Source: James Donovan. A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn -
The Last Great Battle of the American West (2009).
The Last Great Battle of the American West (2009).
In June, 1866, a treaty was signed at Fort Laramie between the U.S. Government and Chief Spotted Tail, the Brule Sioux Chief. Chief Red Cloud (of the Oglala Sioux) and many other chiefs warned the U.S. Gov't what would happen if forts were built on the Bozeman Trail. In December, 1866, a large number of Sioux warriors descended on Fort Phil Kearny, and on 21 December, they lured Captain William J. Fetterman (with about 80 men, mostly raw recruits) out of the fort.
Fetterman had (supposedly) loudly boasted that he could defeat any number of Native warriors with only 80 men; he and all of his men were killed by the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors (to the U.S. Government, it was known as the Fetterman Massacre). Crazy Horse (Oglala Lakota) was the war chief that led Fetterman into the lethal trap; Crazy Horse's reputation as a warrior was so secure, he would drop back and let other warriors count coup.
Fetterman had (supposedly) loudly boasted that he could defeat any number of Native warriors with only 80 men; he and all of his men were killed by the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors (to the U.S. Government, it was known as the Fetterman Massacre). Crazy Horse (Oglala Lakota) was the war chief that led Fetterman into the lethal trap; Crazy Horse's reputation as a warrior was so secure, he would drop back and let other warriors count coup.
When news of the Fetterman Massacre reached the East, the clamor for retaliation reached a fever pitch. General William Tecumseh Sherman called for the extermination of Natives on the Great Plains, but President Andrew Johnson had other plans. Sherman was sent to negotiate another treaty at Fort Laramie in 1868 to find a solution to the violence. As a result of the treaty, many separate reservations were created; the idea of one big reservation (colony) was dead in the water. However, U.S. Government efforts to force Natives to assimilate (to become "white") intensified, in terms of education, agriculture, and culture.
In the treaty, the U.S. Government actually agreed to abandon all three forts on the Bozeman Trail, and to also concede the Powder River country to the Natives. Only when the three forts were destroyed, and the troops withdrawn, did Red Cloud sign the treaty . . . it was the only time Natives defeated the U.S. Government in a war.
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 created the Great Sioux Reservation west of the Missouri River in the Dakota Territory; even for the victorious Red Cloud, he and his people lived on a de facto reservation . . . the land that Red Cloud fought to defend would only be theirs temporarily.
The treaty stated that Natives could follow the buffalo if the animals were in such numbers to justify pursuit, but they couldn't occupy lands outside of the reservation area (General Sherman was advised that the buffalo wouldn't be in great numbers very much longer). The treaty even allowed the U.S. Government to build a railroad through the reservation to the Pacific Ocean. In only a few months after the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was signed, Sherman (largely on his own initiative) declared that any Natives that located outside of a reservation should be declared "hostile".
The treaty stated that Natives could follow the buffalo if the animals were in such numbers to justify pursuit, but they couldn't occupy lands outside of the reservation area (General Sherman was advised that the buffalo wouldn't be in great numbers very much longer). The treaty even allowed the U.S. Government to build a railroad through the reservation to the Pacific Ocean. In only a few months after the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 was signed, Sherman (largely on his own initiative) declared that any Natives that located outside of a reservation should be declared "hostile".
In December, 1868, the Washita Massacre (the U.S. Gov't called it a battle) and the subsequent roundup of warring Cheyenne secured the Southern Plains for white expansion and settlement. Very soon after his inauguration as President, Ulysses S. Grant halted U.S. Gov't hostilities in the Northern Plains as the first step towards his "Peace Policy". While assimilation to whites continued, he favored locating Native reservations further away from heavily trafficked / settled areas. The true essence of Grant's "Peace Policy" towards Natives was that he would try to conquer them nicely, with more kindness and less brute force than his predecessors.
