. It was almost impossible to save any of them. Charly Autobee save John Smith and Winsers squaw. I saved little Charlie Bent. Geo. Bent was killed [George Bent was wounded but survived} Jack Smith was taken prisoner, and murdered the next day in his tent by one of Dunn’s Co. “E”. I understand the man received a horse for doing the job. They were going to murder Charlie Bent, but I run him into the Fort. They were going to kill Old Uncle John Smith, but Lt. Cannon and the boys of Ft. Lyon, interfered, and saved him. They would have murdered Old Bents family if Col. Tappan had not taken the matter in hand. Cramer went up with twenty (20) men, and they did not like to buck against so many of the 1st. Chivington has gone to Washington to be made General, I suppose, and get authority to raise a nine months Reg’t to hunt Indians. He said Downing will have me cashiered if possible. If they do I want you to help me. I think they will try the same for Cramer for he has shot his mouth off a good deal, and did not shoot his pistol off in the Massacre. Joe has behaved first rate during this whole affair. Chivington reports five or six hundred killed, but there were not more than two hundred, about 140 women and children and 60 Bucks. A good many were out hunting buffalo. Our best Indians were killed. Black Kettle, One Eye, Minnemic and Left Hand. Geo. Pierce of Co. “F” was killed trying to save John Smith. There was one other of the 1st killed and nine of the 3rd all through their own fault. They would get up to the edge of the bank and look over, to get a shot at an Indian under them. When the women were killed the Bucks did not seem to try and get away, but fought desperately.

Source: Soules, Silas S. Letter to Major Ned Wynkoop. December 14, 1864 in Conscience and Courage: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Resource Bulletin. National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/upload/Combined-Letters-with-Sign-2.pdf Accessed 30 July 2015

Excerpts from Lieutenant Joseph Cramer’s Letter to Major Wynkoop, Dated December 19, 1864

… It is no use for me to try to tell you how the fight was managed, only that I think the Officer in Command should be hung, and I know when the truth is known it will cashier him.

We lost 40 men wounded, and 10 killed. Not over 250 Indians mostly women and children, and I think not over 200 were killed, and not over 75 bucks. With proper management they could all have been killed and not lost over 10 men. After the fight there was a sight I hope I may never see again.

Bucks, women, and children were scalped, fingers cut off to get the rings on them, and this as much with Officers as men, and one of those Officers a Major, and a Lt. Col. cut off Ears, of all he came across, a squaw ripped open and a child taken from her, little children shot, while begging for their lives (and all the indignities shown their bodies that was ever heard of) (women shot while on their knees, with their arms around soldiers a begging for their lives.) things that Indians would be ashamed to do. To give you some little idea, squaws were known to kill their own children, and then themselves, rather than to have them taken prisoners. Most of the Indians yielded 4 or 5 scalps. But enough! for I know you are disgusted already. Black Kettle, White Antelope, War Bonnet, Left Hand, Little Robe and several other chiefs were killed. Black Kettle said when he saw us coming, that he was glad, for it was Major Wynkoop coming to make peace. Left Hand stood with his hands folded across his breast, until he was shot saying, “Soldiers no hurt me—soldiers my friends.” One Eye was killed; was in the employ of Gov’t as spy; came into the Post a few days before, and reported about the Sioux, were going to break out at Learned, which proved true.…

Source: Cramer, Joe A. Letter to Major Ned Wynkoop. December 19, 1864, in Conscience and Courage: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Resource Bulletin. National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/upload/Combined-Letters-with-Sign-2.pdf.

Further Reading

Beardsley, Isaac Haight. Echoes from Peak and Plain or Tales of Life, War, Travel, and Colorado Methodism. New York: Eaton and Maine, 1898.

Conscience and Courage: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Resource Bulletin. National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/upload/Combined-Letters-with-Sign-2.pdf Accessed July 30, 2015.

Cramer, Joe A. Letter to Major Ned Wynkoop. December 19, 1864 in Conscience and Courage: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Resource Bulletin. National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/upload/Combined-Letters-with-Sign-2.pdf Accessed July 30, 2015.

Cutler, Bruce. The Massacre at Sand Creek: Narrative Voices. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995.

Fowler, L. “Arapaho and Cheyenne Perspectives: From the 1851 Treaty to the Sand Creek Massacre.” American Indian Quarterly, 39(4), 364–90, 442, 2015.

Greene, Jerome A. Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyennes, 1867–1869. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008.

Greene, Jerome A. and Douglas D. Scott. Finding Sand Creek: History, Archeology, and the 1864 Massacre Site. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.

Hoig, Stan. The Sand Creek Massacre. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.

Kelman, Ari. A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling of the Memory of Sand Creek. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013.

Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site http://www.nps.gov/sand/index.htm Accessed July 30, 2015.

Scott, Robert. Blood at Sand Creek: The Massacre Revisited. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1994.

Soules, Silas S. Letter to Major Ned Wynkoop. December 14, 1864, in Conscience and Courage: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Resource Bulletin. National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/upload/Combined-Letters-with-Sign-2.pdf Accessed July 30, 2015.

Van Dusen, Laura King, Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013.

The Sioux Bill of 1889

Jeff Means

Chronology of Events

1670		The Oglala Lakota begin migrating onto the Northern Great Plains from Minnesota to gain greater access to the growing French fur trade along the major river tributaries in the Great Plains that flow into the Mississippi River. They escape increased conflict with other tribes in Minnesota such as the Chippewa, who have direct access to French trade and guns in Canada.
1770		The Oglala Lakota return to the Black Hills region of the Northern Great Plains. Conflict over access to hunting and grazing lands leads to conflict between the Oglala and tribes such as the Arikaras, Mandan-Hidatsas, Omahas, Otoes, Poncas, and Kiowas. The Oglala’s greater numbers and avoidance of the worst of the smallpox epidemics allow the tribe to gain greater control of the Northern Great Plains.
1804		The first meeting between Americans and the Lakota occurs on the Missouri River with Lewis and Clark. It is not an altogether friendly meeting as the Americans are forced to give up tobacco in order to continue their journey up the Missouri River.
1851		First negotiated treaty between the Lakota and the United States occurs at Ft. Laramie. The 1851 Treaty of Ft. Laramie is an attempt to provide continued peace between the two nations, yet it proves futile as neither nation could stop conflict between its citizens along the Oregon Trail.
1854		Oglala and U.S. forces battle for the first time near Ft. Laramie in what becomes known as the “Grattan Fight.” Thirty U.S. soldiers, the entire force, are killed. After U.S. reprisals, the peace holds for another decade.
1866		“Red Cloud’s War” begins over the creation of the Bozeman Trail and four U.S. forts along the trail that run through Lakota territory in eastern Wyoming. The conflict ends after a Lakota victory in the Fetterman Fight and the closing of the Bozeman Trail and forts.
1868		The 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie is negotiated. This treaty creates the “Great Sioux Reservation” that contains all of South Dakota, northern Nebraska, and parts of North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. The center of the reservation is in the sacred Black Hills, where the Lakota believed they originated.
1876		The Sioux Wars are fought between the United States and the Lakotas and their allies the Cheyennes and Arapahos. Despite the Native allies’ victory over Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the Native nations are forced to sue for peace after a winter campaign destroys their food supplies.
1877		Black Hills Act strips the Lakotas of the Black Hills and all other territories outside of western South Dakota. Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills, and the economic depression of 1873 leads the United States to aggressively take the Black Hills through war once the Lakotas refuse to sell them in negotiations.
1887		The Dawes Severalty Act, or Allotment Act of 1887, is passed by Congress and signed by President Grover Cleveland on February 8.
1889		The Sioux Bill of 1889 is passed by the Congress of the United States on March 2.
1904		Allotment Agent Charles Bates is assigned to begin allotment on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His task would take well over a decade to complete because of tribal resistance to the policy.
1977		The Oglala Civil War is fought between “mixed-blood” and “full-blood” Oglala Lakotas for control over tribal politics and tribal identity. About 48 Oglalas are killed.

The Sioux Bill of 1889: A Turning Point in Oglala Lakota Culture

The Sioux Bill of 1889 was the most significant event in history for the Oglala Lakotas for two reasons. First, it perfectly represented the change of purpose concerning U.S. Indian Policy that occurred after 1880. The purpose of U.S. Indian policy shifted from the assimilation of Native Americans to their segregation on reservations and the subsequent resource extraction from these reservations for U.S. profit. More important, the bill was a turning point in relationships within the Oglala Lakota tribe. It was arguably the most harmful legislation ever enacted concerning the Oglala Lakotas, and it led to the loss of land and resources, but worse, it sharpened and intensified tribal divisions whose sides disagreed over the best ways to deal with U.S. colonial policies. The Sioux Bill of 1889 targeted the Lakotas specifically, yet it emanated from another piece of U.S. legislation passed two years earlier that included all Native Americans.

The passing of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, also known as the “General Allotment Act” or simply the “Dawes Act,” altered the cultural landscape of Native America and Pine Ridge, the Oglalas’ home, forever. The Dawes Act gave the president of the United States the power to survey tribal lands for the purpose of dividing reservations into individually owned plots. The goal of the act was to provide each Native American their own land, usually 160 acres for heads of households, 80 acres for single adults, and 40 acres for those under 18, to further the assimilation process of turning Native Americans into self-sufficient American farmers and citizens. Once allotted, the reservation’s “surplus” lands would then be sold to white settlers. The allotments were to be held in trust for 25 years and then signed over as fee-simple title lands. The 25-year trust period, when no taxes had to be paid on the land, aimed to give each landowner time to make the land profitable. Once completed, the land became legally owned the Native family, and they gained U.S. citizenship.

Camp of Sitting Bull at Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota. Standing Rock Reservation was originally part of the Great Sioux Reservation, established by the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, and was the home of Sioux chief Sitting Bull until he was assassinated in 1890. (Bettmann/Getty)

Two years later, the Sioux Bill of 1889, approved by Congress on March 2, emerged as the key turning point in 19th-century Lakota culture. The bill called for the allotment of the Great Sioux Reservation and the sale of its surplus lands. It ultimately reduced the Great Sioux Reservation, which at this time occupied all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River, minus the Black Hills, to six smaller reservations. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation became one of those six, along with Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Rosebud, Lower Brule, and Crow Creek. The surplus lands amounted to over 9,000,000 acres of land, roughly the size of the state of Virginia. Thus, while supposedly designed to civilize Native Americans, the Dawes Act and the Sioux Bill of 1889 actually proved a highly successful way to take Native lands under the guise of assimilation.

