Indian Wars
The expansion on to the Eastern Montana plains coincided with the end of
the period in American history usually referred to as the Indian Wars. The so-called
Indian Wars were the end game of a historic pattern that began with the first European
settlers in the “New World”. ****“From Jamestown on, European colonization
steadily pushed Native American civilization to the interior of the continent.” ****
----The California Gold Rush added white settlement to the west coast,
effectively squeezing the Indian inhabitants on the Great Plains. It’s not surprising
that when the dislocation continued it led to conflict. The 1860’s and 70’s are
considered the time frame for the Indian Wars (although fighting had been going on
since the early 17th century), and Montana plays a big part in that sad tale.
Federal Government
Federal policy regarding Native Americans vacillated through the first century and a
half of U.S. history, affecting Montana’s Indians along the way. Beginning in the
1830’s, the plan to place Indians on reservations turned modern day Oklahoma
into “Indian Territory”.
-------At first, reservations lands were held commonly by each tribe based on separate
treaties signed with the U.S. government. This remained national policy for five
decades. In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Severalty Act, which was intended to
create private ownership of that acreage.
Also known as the “Allotment Act”, it provided individuals with a specified
amount of land that varied from 40 to 160 acres depending on usage. (Surplus lands
were then sold off, usually to white settlers, and usually at bargain prices.) Also, after
twenty five years, the private Indian land could be sold, which often was the case.
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act fell in line with the second phase of U.S. policy, known as
assimilation (boarding schools were the cultural component of assimilation).
In 1924, the Snyder Act granted citizenship to all Native Americans, and in 1934
Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act, also known as the Indian New
Deal. >>>>> This began the period autonomy whereby Indians were given
sovereignty over their reservation lands.
{Tribal governments, including courts, were set up and jurisdiction on Indian land became a joint
deal between federal and tribal groups. It’s confusing, but even today there is an overlap between
these jurisdictions.}
Fort Laramie
In 1851 the Treaty of Fort Laramie established the Pine Ridge Reservation.
*****Centered in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the reservation extended through
parts of Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and North Dakota. During the 1860’s,
fighting broke out on several occasions between Whites and Natives in Colorado,
Wyoming, and Montana. “Both sides engaged in brutal attacks and retaliation upon
each other.”
Some noteworthy incidents included;
 Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado 1864 that accounted for the death of over
500 Indians,
 Fetterman Massacre in Wyoming in 1866 when nearly 100 Whites were killed,
 Marias Massacre in January of 1870. (Detailed Below)
~At the Marias River that winter day, Colonel Eugene Baker stormed a friendly
Blackfeet village while searching a band of warring Indians. (Baker ordered the attack
even though he was informed by scouts that the encampment was friendly.)
---Chief Heavy Runner was one of the first to die in the assault that killed between
150 and 200 Natives. Survivors struggled through the snow and ice to reach Fort
Benton, some 90 miles distant.
The Blackfeet Tribe, once the feared controllers of Central Montana had been
decimated by diseases in the preceding decades. Smallpox ravaged their villages in
waves beginning in 1845. Subsequent outbreaks of pox as well as measles reduced
Blackfeet strength to a fraction of its former level.
Red Cloud’s War
The 1851 treaty provided peace at Pine Ridge for a time, but white encroachment
along the Bozeman Trail (an offshoot of the Oregon Trail) toward the Montana gold
fields resulted in war. The biggest reason for this outside pressure was the discovery
of gold in southwestern Montana. Known as Red Cloud’s War, this conflict lasted
from 1866-68 and represented the most successful effort of Native Americans against
the industrialized U.S. Army. After the war, the Bozeman Trail was closed and
Indian land rights were guaranteed (although a much smaller area) by a second peace
accord (the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868).
Black Hills
The Natives were in a tough spot. Reservation life didn’t suit Indian cultural
traditions, and the corrupt BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) did not provide the support
promised in the agreements. ***** However, the old way of life was growing impossible
in the late 19th Century…Railroads were dissecting the plains and the old hunting
grounds, and the great bison herds were disappearing.
-----In 1874 gold was discovered the Black Hills and the rush was on. The United
States government didn’t really even try to prevent this violation of sovereign Indian
land, and in 1875 a couple thousand Natives left the Pine Hills Reservation.
