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| Buchcover | Autor | Titel | Beschreibung |
| Bild | Autor | Leer | Beschreibung |
| Date | Event | Tribe | Chief |
May 1821  | Red Cloud was born in Nebraska on Blue Creek, a tributary of the North Platte River in western Nebraska in what is now Garden County. The Oglala chief 'Smoke' took on the role of educator and trailblazer after the death of his father 'Lone Man' (a Brule Lakota). Smoke was chief of the Bad Face Band of the Oglala. Red Cloud was to become one of the most important chiefs of the Plains Indians. In the Red Cloud War from 1865 to 1868, he forced the US government to abandon the forts on the Bozeman Trail. He then fought for the welfare of his people, who now lived on the reservation, until his death.   | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Smoke Red Cloud |
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| Red Cloud, photographed by Charles Milton Bell around 1880. Source: http://www.vahistorical.org. | |||
| 1825 | Red Cloud's father, 'Lone Man', died around the same year. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 1837 | Before the attack on the Pawnee in central Nebraska, the Oglala were camped north of Fort Laramie on the North Platte River in Wyoming. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 1837 | The Oglala raided a Pawnee village on the Platte River in present-day Dawson County in central Nebraska. It was 16-year-old Red Cloud's first fight and he captured his first scalp! The Pawnee received reinforcements from the surrounding villages. The Oglala had to retreat. After 16 days, the Oglala returned to their village in the Fort Laramie area in southeastern Wyoming. The Oglala captured about 50 horses, 4 scalps and lost 2 warriors. | Oglala (Lakota) Pawnee | Red Cloud |
| 1837 | The Oglala discovered a group of 14 Crows on Bitter Cottonwood Creek in south-central Wyoming in the middle of winter. The Crows were probably intending to steal the Oglala's horses under cover of the heavy snowstorms. Near Warm Springs, they were surprised and attacked by the Oglala. The Oglala outnumbered the Crows and killed them all. The 17-year-old Red Cloud also took part in this raid and was able to score 3 coups for himself. | Oglala (Lakota) Crow | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1843 | The Oglala camped on Prairie Creek in Hall County, Nebraska, in the summer of 1843. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1843 | During the annual summer bison hunt, the Oglala encountered a group of Omaha in what is now County Hall in southern Nebraska, at the mouth of Prairie Creek in the Platte River. Both groups were about equally strong. The Omaha lived along the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska and traveled along the Platte River into central Nebraska each summer to hunt buffalo. Over the next three days, the two tribes attacked each other without any casualties. But there were many casualties. At the end of the third day, the two tribes talked to each other in sign language from a safe distance. The Omaha, however, refused to talk, waving their blankets each time to say: \`Come and fight\`. The Oglala then left the area and retreated to the Laramie River valley on the edge of the Black Hills. | Oglala (Lakota) Omaha | Red Cloud |
| 1844 | The Oglala under Red Cloud left their village in northern Wyoming on the Belle Fourche River and set out on a five-day march to the Yellowstone River in Montana. In what is now Custer County, near where Rosebud Creek flows into the Yellowstone River, the Oglala discovered a Crow village and stole horses unnoticed. Red Cloud killed a Crow Indian who was guarding the large herd of horses. After 11 days, the Oglala were back in their camp. 300 horses and a scalp had been captured, and the Oglala had not lost a single warrior. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Crow | Red Cloud Brave Bear Old Man Afraid of his Horses |
| Spring 1845 | The Bad Face Band of the Oglala was camped on Chugwater Creek, about 4 miles north of the present-day town of Chugwater ('Point of rocks'), Wyoming. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Spring 1845 | Oglala unexpectedly encountered a group of hunting Ute Indians in northern Colorado in the Cache la Powder River area. One Ute hunter was killed by the Oglala. | Oglala (Lakota) Ute | Red Cloud |
| Spring 1845 | After arriving at the Oglala camp, a fight broke out between the 'Bad Face Band' and the 'Koya Band' of the Oglala. In this quarrel, Red Cloud killed the chief of the Koya band, Bull Bear, because he believed that he was the cause of the quarrel. After that, the Koya gave themselves another name and called themselves 'Ki-ya-ksa'. This name was then either misunderstood or mistranslated as 'Cut-Off'. Bull Bear's son was chosen to succeed the slain chief and took his father's name. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Bull Bear |
| About 846 AD | 20 Oglala warriors attacked the elongated Pawnee village on the Loup River in central Nebraska. Some time after the attack began, news spread among the Oglala that Red Cloud had been killed. The Oglala broke off their attack. Red Cloud was hit in the chest by an arrow just below the ribs. After months, Red Cloud was reasonably well again, but the wound was to make itself felt again and again for the rest of his life. | Oglala (Lakota) Pawnee | Red Cloud |
