Great Sioux War 1876-1877

Represented

- End of any real armed resistance on the part of the Native Americans in the Plains Indian Wars

Response to Ghost Dance Movement

- Ghost Dance terrified white settlers who viewed them - More federal troops sent into territories normally controlled by Native Americans - Territorial officials arrested Sitting Bull; he was later killed under uncertain circumstances

Causes

- Lakota Sioux and allies defended their lands and natural resources against incursions by the US government and settlers - Lakota Sioux leaders, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, led battles against federal troops - Captain Fetterman and his regime were ambushed and killed

Aftermath of Battle of Little Bighorn

- More federal troops were brought into the region to return Sioux to their reservation - Congress annexed the Black Hills from the Great Sioux Reservation as retaliation - Start of the reservation era

Ghost Dance Movement

- Religion of Lakota Sioux tribesmen; response to repeated incursions by white settlers - Believed a Native American messiah would come to banish the whites, return the buffalo, and restore all former territory lost

Battle

- Soldiers ordered Indians to set up camp at Wounded Knee Creek and demanded all Indian firearms to be relinquished - A soldier attempted to disarm Black Coyote, a deaf Indian, and a scuffle ensues leading to a firearm discharging - A massacre ensued killing more than 250 Indians, mostly women and children

US Government Involvement

- Unsuccessfully offered to buy a portion of the reservation - Issues an ultimatum; all Sioux must report to an agency by 1/31/1876 or be considered hostile - Sitting Bull and off-reservation people ignored this demand

Fort Laramie Treaty

1868 - Due to the Fetterman Fight; guaranteed abandonment of Bozeman Trail forts - Created the Great Sioux Reservation in the Black Hills; forbid white men to trespass on the land

Gold on the Reservation

1874 - Gold seekers violated the Fort Laramie Treaty leading to conflict - Sitting Bull and others of the Great Sioux tribe left the reservation

Wounded Knee Massacre

1890 - Officials banned the Ghost Dance; Lakota Sioux ignored the ban so troops were sent - Indian leaders moved tribes to sheltered encampment off their land - General Miles ordered the arrestor Lakota leader Big Foot and sent the seventh cavalry to locate the renegades - Quickly found the tribe; Indians offered no resistence

Battle of Little Bighorn

June 1876 - General George Custer was to round up Sitting Bull and the Lakota Sioux - Custer and his troops found the Sioux encampment; they were then surrounded and killed - Last major Native American victory against the US army