When the Dawes Act was passed in 1887, Native Americans controlled 155 million acres of land. By the time the Dawes Act was removed from the law in 1934, Native Americans controlled only 53 million acres of land. Despite this development, many Oglala leaders, such as Chief Red Cloud, refocused their efforts to establish a self-sustaining and economically supportive cattle herd in order to create a reservation culture founded on familiar political and social systems. They would fight against allotment and demand that reservation lands be owned in common among the entire tribe, for the good of all.

Sidebar 1: A Note on the Use of “Lakota” instead of “Sioux”

Note that the author used “Lakota” instead of the historical “Sioux” unless referring directly to a specific treaty, reservation, or act of law. “Lakota” means “Alliance of Friends” and is the correct name for the tribal group previously known as the Teton Sioux. As for the name “Sioux,” Dr. Frank T. Siebert, Jr. notes the origin of the name as deriving from the Ojibwa word “Nadauessioux,” which denotes possessing both the qualities of a “lesser barbarian” and the small rattlesnake species massasauga. Thus, “Sioux” is a negative slang term for “barbaric little snake in the grass.” However, the name “Sioux” has become so common in American history and culture that many Lakota today refer to themselves as “Sioux.” Dr. Siebert’s article is “Proto-Algonquian *na:tawe:wa ‘massasauga’: Some False Etymologies and Alleged Iroquoian Loanwords,” Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 38, No. 4 (Winter, 1996), 635–42.

Other chief, such as Hunts the Enemy, who later changed his name to George Sword, believed the Oglala needed to accommodate U.S. civilization efforts in order to survive. He and a few other full-blood Oglala, later aided by “white husbands” and their mixed-blood children, supported allotment. (“White husbands” were white men who married Native women in order to gain access to reservation resources such as land, annuities, and supplies provided by the government to meet treaty obligations.) Both competing groups viewed cattle-raising as their best economic option.

Those Oglala who promoted allotment moved away from the tiospaye as social foundation of the tribe. Traditionally, the tiospaye comprised an extended family unit who lived and traveled together and provided economic support while maintaining social connections. Allotment sought to end these “tribal” relationships by establishing self-supporting and independent family units modeled on that of the Jeffersonian yeoman farmer. By accepting allotment, Oglala men such as George Sword willingly weakened the tiospaye’s economic and social connections in favor of their personal interests. Mixed-bloods, such as William Denver McGaa, and “white husbands,” such as Augustus Craven, aided George Sword’s move toward allotment and accommodation. Their familiarity with bureaucratic workings and regional economic developments provided them with an advantage toward the implementation of their economic agendas. It also made the growing tribal division between full-blood Oglala seeking cultural continuity, and mixed-blood/white husbands who accepted cultural accommodation, much worse.

Since the 1870s, the tribe had increased its interest in the cattle business. In 1889, the number of tribally owned cattle stood at 10,968 head, but by 1891 that number had dropped to 7,982. This decrease occurred because the Oglala often had to slaughter their stock animals in order to survive, such as in 1890, when the tribe were forced to eat 700,000 pounds of their own stock cattle to survive the winter. However, by 1897 the number of Indian stock had risen sharply to 40,051 head, an increase of over 500 percent in seven years. This expansion in the herd size demonstrates the productivity of the land when utilized for the care and raising of cattle by an active and determined group of cattlemen. Unfortunately, it also demonstrated the mixed-bloods’ and “white husband” minority’s political and economic rise to power on Pine Ridge. While this increase in cattle numbers helped them achieve economic independence, the majority of the Oglalas failed to reap the benefits from this growing industry.

While cattle numbers on the reservation increased greatly, only a small percentage of the Indian population gained economic independence through this industry. “White husbands” and mixed-bloods, who constituted only ten percent of the Lakota population on Pine Ridge in 1889, owned over eighty percent of the cattle. They also moved Pine Ridge Reservation further away from the goals of Chief Red Cloud by often ignoring Oglala ideals of kinship, community, and generosity. Instead, the “white husbands” and mixed-blood cattle owners moved the tribe closer to the ideals of their American neighbors—ideals of individualism and profits. For example, in 1880 they joined the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. By 1898, they joined together to form their own stock association to protect brands, kill wolves, and work together for one another’s mutual benefit, not that of the tribe.

This indicates that, to a large degree, they accepted the American ideology of capitalism and its focus on obtaining wealth. For example, the concept of protecting individual brands demonstrates a strong belief in personal property and material accumulation, a belief not in tune with practices of kinship and reciprocity, nor the generosity of the giveaway ceremony that allowed those with an abundance of resources to share them with those less fortunate. In 1898, the mixed-blood and “white husband” stock growers on Pine Ridge sold 2,000,000 pounds of beef to the United States to help the government meet its beef-ration obligations to the rest of the tribe, and branded over 8,000 calves in the spring. The reservation agent was so optimistic about the future of the cattle industry that he predicted the yearly production of steers would soon double. Yet, during the same year, he also noted that of the 6,400 Indians living on the reservation, only 20 percent lived off their own labor, and the other 80 percent survived on government rations. To make matters worse, the prospect of allotment under the Sioux Bill of 1889 directly led to several new policies on Pine Ridge that hindered the dreams of full-bloods such as Chief Red Cloud.

As noted earlier, the preferred method of the Oglalas for procuring and processing cattle was the traditional hunting method used to kill bison. Cattle were turned loose from corrals after being weighed, and then hunted down and killed from horseback. The fact that the Oglala maintained their traditional harvesting and processing method for over 20 years demonstrates how cattle were used by the tribe as a tool for retaining as much of their traditional culture as possible. However, the local and federal officials never warmed to this method of slaughter. As early as 1874, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs asked agent J.J. Saville whether a more efficient method could be found to dispatch the animals. Nonetheless, the practice of killing government-issued beef from horseback continued for two decades. For example, in June of 1889, a young visitor to the reservation named Will S. Hughes gave this account of a beef issue at Pine Ridge:

The boss farmer and his interpreter would enter the small house; at a command the cattle started thru the shute (sic) and the interpreter called the two names for each animal turned loose, until 500 long horned steers had been released. The big flat was covered with chasing, shooting Indians, until it sounded like a battle was taking place. After the firing had ceased Mr. Baredy took us out on the prairie where the slaughtering was being done. The first scene we witnessed was two squaws and two old men who were hurriedly ripping the hide from a big long horn. Four or 5 dusky children were eagerly watching the procedure. In fact it seemed that the 2 old ‘gals’ were doing the work. As the hide came off, meat was cut off in pieces, the papooses eagerly picking up clotted blood from under foot, eating it with apparent relish. The old bucks secured a kidney each, and would cut off huge bites and chew like a Virginia planter would a hunk of tobacco. The whole thing was (a) bit sickening to a tenderfoot.

This scene, seemingly barbarous to whites who witnessed it, demonstrated the Oglalas’ resolve to retain as much of their nomadic equestrian way of life was possible.

However, in 1889 policies pertaining to the handling and harvesting of tribal cattle changed dramatically with the passage of the Sioux Bill. The government issued four new regulations regarding the slaughter of cattle: no cattle could be killed without the agent’s permission, no stock issued for breeding could be killed, cows or heifers could not be killed unless proven barren, and no permits would be issued to kill steers less than three years old. These rules served two practical purposes. The first regulation promoted the growth of the reservation cattle industry dominated by “white husbands” and mixed-bloods. If the small herd owners were not allowed to butcher and eat their beef, they had two options: either attempt to compete with the larger outfits or sell their cattle to them. Either way, the larger herd owners enjoyed the advantage. The second purpose aimed at putting an end to the seemingly barbaric practice of hunting cattle as well as dancing and feasting. Once the agent possessed the power to decide whether and when cattle could be slaughtered, he also held the power to decide the method and eventual use of the beef.

The Sioux Bill of 1889 also spurred new regulations concerning the handling of cattle. These policies stated that during the annual spring roundup, held in coordination with non-reservation cattle outfits, all calves must be branded with individual brands, not tribal brands. This branding policy further alienated the full-bloods, who at times joined their small herds together in order to compete with larger cattle interests on the reservation. By forcing the bands to divide their cattle, the government promoted the importance of the individual and the accumulation of personal property over that of the tiospaye or the tribe as a whole. With these new regulations in place, the Oglala Lakota on Pine Ridge faced dramatic challenges to their socially driven economic practices of kinship relationships and reciprocity as the foundation of their tribal economy. The Sioux Bill of 1889 and the resultant developments, coupled with the rising specter of allotment, makes 1889 a seminal year in Oglala history. As reflected in the years to come, the “progressive” mixed-blood and “white husband” minority moved more powerfully and surely to implement their vision of reservation life for the Oglala.

One year after the passing of the Sioux Bill, conditions for the Oglala no longer resembled those of a decade earlier, and for some tribal members, decisive activity flowed from the point of a pen as they moved to support allotment on Pine Ridge. In January 1890, both George Sword, Captain of Agency Police, and Fast Horse, Lieutenant of Agency Police, wrote letters to the Honorable J.W. Noble, Secretary of the Interior, requesting that surveyors be sent to Pine Ridge so allotment might commence. Fast Horse stated that he knew nearly 300 ready to take their land, and that he worried over present conditions on the reservation because “one (Oglala) has as much right to the land as another.” He went on to note that while the Sioux Bill of 1889 allowed five years for allotment, he believed it could be done in less than three if surveyors could complete their work that coming summer.

These letters provide a window into the disagreements within the Oglala community concerning the future of both the growing Oglala cattle interests and the necessity of accommodation with an increasingly intrusive American culture. George Sword and Fast Horse represented a small, vocal, and yet increasingly powerful segment of the tribe. In 1891, these two men drafted a petition, signed by 131 heads of households who represented 515 tribal members, which again called for “a survey to be made in order that we may declare our election and settle on the land we have selected.” These men, mostly full-bloods in 1891, hoped to take their land in severalty by applying for their allotments under the agreement of the Sioux Bill of 1889. Of particular personal interest, among the names elegantly written on the petition was that of mixed-blood George W. Means, who was is this author’s great grandfather. Clearly, a small portion of the tribal population of 6,400 envisioned a future that did not include commonly owned or shared reservation land used to run large herds of communally owned cattle.