| 1848 - 1849 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1851The discovery of gold in California in 1848 led to a wave of immigration through the land of the Plains Indians. The end of the border conflict between the USA and England over the state of Oregon in 1846 was another reason for the long treks along the Platte River to Oregon and California. The government rightly feared bloody clashes with the Plains Indians and invited them to a peace conference. This took place in Fort Laramie in 1851. The government hoped that the treaty would lead to fewer raids on the wagon trains. | Lakota Crow Assiniboine Shoshone Cheyenne Arapaho Oglala (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Arikara Hidatsa Mandan | Red Cloud |
| About 848 AD | The Pawnee left their villages on the Middle Loup River in central Nebraska and moved to seemingly safer areas in eastern Nebraska. The Pawnee had had enough of the annual raids, especially by the Oglala Lakota. | Pawnee Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Spring 1849 | Red Cloud organized a war party of eight warriors against the Eastern Shoshone. The Oglala camp was located in the Pumpkin Butte area in present-day Campbell County, Wyoming, on the western edge of the Black Hills. The Oglala discovered an Eastern Shoshone village in the area where the Wind River flows into the Big Horn River in midwestern Wyoming. The Oglala fled with about 60 horses. 2 Shoshone were killed. | Oglala (Lakota) Eastern Shoshone | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1849 | The Oglala camped in the area of Fort Laramie in 1849. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 1849 | Red Cloud married between 1848 and 1851. Red Cloud had the choice between two wives, Pretty Owl and Pine Leaf. He chose Pretty Owl. The morning after the wedding, Red Cloud came out of his tent and was horrified to see that Pine Leaf had hanged herself with a rope from a tree near his tent. Suicide was not uncommon among the Indians. The marriage produced five daughters and a son. Red Cloud's son, Jack Red Cloud, was born between 1852 and 1858. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Jack Red Cloud |
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| Jack Red Cloud 1913 Source: http://www.dlncoalition.org/dln_nation/chief_jack_red_cloud.htm | |||
| 1849 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1851In that year alone, around 22,500 settlers with around 60,000 cattle traveled along the California Trail to California. Along the way, the settlers used up the sparse supplies of firewood on the prairie and built fireplaces. The cattle ate almost all the grass in the area. The Northern Shoshone also noticed this when they returned from their annual buffalo hunt from Montana and Wyoming. The settlers followed the Oregon Trail from the Missouri River via Fort Laramie along the Platte River to Soda Springs in southern Idaho. This route led right through the territory of the Pawnee, Oglala and Brule, Cheyenne and Arapaho, as well as the Northern and Eastern Shoshone. This prompted the US government to negotiate, which led to the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851. From Soda Springs (about 60 miles southeast of Fort Hall), settlers could follow three different routes. One route was the California Trail to the west. The Oregon Trail led north towards Oregon. And the Mormon Trail led mainly the Mormons to Salt Lake City in Utah. | Northern Shoshone Eastern Shoshone Pawnee Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Cheyenne Arapaho | Red Cloud Smoke |
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| Oregon Trail. Source: http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/parkoret.htm. | |||
| About 1850 | At this time, most Oglala warriors were already armed with rifles. The most commonly used rifle was the Hawken rifle. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Hawken rifle. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawken_rifle. | |||
| 19 August 1854 | The Brule were camped about 18 miles southeast of Fort Laramie in far western Nebraska. The Oglala and the Miniconjous were also camped nearby. The Oregon Trail passed very close to both villages. The 3 Lakota tribes were awaiting annual supplies under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. A Miniconjou Lakota warrior who was in the Brule camp killed a runaway Mormon ox with an arrow. Conquering Bear tried to rectify the situation at Fort Laramie, but Lt. John Grattan was in favor of harsh punishments. The young Oglala chief Young-Man-Afraid-Of-His-Horses rode into Fort Laramie the next morning, but found that the decision had been made. Lieutenant Grattan moved out with 30 men and 2 cannons to arrest the Miniconjou warrior. Lieutenant Grattan had just graduated from the military school at West Point and had been assigned to Fort Laramie. Lieutenant Grattan positioned his soldiers outside the Brule village and ordered the rifles and the two cannons to be loaded. Talks between Grattan and the Indians under Conquering Bear led to no result after 45 minutes. Grattan gave the order to fire - the battle began. Lieutenant Grattan and Conquering Bear were the first to fall. The cannons were set too high and the bullets flew over the Brule tents. Now Spotted Tail attacked with several hundred warriors and the soldiers began to flee. Now Red Cloud and Oglala warriors also intervened and cut down the group of 18 soldiers. After a short time, none of the soldiers were left alive. Nearby, the angry warriors plundered an army depot and stole goods and food. But the Indians feared the soldiers' reaction. They broke down their tents, crossed the North Platte River and headed north to begin their customary fall bison hunt. Conquering Bear's successor became Little Thunder. Little Thunder also died a year later in the Ash Hollow massacre by white bullets. | Brule (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Conquering Bear Grand Partisan Spotted Tail Red Cloud Little Thunder Young Man Afraid of his Horses |
