Hawksnest (The History)

Another Cicely Web Page!

Woof, welcome to another Cicely website. This page is a compiled history of the Hawksnest Hills, also known as Huyawayapaahdi, Hechaote, Great Coteau, Chief Hill, Pilot Knob. If you can't snif out what your looking for, e-mail me at cicelylee@webtv.net and we will do our best to dig up what your looking for. Have a site that should be in the bone pile, send it. Thanks for stoping by and please place your paw print in our guest book!

North Dakota Chronology The following chronology was compiled for the North Dakota Blue Book by Curt Eriksmoen, 1989 North Dakota Blue Book editor, Secretary of State's office, and Larry Remele, State Historical Society of North Dakota. The chronology ends at 1988, the eve of North Dakota's Centennial of Statehood. ca. 9,500 B.C. Paleo-Indian peoples initially occupied the Northern Plains, hunting mammoths, giant bison, and other mega-fauna. Mining of Knife River Flint, North Dakota's first export commodity, began in Dunn and Mercer Counties. ca. 5,500 B.C. Archaic peoples based their lifeways on hunting and gathering of essentially modern fauna since the previous era's mega-fauna were now extinct. The atlatl, a dart throwing device which drastically increased the range, effectiveness, and safety of hunting, came into use. ca. 700 B.C. Ceramics were first used in North Dakota for cooking and food storage. ca. 550-410 B.C. Early Woodland peoples living along the James River in Southeastern North Dakota built a log and brush house. Charred grape chenopod (Goosefoot), and Marshelder seeds were found together in the house remains when they were excavated in A. D. 1985. ca. 100 B.C. Middle Woodland peoples began building burial mounds in North Dakota, including complex ceremonial centers. The bow and arrow were introduced during this period. ca. A.D. 30 Jamestown mounds, a complex burial and ceremonial site, were occupied. ca. A.D. 900 Late Woodland peoples used the bow and arrow extensively, produced ceramics resembling the later Plains Village wares, and gardened intensively. ca. A.D. 950 Plains Village peoples raised corn and other crops in sufficient quantities to store seed and trade for other goods. Seasonally occupied, permanent villages of earthlodges were built. ca. A.D. 1200 Jamestown mounds site was abandoned. ca. A.D. 1200-1400 A drought reduced agricultural production and fewer living sites were established on the open prairies. Plains Village peoples abandoned the lower James River area by A.D. 1300. ca. A.D. 1600 The Cheyenne, living in earthlodges, occupied the Sheyenne River valley; the Hidatsa moved west from Devils Lake to the Missouri; the Sioux moved onto the plains from the woodlands of Minnesota. 1610 The Lakota were originally part of the seven council fires (Otchenti Chakowin - also said: Oceti Sakowin), made up of 7 bands: 4 Dakota, 2 Nakota (3 later counting the Assiniboin), and one Teton or Lakota band. The Dakota were the predominant people in this arrangement. First recorded contact with the Dakota was by Jesuits in 1640 and 1658, in the area of present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin, and in the forests in southern Minnesota. These people had lived in this area for many generations. The nearby Chippewa called the Oceti Sakowin - "Nadowe-is-iw" - meaning little or treacherous snakes. It was natural for tribes to have less-than-complimentary terms for their enemies. The French later corrupted the term to "Nadowessioux", which the English, still later, shortened to "Sioux". 1680 In 1680 the Teton or Lakota (who also called themselves 'tiyospaye', meaning 'extended family') were identified as living further west, on the upper Mississippi in central Minnesota. But the continuing wars between the eastern tribes over the fur trade had driven the Chippewa westward to this area. They were well-armed by the French, and gradually forced the Oceti Sakowin westward, out of their forest-and-lake range, and onto the Great Plains west of the Mississippi. 1682 1738 La Verendrye, a French explorer, visited Mandan villages near the Missouri River. This is the first known Euro-American expedition into what is now North Dakota. 1742 The sons of La Verendrye returned to the Missouri River as part of an expedition in search of a western sea. =1762 1=763 1781 The first known business enterprise, a fur trading post, was briefly established near the Souris River, but was soon abandoned as a result of pressure from unfriendly Indians. 1792 Jacques D'Englise (Santiago Leglise) opened trade between Mandan villages and Spanish interests from St. Louis. 1794 1796 1797 1800 By this date, fur traders from Canada were frequent visitors to this region and a trade route had been established between posts near Lake Winnipeg and the Missouri River Indian villages. 1801 1802 On March 12, the first non-Indian child was born in what is now North Dakota to Pierre Bonza and his wife, Black slaves of Alexander Henry, Jr. 1803 On November 20, Spain returned the Missouri River watershed to France. The Louisiana Purchase transferred the area of North Dakota drained by the Missouri River from France to the United States on December 30. 1804 & 1806 An expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered North Dakota and wintered near the present town of Washburn on its way to the Pacific Coast. This temporary post, Fort Mandan, was frequently visited by nearby Indians. 1806 The Lewis and Clark Expedition returned down the river on its way back to St. Louis. Their journey marked the first major American penetration of the area and was characterized by amicable relationships with native inhabitants. 1809 On December 29, the first white child was born in present-day North Dakota to fur post employees at Pembina. 1811 Scientific exploration of the Northern plains initiated by Lewis and Clark continued. Botanists John Bradbury and Thomas Nuttel surveyed the region during their journey to Oregon. Later expeditions included Prince Maximillian of Wied and artist George Catlin (1832-34) and naturalist John J. Audubon (1843) among many others. 1812 An agricultural colony was established near Pembina by settlers from Canada under the authority of a royal grant to Lord Selkirk. 1818 The 49th parallel was agreed to as the boundary between the U.S. and Great Britain in a treaty whereby the United States acquired possession of the upper Red River drainage. 1822 1823 An expedition led by Stephen J. Long fixed the boundary between the United States and Canada at a point north of Pembina. A second military expedition, led by Henry Leavenworth, attempted to make treaties with the Arikara and other tribes. Later expeditions included Atkinson-O'Fallon (1825), Fremont-Nicollet (1839), and the Stevens Survey (1853). 1829 1831 1832 The Yellowstone, the first steamboat on the upper Missouri, reached Fort Union. 1834 1836 1837 A smallpox epidemic virtually annihilated the Mandan Indians near Fort Clark. 1838 1839 John C. Fremont and Jean Nicollet explored the east-central part of the state. 1842 The first Red River ox-cart caravan traversed trails between St. Joseph (Walhalla) and St. Paul. 1845 1848 1849 1851 The first post office was established in what is nonw North Dakota at Pembina with Norman Kittson as Postmaster. 1853 Issac I. Stevens crossed the state surveying the "Northern Route" for the proposed transcontinental railroad. 1854 1858 Military occupation of North Dakota began with the establishment of Fort Abercrombie on the Red River. 1859 1860 1861 1862 The First Territorial Legislature for Dakota Territory met at Yankton and Fort Abercrombie was besieged by Sioux during the Minnesota Uprising. 