The War Department disagreed with the President; the "kind treatment" was mostly followed on reservations, but they viewed "hostiles" in an entirely different light. The War Dept. assumed that the strategies and tactics used in the Southern Plains would translate to success in the Northern Plains . . . it would not turn out to be the case.
In 1871, a Congressional squabble led to legislation that actually forbid ratifying treaties with Natives. As a result, Grant used Executive Agreements as a substitute for negotiating treaties, and those Executive Agreements were then ratified by Congress. These agreements were treaties by another name (everyone involved understood), but ironically, the House of Representatives had more input with the actual negotiations under Grant's strategy.
The War Department disagreed with the President; the "kind treatment" was mostly followed on reservations, but they viewed "hostiles" in an entirely different light. The War Dept. assumed that the strategies and tactics used in the Southern Plains would translate to success in the Northern Plains . . . it would not turn out to be the case.
In 1871, a Congressional squabble led to legislation that actually forbid ratifying treaties with Natives. As a result, Grant used Executive Agreements as a substitute for negotiating treaties, and those Executive Agreements were then ratified by Congress. These agreements were treaties by another name (everyone involved understood), but ironically, the House of Representatives had more input with the actual negotiations under Grant's strategy.
Congress immediately classified Natives as wards, not a foreign sovereign power in the U.S. as stated in the Constitution. The U.S. Government would use that distinction in justifying its actions during the next several years. In the early-1870s, the Transcontinental Railroad was completed (it wasn't fully transcontinental until a major rail link was build in Colorado), the already-lacking supplies in terms of annuities on reservations were cut back further . . . and worse yet, the buffalo had largely vanished on the Great Plains (the major reason was sky-high demand for quality leather in Europe). More Natives retreated to the Powder River country; it was their only realistic course of action other than surrendering and going to a reservation.
The fuse to the Northern Plains powder keg was lit in the Black Hills region. Knowledge of gold in the Black Hills dated back to the early-1850s, but after the Panic of 1873 ushered in the worst economic depression in U.S. History (to that point), many men traveled to the region. This search for gold by these desperate men in the Black Hills would be backed-up by the presence of U.S. soldiers.
The fuse to the Northern Plains powder keg was lit in the Black Hills region. Knowledge of gold in the Black Hills dated back to the early-1850s, but after the Panic of 1873 ushered in the worst economic depression in U.S. History (to that point), many men traveled to the region. This search for gold by these desperate men in the Black Hills would be backed-up by the presence of U.S. soldiers.
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, the nation's favorite and most famous "Indian Fighter", led the Black Hills Expedition of 1874. Custer made sure that detailed dispatches were sent back East, chronicling what he saw and what he accomplished. Custer led the East to believe that there was "Gold in Them Thar Black Hills", and it resulted in the biggest gold rush since California (Below: the Black Hills Expedition of 1874).
In short order, over 10,000 gold mines were established in the Black Hills; there were too many rushing to the region for the Government to keep out illegal squatters; to the Lakota, all the whites in the Black Hills were illegal squatters. By tradition and treaty, the Black Hills belonged to the Lakota. Red Cloud and Spotted Tail made it clear that they (and other prominent chiefs) would not sell the region to the U.S. . . . Red Cloud and Spotted Tail were "summoned" to Washington, D.C. to negotiate terms for selling the land, but they adamantly refused to sign.
The U.S. Government then sent a commission to the Black Hills region to try and purchase the land, and over 5000 Lakotas met with them in Nebraska. The non-treaty faction of the Lakotas, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, stated that the Black Hills would be defended to the death. The commission barely escaped the area with their lives, and returned to Washington, D.C. in high dudgeon.
In short order, over 10,000 gold mines were established in the Black Hills; there were too many rushing to the region for the Government to keep out illegal squatters; to the Lakota, all the whites in the Black Hills were illegal squatters. By tradition and treaty, the Black Hills belonged to the Lakota. Red Cloud and Spotted Tail made it clear that they (and other prominent chiefs) would not sell the region to the U.S. . . . Red Cloud and Spotted Tail were "summoned" to Washington, D.C. to negotiate terms for selling the land, but they adamantly refused to sign.