The membership included:
 Lakota Sioux
 Northern Cheyenne
 Some 500 Arapahoe
“The United States Army sent an expedition to return the Natives to the reservation
in what is called the Great Sioux War (also known as the Black Hills War of 1876-77).”
~The object was to round up the Indians and return them to Pine Ridge. The overall
plan of attack called for three columns to converge on the hostiles in Southeastern
Montana.
The men in charge were:
 General Alfred Terry (directly in charge of approximately 1,000 men), who
commanded a force moving west from Fort Abraham Lincoln in North
Dakota
(Custer’s 7th Cavalry was part of this outfit)
 Colonel John Gibbon, leading about 600 men west from Fort Ellis (by
Bozeman)
 General George Crook, marching north from Fort Fetterman in Eastern
Wyoming with nearly 1,000 troops under his command.
Great Sioux War
Cause, Course, & Consequence
As is often the case, the grand strategy failed to survive to the battlefield.
First, Crook’s column was intercepted and defeated at the Battle of Rosebud Creek
on June 17th, 1876. Crook retreated back to Fort Fetterman and provided no
support in the events to follow. ~~~~Meanwhile, Terry sent Colonel George
Armstrong Custer south with orders to engage the Indians with his 7th cavalry only
after Gibbon arrived with infantry from the west.
However, Custer attacked before Gibbon’s arrival and disaster
followed for him and his men. Custer was badly outnumbered and
outgunned and the inevitable result was the annihilation of his entire
command.
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn (known by the Natives as the Battle of Greasy Grass
Creek) took place near modern day Hardin on June 25th, 1876. Numbers are
difficult to verify, but probably about 2,000 Sioux and Crow Indians led by Chief’s
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, plus many more women and children were encamped
on Little Bighorn Creek when U.S. troops approached. Custer split his command of
almost 600 men into three groups. The men in charge of the other units were
captain’s Marcus Reno and William Benteen.
Custer was actually afraid that he would be unable to corner the Indians and
force a fight, so he developed a bold plan of attack. Reno’s company attacked first, but
they were almost immediately overrun. He was forced to retreat, finding aid from
Benteen’s men. >>>>>>Custer moved into attacking position with 210 men.
-------Debate continues to this day as to the exact order of battle, but it is clear that
Custer’s command was wildly outnumbered. The troops ended up being split into
several groups and were killed to a man in a very short engagement lasting little more
than twenty minutes. Reno and Benteen were able to escape with some survivors
after a fighting, two-day retreat. The 7th Cavalry lost almost 300 men, while
estimates of Indian vary from around 50 to 150.
The battle offers a footnote to U.S. history. When the dust cleared, only one
wounded horse, Comanche, stood as witness to Custer’s slaughter, and
Comanche wasn’t talking. Comanche was billed as the lone survivor of the Little
Bighorn, and was shipped around the country for parades and public events.
---- (Other animals actually lived through the event, but the Indians stole the healthy animals and the
legend of Comanche grew.)
~~~~Legend has it that the horse developed a taste for beer, and his handlers
obliged him with an occasional draft. Upon his death in 1890, Comanche was
accorded full military honors before being stuffed and put on display at the
University of Kansas, where he resides today. *** Johnny Horton immortalized
the famed steed in his song “Comanche”…
Changing World
(Crazy Horse & Sitting Bull)
---Victory at the Little Bighorn was a great triumph for the Natives, but it also was
the beginning of the end for the short lived rebellion. The United States Army beefed
up their response and pursued the tribes with heavy firepower and forced them back
onto the reservation within a year.
~Crazy Horse surrendered in 1877 after eluding U.S. forces for a time in South
Dakota and Nebraska.
Fighting a series of skirmishes that included:
(*The Battle of Slim Butte and Wolf Mountain)
----After being held for a few weeks, Crazy Horse was being moved from one holding
area to another. A struggle broke out, and he was killed on September 5th, 1877.
“After the fight at the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull made his way north to
Saskatchewan in 1877 to avoid reprisal from the cavalry.”
---In 1881, near starvation forced Sitting Bull to lay down his arms and return to the
states. The tribe went to Pine Ridge after the five year hiatus. Sitting Bull joined Bill
“Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Show and was one of the big attractions for a few
months. He quit the show, but in his travels he saw clearly the technological
advantages possessed by the Whites and knew resistance was futile. His death in
1890 was part of the end of the Indian Wars as a period in U.S. history.