1863 Dakota Territory was opened for homesteading. Campaigns intended to punish Santee Sioux who participated in the Minnesota Uprising pushed through northern Dakota and were led by General Henry H. Sibley and General Alfred H. Sully. On September 3, Sully's forces attacked a peaceful hunting camp of Yanktonai Sioux at Whitestone Hill; this was the last major battle of the Indian Wars period to be fought east of the Missouri. 1864 A second military expedition led by Sully battled Sioux at Killdeer Mountain and in the Badlands. Military troops began temporary occupation of Fort Union (1864-65) and Fort Berthold (1864-67) pending establishment of new forts. The military post of Fort Rice (1864-78) was established. 1866 The military post of Fort Buford (1866-95) was established. 1867 The Fort Totten Indian Reservation was established and Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux ceded lands to the U.S. government by treaty. The military posts of Fort Ransom (1867-72), Fort Totten (1867-90), and Fort Stevenson (1867-83) were established. 1868 A major peace council was held at Fort Rice; this led to the Laramie Treaty which defined Sioux lands as those west of the Missouri River in Dakota Territory. The first homestead entry in northern Dakota was made by Joseph Rolette in the northern Red River Valley. 1870 The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation was established and treaties between the Sioux and Chippewa and the U.S. government ceded most of present-day eastern North Dakota to the Federal government. The military post of Fort Pembina (1870-95) was established. 1872 The Northern Pacific Railway was built from the Red River to Jamestown; the NPRR reached Bismarck in 1873, but did not complete its main line to the Montana border until 1881. The military posts of Fort Abraham Lincoln (1872-91), Camp Hancock (1872-77), and Fort Seward (1872-77) were established. 1873 1874 A major reconnaissance from Fort Abraham Lincoln, led by Col. George A. Custer, explored the Black Hills and verified the existence of gold in that region. The military post of Fort Yates (1874-1903) was established. 1875 White settlement was permitted by the U.S. War Department on Indian lands reserved by the Laramie treaty, precipitating a major Indian uprising on the plains. 1876 The Seventh Cavalry, led by Col. George A. Custer, joined the Sioux Expedition of 1876. Leaving Fort Abraham Lincoln on May 17, Custer met decisive defeat at the Little Big Horn River in Montana on June 25. 1877 The first Bismarck to Deadwood stage left Bismarck. 1878 1879 The Great Dakota land boom began. The Great Northern Railway entered northern Dakota near Grand Forks; The GNRR, led by James J. Hill, completed its main line to the Montana border in 1887. 1880 Military reserves in the eastern and central portion of northern Dakota were opened to homesteading. 1882 The last great Indian buffalo hunt took place and the Turtle Mountain Reservation was established. 1883 The territorial capital was moved from Yankton to Bismarck and the first capitol was constructed. The Marquis de Mores began a packing plant and other businesses and planned the town of Medora; these enterprises failed in 1886. Theodore Roosevelt first visited Medora; he later established two ranches in that vicinity that he utilized periodically until 1888. 1884 1885 1886 Severe winter in the western part of Dakota Territory put an end to open range ranching. The Soo Line Railway began construction in northern Dakota at Fairmont; the Soo completed its lines to Portal in 1893. 1887 The Standing Rock Indian Reservation was opened to homesteading. 1889 North Dakota was admitted to the Union as the 39th state on November 2. 1890 Panic among White settlers, stemming from Ghost Dance activities among the Sioux, rushed through western North Dakota. During his arrest by Indian Policemen, Hunkpapa Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, was killed on Standing Rock Indian Reservation. 1892 1893 1907 1895 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1903 1904 1905 NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW NEW NEW NEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW By 1750, the Teton (Lakota), mostly Oglala and Brule bands, had moved further west to the south-eastern and south-central area of present-day South Dakota, near the Missouri River. They ran into the Arikara, who had earlier been forced northwards from their original homeland in present-day Nebraska by the Omaha and Iowa tribes. The Lakota attacked and pushed the Arikara out of the area, probably because competition for food in this area was fierce, and the Arikara were settled in villages and blocked the way across the Missouri. To the Black Hills: In 1775-76, an Oglala war-party traveling west from the Missouri River area came to the Black Hills. The Black Hills were occupied at that time by the Cheyenne, along with Kiowa and Crow in the area. But by 1794, after constant warfare, the Oglala and Brule controlled the Black Hills, allowing the Cheyenne to remain in the area as allies, while driving away the other tribes. The rest of the Lakota followed the lead of the Oglala and Brule into this general area. The Indians in this area traded almost exclusively with the French until about 1817 (the Louisiana Purchase was in 1803) when the American traders began to compete for the buffalo fur business. In 1825, the US sewed up the trade business with the 1825 Treaty between the US and the Oglala branch of the Teton Sioux (and in separate treaties with other tribes). The lead Oglala chief signature was by Standing Buffalo (or Standing Bull). The main purpose of the 1825 Treaty was stated in Article I: "It is admitted by the Sioune and Ogallala bands of Sioux Indians, that they reside within the territorial limits of the United States, acknowledge their supremacy, and claim their protection. The said bands also admit the right of the United States to regulate all trade and intercourse with them." The Oglala buffalo fur trade activity with Americans became centered around the American Fur Company trading post in eastern Wyoming in the 1830s. In the 1840s, an increasing flow of emigrants to Oregon and California brought cholera, smallpox, and measles to the Indians (the California gold rush occurred in 1848-49) as well as accelerated buffalo hunting for the fur trade. This caused hostility and some attacks against the emigrants and traders. In 1849, the US military took the post over and renamed it Fort Laramie. In 1851, a series of treaties were made between the US and many tribes. The 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty (really a series of treaties with several tribes) was supposed to have guaranteed peace between the US and many of the Indian tribes in a huge area: east of the Rocky Mountains, all the way to Minnesota, and north of the Texas-New Mexico lines. The Lakota were then called "Dahcotah" in the 1851 Treaty, regarding the Black Hills. The Cheyenne, Crow, Arapahoe, and other tribes were also involved, with territory assigned to them. Separate treaties (also called 1851 Fort Laramie) were concluded with the Sisseton-Wahpeton and other bands of the Dakota (as we understand that division now) in which they gave up some of their land in Minnesota and all of their land in Iowa, voluntarily, for financial settlement. The US agreed to pay $50,000 per year (proportional to the populations of each Indian nation) for any damages resulting from the provisions of the Treaty, which included: "ARTICLE 2. The aforesaid nations do hereby recognize the right of the United States Government to establish roads, military and other posts, within their respective territories." This was a matter of later dispute, with Red Cloud (Oglala), Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa), and Dull Knife (Cheyenne), maintaining that this was a violation of the 1851 Treaty as they had understood it. (They were not signatories to the Treaty.) The Treaty included the right of travel of citizens of the US: "ARTICLE 4. The aforesaid Indian nations do hereby agree and bind themselves to make restitution or satisfaction for any wrongs committed, after the ratification of this treaty, by any band or individual of their people, on the people of the United States, whilst lawfully residing in or passing through their respective territories." The Lakota territory was delineated, including the Black Hills. But the Powder River Basin to the Big Horn Mountains were assigned to the Crow. The US was also responsible for maintaining peace and protecting the Indians of all the signatory tribes from depredations by Americans. It was in this setting that Red Cloud emerged as the prominent leader of the Oglala Lakota. Chief Red Cloud (1880, Wash. D.C.) Smithsonian Institution Chief Red Cloud (1822-1909) was a leading warrior from about 1854, and a prominent 'shirt-wearer' in 1866-71. Because of his prominence, the US treated him as the overall chief over the Oglalas, although this was not the original social organization of the Lakota. But he acted in this capacity, along with Spotted Tail (of the Brules) and others, as the only way to deal with the US government. He was a respected, traditional leader and chief until well into his older years, through the most difficult period in his tribe's history. In the 1850s, Red Cloud gained great respect in the Lakota nation by virtue of his leadership in territorial wars against the Pawnees, Crows, Utes and Shoshones. In his battle career, he is said to have counted 80 coups or acts of bravery. He knew when it was appropriate to be a warrior, and when it was wise to be a statesman. He fought hard to maintain the traditional ways of his people. His various qualities of leadership were always directed toward protecting the well-being of his people. The 1851 Treaty was only a temporary pause in the ongoing wars between the Indian tribes and the continued growth in American travel through Indian lands. Skirmishes and atrocities occurred between Indians and settlers throughout the 1850s into the 1860s, especially in Minnesota, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana. And the Lakota were conducting a lengthy war against the Crow, to expand their hunting lands westward from the 1851 Treaty area assigned to them. The Crow had been assigned the Powder River Basin and Big Horn Mountain area in that Treaty. But from 1851-1862, the Lakota, in alliance with the Northern Cheyenne, conducted annual campaigns against the Crow, eventually cutting them off from supplies from American posts and driving the Crow completely out of Wyoming up into Montana. Eventually, from 1872-1875, the Lakota, with their Cheyenne and Arapahoe allies, drove the Crow out of eastern Montana also, because of intertribal competition for the shrinking hunting grounds for buffalo. Some of the Indians thought there should be no travel through their lands, and would attack any incursions, even civilian wagon trains heading for Oregon, which were permitted by the 1851 Treaty. For example, Charles Eastman (Santee Sioux doctor and author in late 19th and early 20th Century) says of Cheyenne Chief Roman Nose: "Perhaps no other chief attacked more emigrants going west on the Oregon Trail between 1860 and 1868". This led to the US providing military escorts to emigrants traveling to Oregon through the Powder River Basin (from the Black Hills on the east, to the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming on the west). This resulted in battles between Indians and the US military as well as the emigrants. Some civilian Americans (militia) took matters into their hands and attacked peaceful Indian villages, killing women and children as well as warriors. Hostility and retaliation were rampant. Other Indians were willing to accept a small amount of American travel through their lands. But it was so massive an invasion, with roads, forts and settlements springing up, that it was not possible for the Indian nomadic hunting lifestyle, with large herds of migrating buffalo and antelope, to co-exist with the American civilization that was taking over the Indians' land. Some American civilians turned north from the Power River Basin in NE Wyoming to go up to the gold fields in Montana (the Bozeman Trail). This was a clear violation of the 1851 Treaty, as understood by the Indians, but such roads were allowed by the written Treaty (Article 2) as understood by the US. However, what was not legal, was the intention of those who traveled the Bozeman Trail: to remain on the territory and dig for gold. This led to more armed conflicts which reached their peak in 1865. The Lakota and Cheyenne gathered their forces in March and April of 1865 for attacks against every white settlement, steamboat, stagecoach, and emigrant wagon train that invaded their territory. They attacked civilians as well as military personnel. They were defending their way of life against the growing invasion of white civilization. The white civilians didn't see it that way, and called for help. The US government and military responded with troops. In 1865, General Patrick Conner led a 3,000-man US military invasion of the Powder River Basin. He gave his troops the order to: "Attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age." (Conner was known for his 1863 massacre of 278 Paiutes in their village in Nevada). Now, in 1865, his troops attacked a large Arapahoe village, killing about 50 men, women, and children, and destroying the entire supplies of the tribe (Battle of Tongue River). But the Sioux under Red Cloud and Sitting Bull, and Cheyenne under Roman Nose and Dull Knife, fought and harassed the troop columns and drove them out of the territory. See Dee Brown's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" (1970) to get an understanding of the vastness of the American assault on all the Indians in the West. Superficial attempts were made by the US to get some Indians to sign another treaty in 1865, while moving in more troops to build more forts. The main chiefs, including Red Cloud, would have nothing to do with it. Finally, in 1866-1868, Red Cloud led the Sioux and several allied tribes in all-out war against the US military (known as "Red Cloud's War") to close the Bozeman Trail that passed through buffalo hunting grounds in the Big Horn Territory (from NE Wyoming into Montana). The 1866 Fetterman Massacre was part of this war, where 80 troops were lured out of Fort Phil Kearny to chase a handful of Indians. The Indians, under Red Cloud's strategy and Crazy Horse's leadership, trapped Captain Fetterman and wiped out the entire force. The Indians called it the "Battle of the Hundred Slain". Under Red Cloud's strategy, the Indians isolated the forts and harassed supply columns, making it impossible for the US military to maintain their presence. The US effectively admitted defeat and sued for peace. This is the only time any Indian leader totally defeated the United States in an extended all-out war. The result was the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty in which the US withdrew its military forces from the Black Hills and Big Horn Territory. It created the Great Sioux Reservation, on which the US hoped the majority of Indians would eventually settle and take up agriculture, with American aid. The Treaty also affirmed that the Black Hills were Sioux land, and that the Sioux had hunting rights (but not permanent resident rights) in the area