| V. Native American Culture and the Black Hills 1876-1880 |
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| Red Cloud, 1875 (Neb. State Historical Society)
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In late 1876 the U.S. military occupied the Black Hills and forced the agency Indians (in Nebraska) to surrender. The U.S. government demanded that 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 moved to sign the 1876 Treaty to avoid mass starvation of their people. However, only 10% of the adult male Sioux signed the new agreement; 75% was the number required by the 1868 Treaty.
Congress enacted this faulty agreement into law in February 1877. This was, in effect, a one-sided amendment to the 1868 Treaty by the U.S. (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 U.S. taking the Black Hills in violation of the 1868 Treaty).
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 prairies nearer their home territory. They had little food and no defense, but they stood their ground.
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| Oglala delegation to Washington 1880 (Smithsonian)
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Finally, his people starving and with no hope of escaping the large military forces hemming him in, Crazy Horse surrendered in May of 1877.
The U.S. military was reported to be paranoid about Crazy Horse possibly turning hostile again; he still commanded tremendous respect from the warriors. In September of 1877 he left the Pine Ridge agency to take his sick wife to her relatives at the nearby Rosebud agency. The authorities feared that he was going back on the warpath and ordered his arrest. When he came in to Fort Robinson voluntarily to talk things over on September 5, 1877, military troops 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.
Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and other Indian leaders went to Washington in September of 1877, by invitation, and met with then President Rutherford B. Hayes. They actually obtained a promise from President 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 skillful handling of politicians, commissions, and of 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; it was the best the chiefs could do for their people, given the circumstances, and was a remarkable piece of statesmanship and leadership.
(Continue on to VI. Native American Culture and the Black Hills 1880-1890)
Go back to Part IV
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