Sidebar 2: Significant Legislation on Native Issues Proceeding and Following the Dawes Act

1819—Johnson v. M’Intosh, U.S. Supreme Court ruling that stated private U.S. citizens could not purchase Native lands because Natives did not have permanent rights to the lands.

1832—Worcester v. Georgia, U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared Native Americans were domestic dependent nations under federal trust responsibilities and that states had no power over Native nations.

1884—Congress outlawed Native religions and ceremonies as part of the assimilation policy. Violators were to receive 30 days in jail.

1885—Major Crimes Act placed 13 criminal acts under federal jurisdiction rather than keeping them under tribal authority. These included murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and arson.

1924—Indian Citizenship Act gave U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans who had not already received it under the Dawes Act of 1887.

1934—Indian Reorganization Act ended U.S. allotment policy and attacks on Native culture by the federal government.

1956—Indian Relocation Act called for the relocation of reservation Natives to urban areas in order to empty reservations and allow for tribes to be terminated from the U.S. trust relationship.

1968—Indian Civil Right Act made the Bill of Rights applicable within Native nations.

1988—Indian Gaming Regulatory Act gave Native nations a framework for creating gaming on reservations.

1990—Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act established procedures for the repatriation of Native cultural items and remains to be returned to the Native nations involved.

2007—United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples outlines the individual and collective rights of indigenous people to their culture, identity, language, employment, health, education, and other issues. Only four nations voted against this declaration: The United States, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia.

The Sioux Bill of 1889 provided this small, but politically powerful, group’s economic vision to replace that of the full-blood majority. These men, and “white husbands” like Augustus Craven, and mixed-bloods like Denver Bill McGaa, gained control of the growing tribal cattle interests. They controlled access to the most valuable land on the reservation for personal enrichment rather than tribal self-sufficiency and independence. Meanwhile, 80 percent of the reservation population lived entirely on government rations. Under the leadership of Red Cloud and other Oglala leaders, they rejected the ideals of individual land ownership and wealth accumulation as decidedly non-Oglala in nature. However, their resistance to cultural assimilation proved to be no match against the federally backed accommodationists. It is important to note, however, that George Sword, and others who believed as he did, never believed they rejected their Oglala identity or culture. They simply saw no other option for Oglala cultural survival than accommodating with federal officials and policies. Sword felt they could wear American clothing, cut their hair, be individualistic, own their own land, and still maintain tribal identity. For Chief Red Cloud and the majority of the tribe, those accommodations were unacceptable if one wanted to remain an Oglala Lakota.

Unfortunately, the tribal division between mixed-bloods and full-bloods did not end with the fight over allotment and the Sioux Bill of 1889. As the years passed, Pine Ridge Reservation was finally allotted by 1917. Allotting agent Charles Bates arrived with his son in 1904 and spent the next 13 years surveying and allotting the reservation. Yet, the struggle over tribal identity and economics continued. Mixed-bloods and full-bloods continued to argue over tribal resources and who was a “real” Oglala. The mixed-blood contingent, growing in population and still supported by the federal government, continued to dominated Pine Ridge economically and politically until the 1980s. The most dramatic and painful demonstration of this continued battle was the Pine Ridge Civil War that was fought during the late 1970s. About 48 Oglalas were killed as Tribal President Dick Wilson and his Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOON squad) fought civil rights advocates backed by the American Indian Movement (AIM). Today, most bad feelings between the two groups have been healed through time and talk. Sadly, this unfortunate intra-tribal violence can trace its origins back to 1889. These events make the Sioux Bill of 1889 the most pivotal and culturally significant event in Oglala tribal history.

Biographies

Red Cloud (1822–1909)

Red Cloud was a great Oglala Lakota warrior and chief. As a warrior, Red Cloud could claim a war bonnet with 68 feathers. Each feather represented a single act of courage in battle, usually representing an enemy killed or a coup counted. Counting coup occurred when a warrior struck an armed enemy with a coup stick. The goal was not to kill but to gain power and diminish that of one’s enemy. While in his youth, Red Cloud fought mostly against the Crow, Shoshone, and Pawnee. However, after the opening of the Bozeman Trail, he led a two-year war with the United States that eventually seemed to provide a victory. The trail and the forts along it were closed. However, after agreeing not to fight with the United States again, he was frustrated to find that the treaty he had signed in 1868, the 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie, contained language that gave away much of his tribe’s lands. He disputed this treaty until he died, yet he kept his promise never to go to war with the United States.

As a youth, Red Cloud was involved in an intra-tribal dispute among the Oglala. Red Cloud himself killed the Oglala Chief Bull Bear when he was a young man. Details are disputed; however, what is widely agreed upon is that Bull Bear greatly insulted Old Smoke, Red Cloud’s leader, because a female relative of his had eloped with a young man of Old Smoke’s band. Bull Bear and his relatives opposed the marriage, so he paid a visit to Old Smoke’s band one day. He challenged the elderly and generally good-natured Old Smoke to come out of his tipi and fight. When Old Smoke refused, Bull Bear stabbed Old Smoke’s favorite horse to death as it was tied up outside his tipi. Later, in a quarrel between followers of both men, Red Cloud shot Bull Bear dead. This caused a divide among the Oglalas and earned Old Smoke’s band the title of Bad Faces.

While Chief Red Cloud did not fight in the Great Sioux War of 1876–77, which saw Colonel George Custer’s defeat at the Little Big Horn, he did negotiate for the peaceful surrender of the Oglala by 1877. Over the next 32 years living on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Chief Red Cloud fought diligently for the Oglalas’ treaty rights and against American policies that he disagreed with, such as allotment. A brilliant politician as well as a skilled warrior, Chief Red Cloud often travelled to Washington, D.C., to champion his tribe’s desires for political, economic, and cultural freedom. Unfortunately, when he died in 1909, the Oglalas possessed little if any of those rights or freedoms on their own reservation.

Miwakan/Hunts the Enemy/George Sword (1846–1910)

On December 21, 1866 a young warrior named Miwakan, or Hunts the Enemy, took part in the famous Battle of the Hundred Slain near Ft. Phil Kearny in Wyoming Territory. This battle was one of many between the United States and the Lakotas during Red Cloud’s War, of 1866–68. During that battle, Miwakan and other Lakotas destroyed the entire command of Captain William J. Fetterman in a classic ambush that Alexander the Great or Genghis Khan would have recognized and applauded.

Born in 1846, Miwakan had achieved great honor and fought many times for his tribe, the Oglala Lakotas. The Lakotas are part of the larger Dakota, or “Sioux,” Nation, which includes the Dakotas, Nakotas, and Lakotas. The Lakotas, or “Teton Sioux,” themselves consist of seven tribes: the Hunkpapas, Miniconjous, Sans Arcs, Blackfeets, Two Kettles, Sicangus, and Oglalas. During the turn of the 18 century, the Lakota migrated from the western Great Lakes region to return to the northern Great Plains around the Black Hills of South Dakota. During this period, the Oglalas and other Lakotas adopted a nomadic horse culture centered on hunting buffalo. Soon, competition for hunting and grazing resources led to conflict between tribes. As a result, the skills of warfare became paramount to a man’s status within the tribe. Miwakan grew up during a time when the Lakotas achieved their greatest strength. He was member of the Iteshicha band, or Bad Faces, of the Oglalas led by his uncle, Chief Red Cloud, who planned the strategy of the conflict that bore his name. During his youth, Miwakan learned the ways of warfare well, and fought to help his people remain strong and free. He fought the Lakotas’ traditional enemies the Crow and Pawnee on many occasions, and would again clash with American soldiers at the Wagon Box Fight in 1867.

Following “Red Cloud’s War,” the United States and the Lakota signed the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. This treaty provided the Lakota Nation the western half of present-day South Dakota as theirs forever, and gave them hunting access to large parts of North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska for as long as the buffalo lasted. Both Miwakan and Red Cloud were involved in the negotiations, and at the time it seemed a great Lakota victory. The United States abandoned the forts built along the Bozeman trail and closed the trial. The United States agreed to provide beef and other food rations to the tribal members who stayed near the agencies and forsook their wandering ways. Red Cloud and his followers accepted the treaty and as a result came to be known as “hangs around the fort Indians.”

Yet, most Lakota continued to live as they had for over a century; they hunted buffalo and made war on their enemies. Soon, however, the tension between the United States and the Lakotas led to what became known as the “Great Sioux War, 1876–77,” in which General George Armstrong Custer met his infamous end at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Following the Lakotas’ defeat in the war, they were forced to cede their claims to all hunting territory outside of South Dakota and the Black Hills. Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills in the early 1870s, and its presence confirmed by Custer’s illegal Black Hills expedition in 1874. The Paha Sapa, or Black Hills area, was the heart of the tribe’s spiritual and economic world, and its loss was a tremendous blow to the tribe.

For Miwakan, life changed dramatically following the Great Sioux War. His older middle brother Sword-Owner had died in 1876, and Miwakan inherited the name from him in 1877. The name undoubtedly came from his eldest brother’s participation in Indian agent Thomas Twiss’s band of Oglala “soldiers.” They received swords and uniforms when they signed up for this temporary service in 1859. In the fall of 1877, he signed up to travel with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but returned within a year. In 1879, he accepted the position of “Chief” of the newly created Indian Police under Agent V.T. McGillycuddy. Moreover, that same year he was baptized as a member of the new Episcopalian Church and took the name George Sword. George had begun to work with the Indian agent to help reshape Oglala life. This path eventually led to a division not only between an uncle and nephew, but within the entire tribe. George Sword, a strong proponent of allotment, would go on to serve as chief of Indian police and as a tribal judge on the reservation, all the while calling for accommodation with the United States as the wisest choice for the Oglalas.

