Although the United States Government had maintained frontier forts,
it was forced finally to undertake important aggressive campaigns
against the Indians. The white settlements encroached more and more
on the Indian territory, and the red man seeing nothing ahead but the
destruction of his cherished hunting grounds by these intruders, aimed
to destroy every white man he saw, but inch by inch the savages were
crowded back from the land that was rightfully theirs into a cramped
and limited area.
[Illustration: SITTING BULL]
The Indian knew no law but that of simple justice, and in his dealings
he had always wanted to be honest. On every hand, however, he now met
cruelty, dishonesty and broken faith, and he learned to think of the
white man as a terrible crushing power fit only to be done away with,
and this finally became the keynote of his existence.
In 1862 there was an outbreak of the powerful Sioux tribes due directly
to the failure of our government to keep its pledges to the Indians,
who were depending upon the promised money due them in payment for
their land. They were aroused to a sense of this injustice by an actual
want of the necessities of life, for robbed of his hunting and fishing
ground, the Indian knew no way to get a living. Some say that he should
have tilled the soil like the white man, but it must not be forgotten
that having lived for centuries in a savage state, he was not fitted to
meet the demands of civilization.
The great Civil War was raging and draining the country of its fighting
men. Knowing only one way to right their wrongs, the Indians seized
this unique opportunity and on the morning of August 18th, 1862, a
party of one hundred and fifty Sioux, under Chief Little Crow, began a
massacre of the white settlers on both sides of the Minnesota River.
For three weeks the Indians had their own way, meeting with no strong
resistance, most of the men then serving in the Union Army. Finally
the government assembled a force large enough to resist the savages
successfully and put down the uprising. But this was only temporary
peace, for the Indians were very persistent. One Indian war after
another was fought until the government forces became strong enough to
maintain obedience from the red man.
One of the most disastrous of the battles in the West was that which
took place after General Sheridan ordered the Sioux and Northern
Cheyenne tribes to give up their hunting grounds, and to go upon a
reservation. This did not please the Indians. They stood firmly for
their rights and another Sioux war resulted.
Three columns of troops under Generals Crook, Terry and Custer were
sent out in May, 1876. But after a fierce but indecisive fight between
Crook and the Sioux, the soldiers fell back to Tongue River.
Sitting Bull was the Indian leader at this time, and his warriors were
stationed between the head waters of the Rosebud and the Big Horn
rivers. Into this section Custer and his gallant troops marched.
[Illustration: A U.S. TROOPER ON THE TRAIL]
With Sitting Bull was another noted chief, Crazy Horse, and both were
very hostile to the whites. Other discontented tribes drifted to their
camps and swelled the force to a very large number. They occupied
a position of great advantage near the head of the Yellowstone,
surrounded by the “bad lands,” a tract most difficult to travel because
there was but little water for the troops and horses. Besides the
Indians were well located at about an equal distance from the Indian
agencies, from which they were annually supplied by the government with
the best of arms and ammunition according to treaty agreements.
Sitting Bull was a heavily built Indian with an extremely large and
handsome head, and unlike most Indians, his hair was brown. He had a
forceful mind, with a genius for war, and was extremely heroic. The
order requiring him to go on the reservation was in violation of a
treaty made between his tribe and the United States authorities, and
the attempt to force it was a national disgrace, proving how unfairly
we treated the Indian. Soon after the battles with General Crook,
Sitting Bull said to General Miles, who commanded the western troops,
“I want peace, but if the troops come out I will fight them. I want to
hunt buffalo and to trade. I don’t want rations and money. I want to
live like an Indian.”
In accordance with government orders, General Custer set out on the
twenty-third of June with the Seventh Cavalry, to follow the Indian
trail up the Rosebud River. After three days they found themselves in
the valley of the Little Big Horn River, close to the hostile tribes.
The command was divided into three detachments--one led by Custer,
one by Major Reno, and a third by Captain Benteen. In attacking the
Indian village it was planned that Reno was to take the upper section,
Custer the lower.
[Illustration]
Major Reno’s attack was not strongly made and he was easily driven
back, as was also Captain Benteen, so that these two detachments failed
to support Custer. So it happened that with only five companies this
brave general was compelled to encounter the entire Indian force. “Do
not let an Indian escape,” were his orders, and he threw himself upon
them, believing that with the help of the other commands he could
inflict a severe punishment upon the red foe.
And now comes a sad story. It seemed as though the Great Spirit was
for once with his own people. Custer surprised the Indians at the
river front, but they quickly rallied and drove the troops back up the
hill. Hundreds of Indians poured into the river on ponies and on foot
and attacked the small force in front of them. They made a circuit
around the hill and slowly but surely closed in on the valiant troops.
A final stand was made at the lower end of the hill in a bloody fight
that lasted from two o’clock until sunset. Not one man of the five
companies, not even the brave general, was left alive.
From this time on the government persistently fought the red man,
finally conquering his spirit and gaining complete possession of his
lands.