Journey to Pine Ridge, 1871 to 1900::

The Northern Indians: 1873 to 1874

The Red Cloud Agency was relocated even further north, to the White River in Nebraska, which was close to the Pine Ridge country and the Black Hills. For a long time the Sioux had tried to protect the Black Hills from white contact. The Hills lay in the heart of Sioux country. The move to White River brought whites ever closer to the sacred Black Hills.

By this time the country north of the Platte was full of new American settlers. The new Red Cloud Agency was closer to the Powder River camps of Oglala, and these Oglala (including Crazy Horse's warrior camp) often came to the new agency to protest against the white invasions of their country. Clearly this was not the response the Peace Policy people in the east expected, dreaming of a time when Indians could be turned into Christians, earning their living tilling the land.

The situation at Red Cloud was extremely volatile. The Powder River Sioux were frequently antagonistic toward the agency Sioux who, they thought, were too sympathetic to white demands. Word was sent to Fort Laramie. In 1874, General Smith marched his men from the fort. Warned of their approach, some Oglala, particularly the Powder River bands, wanted to fight. Others, particularly the agency Sioux, advocated peace. However, as the troops drew near, the Powder River Sioux, and many agency Indians, including Red Cloud, fled.

The western Sioux were making raids near the Platte River, and seizing control of the agencies. Fearing a fresh Indian war, US troops were sent out to the agencies. The government had established Red Cloud Agency with the hope that it and its rations would attract the wilder bands of Sioux who would eventually be lulled into settling down there, and thus withdraw the threat of a fresh war in the Powder River region. However, a US commission found that, though the new agencies were indeed attracting the 'hostiles' by their thousands, these Indians were doing little more than stirring up the agency Sioux and provoking serious trouble on the very edge of Nebraska and Wyoming white settlements.

At the same time, Custer and his Seventh Cavalry discovered gold in the Black Hills. Parties of prospectors at various towns on the Missouri River made plans to invade the Hills in Custer's wake, despite the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty which had promised that no white person would be able to enter into Sioux country, without the express permission of the Sioux.

The Sioux were outraged and called Custer 'the Chief of all the Thieves', and his trail 'the Thieves' Trail'. They threatened to attack all whites on their land. The northern Sioux returned to the agency in the fall of 1874, in extremely bad humour. Military troops were camping nearby.

But during this time, Red Cloud was having his own problems. He became increasingly demoralised at witnessing a greater submission among his people at the agency as they became more and more accustomed to government handouts and agency life. His people were steadily losing their older, wilder spirit and becoming more placated. They were also becoming less willing to follow his lead.

Lacking the support of this own people, Red Cloud complained to the troops of the poor conditions at the agency. He complained that the Indian agent was stealing from the Oglala, that the quality of rations was poor; that agency officials were committing fraud. The troops refused to make a report to Washington.

By the fall of 1875, all Sioux hunting rights south of the Platte had been sold. Whilst out on their last hunting expedition that winter, the Oglala and Brulé saw how depleted the buffalo stocks had become.

Next>>>>