north of the North Platte River, and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains (the Unceded Indian Territory). Most of the tribal chiefs and representatives signed the Treaty in April and May of 1868, including Spotted Tail (Brule). Although Sitting Bull is shown to have signed (under the wrong tribe), Robert M Utley says in his book, "The Lance & the Shield" that Sitting Bull was not present and did not sign personally, and that Gall touched the pen for him, not understanding what was in the treaty. Red Cloud and 5 others waited until the US actually closed the forts, before signing (touching the pen) in November, 1868. Map of portions of 5 states involved in the history on this page: Shows 1868 Treaty area: "Great Sioux Reservation" and the Unceded Indian Territory where the Lakota could hunt. The Pine Ridge & Rosebud Agencies (later Reservations) were created in 1878. Drawn by myself from the reference map on 1st page, with locations of key battles, forts, & river names from other sources. Fort Phil Kearny - Fetterman (1866) Red Cloud Agency (1873-76) Rosebud Battle (June 1876) Little Big Horn (June 1876) Slim Buttes Battle (Sept. 1876) Dull Knife Battle (Nov. 1876) Wolf Mountain Battle (Jan. 1877) Fort Robinson, Crazy Horse killed (Sept. 1877) Wounded Knee massacre (Dec. 1890) Crazy Horse did not sign the 1868 Treaty. Some Indians did not go along with the Treaty, and remained hostile to its provisions, including allowing Americans access through Lakota territory or through the hunting grounds. These Indians believed they had a right to reside in the hunting areas, as had been their tradition for many years. Article VII of the Treaty says that, for Indians settled on the intended agricultural parts of the Reservation, called agencies: "...pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school, and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with." This provision resulted in later heavy-handed actions to remove Sioux and other tribes' children from their homes to boarding schools, where their heritage and identity as Indians were suppressed. The wording of key clauses leaves ambiguity about the rights of US military incursions and US gov't. railroad surveys, which could only lead to conflict. Article II of the Treaty delineates the Great Sioux Reservation territorial boundaries, including the Black Hills, and says it is "set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named" and states further: "the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employes of the Government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article...." While seeming to protect the Lakota from incursions on their Reservation by Americans, the wording is such that military incursions ordered by Washington could be permitted. This guaranteed future conflict, which was realized by the 1873 Custer-led survey into the Black Hills on the Reservation, which was attacked. Article 2d clearly states: That they (the Indians) will permit the peaceful construction of any railroad not passing over their reservation as herein defined. Therefore, NO railroad survey teams on the Reservation including the Black Hills, were legal. Article 16 states, regarding the Unceded Indian Territory (not the formal Reservation): The United States hereby agrees and stipulates that the country north of the North Platte River and east of the summits of the Big Horn Mountains shall be held and considered to be unceded Indian territory, and also stipulates and agrees that no white person or persons shall be permitted to settle upon or occupy any portion of the same; or without the consent of the Indians first had and obtained, to pass through the same; It appears that the 1872 railroad survey teams into eastern Montana were a violation of this clause. In Article VI, it says: "The President may, at any time, order a survey of the reservation...." -- This is an Article dealing with surveying tracts for Indians settling within the Reservation for farming. But again, in conjunction with the above clauses, it furnishes the ground for violating the intent of the Treaty and becomes the seed of the coming conflict. For it was the 1872 railroad surveys in eastern Montana, and the 1873 Custer-railroad survey into the Black Hills, that began the road to war. Indians led by Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse made attacks against the survey teams. This led to the large 1874 Custer expedition into the Black Hills to set up a fort to protect future surveys and construction. This expedition discovered gold, and advertised it, leading to the invasion of the Black Hills by American miners. This, in turn, led to the 1876 war. Sitting Bull and his Hunkpapa band were concentrated in eastern Montana and extreme western North Dakota. They had conducted war against US forts in North Dakota, especially Fort Buford, while Red Cloud had focused on the forts along the Bozeman Trail further west and south in Wyoming. The Hunkpapa attacks against Fort Buford continued well after the 1868 Treaty, into 1870. But aside from killing a few Americans associated with supplying the fort, this effort was unsuccessful. After the US administration changed, and there were disagreements on the how the Treaty was being implemented, Red Cloud and Spotted Tail personally negotiated with President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870, in Washington, D.C. There were misunderstandings of the terms of the Treaty of 1868, of which Red Cloud said: "It is all lies." The US wanted the main Indian agency on the Missouri River, which Red Cloud had never agreed to, even though it was in the written Treaty. Spotted Tail had moved the Brule to the Missouri, but Red Cloud refused. The interpreters of 1868 were blamed. Red Cloud insisted that the Powder River country in NE Wyoming was part of the Sioux land, not just the formal Sioux Reservation (in South Dakota). President Grant and his Secretary of the Interior changed their interpretation of the Treaty to match that of Red Cloud. It was reaffirmed that the Sioux (and other tribes) could live in the Powder River country, as well as hunt in it. This was another victory for Red Cloud. It lasted about 3 years. But US policy throughout the West was to move the Indians onto limited reservations, by whatever means necessary. General Sheridan had taken command of U.S. forces in the West in 1866, stating the policy of exterminating the buffalo herds that the Indians depended upon: "Kill the buffalo and you kill the Indians." In August, 1873, the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies were moved to the White River in NW Nebraska (next to Fort Robinson), to live mostly on government rations -- although when rations were scarce, some would leave the agencies and hunt in the Unceded Territory. The settlers and land developers had wanted those Indians settled in the Powder River Basin to move out. In spite of President Grant's promise in 1870, the government had kept up the pressure by delaying rations, until they finally moved. (Red Cloud was actually away from his agency, with Oglala buffalo hunting parties, when this move took place. He later protested and threatened war.) The roving bands of thousands of younger warriors and their families following Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull remained in the Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana territories that had been agreed to as Sioux (and Cheyenne and Arapahoe) hunting lands. The Road To War: In August, 1872, two railroad survey teams, each accompanied by about 500 troops, went into eastern Montana, and were attacked by bands led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. There were few