User:CosmicPenguin/GreatSiouxWar/Great Sioux War of 1876-77

The Great Sioux War of 1876-77 (Also known as the Black Hills War or the Little Big Horn Campaign') was a series of conflicts between the Lakota (Sioux), their allies, and the United States between 1876 and 1877.

Background
The Lakota considered the Black Hills a sacred land, which they claimed as theirs since they had defeated the Cheyenne in 1776. The Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), following Red Cloud's War, excluded non-Indians from the Black Hills and established the area within the Great Sioux reservation. The United States had little interest in the area until the Custer Expedition of 1874 confirmed rumors of gold deposits in the region Prospectors motivated by the economic panic of 1873, began the Black Hills Gold Rush, in violation of the treaty and Federal law. Further tension resulted from the United States Army's inability to keep intruders out.

Launching the War
The failure of the Grant Administration to secure the Black Hills through diplomatic means prompted a different approach. In early November 1875, military officials met with President Ulysses S. Grant to discuss action against the bands of Lakota and Northern Cheyenne who had refused to come in to the agencies to live. An ultimatum was sent to these "hostiles" in December but insufficient time was allowed for a response or for any movements during deep winter. Orders were then issued to General George Crook, commander of the Department of the Platte, and General Alfred Terry, commander of the Department of Dakota, to launch winter campaigns against these bands. The army also stopped removing miners found in the Black Hills region, allowing them to begin to flood into the area in the spring of 1876 with the numbers ballooning to more then 10,000.

Battle of Powder River
While General Terry stalled, General Crook immediately launched the first strike. Dispatching Colonel Joseph J. Reynolds with six companies of cavalry, the soldiers were able to locate a village of Northern Cheyenne, with a few Oglala, and attacked on March 17, 1876 in what became known as Battle of Powder River. The troops were able to capture and burn the village but quickly retreated under enemy fire. Several soldiers were left on the battlefield, eventually leading to Colonel Reynolds' court martial. The pony herd was also captured, but many of these were retaken by the Indians the following day.

The Summer Expeditions
In the late spring of 1876, a much larger campaign was launched. From Fort Abraham Lincoln marched the Dakota Column, commanded by General Terry himself, with __ companies or about __ men including Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and his Seventh Cavalry. The Montana Column, commanded by Colonel Gibbon, departed Fort Ellis near Bozeman. Finally, the third column, commanded by General Crook departed Fort Fetterman heading north. The intent was for all three columns to converge on the Lakota hunting grounds simultaneously, pinning them between the approaching troops.

Battle of the Rosebud
General Crook's column was the first to make contact with the northern bands, fighting in the Battle of the Rosebud River on May 17, 1876. While Crook claimed a victory, most historians note that the Indians had checked his advance. General Crook remained in camp for several weeks awaiting reinforcements, essentially taking his column out of fight for a significant period of time.

Battle of the Little Bighorn
Custer and the Seventh Cavalry were ordered out from the main Dakota Column to scout the Rosebud and Big Horn River Valleys. On June 25, 1876, they encountered a very large village on the west bank of the Little Bighorn and were seriously beaten in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The survivors were rescued several days later and Terry's column headed east, chasing trails but unable to engage them in battle again.

Battle of Slim Buttes
Reinforced with the Fifth Cavalry, General Crook again took to the field. Hooking up briefly with General Terry, he soon moved out on his own again but without finding a large village. Running short on supplies, his column turned south and made their famous "Starvation March" to the mining settlements to find food. On September 9, 1876, an advance company from his column stumbled across a small village at Slim Buttes which they attacked and defeated. Crook's column reached Camp Robinson where it disbanded.

Crackdown at the Agencies
In the wake of Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn, the Army altered its tactics. Troop levels at the various agencies were increased and that fall, most of them were turned over to the Army to be operated. Horses and weapons belonging to the friendly bands at the agencies were seized, fearing they would be turned over to the northern bands. In October 1876, Red Cloud and Red Leaf's villages were surrounded, the leaders arrested and briefly confined. Leaders were held responsible for not turning in individuals who arrived in their camps from the "hostiles." Another commission was sent to the agencies and a new treaty giving away the Black Hills was signed.

Mackenzie's Campaign
Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie and his Fourth Cavalry were transferred to the Department of the Platte as part of a "troop surge" following the Little Bighorn. Stationed initially at Camp Robinson, they formed the core of the Powder River Expedition that departed in October 1876 to locate the northern villages. On November 25, 1876, his column discovered and defeated a village of Northern Cheyenne.

Miles' Campaigns
Another strategy of the Army was to place troops deep within the heartland of Lakota Territory. In the fall of 1876, Colonel Nelson A. Miles and his Fifth Infantry established Cantonment on Tongue River (later renamed Fort Keogh) from which he operated throughout the winter of 1876-77 against any "hostiles" he could find. In January 1877, he fought Crazy Horse and many other bands at the Battle of Wolf Mountain. In the months that followed, his troops fought the Lakota at Clear Creek, Spring Creek and Ash Creek. In May 1877, he was nearly killed during a skirmish with Lame Deer's band in the Battle of Muddy Creek. Miles' continuous campaigning pushed a number of the Northern Cheyenne and Lakota to either surrender or slip across the border into Canada.

