The treaty of 1868 had guaranteed the Sioux and other tribes food and
supplies in exchange for lands ceded to the United States. The annuity
goods granted the Oglala Sioux by this treaty were issued at the Red
Cloud Agency which was located on the Platte River until 1873.[2]
In June 1873 approximately 13,000 Indians were present at Red Cloud
Agency to receive issue goods. There were 1,858 lodges, mostly of the
Oglala, Wajaja and other Sioux bands regularly supplied at Red Cloud,
but including 168 lodges of Cheyenne, 237 lodges of Arapaho, and another
262 lodges of Miniconjou and other northern Sioux.
Among the Indians living at the agency a small faction was friendly to
white men while the majority, depending upon the circumstances, wavered
between friendliness and hostility. There was also an openly hostile
faction consisting primarily of the northern Sioux, but Oglala warriors,
including the already famed Crazy Horse, were among the hostile war
parties pursued by cavalry patrols from nearby Fort Laramie.
The Platte River location of Red Cloud Agency was in the unceded hunting
territory defined by the treaty of 1868. Although the government desired
to relocate the agency on the permanent Dakota reservation, the Oglala
stubbornly refused to leave the Platte Valley.
During the summer of 1873, while the more recalcitrant Indians were off
on a buffalo hunt,[3] Indian Agent Daniels induced those remaining at
the agency to agree to move northward to a new site on the White River.
Such leaders as Sitting Bull of the South[4] were incensed at losing the
line of the Platte River but were unable to prevent it. The
accomplishment earned Daniels a promotion by the Episcopal Church, which
nominated agents under the Peace Policy, and Dr. J. J. Saville was
appointed as the new agent.
Dr. Saville arrived to assume his duties while the move was in progress.
During the summer and fall Saville was busy organizing his agency and
staff. He removed Jules Ecoffey as agency trader, giving the appointment
to his friend J. W. Dear. Construction contracts for buildings at the
new site were given to A. R. Appleton, Saville’s brother-in-law.
The summer and fall were relatively quiet at the agency, but winter
brought increasing problems for Saville. He was troubled particularly by
the hostile, northern Sioux who came to the agency for the winter. They
objected to his efforts to obtain an actual count of Indians present so
that issue supplies could be ordered.
On one occasion, when Saville rode out on a counting attempt, a group of
northern warriors led by Little Big Man and Pretty Bear surrounded him.
They forcibly returned him to his office, and there held an impromptu
court-martial which might have cost Saville his life had not Red Cloud
intervened. Undaunted by this experience, Saville gave a feast for the
Indian leaders at the agency on Christmas Day in another effort to gain
assent to the counting. At this meeting he found that not only the
northern Indians, but the chiefs he thought of as his supporters all
opposed the counting. Saville’s other troubles included the jealousies
of various chiefs and the overbearing attitude of the younger warriors
who raised trouble during the issue of beef, annoyed agency workmen, and
demanded payment for wood cut for use at the agency.
On another occasion a group of about three hundred warriors from Red
Cloud Agency threatened a group of cowboys returning to the Platte River
country to pick up a herd of cattle to be delivered to the agencies.
James H. Cook, one of the cowboy group, turned the potentially violent
meeting into a friendly encounter by convincing the war leader that an
attack on the cattlemen would have serious results. Such incidents,
although causing no direct harm, created tensions around the agency.
Saville’s problems were increased by government misunderstanding of the
complexities of social organization among the Indians at Red Cloud
Agency. Red Cloud, for whom the agency was named, was recognized by the
government as its chief, but after the Christmas feast Saville reported
to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that Old Man Afraid of His Horses
was both the leader of the sincerely peaceful faction and the legitimate
head chief recognized by the Oglala. In more than one desperate crisis
at the agency Red Cloud either refused to assist the agent or was
powerless to act. At such times Saville looked for aid from Old Man
Afraid of His Horses, his son Young Man Afraid of His Horses,[5] Sitting
Bull of the South, and other friendly Indians. The failure to make more
effective use of the political power and social control of the Indian
leaders was an important factor in prolonging difficulties at the
agency.
Military authorities, aware of the troubles at the agency, discussed
stationing troops there as early as mid-January, 1874. General Sheridan
opposed the move since he believed such an effort would result in open
war. He was also unwilling to dispatch troops until April or May because
of the severity of winter weather. Moreover, neither the agent nor the
Indian Bureau had yet requested military assistance.
Events in early February made military assistance necessary. A large
hostile war party in full regalia rode through the unfinished stockade
at Red Cloud Agency, shot out the windows, and left on a raiding
expedition. On February 6 teamster Edward Gray, headed for the agency
with freight, was killed by Indians on the Running Water (Niobrara
River). Three days later, on February 9, while Saville was at nearby
Spotted Tail Agency for a conference with Agent Howard regarding the
tense situation, Frank Appleton, acting agent at Red Cloud, was shot and
killed by a hostile Miniconjou warrior who had entered the agency. On
the same night fourteen mules were stolen from a government contractor
near the agency. The troubles were not confined to Red Cloud. The
Indians at Spotted Tail Agency drove off the beef herders there and did
their own issuing. An attempt to shoot Agent Howard was prevented by
Black Crow.
Saville reported Frank Appleton’s death and the departure of the large
war party to Colonel Smith at Fort Laramie, saying at the same time “I
do not anticipate any more trouble.”[6] His employees did not share his
optimism as shown by the agency physician, Dr. Grove, who took
Appleton’s body to Fort Laramie and declared his lack of desire to
return to Red Cloud to be “made a target of.”[7]
On February 9, the same day Frank Appleton was shot, the Army at Fort
Laramie experienced losses at the hands of hostiles from Red Cloud
Agency when a large war party ambushed Lt. Levi H. Robinson, Corporal
Coleman, and Private Noll. The three men had separated themselves from a
wood train and were attacked on Little Cottonwood Creek some twelve
miles east of Laramie Peak. Lieutenant Robinson and Corporal Coleman
were killed, but Private Noll managed to escape from the forty to fifty
hostile warriors.
J. W. Dear, the agency trader, reported the situation at the agency to
Colonel Smith, commander at Fort Laramie, and to Mr. Unthank, a personal
friend and the telegrapher at Fort Laramie. Dear said that the Indians
were all going about with guns loaded and bows strung, and even he dared
not go outdoors at night. The hostiles had established a war camp called
Soldiers Lodge up on the Powder River, and Sioux warriors were reported
raiding in every direction. It was clear that Red Cloud Agency had
become a virtual powder keg.
While Saville told Colonel Smith that he did not expect any more
trouble, he had taken steps to protect the agency. He had his men
complete the construction of the stockade and move the steam sawmill
inside to prevent its destruction. He also arranged for sufficient arms
for his men to protect the agency, and a group of Indian policemen led
by Pumpkin Seed was organized to help.