William Denver McGaa (1859–1925)

One of the most successful of the mixed blood reservation cattlemen was William Denver McGaa. W.D. McGaa’s rise to prominence on Pine Ridge Reservation is a uniquely fascinating tale in western history. His father, William McGaa laid claim to being one of the west’s most colorful characters. William McGaa’s true name and ancestry appeared both uncertain and rather nefarious. He used the name Jack Jones as readily as William McGaa and sometimes claimed to be the bastard son of either an English Baronet or a Lord Mayor of London. On March 8, 1859, William’s Lakota wife gave birth to a son. The young babe was appropriately named William Denver McGaa.

Over a decade after his father’s death, W.D. McGaa followed his surviving family north to the Great Sioux Reservation in 1879, where his mother’s heritage proved an asset. His maternal grandmother’s brother was Chief Day, an important leader among the Oglalas. Attracted by new economic opportunities, created by recent treaty negotiations with the Lakotas, the McGaa family headed north with several of William’s former French trapping and trading compatriots. Men such as Batiste “Big Bat” Pourier, John Provost, and Antoine Janis, and the Richard, Morrison, and Shaugreau families quickly became “white husbands” on the reservation. Their mixed-blood children were often W.D. McGaa’s closest companions and friends, and they eventually controlled the majority of cattle production on Pine Ridge.

During the reservation’s economic and political period of instability, W.D. McGaa carved a significant niche for his family on Pine Ridge. He gained the position of Boss Farmer at Manderson in Wounded Knee District in 1892; the policy against government employees owning cattle conveniently forgotten or overlooked. In the eight years following his dismissal as Chief Herder, McGaa dramatically increased his herd. In January 1893, he possessed a herd large enough to sell 44 steers to the federal government for $1,509. Not surprisingly, by 1901 “Denver Bill,” as he came to be known, rated a story in the Omaha World-Herald, which described him as “a wealthy stockman now,” and noted he “branded more calves last spring than any other man on the Pine Ridge agency.” In fact, between 1892 and 1906, W.D. McGaa personally sold 406 head in 16 separate sales to the agency for $14,000. During a time when most Oglala sold one or two head, McGaa averaged over 25 head sold per transaction. Moreover, these sales do not include cattle “Denver Bill” shipped and sold in the stockyards of Omaha and Chicago.

W. D. McGaa’s family and his old friends from Colorado also fared rather well at Pine Ridge. His fellow émigrés to Pine Ridge, Batiste “Big Bat” Pourier, Antoine Janis, and the Morrisons and Shaugreaus, found the economic atmosphere to their liking as their names appeared many times alongide Denver Bill’s in the vouchers recording cattle sold to the agency by “Indians.” The names Pourier, Janis, Richard, Morrison, and Shaugreau, as well as Cornelius Augustus Craven’s, appeared on vouchers for sale of beef to the agency 65 times between June of 1893 and June of 1906. These transactions totaled 529 head, an average of more than eight cattle per sale, total weight of which came to over half a million pounds of beef. During this same period, the average number of cattle sold per transaction by the vast majority full blood Oglala numbered either one or two head.

DOCUMENT EXCERPTS

The 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie

The 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie set the boundaries of the Great Sioux Reservation that included all of South Dakota, parts of North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska. The Black Hills marked the center of this great reservation. Below are the articles involving beef rations and future land sales, which required three-quarters of adult males’ signatures to be approved.

ARTICLE X

And in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of $10 for each person entitled to the beneficial effects of this treaty shall be annually appropriated for a period of 30 years, while such persons roam and hunt, and $20 for each person who engages in farming, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase of such articles as from time to time the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate to be proper. And if within the 30 years, at any time, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better uses for the Indians named herein, Congress may, by law, change the appropriation to other purposes, but in no event shall the amount of the appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period named. And the President shall annually detail an officer of the army to be present and attest the delivery of all the goods herein named, to the Indians, and he shall inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the manner of their delivery. And it is hereby expressly stipulated that each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation, one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier date. And it is further stipulated that the United States will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians or family of persons legally incorporated with the, who shall remove to the reservation herein described and commence farming, one good American cow, and one good well-broken pair of American oxen within 60 days after such lodge or family shall have so settled upon said reservation.

ARTICLE XII

No treaty for the cession of any portion or part of the reservation herein described which may be held in common, shall be of any validity or force as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by at least three-fourths of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested in the same, and no cession by the tribe shall be understood or construed in such manner as to deprive, without his consent, any individual member of the tribe of his rights to any tract of land selected by him as provided in Article VI of this treaty.

Source: The 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie. The Statutes at Large, Treaties and Proclamations, of the United States of America, from December 1867, to March 1869 (1869): 639.

The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887

The Act gave the President of the United States the power to appoint an allotment agent to any reservation in order to divide up the reservation into individually owned parcels of land. The Dawes Act was designed to force Native Americans to abandon community and kinship ties and become individual farmers. Each Native would be given a set amount of land, usually 160 acres, to farm. They would be provided tools and livestock as well. The individual Natives were also given a 25-year trust period in which the land was free from taxation in order to give the new farmers time to make the farm self-sufficient. Below is the introduction of the Act.

An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to Indians on the Various Reservations, and to Extend the Protection of the Laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for Other Purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their use, the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes, to cause said reservation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or resurveyed if necessary, and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon in quantities as follows:

To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;
To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section;
To each orphan child under eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section; and
To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section:

Provided, That in case there is not sufficient land in any of said reservations to allot lands to each individual of the classes above named in quantities as above provided, the lands embraced in such reservation or reservations shall be allotted to each individual of each of said classes pro rata in accordance with the provisions of this act: And provided further, That where the treaty or act of Congress setting apart such reservation provides the allotment of lands in severalty in quantities in excess of those herein provided, the President, in making allotments upon such reservation, shall allot the lands to each individual Indian belonging thereon in quantity as specified in such treaty or act: And provided further, That when the lands allotted are only valuable for grazing purposes, an additional allotment of such grazing lands, in quantities as above provided, shall be made to each individual.

Source: The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. U.S. Statutes at Large, 24 (1886), p. 388 ff.

The Sioux Bill of 1889

This landmark legislation reduced the Great Sioux Reservation, which at this time occupied all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River, minus the Black Hills, to six smaller reservations. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the home of the Oglala Lakota, became one of those six Lakota reservations in South Dakota. Below is the introduction of the Bill.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the following tract of land, being a part of the Great Reservation of the Sioux Nation, in the Territory of Dakota, is hereby set apart for a permanent reservation for the Indians receiving rations and annuities at the Pine Ridge Agency, in the Territory of Dakota, namely: Beginning at the intersection of the one hundred and third meridian of longitude with the northern boundary of the State of Nebraska; thence north along said meridian to the South Fork of Cheyenne River, and down said stream to the mouth of Battle Creek; thence due east to White River; thence down White River to the mouth of Black Pipe Creek on White River; thence due south to said north line of the State of Nebraska; thence west on said north line to the place of beginning. Also, the following tract of land situate in the State of Nebraska, namely: Beginning at a point on the boundary-line between the State of Nebraska and the Territory of Dakota where the range line between ranges forty-four and forty-five west of the sixth principal meridian, in the Territory of Dakota, intersects said boundary-line; thence east along said boundary-line five miles; thence due south five miles; thence due west ten miles; thence due north to said boundary-line; thence due east along said boundary-line to the place of beginning: Provided, That the said tract of land in the State of Nebraska shall be reserved, by Executive order, only so long as it may be needed for the use and protection of the Indians receiving rations and annuities at the Pine Ridge Agency.

Source: Sioux Bill of 1889. 25 Stat., 888. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties 1 (1902): 328–39.

Further Readings

Beck, Paul N. The First Sioux War: The Grattan Fight and Blue Water Creek, 1854–1856. New York: University Press of America, Inc., 2004.

Biolsi, Thomas. “The Birth of the Reservation: Making the Modern Individual among the Lakota.” American Anthropologist. 22,1 (February 1995): 28–53.

Bray, Kingsley, Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.

Demallie, Raymond J. and Elaine A. Jahner, eds. Lakota Belief and Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.

Hannah, Matthew G. “Space and Social Control in the Administration of the Oglala Lakota (“Sioux”), 1871–1879.” Journal of Historical Geography. 19, 4 (1993): 412–432.

Hoxie, Frederick E. A Final Promise: The Campaign to Assimilate the Indians, 1880–1920. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.

Larson, Robert W. Red Cloud: Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997.

Lewis, David Rich. “Reservation Leadership and the Progressive-Traditional Dichotomy: William Wash and the Northern Utes, 1865–1928.” Ethnohistory. 38, 2 (Spring 1991): 124–148.

Lewis, David Rich. Neither Wolf Nor Dog: American Indians, Environment, and Agrarian Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Meyer, Melissa L. The White Earth Tragedy: Ethnicity and Dispossession at a Minnesota Anishinaabe Reservation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

Ostler, Jeffrey. The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Paul, R. Eli. Blue Water Creek and the First Sioux War, 1854–1856. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004.

Pickering, Kathleen. “Decolonizing Time Regimes: Lakota Conceptions of Work, Economy, and Society.” American Anthropologist 106, 1 (March 2002): 85–97.

Price, Catherine. The Oglala People, 1841–1879: A Political History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.

White, Richard. “The Winning of the West: The Expansion of the Western Sioux in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.” The Journal of American History 65 (September 1978, No. 2): 319–343.

Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890

Angelique EagleWoman (Wambdi A. WasteWin)

Chronology of U.S. Governmental Actions against the Lakota Peoples Mid-1800s

1851		First Fort Laramie Treaty entered into with the Lakota leadership agreeing to allow passage of U.S. officials through homelands, and the U.S. agreeing to “protect the aforesaid Indian nations against the commission of all depredations by the people of the United States.”
1864		Bozeman Trail built directly through Lakota Powder River hunting lands to connect Oregon Trail to gold fields in Montana without the consent of the regional tribal nations.
1866		Lt. Col. Fetterman, with 80 soldiers, attacks Chiefs Red Cloud and American Horse, boasting he would take down the Sioux Nation; in defense and resistance, all of the soldiers are killed.
1867		General Sherman orders all Sioux in the Powder River region to be considered “hostile” and grants authority to punish them through “extermination” if necessary. The United States refers to the military attacks against the Lakota as “Red Cloud’s War.”
1868		Fort Laramie Treaty reserving the Great Sioux Reservation, including the sacred Black Hills, with the U.S. obligation to prevent entry by U.S. citizens and ends “Red Cloud’s War.” Chief Red Cloud and followers demand the retreat of, and burn, Forts Reno, C.F. Smith, and Phil Kearney as illegally placed in the reserved homelands.
1874		General Custer and 1,000 soldiers survey the Black Hills region and send report back East that gold is easy to find.
1875		In November, U.S. President Grant instructs top government and military officials that the United States will not prevent the gold rush into the Black Hills. U.S. military sends messengers in December to all Lakota leaders to report to U.S. Indian agencies by the end of January, in the dead of winter, or to expect war.
1876		In February, the U.S. military is directed to “subdue” the Sioux. In March, General Crook attacks Oglala and Cheyenne on the Powder River, and they repel the U.S. military. In the spring of 1876, Sitting Bull calls together the area tribal nations along the Rosebud River valley. In June, General Custer attacks a large encampment, and he and his soldiers are repelled and almost all are killed. The United States refers to this as the “Battle of Little Bighorn,” and the U.S. military demands vengeance. The U.S. military sends messengers to all Lakota leaders to submit to U.S. control at U.S. Indian agencies or face annihilation. In October, the Manypenny Commission claims a valid treaty with the Lakota to relinquish the Black Hills from the Great Sioux Reservation. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court will determine in United States v. Sioux Nation that the Black Hills were illegally taken and that the U.S. government owes just compensation, plus interest, under the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
1877		In September, Lakota patriot Crazy Horse is killed at Fort Robinson when he agrees to come into the agency and is seized for arrest. Chief Sitting Bull and his people seek refuge in Canada, where they will remain for four years.
1881		In July, Chief Sitting Bull returns to the Standing Rock agency and is imprisoned for two years until 1883.
1889		In August, Crook Commission coerces Lakota leaders into agreement to divide Great Sioux Reservation into six separate reservations centered on U.S. Indian agencies at a loss of 11 million acres and immediately cuts food rations.
		In the fall and winter of 1889, the Lakota face starvation on reservations. Lakota people sell anything of value to purchase guns and ammunition for hunting to provide for families.
		On November 2, 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota are admitted as states.
1890		In March, Short Bull and Kicking Bear return from trip to the Paiute visionary, Wovoka, and introduce the Ghost Dance to the Lakota peoples. In July, drought conditions result in loss of wheat, corn, oat, barley, and vegetable crops. Starvation conditions continue for the Lakota peoples across all six reservations. In early October, and less than a week into the position, new Indian agent at the Pine Ridge agency requests military troops to stop the Ghost Dance. By mid-October 1890, participants in the Ghost Dance located on all reservations with religious tenets of living peaceably and not fearing the bullets of soldiers to bring old ways of life back. All U.S. Indian agents attempt to imprison participants and stop religious practice.
		On November 20, 170 horsemen and 200 infantry march into the Pine Ridge agency led by Brigadier General Brooke, and by December one-third of the U.S. Army is in the region.
		On December 15, Chief Sitting Bull is killed as tribal police carry out the Indian agent’s orders to arrest him for encouraging participation in the Ghost Dance on the Standing Rock Reservation.
		On December 29, the U.S. cavalry commits the Wounded Knee Massacre, killing more than 300 unarmed Lakota men, women, and children.

Introduction

During the 1800s, the United States government through the U.S. military and the U.S. Department of the Interior asserted complete control over the lives of American Indians. For the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota peoples, this control included coercion for land sales to the United States government, conversion to Christianity, and the denial of traditional ceremonial and religious practices.

Against this backdrop, U.S. officials viewed the spread of the Ghost Dance ceremony from a Paiute prophet named Wovoka to the Sioux reservations in North and South Dakota as resistance to U.S. governmental control. By winter of 1890, a large military presence was amassed near Pine Ride Indian agency, called together to break the resistance of the Ghost Dancers who had refused to follow U.S. orders to gather at the agency. Chief Sitting Bull (Itanca Tatanka Iyotake) was perceived as a resistor for allowing the ceremony to take place near his home site on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. On orders to arrest him, he struggled and was killed by the Indian police assigned to bring him to the local U.S. Indian agent.

In the wake of the violent death of the chief, Lakota people fled south. One group, guided by Chief Big Foot (Itanca Si Tanka), set out for the Pine Ridge agency, but were intercepted by the U.S. military and led to a campsite at Wounded Knee Creek (Chankpe Opi Wakpala). When approximately 350 cold, hungry, fearful, and nearly exhausted Lakota men, women and children camped in submission to the U.S. military at the creek, they were surrounded by over 470 soldiers armed with rifles and four rapid-fire Hotchkiss cannons. On the morning of December 29, 1890, the military officers disarmed the Lakota men at the campsite. One deaf young man struggled with two officers, and his gun was discharged in the air. After the gunshot, the commanding officer ordered the soldiers to open fire on the Lakota men, women, and children. For the rest of the day, soldiers shot any moving Lakota within a three-mile distance, including infants, small children, pregnant women, the elderly, and all others. Some of the men were able to fight back, and some wounded survived to recount the horrific event.

U.S. Religious Persecution and the Suppression of the Ghost Dance

In March 1890, the emissaries sent by Chief Red Cloud to visit the Paiute visionary, Wovoka, returned. The group, led by Short Bull and Kicking Bear, delivered their reports to those at the Pine Ridge Reservation on the teachings and visions of Wovoka. Based on principles similar to Christianity, Wovoka had a vision of religious principles to be followed by American Indians to bring back their dead relatives and return the world to a state of pre-white contact. By dancing the Ghost Dance, divine assistance would flood the world of the whites and take them away. The teachings were non-violent and gave the Lakota peoples hope for their old way of life.

With drought conditions again decimating the Dakotas in the summer of 1890, the Ghost Dance seemed a positive alternative to many families. The summer crops of wheat, barley, oats, corn, and vegetables failed, and the expectation of another abysmal winter set in (Richardson 2010, 193). By October, groups of families on the different reservations were participating in the Ghost Dance, often as far as possible from the agency headquarters. At Rosebud, Cheyenne River, and Pine Ridge, widows were dancing, hoping to bring back their husbands, and men were dancing to bring back their relatives. The U.S. Indian agents were determined to suppress the religious practice as “heathenish” and in resistance to Christianity. The guarantees under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment free-exercise-of-religion clause was totally at odds with the U.S. Indian policy of the 1800s to persecute American Indians engaged in traditional religious practices.

The U.S. Efforts to Suppress the Ghost Dance and Indian Religious Practices

In October 1890, a new agent, Daniel F. Royer, was appointed to the Pine Ridge agency and seemed ill-suited for the position. He was quickly nicknamed “Young Man Afraid of Lakota (Lakota Kopegla Koskala)” by many of the Lakota people at Pine Ridge. Within a week of being appointed, he began sending telegrams to higher-ups, indicating that troops were necessary at the Pine Ridge agency to suppress the Ghost Dance and that he feared for his life and those of area settlers. At the Rosebud agency, Short Bull had called together a gathering for a Ghost Dance, and two cows were butchered from the agency breeding stock to feed the people. U.S. Indian agent E.B. Reynolds ordered officers and tribal police to arrest those who had killed the cows. The officers returned to report that they had been surrounded by over 70 men with rifles, who stated they would rather die from fighting than starving and that they believed the new world would soon appear. Reynolds added to his telegram that troops were necessary as an outbreak was imminent (Smith 1975, 122–23).

At the Standing Rock agency, U.S. Indian agent McLaughlin denied Chief Sitting Bull’s request to visit the Cheyenne River Reservation to learn more about the Ghost Dance. In response, Chief Sitting Bull invited Kicking Bear to visit and share the information he had received from Wovoka. On October 9, 1890, Kicking Bear told Chief Sitting Bull that the people should dance and sing for the Messiah to bring a resurrection of the old ways of life. The principles of nonviolence and brotherly love were part of Wovoka’s message. Soon thereafter, the Ghost Dance began at Standing Rock with the U.S. Indian agent full of hatred toward Chief Sitting Bull and holding him responsible for agitation among the Lakota peoples (Richardson 2010, 173–74).

Meanwhile, the U.S. Indian agent at Cheyenne River, Perain P. Palmer, called in Chief Big Foot (Si Tanka, also known as Spotted Elk—Hehaka Gleska) and Chief Hump (Etokeah) to discuss the Ghost Dance among the people with unsatisfactory results in stopping their participation. Palmer sent his own telegram as well, stating, “a number of Indians living along the Cheyenne River and known as Big Foot’s band are becoming very much excited about the coming of a Messiah … These Indians are becoming very hostile to the [Indian] police. Some of the police have resigned … nearly all of these Indians are in possession of Winchester rifles and the police say they are afraid of them” (Smith 1975, 96). Not only were tribal police resigning, but they were also joining the Ghost Dance ceremonies.

Sidebar 1: U.S. Government’s Control Policies on the Reservations—Known As “Assimilation” and “Civilization” Training

Lakota men and women had understandably divided loyalties throughout this time period as they tried to make the best decisions to keep their family and loved ones alive. Some followed the Indian agent’s directives and were known as “progressives” by the whites, while others were traditionalists and often referred to as “blanket Indians” in a derogatory manner in English. Under the reservation system, the U.S. Indian agents had absolute control over the daily life of American Indians with the power to arrest and imprison resisters and to force starvation conditions. Under President Grant, the Indian agent positions were filled by religious organizations nominating candidates for appointment. This was known as Grant’s Peace Policy (Prucha 2000, 134). The religious appointees were fervent in their desire to drastically strip American Indians of their traditional religious, cultural, and social practices and replace them with white “civilization” and Christian training as part of “assimilation” policies.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Henry Teller strongly advocated for the forced assimilation of American Indians and set forth the U.S. Courts of Indian Offenses under the control of local Indian agents to carry forward that goal (Prucha 2000, 158). Commissioner of Indian Affairs Hiram Price (1814–1901) created the first set of rules for enforcement in the courts, adopted on September 22, 1884. Punishable Indian offenses included participating in cultural and religious dances, and practices subjecting participants to arrest and imprisonment and/or starvation through withholding of federal rations guaranteed under treaties. Spiritual leaders and medicine men were particularly targeted for punishment under the rules for imprisonment until they renounced their traditional religious practices. The rules were revised in 1892 to change the imprisonment term for medicine men to up to six months (Prucha 2000, 186). For the Lakota peoples and all American Indians, these actions amounted to full-scale religious persecution by the U.S. government, with the threat of punishment to enforce federal rules.

