Black Foot, Standing Bear, and Big Eagle (Sioux)

   The US agreed to pay $50,000 per year (proportional to the populations of each Indian nation) for any damages resulting from the provisions of the Treaty, which included Article 2: "The aforesaid nations do hereby recognize the right of the United States Government to establish roads, military and other posts, within their respective territories." This was a matter of later dispute, with Red Cloud (Oglala), Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa), and Dull Knife (Cheyenne), maintaining that this was a violation of the 1851 Treaty as they had understood it. (They were not signatories to the Treaty.)

   The Lakota territory was delineated, including the Black Hills. But the Powder River Basin to the Big Horn Mountains were assigned to the Crow.

   The US was also responsible for maintaining peace and protecting the Indians of all the signatory tribes from depredations by Americans.

   Some of the Indians thought there should be no travel through their lands, and would attack any incursions, even civilian wagon trains heading for Oregon, which were permitted by the 1851 Treaty.

Sitting Bull, 1884

   In 1865, General Patrick Conner led a 3,000-man US military invasion of the Powder River Basin. He gave his troops the order to: "Attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age." (Conner was known for his 1863 massacre of 278 Paiutes in their village in Nevada). Now, in 1865, his troops attacked a large Arapahoe village, killing about 50 men, women, and children, and destroying the entire supplies of the tribe (Battle of Tongue River). But the Sioux under Red Cloud and Sitting Bull, and Cheyenne under Roman Nose and Dull Knife, fought and harassed the troop columns and drove them out of the territory.

   Most of the tribal chiefs and representatives signed the Treaty in April and May of 1868, including Spotted Tail (Brule). Although Sitting Bull is shown to have signed (under the wrong tribe), Robert M Utley says in his book, "The Lance & the Shield" that Sitting Bull was not present and did not sign personally, and that Gall touched the pen for him, not understanding what was in the treaty. Red Cloud and 5 others waited until the US actually closed the forts, before signing (touching the pen) in November, 1868.

Sioux Dakota Reservation,
1880

Crazy Horse, 1877

   Crazy Horse did not sign the 1868 Treaty. Some Indians did not go along with the Treaty, and remained hostile to its provisions, including allowing Americans access through Lakota territory or through the hunting grounds. These Indians believed they had a right to reside in the hunting areas, as had been their tradition for many years.

   Crazy Horse (1845-1877) was a renowned Oglala Lakota who, under Chief Red Cloud's command in 1866, led the Sioux warriors in the attack on the troops at Fort Phil Kearny (in north-east Wyoming) and sustained victory, by drawing out 80 cavalrymen into a trap and killing them all (The Fetterman Fight).

   The US military was paranoid about Crazy Horse possibly turning hostile again, because he still commanded tremendous respect from the warriors. In September, 1877, he left the Pine Ridge agency to take his sick wife to her relatives at the nearby Rosebud agency. The authorities feared unjustifiably that he was going back on the warpath, and ordered his arrest. But he came in to Fort Robinson (in northen Nebraska) voluntarily to talk things over on September 5, 1877. The military 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 from the wound.

   Dr. V. T. McGillycuddy was Assistant Post Surgeon at Fort Robinson when Crazy Horse was killed. In a 1930 letter, he says of Crazy Horse: "In him everything was made a second to patriotism and love of his people. Modest, fearless, a mystic, a believer in destiny, and much of a recluse, he was held in veneration and admiration by the younger warriors who would follow him anywhere...I could not but regard him as the greatest leader of his people in modern times."

   McGillycuddy was with Crazy Horse when he died the night of September 5, 1877: "...he struggled to arise, and there came from his lips his old rallying cry, "A good day to fight, a good day to die! Brave hearts...." and his voice ceased, the lights went out and the last sleep came. It was a scene never to be forgotten, an Indian epic."

   "A very great vision is needed and the man
who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the
deepest blue of the sky."

The words of Crazy Horse

As remembered by Ohiyesa
(Charles A. Eastman).