casualties, but the attacks had consequences. General William Sherman testified before Congress in March, 1873: "This railroad is a national enterprise, and we are forced to protect the men during its survey and construction, through, probably, the most warlike nation of Indians on this continent, who will fight for every foot of the line." Of course, the Indians did not believe that such activity was legal. The chiefs who had signed the 1868 Treaty had NOT agreed to any railroads through their lands. The areas south of the Platte in Nebraska, and up in eastern Montana became battlegrounds of competing interests. In the summer of 1873, an Oglala hunting party ran into some white buffalo hunters. Whistler, a famous and friendly chief, and two other Oglalas, were killed by the hunters. There was also an ongoing war between the Lakota and the Pawnees in Nebraska over hunting the dwindling number of buffalo. The Lakota attacked a large Pawnee camp in 1873, after the Pawnee warriors had gone out on the hunt. Over 50 Pawnees, including women and children, were killed, and the meat and skins taken. Also, fighting continued in 1873-75 betwen the Lakota and the Crow over hunting grounds in Montana. Also in 1873, there was a major skirmish between the Indians (Hunkpapa, Oglala, Miniconjous, Sans Arcs, and Cheyennes) led overall by Sitting Bull, and a railroad survey team led by General Custer, with a large military escort, into the Black Hills themselves. Rumors of gold in the Black Hills were already circulating, and a few hundred miners were illegally searching for gold in the Hills, and being attacked by Indians. In February, 1874, some of the non-agency Lakota started operating in small war-parties, attacking whites, settlers and emigrants, in eastern Montana and northern Nebraska. Bands of non-agency warriors, by threat of attack, obtained arms and ammunition from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies in NW Nebraska, and took them up into Montana to attack the whites there. The agency clerk at Red Cloud agency was murdered, which led to the bringing in of more troops. In the summer of 1874, , Custer led a large expedition including about 1,000 troops, with scientists and reporters, into the Black Hills officially to explore and set up a military post to control the non-signed Indians. But the real purpose, as given away by the presence of geologists, was to identify areas for gold mining. This expedition discovered gold - no surpise - and aggressively advertised this to the media and public. This led to a chaotic invasion of the Black Hills by thousands of miners. The "Yankton Press & Dakotaian" newspaper editorialized about the 1868 Treaty: "This abominable compact is now pleaded as a barrier to the improvement and development of one of the richest and most fertile regions in America. What shall be done with these Indian dogs in our manger? They will not dig gold or let others do it." Such was the attitude of the American settlers and miners in the region. They not only wanted the Black Hills, but also the Powder River country and the rest of the Unceded Indian territory opened up for settlement. At first, the US tried to stop the prospectors from moving into the Black Hills. In September, 1874, General Sheridan sent instructions to Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry, Commander of the Department of Dakota, directing him to use force to prevent companies of prospectors from trespassing on the Sioux Reservation. At the same time, Sheridan let it be known that he would "give a cordial support to the settlement of the Black Hills," should Congress decide to "open up the country for settlement, by extinguishing the treaty rights of the Indians." This was published in newspapers at the time. In 1875, General Crook was assigned to forcibly remove the thousands of miners - which proved impossible. By January, 1875, there were 15,000 miners in the Hills. In the Spring of 1875, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and other chiefs were summoned to Washington to meet with President Grant and discuss the Black Hills. The US wanted the Black Hills, and would send a commission later in the year to arrange a purchase price. The Indians didn't want this, and argued among themselves on what they should do. The US Senate Commission visited the Nebraska agencies in 1875, to negotiate an outright purchase price for the Black Hills of $6 million. Red Cloud, Spotted Tail (the "agency" chiefs) and Crazy Horse and the non-settled warriors refused. Red Cloud is said to have demanded $600 million dollars, and food supplies for another seven generations of Sioux, which he knew the US would not deliver. Apparently, there was a value of $70 million that some chiefs were willing to sell the Hills for, but the non-agency warriors would not sell at any price. The Commission also tried to get the chiefs to change the terms of the 1868 Treaty, to pay the Sioux a $400,000 annual rental to allow safe passage for the prospectors and settlers. Of course, the chiefs refused this also, and indicated they would protect the Black Hills from this invasion if the US would not honor its Treaty obligation to do so. President Grant then decided to abandon the US' treaty obligation to preserve the Lakota territory. In a letter dated November 9, 1875, to General Terry, Sheridan stated that he had met with President Grant, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of War, and that the President had decided that the military should no longer try to keep miners from occupying the Black Hills: "it being his belief that such resistance only increased their desire and complicated the troubles." These orders were to be enforced "quietly," and the President's decision was to remain "confidential." With the Army no longer enforcing the Treaty, the invasion of settlers and miners into the Black Hills increased. It was a wild and violent situation, with Indians attacking miners, miners and settlers attacking Indians, and depredations by outlaws against Indians and miners alike. The US Government concluded that the only remaining option was to protect the US citizens mining in the Black Hills for gold. Since there were many thousands of miners and settlers building towns in the sacred Black Hills, this policy amounted to a permanent American takeover of the Hills. On December, 6, 1875, the US Commissioner on Indian Affairs ordered the Lakota onto the reservation by a Jan. 31, 1876, deadline, threatening to treat them as "hostiles" and have them arrested. The Sioux bands were scattered during this harsh winter; some didn't get the order; others were hunting or camped in the Unceded Indian Territory (which was their right). It would also have been impossible to move thousands of women and children through the snows to the reservation in this short time, and no food for them if they got there. On February 1, 1876, the Secretary of the Interior relinquished jurisdiction over all so-called "hostile" (non-agency) Sioux - those Indians lawfully hunting in the non-reservation territory - to the War Department. The Army was ordered in. The 1868 Treaty had been demolished. Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa) and Crazy Horse (Oglala) led large bands who expected the inevitable military confrontation, and were determined to resist even against overwhelming odds. Red Cloud also saw it coming, and decided not to lead his people into a war which could only result in many of his people being killed. He remembered what had happened to the Santee in Minnesota in 1862-64, who had resisted the US advance -- almost total slaughter. (Another source says Red Cloud actually wanted to join the hostiles and fight, but was held back by the majority of his Oglala people at the agency). While Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse gathered the bands for the coming conflagration, Red Cloud (Oglala) and Spotted Tail (Brule) kept their followers at the agencies near the White River in NW Nebraska. The 1876 war is described below under Crazy Horse. More on the Black Hills: Paha Sapa In Sept. 1876, when the US military occupied the Black Hills and forced the agency Indians (in NW Nebraska) to surrender, the US demanded the Lakota sign over the Black Hills and accept subsistence rations on the reservations or starve. Some Lakota leaders, including Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, were coerced to sign the 1876 Treaty to avoid mass starvation of their people. They did so under vocal protest to save their people. Only 10% of the adult male Sioux agreed, of the 75% required by the 1868 Treaty; therefore, this was invalid. Congress enacted this faulty agreement into law in Feb. 1877. This was in effect a unilateral abrogation of the 1868 Treaty by the US. The issue continued to be disputed for more than another hundred years, through the Supreme Court decision of 1980 to award interest on payment to the Sioux for the US taking the Black Hills in violation of the 1868 Treaty. For the US, the issue has come down to one of compensation. About $500 million in payment and interest since 1877 are in an account the Lakota refuse to touch. The Lakota have never surrendered their moral claim to their Black Hills homeland. After the war, in 1877 several tribes were confined to camps on or near the Missouri River, on the eastern border of the Great Sioux Reservation. The scheme of the politicians was to move the Sioux completely out, and to open all of the 1868 Sioux territory to development. However, Red Cloud (for the Oglala) and Spotted Tail (for the Brule) refused, due to past experience of sickness in that area, and the desire of their bands to remain in the highlands nearer their home territory. They had no food, no defense, but they stood their ground. Both these Chiefs and other leaders went to Washington in Sept. 1877, by invitation, and met with then President Rutherford B. Hayes. They actually obtained a promise from Pres. Hayes that the Oglala and Brule could pick their own place for permanent settlement within the reservation (which now excluded the Black Hills). Much maneuvering took place in Washington and within the tribes themselves. Red Cloud's deft handling of politicians, commissions, and his own tribe was key to the outcome. Congress finally passed legislation on June 20, 1878, allowing the establishment of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud agencies (future Reservations) where their chiefs wanted. It was the best they could do for their people, given the circumstances, and was a remarkable piece of statesmanship and leadership. Red Cloud had defiant battles with the government agent in the early 1880s, to preserve the traditional authority of the chiefs. He traveled to Washington again in 1880 during these disputes. He fought against the Dawes Act of 1887-89, which divided tribal land into individual allotted tracts, and took away half the Sioux land (of 1868) for use by whites. During this confrontation, he faced down General Crook, the government's chief negotiator, at Pine Ridge in 1889. Behind his leadership, the majority of the Oglala stood firm against the agreement. But enough defections took place on the other reservations, and the required 75% approval was obtained for the agreement. In 1888, Red Cloud invited the Jesuits in and helped establish a school for Lakota children. This a wise decision, because it kept Indian children on the tribal land, able to associate with their families and tribal friends. This was much better than having them taken far away to be indoctrinated into the white culture. In 1879, the Carlise Indian School in Pennsylvania had tried unsuccessfully to persuade Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and other chiefs, to give their children to the school for "education" (indoctrination). Spotted Tail had initially agreed to send his sons, but after he and other chiefs had visited Carlisle, he objected to the military-style training, and lower-level education versus what he had been told. The Indian agents, after much argument, finally resorted to outright kidnapping and force to steal Indian children off the reservations and take them to Carlisle. This is one of the reasons Red Cloud opted for a school on his reservation. He first supported the 1890 Ghost Dance (for the return of Sioux ascendancy) then went against it when the US military moved in, to prevent harm from coming to his people, the Oglala -- unlike what happened to the Miniconjous at Wounded Knee. The US military intercepted the Miniconjous under Big Foot, who were returning from a Ghost Dance and seeking refuge on the Pine Ridge Agency. The soldiers disarmed the Indians and stacked their weapons. Only two rifles were found during a subsequent search of the Indian tents. A shot was fired by one Indian, killing an officer, and the soldiers went on a killing spree, massacring 200 - 300 men, women, and children, many of whom were just fleeing for their lives. Dec. 29, 1890. Red Cloud led his people for about 40 years, as a warrior, shirt-wearer, and chief. He went to Washington more times than any other Indian chief in history. There were victories and defeats. But this Chief of chiefs was never bowed in his spirit, and his people were much better off for his leadership. Click here to read Red Cloud's Farewell Address to the Lakota people, July 4, 1903. Here is a link to the homepage of Red Cloud's great-grand-daughter, Morning Star This link is my own essay on the Leadership of Red Cloud. For detail on Red Cloud's life, by Charles Eastman, at Glenn H. Welker's site, click here: Red Cloud Crazy Horse (1845-1877) was a reknowned Oglala Lakota who, under Chief Red Cloud's command in 1866, led the Sioux warriors in the attack on the troops at Fort Phil Kearny (in NE Wyoming) and sustained victory, by drawing out 80 cavalrymen into a trap and killing them all (The Fetterman Fight). The Lakota isolated the US forts in the area and made their positions untenable. This resulted in the 1868 Treaty discussed above, which Crazy Horse did not sign. Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, et. al. led thousands of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe in the Unceded Indian Territory where they hunted and camped at will, outside the agencies where the other Indians had settled. The non-agency Indians fought skirmishes in 1873 and 1874 against Custer's survey and expedition into the Lakota's Black Hills. After the miner invasion of the Black Hills in 1874-75, the US military was ordered in February, 1876, to move against the non-agency Indians, who were hunting and camped in the Unceded Indian Territory (as was their right under the 1868 Treaty). The first military encounter was on March 17, 1876, still during the brutal winter -- a surprise dawn attack by General Crook's forces on an Oglala-Cheyenne hunting encampment on the Powder River in eastern Montana (the border of the Unceded Territory). Most of the Indians escaped, but their tepees were burned with their supplies, and their horses taken by the soldiers - only to be recovered that night by the Indians while the soldiers slept. Colonel Gibbon's forces were too inept to cross the Yellowstone River in Montana, and failed to even mount an attack on known and vulnerable Indian villages. The campaign fizzled out. The military then waited until the Spring (June 1876) to launch their major assault against