The U.S. Government then sent a commission to the Black Hills region to try and purchase the land, and over 5000 Lakotas met with them in Nebraska. The non-treaty faction of the Lakotas, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, stated that the Black Hills would be defended to the death. The commission barely escaped the area with their lives, and returned to Washington, D.C. in high dudgeon.
President Grant was in a dilemma, in that what was good for the nation was expansion, but that expansion was in conflict with his "Peace Policy" towards Natives. On 3 November, 1875, Grant met with General Phil Sheridan and General George Crook
(pictured). After the meeting, Grant decided (it's more likely that he was convinced) to claim that the Sioux abrogated (broke) the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.
The U.S. Army had been waiting for any excuse to have all-out war in the Northern Plains against the "hostiles"; now the Army's hands had largely become untied . . . all that was needed was the requisite ultimatum. Generals Sherman and Sheridan ordered that any Natives that were not in a U.S. Government reservation by 31 January, 1876, would be officially classified as "hostile" to the U.S. Government. The timing and seasonal conditions made the deadline a practical impossibility to meet in any regard, and most (potentially "hostile") Lakotas (and other Natives) had no intention of going to a reservation anyway . . . so the deadline passed, and Natives outside of a reservation became classified as "hostile".
(pictured). After the meeting, Grant decided (it's more likely that he was convinced) to claim that the Sioux abrogated (broke) the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.
The U.S. Army had been waiting for any excuse to have all-out war in the Northern Plains against the "hostiles"; now the Army's hands had largely become untied . . . all that was needed was the requisite ultimatum. Generals Sherman and Sheridan ordered that any Natives that were not in a U.S. Government reservation by 31 January, 1876, would be officially classified as "hostile" to the U.S. Government. The timing and seasonal conditions made the deadline a practical impossibility to meet in any regard, and most (potentially "hostile") Lakotas (and other Natives) had no intention of going to a reservation anyway . . . so the deadline passed, and Natives outside of a reservation became classified as "hostile".
On 1 February, 1876, General Sheridan once again (as in 1868) envisioned a major Winter Campaign against the ("hostile") Natives. It was to be a 3-pronged attack designed to encircle, capture, and if necessary kill "hostiles". By this time, only a relatively few Native tribes in the Northern Plains stood against the U.S. Government: Over 3000 Lakotas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos (among them 800 warriors) refused to comply.
In opposition to these superb guerilla fighters, Sheridan could only muster 3000 soldiers in the Departments of the Dakota and the Platte. These soldiers were ill-equipped, poorly motivated, and most were malingerers, criminals, worthless "bounty jumpers" (those paid to join the army, and then ran away) . . . basically the scum of American society. To command this riff-raff, Sheridan called on a handful of Civil War officers that were vying for the few top-ranking positions in the shrunken post-Civil War Army. Among them were George Crook, Nelson Miles, John Pope, John Gibbon, Eugene Carr, Wesley Merritt, Ranald S. Mackenzie, and Sheridan's favorite attack dog, George Armstrong Custer (pictured, 1876).
In opposition to these superb guerilla fighters, Sheridan could only muster 3000 soldiers in the Departments of the Dakota and the Platte. These soldiers were ill-equipped, poorly motivated, and most were malingerers, criminals, worthless "bounty jumpers" (those paid to join the army, and then ran away) . . . basically the scum of American society. To command this riff-raff, Sheridan called on a handful of Civil War officers that were vying for the few top-ranking positions in the shrunken post-Civil War Army. Among them were George Crook, Nelson Miles, John Pope, John Gibbon, Eugene Carr, Wesley Merritt, Ranald S. Mackenzie, and Sheridan's favorite attack dog, George Armstrong Custer (pictured, 1876).