Two other federal measures were directed at American Indians, including the Lakota peoples, to “civilize” and “assimilate” them. First, after the division of the Great Sioux Reservation into six smaller reservations, a second series of land dispossessions occurred with the 1887 General Allotment Act, commonly referred to as the Dawes Act after its sponsor, Senator Dawes. Under the allotment policy, reservations were further divided into individual allotments per tribal member for the U.S. government purpose of civilizing American Indians as farmers on plots of land. For the Lakota peoples, the allotment policy was a devastating failure without being supplied the proper farm implements by U.S. Indian agents, without the ability to earn wages to buy proper tools and seeds, and with the drought conditions on the prairies (Richardson 2010, 97).

Second, the top U.S. government officials authorized Indian boarding schools modeled on the Carlisle Industrial Training School established by Captain Pratt. The motto for Indian education at the boarding school was “Kill the Indian, save the man,” according to Pratt (Cohen’s Handbook 2012, 76). Military-style government and religious Indian boarding and day schools became the frontline initiative for “civilizing” American Indians by targeting the children. These Indian schools were established throughout the Sioux reservations, including the Brainard Indian Training School, Chamberlain Indian School, Flandreau Indian School, Grand River Indian School, Holy Rosary Mission School, Hope Industrial School/Springfield Indian School, Marty Indian School/St. Paul’s Indian Mission School, Our Lady of Lourdes Indian School, Pierre Indian School, Pine Ridge Boarding School, Rapid City Indian School, Rosebud Boarding School, Sisseton Agency Government School, Tekakwitha Indian Mission, and many others. Attendance was mandatory for all children, and resisting parents were subject to imprisonment or forced starvation under the rules of the Courts of Indian Offenses.

Against this backdrop, Lakota peoples faced difficult decisions on whether to submit to the U.S. Indian agents’ demands for land cessions, removal to the agencies, allotment policy, or taking of their children for “civilization” training, or to resist with horrible consequences to follow for themselves and their children. When news reached Chief Red Cloud in the early months of 1890 that a new religious practice would help his people to live, he sent messengers to gather information. Short Bull, Kicking Bear, and others would journey south and bring back a message of hope in the practice of the Ghost Dance (Wanagi Wacipi).

To follow up on the telegrams, General Miles was sent to investigate the situation on the Sioux Reservations. On October 28, he visited the Pine Ridge agency and met with Lakota leaders and the U.S. Indian agent. He then threatened the Ghost Dancers in case they did not stop their practices, and encouraged the Lakota leaders to use their influence as well. In the end, General Miles told Royer that the dance would eventually stop by itself and that he did not find it a cause for concern (Andersson 2008, 132).

In early November, frequent complaints were being brought to the Indian agents because of the late delivery of the treaty rations and the starvation conditions being experienced. Dancers continued to participate in the Ghost Dance at locations away from the agencies, and the U.S. Indian agents sent another round of telegrams calling for troops. On November 12, at the Pine Ridge agency, tribal police attempted to arrest Chief Little on a warrant, but the police were immediately surrounded by Ghost Dancers, who threatened them. The situation was diffused when Chief American Horse (Wasicun Tasunka) (1830–1876) confronted those who were angered, and smoothed the situation over. Chief Red Cloud’s son, Jack Red Cloud (1854–1928), accused Chief American Horse of siding with the whites, but the chief simply walked away, causing the crowd to disperse. However, U.S. Indian agent Royer became frenzied with the failed arrest, and as he left for Nebraska he sent another telegram claiming he feared for his life and all the whites near the agency. The repeated telegrams gained the attention of President Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901), who authorized troops to the Pine Ridge agency.

Mobilization of the U.S. Military and Forces to South Dakota

On November 20, 170 horsemen and 200 infantry soldiers marched into the Pine Ridge agency under the command of U.S. Brigadier General John R. Brooke (1838–1926). With the Civil War concluded, the military converged on the southwest corner of South Dakota. By mid-December, troops had been called in from California, Kansas, and New Mexico. The regiments included the 7th Cavalry, involved in the Custer attack at Little Bighorn and bent on revenge. The 9th Cavalry was composed of biracial troops, including black soldiers known as “Buffalo soldiers,” who had carried out the U.S. military order to destroy the buffalo on the Great Plains. “This had been the largest military mobilization of the U.S. Army since the Civil War, involving fully a third of the army. About nine thousand soldiers had moved to South Dakota; of those, about five thousand had been stationed at the Pine Ridge agency” (Richardson 2010, 1). All of these troops were gathered because some of the Lakota people were practicing a traditional religious dance against the wishes of the U.S. Indian agents.

Upon General Brooke’s arrival, he immediately demanded that all Lakota families move to the agency headquarters. The army sought to separate the “friendlies” from the “hostiles” in their categorization of the Lakota peoples. “Brooke ordered the people of Pine Ridge to gather at the agency, under the oversight of the troops, forcing Indians to make a frightening choice, casting their lot either with the army and the agent or the Ghost Dancers. He encouraged compliance by placing a military guard at the Oglala boarding school on the agency and locking one hundred students inside” (Richardson 2010, 210). With their children held as hostages, many of the families complied and moved in the winter into tipis around the agency buildings.

In connection with the army mobilization, the medical and hospital corps were brought in. “This large force also required support of the medical department and hospital corps. Medical officers, stewards, acting stewards, and privates of the hospital corps from across the country received orders to proceed to the trouble spots. Medical officers were recalled from leaves of absence to fill the vacancies” (Green 1996, 17). At the Pine Ridge agency, Dakota physician Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) (1858–1939) had been appointed since November 1890 as the government doctor, a month after he graduated from medical school in Boston. He bore witness to the events that were taking place.

On November 20, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs requested a list from the Sioux agencies of all Ghost Dancers and fomenters of the dance. Standing Rock agent McLaughlin was quick to send Chief Sitting Bull’s name to be arrested with five other men. Rosebud agent Reynolds had a list of 21 that included Short Bull (Tatanka Ptecela) (1845–1923), Two Strike (Numpkahpa) (1831–1915), and Crow Dog (Cangi Sunka) (1833–1912). The Crow Creek agent did not deem anyone a threat and listed no one for arrest. On November 27, Royer at Pine Ridge sent his list naming 60 or 70 men for arrest. Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs Robert V. Belt (1842–1910) forwarded the telegrams along to the Secretary of the Interior with his recommendation that all of the Sioux be disarmed immediately, and the listed men should all be imprisoned.

With the arrival of the U.S. cavalry, newspaper reporters began sensationalizing the events taking place. In mid-December, at least 14 reporters were stationed at Pine Ridge agency. The local towns received an economic infusion with soldiers and reporters flocking to the area. “The lack of activity created the uneasy sense in many reporters that Agent Royer had protested too much. Not only was nothing happening then, but it appeared that nothing was going to happen at all. Yet the rumors of possible bloodshed persisted, for there was more at stake than the threat of Indian war. The soldiers provided an infusion of cash into an otherwise dying economy” (Jensen, Paul, and Carter 1991, 47). On the other hand, the Lakota peoples were put in fear for their lives when thousands of armed troops arrived on the reservations.

At the Rosebud Reservation, about 3,500 people fled when the troops marched in and headed to the Ghost Dance locations on the Pine Ridge Reservation. With a larger group to feed, the people seized the cattle, horses, and supplies from the homes of those who had moved to the agency headquarters. Lakota peoples were clinging to the Ghost Dance faced with the imminent threat of violence posed by the sudden influx of the U.S. military. The Ghost Dance groups from the Pine Ridge area decided to move everyone to safety in the Badlands, at a location known as the Stronghold, to continue the religious practices.

The Killing of Chief Sitting Bull on the Standing Rock Reservation

Newspaper reporters fabricated news and centered on the most famous Indian chief of the time, Chief Sitting Bull. He was soon blamed as the primary cause of the Ghost Dance by newspapers in the East. Both General Miles and Standing Rock agent McLaughlin wanted the status of bringing Chief Sitting Bull to prison. On December 12, General Miles sent an order to the Standing Rock agency for Colonel Drum at Fort Yates to arrest the Lakota leader. McLaughlin received news of the order and met with Drum to arrange the arrest on December 20. On December 14, McLaughlin received news from tribal police lieutenant Henry Bull Head (Tatanka Pah)(?–1890) that Chief Sitting Bull was preparing to journey to Pine Ridge at the request of Oglala leaders. The Indian agent ordered over 30 tribal police under Bull Head to make the arrest the next morning, with two troops of cavalry backing them up.

On December 15, 1890, Bull Head, First Sergeant Red Tomahawk (Chankpi Duta) (1849–1931), Second Sergeant Shave Head (Pakakoga) (1840–1890), and other tribal police set upon Chief Sitting Bull’s cabin early in the morning. Lt. Bull Head and his men entered Chief Sitting Bull’s cabin to carry out the U.S. orders. Accounts agree that the chief began preparations to dress himself for the trip to the agency with the tribal police. At some point in the preparations, his son or one of his people asked him why he was submitting to the arrest. Chief Sitting Bull then decided not to go with the tribal policemen.

As Bull Head, Shave Head, and Red Tomahawk seized him to drag him out of the cabin, local Hunkpapa people gathered in protest outside. Catch-the-Bear (Mato Wawoyuspa) rushed to the aid of the chief and fired upon Bull Head. At point-blank range, Bull Head turned and shot Chief Sitting Bull in the ribs, followed by Red Tomahawk, also shooting him in the back of the head (Beasley 1995, 20–21). As Chief Sitting Bull died, at least four policemen were killed, and six of the Hunkpapa people. The teenage son of the chief, Crow Foot, asked for mercy from the tribal police, but they gunned him down instead. Upon arrival, the troops fired a Hotchkiss rapid-fire cannon upon the Hunkpapa people, causing them to run for the trees. With Chief Sitting Bull killed, the Lakota people were in a state of panic. “The murder of one of their most famous leaders convinced Ghost Dancers at Standing Rock and Cheyenne River that government officers planned to exterminate them” (Richardson 2010, 247).