the non-reservation Indians in SE Montana. This was now over 4 months since the initial order for the non-agency Indians to move onto the Reservation. The winter was long past, and nothing would have prevented them from doing so. But the Lakota under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse preferred to remain free and not confined to the agencies on the Great Sioux Reservation. They were only hunting and camping in the Unceded Territory as was their Treaty right, and ignored the order as irrelevant. The actual location of the battles of the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn (discussed below) were west of the Unceded Indian Territory - the Indians were apparently just going where the game was. Also, most of these non-agency Indians did not consider themselves bound by the Treaty in the first place, since many of them had not agreed to or signed it. One might wonder why, if the President and his officials and generals wanted to steal the Black Hills, they sent the military off into the hinterlands of eastern Montana, far from the Hills, to pursue the non-signed and non-agency Indians. But the entire Unceded Indian Territory was to be opened for settlement, and it was necessary to first defeat the large warrior-forces in this territory. In the end, it was the Indians at the agencies (in NW Nebraska) who signed away the Black Hills under extreme duress and threat of starvation - an act which had no legal standing, and which the non-agency Indians never approved. Whatever the case, the war was on. June 1876 marked the greatest triumphs of the Lakota and their allies over the US military. The US military advanced with a three-pronged attack, led by (then) Lt. Colonel Custer (under General Terry), General Crook, and Colonel Gibbon. Crazy Horse led the warriors as he had in 1866. On June 17, 1876, with about 1000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, he defeated General Crook's force of 1200 men in an extended battle filled with maneuver and generalship -- the Battle of the Rosebud -- where the Indians charged and retreated repeatedly, splitting up Crook's forces and keeping them on the defensive, and finally driving the troops into a desperate retreat. This deprived Custer and his 7th cavalry of the support he needed when he moved a day ahead of schedule, thereby foregoing support from Gibbon's force as well, and attacked the huge Indian camp on the Little Big Horn (Sioux name: Greasy Grass) on June 25. Custer had earlier turned down an offer of 4 additional companies from the 2nd Cavalry. It was clear he wanted all the glory for himself. He also did not think it wise to scout the Indian camp before plunging into his attack. He told his officers, some of whom survived in other parts of the command: "The largest Indian camp on the North American continent is ahead, and I am going to attack it." The Indian camp was several miles long, on the opposite side of the river from Custer's approach, and hidden partially by the trees and brush along the river. The camp was made up of large contingents of Oglala, Miniconjous, and Hunkpapa, with smaller contingents of Brule, Sans Arcs, and Blackfeet-Lakota. The Cheyenne had a fairly large representation, with smaller numbers of Santee and Arapahoe. While there were several thousand Indians in the camp, moderate estimates are that there were only about 1,500 to 2,000 warriors who engaged in the battle. Custer split his force of 597 troops & officers, plus 50 scouts, into 3 parts, against standing orders not to do so. Custer left his ammunition train behind and sent Major Reno off to attack one end of the camp, while Custer led 5 companies toward the other end. But he never made it. Hunkpapa Chief Gall led some warriors in repulsing Reno, then charged after Custer's force on Custer's side of the river. Crazy Horse led more warriors laterally up the length of the camp, crossed the river and blocked Custer from the other side. Trapped between these warrior forces, without reinforcement or his ammunition supplies, Custer and his 207 troops were wiped out. Major Reno's command lost 57 men, and remained in defensive positions until Gibbon's infantry came up the next day. Read an interesting composite account, comprised of many Indian eye-witness accounts, at Greg Michno's site: Lakota Noon at the Greasy Grass. For a very interesting series of official accounts and also accounts by individual Indians (with documentation), visit this site by David Miner: Custer at the Little Big Horn On Sept. 9, 1876, the battle of Slim Buttes occurred, about 70 miles north of the Black Hills, involving about 2,000 troops from General Crook's large force. The soldiers, both infantry and cavalry, had been pursuing the Indians all the way from SE Montana in a circuitous route covering about 300 miles, and were running out of food. They turned south in order to replenish their supplies from the mining camps in the Hills. An advance column encountered a large camp of 250 - 300 warriors, with women and children of the Oglala and Miniconjous, and there was fierce fighting, in which the soldiers were initially driven back until the rest of the troops arrived and destroyed the village, driving off most of the inhabitants. Oglala from Crazy Horse's nearby camp counter-attacked, but were driven off by the superior numbers of soldiers. A huge amount of Indian supplies, skins, tipis, and ammunition were destroyed. And tons of meat were taken by the Army for their own sustenance. Sitting Bull and his Hunkpapa may have come upon the scene after the US forces had marched on to the Black Hills. (One source says Sitting Bull was a leader in the fight. Another source says he came along later with his Hunkpapa band). Casualties were fairly light on both sides, considering the number of combatants. Crazy Horse and his Oglalas continued to harass the soldiers as they marched to the Black Hills, but they could not engage such a large US military force successfully, or stop the US army from occupying the Black Hills. The battle set the pattern for the relentless pursuit of the Indians and the destruction of their supplies. Some of the Lakota call it: "The Fight Where We Lost The Black Hills". In September, 1876, the Lakota on the agencies (reservations) in NE Nebraska, under Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, were forced to surrender as prisoners of war, even though most of them had not engaged in the fighting. But many non-agency Indians had been going to the agencies for supplies, then returning to their bands in SE Montana and NE Wyoming to fight the soldiers. The agency chiefs were forced, by threat of cutting off their people's food, to sign the 1876 Treaty (discussed above under Red Cloud) giving up the Black Hills. The military increased the number of troops and pursued the Indians who still remained free in the Unceded Territory. Crook's forces under General Mackenzie destroyed Dull Knife's Cheyenne village on the Powder River in November, 1876 (another source says in early 1877). Crazy Horse stayed in the area of the Lakota lands and led about a thousand Oglala and Miniconjous in eluding the army for months. There was a battle in January, 1877 (Colonel Nelson Miles' troops at Battle Butte or Wolf Mountain) in which Crazy Horse's band could only fight a rear-guard action and escape, due to lack of ammunition. Finally, with no food or hope of escaping the large military forces hemming him in, Crazy Horse surrendered in May, 1877. Colonel Miles' forces pursued Sitting Bull north, until Sitting Bull and his followers escaped into Canada, also in May of 1877. (Sitting Bull and his followers remained in Canada until they could no longer survive off the