Chief Joseph
A year after Custer’s demise, another uprising continued to show the pattern of White
expansion in the West. It started in Washington, and ended in the Bear’s Paw
Mountains just south of Havre. The Nez Perce Tribe, led by Chief Joseph the
Younger, had long been a powerful presence along the Snake and Columbia Rivers
west of the Rockies. ******After a local fight between soldiers and tribal members in
which four cavalry men Chief Joseph knew that army retaliation would be harsh.******
-----The zigzagging tribe was pursued from Eastern Washington to Montana in an
incredible three month, 1700 mile journey.
The Nez Perce, 800 strong including warriors, women, and children fought a
retreating action against U.S. Cavalry led by General Oliver Howard. The tribe was
doggedly pursued through Idaho into Western Montana, back into Southern Idaho,
through Yellowstone Park back into Montana. The most noteworthy battle along the
way was an Indian victory fought at the Big Hole River.
*****Chief Joseph’s goal was Canada to get beyond the reach of U.S. troops. *****
The Nez Perce were exhausted when they reached the Bear’s Paw Mountains
south of Havre (some Indian lore holds that they were actually in Canada). The cavalry caught
up with the tribe, and a brief battle ensued. Rather than attempt a break-out, Chief
Joseph surrendered his force on October 5th, 1877, and acceded to life on the
reservation, uttering his now famous lines “…I am tired; my heart is sick and
sad. From where the sun now stands I shall fight no more forever.”
After surrendering, the Nez Perce were removed to Indian Territory in
Oklahoma, but Chief Joseph appealed directly to the federal government and
convinced them to allow the tribe to return to a reservation nearer their ancestral
homeland. The modern day Nez Perce tribe is one of the 12 Confederated
Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington.
Ghost Dance
After a decade of quiet times between Indians and Whites, 1890 marked the
end of the tale. Trouble stirred after reservation lands were reduced in size, and many
Natives began the ancient practice of the “Ghost Dance”.
-----The Ghost Dance was a form of ancestor worship as the Natives tried to
renew connections to their past way of life, but U.S. officials interpreted this as a
hostile act. *****An order was given to arrest Sitting Bull, but a scuffle ensued and
Sitting Bull was shot and killed. The tension erupted into gunfire about two weeks
later and members of the reconstituted 7th Cavalry opened fire on an encampment of
Sioux at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Two hundred
Indians perished in the winter snows, and never again would the Indians resist the
reservation system.
Reservation Life
After Wounded Knee, Native Americans in Montana, and the U.S. as well were
confined to reservations or attempted to assimilate into urban populations. Northern
population centers like Minneapolis and Seattle became gathering areas for many
urban Indians while life on the reservations evolved. The United States
government created a system of Catholic run boarding schools from 1870-1928
with the goal of civilizing the Indian population.
The quote from the time was: “Kill the savage; save the man.”
-----Some view the boarding school system as an effort at cultural genocide. Indian
children were removed from their homes, forbidden to speak their native
tongue or practice their old religion. ------
****Some of the old languages barely survive today while some have been lost forever.
A bright tale from Montana’s boarding school experience took place in 1904. ****
The Fort Shaw Boarding School girl’s basketball team traveled to St. Louis
and captured a world basketball championship. A good read on the story is in “Shoot,
Minnie, Shoot” by Happy Jack Feder.
Basketball Culture
“Basketball is a modern legacy of the reservations.”
Any Montana high school basketball fan worth his or her salt recognizes the
contribution of Indians to the sport. Indian style basketball is a thing to behold,
played at a pace and with an intensity that is difficult for most teams to match.
Legendary school boy players from the reservations include names like:
 Larry Pretty Weasel
 Willie Weeks
 Donny Wetzel
 Rodney Plenty Hawk
 Tony plumage
 Elvis Old Bull
 Barney Smart Enemy
 Jonathon Takes Enemy
 Mike Chavez
 A.J. Long Soldier
>>>>In general, success has been limited to the high school level as experience has shown that it is extremely
difficult for a native player to make the adjustment to college hoops. Only a few of the many great players have
enjoyed successful collegiate careers.