The hundreds who were fleeing made their way to Chief Big Foot on the Cheyenne River Reservation. Both Chiefs Hump and Big Foot took in the grieving Lakota from Standing Rock. Chief Big Foot had been invited to the Pine Ridge agency by Chief Red Cloud to serve as a negotiator with the Ghost Dance participants at the Stronghold. The Lakota leadership was intent on restoring peace and the removal of the armed troops from their lands. Generals Miles and Brooke had messengers into the Stronghold bringing back reports that the groups were on the verge of coming into Pine Ridge agency to end the tensions. The U.S. military heard of Chief Big Foot’s plan to head south and speculated that he was “hostile” and intended to take his people to the Stronghold (Green 1996, 29) General Miles ordered that Chief Big Foot and his people be captured by the U.S. military.

As Chief Big Foot made his way to the Pine Ridge agency, he brought with him approximately 230 women and children and 120 men. He was struck by pneumonia as they journeyed southward in late December. “On December 28, as they neared Porcupine Creek, the Minniconjous sighted four troops of cavalry approaching. Big Foot immediately ordered a white flag run up over his wagon” (Brown 1971, 440).

Massacre and Desecration at Wounded Knee

Major Samuel Whitside (1839–1904) and his troops demanded that Chief Big Foot and his people follow them to the U.S. Army camp pitched at Wounded Knee Creek. The Lakota people willingly agreed, and Whitside provided Chief Big Foot with medical attention for his staff. Once at the Wounded Knee site, a messenger was sent for reinforcements from the military stationed at the Pine Ridge agency. Colonel James Forsyth marched to the camp, bringing more soldiers for a total of over 400 troops with an abundance of artillery and ammunition. “By midnight on the twenty-eighth, there were 470 soldiers divided into eight cavalry troops, one company of scouts, and four Hotchkiss guns guarding about 350 cold, hungry, exhausted, frightened, and angry Sioux men, women and children” (Richardson 2010, 262).

Multiple accounts on the events that followed have been put into print. The next day, the troops were stationed in a square with guns and the Hotchkiss cannons trained on the Lakota people. Forsyth took command and ordered the men to sit in the middle for a council. Chief Big Foot was pulled into the council area. Forsyth demanded that all guns from the Lakota peoples be piled up. It was the dead of winter, and for the men the guns were the only means of hunting at the time. The Lakota men piled 25 guns to meet the demand, but Forsyth then ordered that the Lakota belongings and individuals be searched for weapons. As the searches were taking place, a Ghost Dance leader sang a song and threw dirt into the air before sitting with the other men in the council area.

Some Lakota recounted that Forsyth also ordered the Lakota men to stand by the soldiers while the soldiers were to pull the triggers of empty guns to demonstrate the power of the U.S. government. Others remembered that Forsyth had ordered the men to pass before the armed soldiers (Richardson 2010, 266). “According to the army version, two young Indians refused to give up their new Winchesters. According to most Indians, the army began to fire rifles and cannons without provocation” (Schusky 1975, 136). Some of the Lakota survivors recounted that a young deaf Lakota, Black Coyote, held his new Winchester gun up and was planning to put it on the pile when two soldiers grabbed him from behind, and the gun shot into the air (Brown 1971, 442–43). Forsyth gave the command to fire on the Lakota peoples, and the gunshot and cannons sounded like thunder, eyewitnesses reported.

According to the 1891 Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, American Horse gave his testimony on the events at the Wounded Knee Massacre on February 11, 1891, in Washington, D.C., as stated below.

The men were separated, as has already been said, from the women, and they were surrounded by the soldiers. Then came next the village of the Indians and that was entirely surrounded by the soldiers also. When the firing began, of course the people who were standing immediately around the young man who fired the first shot were killed right together, and then they turned their guns, Hotchkiss guns, etc., upon the women who were in the lodges standing there under a flag of truce, and of course as soon as they were fired upon they fled, the men fleeing in one direction and the women running in two different directions. So that there were three general directions in which they took flight.

There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce, and the women and children of course were strewn all along the circular village until they were dispatched. Right near the flag of truce a mother was shot down with her infant; the child not knowing that its mother was dead was still nursing, and that especially was a very sad sight. The women as they were fleeing with their babes were killed together, shot right through, and the women who were very heavy with child were also killed. All the Indians fled in these three directions, and after most all of them had been killed a cry was made that all those who were not killed wounded should come forth and they would be safe. Little boys who were not wounded came out of their places of refuge, and as soon as they came in sight a number of soldiers surrounded them and butchered them there. (1891 Commissioner of Indian Affairs Report, 180–181)

For several hours the soldiers continued to fire their weapons at any movement and as far away as three miles from the camp site. The Lakota peoples were hunted down until a blizzard began to approach at the end of the day.

When the ceasefire was called, the soldiers began looting the Lakota belongings and dead for souvenirs. Wounded were loaded into wagons as the army set out to return to the Pine Ridge agency. The wagons were left outside when the soldiers returned to their barracks. The Episcopal mission church was opened, and the pews turned out, with Dr. Eastman attending to the wounded. The next day, he volunteered to ride out with others to find any survivors still at the campsite. He eventually returned heartbroken over what he witnessed and had gathered only seven survivors.

Aftermath of the Wounded Knee Massacre at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota in 1890. Two hundred Lakota were surrounded and shot to death by the United States 7th Cavalry armed with four Hotchkiss machine guns. The military had been called in by white Indian agents and residents who felt threatened by the nonviolent dancing of the Ghost Dance movement. (Library of Congress)

On December 30, photographers went to the campsite and staged photographs, such as propping up Chief Big Foot and laying weapons by the sides of the dead to further sensationalize their newspaper stories (Jensen, Paul, and Carter 1991, 110–13). On January 3, 1891, the contracted burial crew arrived on the scene and dug a huge pit as a mass grave. “With little fanfare cadavers of men, women, and children were unloaded from the wagons and stacked inside the mass grave like logs in a fire pit … It took several hours to bury all the bodies … That night and for many nights to come, stealthily and in small groups, relatives and friends of the dead crept to the grave site, leaving prayer sticks, tobacco ties, and ceremonial flags” (Beasley 1995, 135).

Biography of Notable Figure

Chief Sitting Bull (Itanca Tatanka Iyotake) (1831–1890) represents an iconic leader for the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota and all Native Americans. Throughout his life, he stood as a reminder to the U.S. government that the treaties entered into were solemn promises reserving his people’s homelands for future generations. He was a spiritual and military leader, respected by his contemporaries and referred to as the most well-known Indian in the United States in the late 1800s.

During his early years, he intended to become a great warrior and leader like his father. At age ten, he shot his first buffalo. Four years later, he joined in a battle and was given his adult name, Sitting Bull. As he matured, he witnessed the survivors of U.S. military attacks such as the White Sand Creek massacre and the campaign to exterminate the eastern Dakota. Through these experiences, he engaged in traditional ceremonies to serve as a strong leader and warrior to protect the Lakota homelands.

Chief Sitting Bull resisted U.S. efforts to force the Lakota people on to small parcels of land and live under the control of U.S. Indian agents. He became well known in the 1870s when he refused to submit to U.S. orders. By the 1870s, the U.S. pressure to acquire more tribal lands was constant on the Lakota leadership and peoples. In order to exert the greatest pressure, the U.S. officials intended to force all of the Lakota peoples onto the U.S. Indian agencies where the Indian agents held absolute power. When the Lakota peoples did not immediately comply, the U.S. military issued orders in February 1876 to General George Crook (1828–1890) to “subdue” the Sioux and bring them into the U.S. Indian agencies. On March 17, General Crook marched into a large winter village of Oglala and Cheyenne on the Powder River and attacked. The majority repelled the attack and safely left the area, traveling to Chief Sitting Bull’s village down the river.

In response, Chief Sitting Bull sent messengers to gather men together from the regional tribal nations at Rosebud River valley. Again, on June 17, General Crook would attack and be repelled by the Lakota and Cheyenne men led by Crazy Horse. One week later, on June 25, General Custer would attack the large encampment and would suffer a resounding defeat with his death and almost all of his troops killed. Chief Sitting Bull had predicted these defeats in his vision of bluecoats falling from the sky. The U.S. military vowed revenge for the defeat of General Custer at the “Battle of Little Big Horn,” and widespread national newspaper accounts called for the death of all of the Sioux.

In October 1876, Chief Sitting Bull sought a meeting with the newly appointed General Nelson A. Miles (1839–1925) and requested that the U.S. soldiers withdraw from the Lakota homelands. The reply given by General Miles was that the United States demanded complete surrender and submission of the Sioux (Richardson 2010, 71). Furthermore, on August 15, 1876, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that no treaty rations or other treaty payments would be made to Lakota people at the Indian agencies or elsewhere until they gave up the rights to the Powder River country and the Black Hills (Brown 1971, 297–98). With General Crook indiscriminately killing any Lakota, Cheyenne, or other Indian people in his march to the Black Hills, his message was to submit to the U.S. government or to face annihilation. Gradually, different groups of people began to submit at the Cheyenne River agency in the spring of 1877. On May 6, 1877, Lakota patriot Crazy Horse (Tasunka Witko) went to Fort Robinson under the guarantee of safe passage. When his wife became ill, he left and later returned on September 5, 1877, when he was suddenly arrested. He resisted and was murdered by a white soldier who ran a bayonet through him (ICTM Staff 2013).

In early May 1877, Chief Sitting Bull decided to move further north rather than to submit to any U.S. government agency. He sought safety in Canada and would remain there for four years until Canadian officials were pressured by the United States to force him out (Brown 1971, 418–20). In 1881, he returned to the Standing Rock agency and was immediately seized for imprisonment at Fort Randall. While he was being held as a prisoner of war and a criminal for refusing to submit to the United States government, yet another federal commission, the Edmunds Commission, was sent to the Great Sioux Reservation agencies to attempt to break up the reservation into six smaller reservations.