land, and surrendered in 1881 to the US. He toured with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, and returned to the Standing Rock Reservation. Tribal police tried to arrest Sitting Bull during the Ghost Dance craze of December 1890, and he was killed during the ensuing shootout.) Almost all of the "hostile" Lakota still in the U.S. surrendered in April and May of 1877. The one significant holdout was Lame Deer's band of Miniconjous. Their village was attacked by Colonel Miles in May, 1877. Lame Deer was killed and much of their supplies destroyed and ponies captured. Those who escaped held out until September, 1877, when they finally surrendered. The US military was paranoid about Crazy Horse possibly turning hostile again, because he still commanded tremendous respect from the warriors. In September, 1877, he left the Pine Ridge agency to take his sick wife to her relatives at the nearby Rosebud agency. The authorities feared unjustifiably that he was going back on the warpath, and ordered his arrest. But he came in to Fort Robinson (in northen Nebraska) voluntarily to talk things over on September 5, 1877. The military tried to trick him into entering a guardhouse, with the aim of arresting him. He resisted and was grabbed on both arms to restrain him, and a soldier stabbed him with a bayonet. He died that night from the wound. Guardhouse and Monument on site where Crazy Horse was bayoneted at Fort Robinson, Neb. Sept. 5, 1877.    Photo taken by me. For excellent detail on Crazy Horse's life by Charles A. Eastman, at Glen Welker's site, click here: Crazy Horse Links to Glenn Welker's site, for more detail on two great Hunkpapa chiefs: Sitting Bull and Chief Gall. Dr. V. T. McGillycuddy was Assistant Post Surgeon at Fort Robinson when Crazy Horse was killed. In a 1930 letter, he says of Crazy Horse: "In him everything was made a second to patriotism and love of his people. Modest, fearless, a mystic, a believer in destiny, and much of a recluse, he was held in veneration and admiration by the younger warriors who would follow him anywhere...I could not but regard him as the greatest leader of his people in modern times." McGillycuddy was with Crazy Horse when he died the night of September 5, 1877: "...he struggled to arise, and there came from his lips his old rallying cry, "A good day to fight, a good day to die! Brave hearts...." and his voice ceased, the lights went out and the last sleep came. It was a scene never to be forgotten, an Indian epic." "A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky." The words of Crazy Horse -- As remembered by Ohiyesa (Charles A. Eastman). Black Elk (1863-1950). From Black Elk Speaks, as told to John G. Neihardt, Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1932. "Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being." Black Elk was a holy man of the Oglala Lakota Sioux. He was a visionary who believed that dreams were wiser than waking thoughts. In "Black Elk Speaks", he recounts his visions, and also his experiences. He was 13 years old in 1876, and fought in the Battle of the Rosebud and in the Battle of Little Big Horn. He traveled to London and met Queen Victoria in 1887. He also tells of his coming upon the aftermath of the massacre at Wounded Knee of 200-300 Miniconjous Sioux on Dec. 29, 1890 by the US military, after they had sought refuge with the Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation. "The sun was shining. But after the soldiers marched away from their dirty work, a heavy snow began to fall. The wind came up in the night. There was a big blizzard, and it grew very cold. The snow drifted deep in the crooked gulch, and it was one long grave of butchered women and children and babies, who had never done any harm and were only trying to run away."   from "Black Elk Speaks" Wounded Knee Memorial at Pine Ridge Reservation, SD Photo taken by me with 200 mm lens from outside memorial grounds. For detail on the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, click here: Wounded Knee Home Page. Another description, by Karen Strom: The Massacre at Wounded Knee. Many Horses, an Oglala medicine man, organized one of the Ghost Dances in 1890, which many of the Sioux believed would lead to the withdrawal of the US military and the reascendancy of the Plains Indian way of life. He subsequently had the wisdom to recognize this means would not succeed. He then tried to counsel his people to accept the new reality, while retaining their pride and dignity. Click here for an explanation by Karen Strom of the Ghost Dance. Online Sources: Charles Eastman's descriptions of chiefs at Glenn Welker's and Cheyenne's Lodge sites, from Project Gutenberg's Etext of "Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains" by Charles A. Eastman. / SD Dept. of Tourism / the Timeline (1795-1890) page by Karen M. Strom and other Strom links as shown / the "Events in the West" from the West Film Project site / Lakota Accounts of the Massacre at Wounded Knee, on the Archives of the West site / the Old West Legacy site / Sioux history timeline at The History Channel / the Nebraska Tourism Office / "The Condition of the Indian Tribes" (1867) Report of the Joint Special Committee of Congress / various other sources as noted by links / the electronic texts of the Treaties discussed above, at Lakota Information Home Page (Raymond Bucko) / the valuable Native Amer. Document Project of Cal. St. Univ. San Marcos, which is a source for many documents / legal opinions by US Supreme Court Justice Blackmun (1980) US Court of Claims, at Morning Star's site / National Archives and Records Administration / History of Red Cloud Indian School / Review of Red Cloud: Warrior-Statesman of the Lakota Sioux, by Robert W. Larson / The Fatal Fetterman Fight historical article by B.F. McCune & Louis Hart on the the historynet site / The Seven Council Fires of the Lakota / Where We Are Today (bands) / Letter (1930) of Dr. V.T. McGillycuddy / Eleanor Hinman 1930 interview with Short Buffalo, at Voices of the Wintercount. / Books: "A Sioux Chronicle", by George E. Hyde, 1956, Univ. of Okla. Press; "Red Cloud's Folk: A History of the Oglala Sioux Indians", by George E. Hyde, 1937 (1975 edition) Univ. of Okla. Press; "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown, 1970, Henry Holt Publisher; "Black Elk Speaks" by Black Elk - told to John G. Neihardt (1932), Bison Books, 1988 edition; "Slim Buttes, 1876", by Jerome A. Greene, 1982, Univ. of Okla. Press. "Death on the Prairie", by Paul I. Wellman, 1934, Univ. of Nebr. Press. "Oglala Religion", by William K. Powers, 1977, Univ. of Nebraska Press. "The Lance and the Shield - Life & Times of Sitting Bull", by Robert M. Utley, 1993, Ballantine Books. "Son of the Morning Star", Evan S. Connell, 1984, North Point Press, San Francisco. "Killing Custer", by James Welch with Paul Stekler, 1994, W. W. Norton & Co. "The Fighting Cheyennes", by George Bird Grinnell, 1915, (1971 edition, Univ. of Okla. Press). "Parading Through History: The Making of the Crow Nation in America, 1805-1933", by Frederick E. Hoxie, 1995, Cambridge Univ. Press. "The Plains Indians: a cultural & historical view of the North American Plains Tribes of the pre-reservation period", by Colin F. Taylor Ph.D, 1994, Random House. My comments are in my own words and reflect my opinion. If you wish to use portions of this history on your site, please put it in your own words. Some of my graphics, that I made myself, have been taken from my site for use on some other Lakota-related sites, without asking permission or giving credit. I would appreciate it if people who take things from my site would at least give credit for where they got them.    S. E. Schlarb