Reservations today house community colleges, cultural centers,
medical facilities, and high schools. Modern Montana’s seven Indian reservations
house about 34,000 inhabitants from the States 12 recognized tribes.
-The list of reservations, tribes and year founded:
~Flathead Reservation (Salish, Kootenai, Pend d’Oreilles-1855),
~Blackfeet (Blackfeet-1851),
~Rocky Boy (Chippewa and Cree-1916),
~Fort Belknap (Gros Ventres-1888),
~Fort Peck (Assiniboine and Lakota Sioux-1888),
~Crow (Crow-1851)
~Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne-1884).
“The federal government has not recognized the Little Shell Tribe, but they have
received state recognition.” Centered in Great Falls, the Little Shell Tribe is trying to
purchase land to create their own reservation. Montana’s Indian population,
which fell dramatically over the course of a century, is now the largest growing sector of
the state’s populous. However, economic conditions on the reservations are
generally considered awful, and modern Indians are plagued by unemployment,
substance abuse, and broken families.
Great Plains Cultures
Vast territory between the Rockies and the Mississippi River, from Canadian prairies to
Texas, populated by dozens of Native groups, such as Sioux, Crow, Mandan, Hidatsa,
Blackfeet, Comanche, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Arikara, Pawnee, all of which divided into
numerous subgroups.
The Sioux
Dakota, Nakota and Lakota: 5,000 1804, 25,000 by 1850
- Initially 7 divisions, Council Fires
- 4 Dakota: Mdewakanton (People of Spirit Lake), Wahpekute (Shooters among the
Leaves), Wahpetonwan (Dwellers among the Leaves) and Sisitonwan (People of the
Swamp)
- 2 Nakota: Ihanktonwan (Campers at the End), Ihanktonwanna (Little Campers at
the End) and later also Assiniboines (Cook with Stones)
- 1 Lakota, which in itself divided into 7 major bands: Sicangu (Burnt Thighs),
Oohenunpa (Two Kettles), Itazipacola (Without Bows or Sans Arcs), Miniconjou
(Planters by the Water), Sihasapa (Black Feet) Hunkpapa (End of the Horn or
Entrance) and Oglala (Scatter Their Own)
- Always in communication with each other; while autonomous, dependent on each
other
- Black Hills a sacred place, and in oral tradition the place of origin
The Blackfoot
Extend from northern Alberta to central Montana
- Confederacy initially included the Blood, the Piegan, the Siksika and the Small Robes
(later exterminated by small pox and warfare)
- call themselves: Pikuni or Niitsitapi
- People of the bison from the beginning – go back at least 1,000 years
The Comanche
(Held an important strategic and trade location between Spain/Mexico, many Native
groups and U.S. in the Arkansas River Valley.)
- Controlled the region from 1740s to 1830
- Forcefully entered existing trade routes
- had guns unlike Pueblos, whose trade they intercepted, since the Spanish refused to
sell weapons to Natives
- New Mexico depended on their trade until U.S. presence stronger and Santa Fe
Trail opened
- Gift-giving crucial in maintaining trade connections
U.S. expansion and Indian expansion are linked
The Sioux were moving to the Great Plains in 1700s as U.S. pop. pushed them out from
the Great Lakes region
- the Sioux displaced other Indians only to be displaced by U.S. later
Diffusion of three frontiers: the horse, the gun and the disease – this
severely altered the lifestyles of the Plains Native groups.
- Horse frontier spread ahead of whites from Southwest
- Gun frontier moved in the opposite direction
- These two frontiers met in the Plains by mid-18th century
- Acquisition of horse revolutionized bison hunting, further revolutionized by
guns
- Guns made Plains a more hotly contested territory, and violent – Sioux would
dominate as got the guns first
- The Sioux moved from the Prairie region (Great Lakes) to supply Europeans with
beaver pelts
- The Sioux advance only stopped by powerful Mandans and Arikaras
- Sioux also faced diseases earlier – got better immunity – got dominant again, as
horticultural, more sedentary tribes, such as Mandans devastated by smallpox 183839
1803 Louisiana Purchase
Fundamentally important for U.S. and Native history - U.S. gained immense amounts
of land from France - which Natives occupied the land ignored by both.