Diplomatic Efforts
While military leaders began planning a spring campaign against the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne who had refused to come in, a number of diplomatic efforts were underway in an effort to end the war.

The George Sword Mission
As the winter wore on, rumors that the northern bands were interested in surrendering prompted the commanding officer at Camp Robinson to send out a peace delegation. About thirty young men, mostly Oglala and Northern Cheyenne, departed the Red Cloud Agency on January 16, 1877 to make the dangerous journey north. Among the most prominent members of this delegation was a young Oglala named Enemy Bait (better known later as George Sword). He was the son of the prominent headman Brave Bear. The delegation found Crazy Horse on the Powder River, but found no indication that he was prepared to surrender. Other Oglala camps nearby however were more willing to hear the message and to seriously consider surrendering at the agencies. In late February, part of the delegation continued on to find the Northern Cheyenne, delivering the same message.

The Spotted Tail Mission
The influential Brule headman Spotted Tail also agreed to lead a peace delegation out to meet with the "hostiles." Departing his agency on February 12, 1877 with perhaps two hundred people, Spotted Tail moved north along the eastern edge of the Black Hills. They soon found a large village of Minneconjou under Touch the Clouds near Short Pine Hills on the Little Missouri River who after several days of councils, agreed to go in and surrender at the Spotted Tail Agency. Spotted Tail's delegation continued on to the Little Powder River where they met with Minneconjou, Sans Arc, Oglala and a few Northern Cheyenne, including leaders such as Roman Nose, Black Shield, Lame Deer and Fast Bull. Most of these bands also agreed to go in to the Spotted Tail Agency to surrender. Crazy Horse was not in the camp but his father gave a horse to a member of the delegation as evidence that the great Oglala war leader was now ready to surrender.

The Johnny Brughier Mission
Not to be outdone by General Crook's diplomatic efforts from the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies, Colonel Miles also sent out a peace initiative from his Tongue River Cantonment. Scout Johnny Brughier, with two Cheyenne women captured earlier, was able to find the Northern Cheyenne village on the Little Bighorn where they met in councils for several days. His effort would lead to a large contingent of Northern Cheyenne eventually surrendering at the Tongue River Cantonment.

Red Cloud Mission
On April 13, a second delegation departed the Red Cloud Agency, lead by the noted Oglala leader Red Cloud, with nearly seventy other members of various bands. This delegation met Crazy Horse's people enroute to the agency to surrender and accompanied them most of the way in.

The Surrenders
The continuous military campaigns and the intensive diplomatic efforts finally began to yield results in the early spring of 1877 as large numbers of northern bands began to surrender. In April 1877, an aide of General Crook's wrote to a friend: "I am now fully satisfied that the great Sioux War is now ended and that we will have once more a chance to have peace." A large number of Northern Cheyenne, led by Dull Knife and Standing Elk, surrendered at the Red Cloud Agency on April 21, 1877. They were shipped to Indian Territory the following month. Touch the Clouds and Roman Nose arrived at the Spotted Tail Agency. Crazy Horse surrendered at Red Cloud on May 5.

Death of Crazy Horse
The famed Oglala leader Crazy Horse spent several months at the Red Cloud Agency amidst an environment of intense politics. Fearing that he was about to break away, the Army moved to surround his village and arrest the leader on September 4, 1877, but he slipped away to the Spotted Tail Agency. The following day, he was brought back to Camp Robinson with the promise that he could meet with the post commander to explain that he and his band had not intended to run. Tragically, Crazy Horse was instead taken to the guard house under arrest and was fatally bayonetted during his struggle to escape.

Flight to Canada
While many of the Lakota surrendered at the various agencies along the Missouri River or in northwestern Nebraska, a large contingent led by Sitting Bull fled across the international border into what is today Canada. General Terry was part of a delegation sent to negotatiate with the bands, hoping to persuade them to surrender and return to the U.S., but they refused. Not until the buffalo were seriously depleted and troubles began to surface with other native tribes in Canada did they finally return. Most of the Lakota surrendered in 1880-81 at Fort Keogh and Fort Buford, then transferred by steamboat to the Standing Rock Agency in the summer of 1881.

Conclusion
The Great Sioux War of 1876-77 contrasts sharply with the Bozeman War fought a decade earlier. During the 1860s, Lakota leaders enjoyed wide support from their bands for the fighting. In contrast, in 1876-77, nearly two-thirds of all Lakota had settled at Indian agencies to accept rations and did not actively support or participate in the fighting. These deep political divisions within the Lakota continued well into the early reservation period, effecting native politics for several decades afterward. The rise of the Ghost Dance in 1889-90 found a large majority of its followers among the non-agency bands who had fought in the Great Sioux War.