In 1883, Chief Sitting Bull was released after two years of imprisonment and took up residence in a log cabin at the Standing Rock agency. U.S. Indian agent James McLaughlin (1842–1923) frequently complained about Chief Sitting Bull to officials in the Department of Interior and viewed him as an impediment to “civilizing” the Sioux and breaking up the tribal land base. With the failure of the Edmunds Commission, Senator Henry Dawes (1816–1903) formed a commission including Senator John Logan (1826–1886) to investigate how the Edmunds group had acquired signatures. At the Standing Rock agency, Dawes and Logan waited to address Chief Sitting Bull, who had been in attendance hearing others’ testimony. When he was addressed, Dawes called him no different from any another Indian, rather than acknowledging his status. Chief Sitting Bull stated in response: “I am here by the will of the Great Spirit, and by his will I am a chief. My heart is red and sweet, and I know it is sweet, because whatever passes near me puts out its tongue to me; and yet you men have come here to talk with us, and you say you do not know who I am. I want to tell you that if the Great Spirit has chosen anyone to be the chief of this country it is myself.” Shortly thereafter, he demonstrated his authority by adjourning the meeting as he “made a sweeping motion with his hand, and every Indian in the council room arose and followed him out” (Brown 1971, 424).

The next day, Chief Sitting Bull apologized for his hasty behavior and testified as to the failure of the United States to perform the legal obligations under the 1868 treaty. In response, Logan replied with insults and told those gathered: “You are on an Indian reservation merely at the sufferance of the government. You are fed by the government, clothed by the government, your children are educated by the government, and all you have and are today is because of the government …” (Brown 1971, 425–426). Chief Sitting Bull was not respected by the local Indian agent James McLaughlin, who sought to undermine the leader’s influence. Despite those attempts, Chief Sitting Bull remained popular and influential with Indians and whites.

In 1885, Chief Sitting Bull was invited to join in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. He went on tour for four months with the company. From this tour, he viewed the impoverished conditions of city life and reportedly stated, “I would rather die an Indian than live a white man” (A&E Bio). When he returned home, agent McLaughlin continued his efforts to disregard the status of Sitting Bull.

On August 3, 1889, the agent called a council for the purpose of gaining signatures to divide up the Great Sioux Reservation. McLaughlin deliberately did not invite Chief Sitting Bull. Upon hearing of the council, Sitting Bull forced his way through a formation of Indian police to object, but he was too late as the Lakota signatures of other leaders had been acquired by the agent and commissioners (Brown 1971, 420–21) Chief Sitting Bull is known as holding the homelands as sacred and refusing any offer to sell the land.

When the Ghost Dance ceremony was introduced to the Lakota people, one of the places it was welcomed was on the Standing Rock Reservation, where Chief Sitting Bull lived. The local Indian agent blamed Chief Sitting Bull for the opposition to Christianity and encouragement of the Ghost Dancers on the reservation. Carrying out orders to bring in Chief Sitting Bull, a group of Indian police gathered at his cabin in the early morning of December 15, 1890. Bull Head, First Sergeant Red Tomahawk, Second Sergeant Shave Head, and other tribal police decided to wake Sitting Bull and take him before his followers could resist. When they woke him to take him to the agent, Chief Sitting Bull began getting dressed and making preparations to leave. Accounts state that he was questioned by his son or one of his headmen on why he was agreeing to go with the police. At that point, the chief began to resist being pulled out of his cabin.

Local Hunkpapa people heard the resistance and went to the cabin to defend Chief Sitting Bull. Bull Head was pulling Sitting Bull when Catch-the-Bear brought out his weapon and fired at the Indian policeman. Instantly, Bull Head responded by shooting Chief Sitting Bull in the ribs. From the rear, Red Tomahawk then shot Chief Sitting Bull in the back of the head (Beasley 1995, 20–21). Six of the Hunkpapa people died along with Chief Sitting Bull, and at least four policemen. Hiding in the cabin, the teenage son of the chief, Crow Foot, asked for mercy from the Indian police, but they proceeded to shoot and kill him as well.

With the death of Chief Sitting Bull, many Lakota people panicked and fled. For the Lakota Nation, he had been a symbol of standing strong in the face of the U.S. government’s control policies. In contemporary times, he is remembered for his wisdom and belief in the traditional Lakota way of life. One of his best-known quotes is: “Let us put our minds together to see what life we can make for our children.” This quote serves as the vision statement for the Sitting Bull College on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Aftermath: Military Cover-Up and the Memorials of the Lakota Peoples

On January 4, 1891, General Miles arrived at the Pine Ridge agency and relieved Forsyth of his duties, charging him with incompetence and disobedience for putting his men in a cross-fire situation and for killing non-combatants at Wounded Knee Creek. Miles called for an investigation into the killings at Wounded Knee, but political pressure was exerted on the commission, and the report exonerated all involved. The U.S. military higher-ups defended the event as a “battle” and would later award 20 medals of honors for cavalry soldiers who had actively taken part in the massacre (Green 1996, 38–39). The first six medals were awarded by President Harrison on March 6, 1891, with the rest following soon after (Richardson 2010, 300). In 2007, the National Congress of American Indians passed Resolution No. DEN-07-82 “Requesting the United States Congress and the United Nations to Recognize the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre Was Not a Battle” and to rescind the medals of honor previously given.

Several draft bills have been introduced into the U.S. Congress to compensate the descendants of those massacred at Wounded Knee. In 1938, Representative Francis Case of South Dakota introduced a bill. In 1954, Congressman E.Y. Berry of South Dakota tried to refer a claim based on the massacre to the Indian Claims Commission. In 1976, co-sponsors Senator Abourezk of South Dakota and Congressman Francis Case of South Dakota introduced a bill to provide compensation of $3,000 per injured or deceased Lakota person killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre in furtherance of a recommendation made by General Miles in 1917. In 1995, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota introduced a bill to establish the “Wounded Knee National Tribal Park” to contain national monuments to the Indian victims of the massacre. To date, none of these legislative proposals has become federal law. The National Park Service has listed the “Wounded Knee Battlefield” as a national landmark since 1965.

Beginning in 1986, the Lakota peoples have conducted the Big Foot Memorial Ride (Si Tanka Wokiksuye). The ride occurred from 1986 to 1990 every winter, from December 22 to December 29, as a spiritual gathering and remembrance of the Wounded Knee Massacre. The riders endured the harsh winter conditions to retrace the movement of Chief Big Foot from the Cheyenne River Reservation to the Wounded Knee campsite. In 1990, the ride was expanded and renamed the Future Generations Ride, starting on December 15 of each year, to commemorate Chief Sitting Bull and then following the route from the Standing Rock Reservation to the Wounded Knee Massacre site by December 29.

DOCUMENT EXCERPTS

Hearings for Compensation to Descendants

On February 5 and 6, 1976, the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary held hearings on legislation to award compensation to the survivors or descendants of the U.S. Army’s massacre of the Lakota people at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. Over 600 pages were dedicated to the testimony, prepared statements, and exhibits before the committee. The bill ultimately failed to pass into law.

Testimony of Johnson Holy Rock, the Wounded Knee Survivors Association before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, S. 1147 and S. 2900, To Liquidate the Liability of the United States for the Massacre of the Sioux Indian Men, Women, and Children at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890, February 5 and 6, 1976.

It has been established by the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, a court of Indian offenses in 1884, it was 6 years before the date of the incident at Wounded Knee in 1890. But instead of following due process of law charging Chief Big Foot with violations, whatever it may have been, arresting him and trying him and punishing him, this was abandoned in favor of requesting military intervention in Indian country.

The next link in the chain was the ghost dance religion. Supposedly this was the reason for the military forces of the United States to be present in Indian country on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The ghost dance religion has been identified as a revival religion by a writer, Ruth Underhill in “Religion Among the American Indians,” published in the publication of the American Political and Social Sciences in 1957. In her research she wrote, “the contention of the Indians was that they intended no violence to the whites but expected their magical disappearance. These gatherings by the Sioux were misunderstood by the whites and resulted in the massacre at Wounded Knee.”

It was viewed as a messianic revival by others. The freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. The contention that the ghost dance had military intention is false. Intense participation brought about the apprehension of militant results which was based largely on rumors and imagination.

Source: US Congress, Senate. Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, S. 1147 and S. 2900, To Liquidate the Liability of the United States for the Massacre of the Sioux Indian Men, Women, and Children at Wounded Knee on December 29, 1890, February 5 and 6, 1976. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976.

Further Reading

Andersson, Rani-Henrik. The Lakota Ghost Dance of 1890. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.

Beasley, Jr., Conger. We Are a People in this World: The Lakota Sioux and the Massacre at Wounded Knee. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1995.

Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1971.

EagleWoman, Angelique T. “Wintertime for the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate: Over One Hundred Fifty Years of Human Rights Violations by the United States and the Need for a Reconciliation involving International Indigenous Human Rights Norms.” William Mitchell Law Review 29 (2013):487–538.

Green, Jerry, ed. After Wounded Knee: Correspondence of Major and Surgeon John Vance Lauderdale while Serving with the Army Occupying the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 1890–1891. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1996.

Indian Country Today Media Staff (ICTM Staff). 2013. “Native History: Crazy Horse Killed by U.S. Soldier While in Custody.” Indian Country Today Media, September 5. Accessed May 15, 2015. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/05/native-history-crazy-horse-killed-us-soldier-151160

Jensen, Richard E., Paul, Eli R., and Carter, John E. Eyewitness at Wounded Knee. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.

Kappler, Charles J. 1904. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Treaty with the Sioux—April 29, 1868, ratified Feb. 16, 1869. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. Accessed May 15, 2015. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0998.htm#mn5

Newton, Nell Jessup, ed. 2012. Cohen’s Handbook of Federal Indian Law. LexisNexis. [Cohen’s Handbook in text]

Olson, James C. Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965.

Prucha, Francis Paul, ed. Documents of United States Indian Policy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.

Richardson, Heather Cox. Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre. New York: Basic Books, 2010.

“Sitting Bull.” Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Accessed July 6, 2015. http://www.biography.com/people/sitting-bull-9485326#video-gallery