A Doomed Plains' Peace

As a result of the Great Pow-Wow of 1851, the Indians of the Plains would no longer be permitted to range far and freely in pursuit of buffalo.  Instead they would be hemmed into specific areas where the government would force them to give up their land bit by bit.  They would be forced to subsist on government handouts or become farmers.  Days after Colonel Mitchell's speech,  the tribal chiefs agreed to the government's demands,  and on September 17th a primary chief from each tribe made his mark on the treaty the white man had drawn up.  It was a sad day for the Indian, although they didn't know it yet.

Many looked upon the treaty at Horse Creek as the beginning of a new era of harmony in the Plains.  Congress, however, immediately reduced the number of years that the Indians would receive the government stipend.  The tribes were forced to compete among themselves for hunting grounds with the declining number of buffalo. 

Indian Agent, Thomas Fitzpatrick wrote in 1853, just two years after the treaty...
"they are in abject want of food half the year,  the travel on the roads drives the buffalo off or confines them to a narrow path during the period of emigration and the different tribes are forced to contend with hostile nations.  Their women are pinched with want and their children constantly crying with hunger."

Clearly something was bound to happen.  In 1854 a minor incident set off the powder keg.  A pioneer traveling the Oregon Trail lost a cow which a young Sioux found and butchered for food.  The owner demanded $25 payment, the Sioux offered $10.  A young lieutenant at Fort Laramie nearby, John L. Grattan, was eager for glory and had little love for Indians.  He persuaded his commanding officer to let him lead a group of 30 troopers to the Sioux camp to arrest the " cow thief". When the Sioux didn't cooperate, Grattan opened fire and killed the Sioux chief.  The Indians, enraged and betrayed, surrounded the white group and killed every one of the 30 men.

The peace of the Plains was broken...

Next time...The Indian Agent
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On September 28, 1542, the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay while searching for the Strait of Anian, a mythical all-water route across North America.  Though San Diego Bay–as well as all the other inlets he subsequently explored–never led to the mythic Strait of Anian, Cabrillo did succeed in mapping many of the most important features of the California coast, though he missed discovering San Francisco Bay.

Was Sitting Bull the Sioux that Killed Custer?

Sitting Bull, the great Sioux warrior chief and holy man, led his band, the Hunkpapa as the first chief to be elected to represent all the free roaming Sioux (Teton Sioux).  He was also America's whipping boy for the debacle at Little Big Horn when the American people needed to know how an "ignorant Indian defeated West Point's greatest general"...neve mind that Custer graduated last in his class at West Point...Maybe Sitting Bull attended West Point incognito and learned military tactics that allowed him to outwit the U.S. Army?  Or he may have been trained in Europe for heaven's sake!  Stories circulated that Sitting Bull even learned to not only read and write English, but French and Latin as well as people tried to justify the 7th Calvary's defeat at the hands of the Sioux Indians.

Other legends claim he never fought at all - that he was hung over, scared and hid out rather that fought.  Rumor was that he gathered his wife and children and was found hiding 10 miles away only to return when he was told "Long Hair" (Custer) was dead.  After 100+ years of fiction, exaggerations and lies, the facts about the great Sioux chief are coming forward, but it took 100 years to get past the hatred, prejudice and blame to get there...

Sitting Bull considered himself his people's shield and protector.  To be a warrior and chief to the degree that Sitting Bull was required bravery, fortitude, generosity and wisdom.  His battle records are legendary.  He cared for other tribes who were destitute and staving, providing food and shelter within his own tribe.  Sitting Bull fought unceasingly for his homeland and was dedicated to preserving traditional Sioux way of life.

At the time of the battle of Little Big Horn, the Indian nations were gathered for their annual celebrations and reunion, including the Sun Dance.  Over 7000 people, including 2000 warriors were gathered together - something the Calvary never counted on.  Sitting Bull knew the whites (wischus) were coming and prayed, fasted and submitted to traditional rituals appropriate for a Sioux chief/holy man. 

Was he actually the Sioux that killed Custer?  As a holy man and leader of his people, he would have been deemed to important to lose in battle.  Yes, he probably was at the forefront from time to time encouraging his warriors, but his duty was to pray, and protect the women and children.  After the battle it was his duty to remind his men that honorable warriors did not loot or mutilate bodies - but his words were never followed sadly.

So he most likely wasn't Custer's killer but he wasn't the "Villain of the Plains" as the American press made him out to be.  After being hounded and starved, after taking his people to Canada for four years, Sitting Bull was the last of the Sioux chiefs to surrender in 1881.  He was held as a prisoner at Fort Randall for two years before returning to a reservation. 

The white man never broke Sitting Bull the man.  He was still standing for his people until he was murdered just before Wounded Knee.  Sitting Bull remains a legend as one of the greatest chief's in the America's history.  Too bad we never gave him the respect he deserved.

Next time...Mountains Meadows Massacre

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On This History: 
On April 9, 1881, Billy the Kid is found guilty of murdering the Lincoln County, New Mexico sheriff and is sentenced to hang after a day long trial.  

In the Black Hills of Dakota...

In the Black Hills of Dakota there lived a young boy named Rocky Racoon....oops that isn't right :)

The "Gold Rush" of the Black Hills of Dakota is a different story altogether from those of California and Nevada. Set in Sioux Indian territory, it was a secret that lasted an entire generation.

Back in 1848, Father DeSmet warned the Sioux that if the "white man found out about the yellow metal" in the Black Hills, the Indians would "lose their hunting grounds".  Six years later, Sir Gore (famed and wealthy British hunter) discovered that same yellow metal.  Since Gore was already rich and much more interested in hunting game than gold, he remembered the warning of gold discovery sacrificing his sacred hunting grounds.   So he simply gathered his expedition together and left before it became an issue with his men, taking the secret of the Black Hills gold with him back to merry 'ole England.

During the 1850s and 60s small frontier groups of settlers were successful in finding sizable quantities of gold in the Black Hills but for some reason not found in any other gold rush history, the secret carried only a few miles - leaving Dakota's Sioux annd the Great Manitou alone for over 20 years.

The US Government actually signed a treaty that declared the Black Hills holy and sacred land to the Indian tribes forever...sigh. Why is history full of treaties like this that no one ever meant? 

Next time...the secret gets out and the government plays dumb once again.