- Pres. Jefferson assigned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with an expedition
- To find a passage to the Pacific Ocean
- To study flora and fauna
- set up relations with Natives, how many tribes, friendly or not etc.
Jefferson’s vision that of yeoman farmers, who would fill the West with self-sufficient
communities under U.S. flag – “the Empire of Liberty” - expansion of U.S. style
democracy bound to clash with Natives and their democracies.
Jefferson was not clear on what to do with Natives - inconsistency typical of a slave
owner who advocated freedom and democracy.
- Jefferson did propose Native removal west of Mississippi, but what then??
Oregon Trail: Through Plains Native territory
At times, a busy “highway” with constant wagon traffic
- Settlers hunted for food and sport + scared game away = conflict with Indians
- Settlers’ cattle strayed to Indian forage + food fields - conflict
- Indians demanded compensation/toll
- Violent conflicts - settlers asked government help
- Settlers often helped by Indians as knew the trails - Indian threat wildly exaggerated most conflicts caused by settlers
Result:
Treaties + Wars
1851 Fort Laramie Treaty
Between U.S. and 10,000 Northern Plains Natives:
- peace to guarantee safety for settlers on Oregon Trail, $150,000 for tribes for 50
years, Senate changed to 10 yrs.
- Only a short peace as pressure on lands continued
Government initiative to settle the Great Plains
Homestead Act 1862: 160 acres of free land, if you occupy it for 5 years
- Added pressure to make treaties and chop off Native land
- Tribal response to defend their lands: period of U.S.-Indian Wars
The Dakota revolted in Minnesota 1862 for U.S. failed to honor the 1851 treaty and
neglected to supply with promised goods
- At the same time, harvest was poor
- Dakotas were split – many friends with white settlers
- targeted whites who had forced the eviction of Dakotas, which is vivid in the Dakota
oral history
- Most were evicted to South Dakota and Nebraska to barren reservations, where many
suffered
Southern Cheyenne
Sand Creek Massacre 1864
- Perhaps the most outrageous racial extermination in U.S.
- Black Kettle’s band was peaceful
- Colorado volunteers under Lt. Col. John Chivington wiped out 150 men, women and
children (“Nits make Lice”)
- Supported by CO governor, who wanted Natives removed for white settlers – Dog
Soldiers had been harassing whites
- Outrage in east - U.S. Congress investigated - part of the reason for Peace Policy
The Sioux and the Black Hills
Bozeman Trail mid-1860s through Lakota lands to Montana mining fields against 1851
treaty provisions, U.S. constructed forts, which led to the Red Cloud War.
1868 Fort Laramie Treaty to end hostilities between settlers and Indians
- Government promised the Sioux control of the Black Hills
- Peace short-lasting: gold found in Black Hills - miners rushed in
- Treaty not signed by all Sioux: Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota military, political and
religious leader - most respected among the Lakotas - and Crazy Horse, Oglala Lakota
military leader, refused to sign - wanted to preserve Lakota independence and way of
life - former chief resister Red Cloud signed
- Last major treaty between Natives and U.S.
- Cavalry expedition found gold in 1874, settlers and miners not to be kept out
June 25, 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn:
(G.A. Custer and 7. Cavalry
brigade destroyed by the Lakotas led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Gall)
- Telegram arrived in Washington on July 4, 1876 centennial celebration
- All Sioux chased down, Crazy Horse killed and Sitting Bull escaped to Canada,
surrendered 1881
The Great Sioux Reservation split to 6 smaller rez. 1888
- led to Ghost Dance
Settlement and RR s meant end to nomadic Native
lifestyle:
(Game decreased, buffalo gone, treaty annuities sporadic.)
The remaining free tribes forced to reservations, followed by allotment of tribal lands.
- based on the same philosophy as reservation policy: Private land ownership
encourages thrift, civilizes and assimilates
- Ultimate goal to abolish reservations as unnecessary - encouraged dependence
In the time of crisis, vision of Ghost Dance spreading: return of the buffalo, exit of the
white man.
- Military feared another uprising - arrested Sitting Bull, who got killed
- Rest of Lakota’s to be disarmed - last “battle” at Wounded Knee Dec. 1890 by 7th
Cavalry
1890 Natives subdued, frontier closed - U.S. westward movement had populated all
regions of the nation fulfilling Jefferson’s vision.