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| Chief Conquering Bear died at the start of the Grattan Fight in 1854. source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mikestevens/2010-p/p83.htm | |||
| Autumn 1854 | The Oglala were camped in the area of Fort Niobrara in Nebraska. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Spring 1855 | The Ponca attacked an Oglala village under Red Cloud, rode through the middle of the village, killed two Oglala and drove away a large number of horses. The Oglala pursued the Ponca, but were unable to catch up with them. | Ponca Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1855 | After the Ponca attack on their village in the spring of 1855, the Oglala moved north to the White River. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1855 | Red Cloud became war chief of the Oglala Lakota. The necessary pipe dance ritual took place in the Oglala village on the White River in South Dakota. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| About 1855 | The Oglala were camped in central eastern Wyoming, in the area where Fort Fetterman was later built. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| About 855 AD | Red Cloud rode into the land of the Crows with 14 warriors to (presumably) avenge the death of a well-known warrior. Near a Crow encampment north of the Clear Fork of the Powder River, north of the village of Buffalo, the Oglala encountered a lone warrior whom they believed to be a Crow. In revenge for the death of the aforementioned warrior, this Indian was scalped alive. The Indian survived the ordeal. Years later, during negotiations between Indians and whites at Fort Bufort in northwest North Dakota, Red Cloud met this Indian by chance. The Indian turned out to be a Blackfoot! Between 1850 and 1860, the Blackfoot repeatedly invaded the land of the Crow Indians. | Oglala (Lakota) Crow Blackfoot (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1856 | The Oglala were camped on the Little Missouri River in Montana, about 100 miles south of the later Fort Buford. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1856 | The Crows stole around 100 horses from the Oglala's village on the Little Missouri River. Shortly afterwards, a group of 15 to 20 warriors led by Red Cloud set off in pursuit. The Oglala camped at the mouth of the Tongue River into the Yellowstone River and sent out scouts who discovered a small Crow village at the headwaters of the Rosebud River. The Oglala stole 200 horses from the Crow village and brought them home safely. | Oglala (Lakota) Crow | Red Cloud |
| Autumn 1856 | The Oglala camped in their winter camp on the Cannonball River in North Dakota. A war party of 15 warriors against the Crows under Red Cloud and a war party of 12 warriors against the Shoshone under Young Man Afraid of His Horses left the camp. Red Cloud's group camped on the Little Missouri River on the evening of the second day. Crow Indians, who were on their way to the Oglala village, were also camped in the same area. Why march any further when you can meet Oglalas here and steal their horses? No sooner said than done: the next morning, the Oglala woke up without their horses and had to walk for about ten days. Young Man Afraid of his Horses was more successful. He brought almost 100 horses and many bison blankets with him. An unfortunate Shoshone village got in his way and was plundered. | Oglala (Lakota) Shoshone Oglala (Lakota) Crow | Red Cloud Young Man Afraid of his Horses |
| Autumn 1856 | The Oglala were visited twice by white traders in their winter camp on the Cannonball River in North Dakota. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Winter 1856 | The Oglala spent the winter on the Cannonball River in North Dakota. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Winter 1856 | The 'Bad Face' band of the Oglala-Lakota moved their tribal and hunting grounds to the Powder River area in northeastern Wyoming due to the increasing immigration of whites and the strong presence of US troops. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Smoke Red Cloud |
| Summer 1857 | Die Oglala lagerten am Heart-River in North Dakota. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1857 | From their camp at Heart River, the Oglala sent out 3 war parties. 2 war parties marched west to attack the Crow and Shoshone. Red Cloud moved north with 24 warriors and reached the Missouri River after about 150 miles. Red Cloud's war party discovered a Gros Ventres village with around 35 warriors and attacked it. However, the Gros Ventres defended themselves skillfully and were able to repel the Oglala attack twice. One Oglala warrior was killed and two wounded. The Oglala captured around 100 horses from the Gros Ventres. 10 Oglala warriors returned to the village with the horses, the remaining 13 warriors set off in search of an Arikara village. | Oglala (Lakota) Gros Ventre | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1857 | Southeast of the village of Gros Ventres, the Oglala discovered the village of the Arikara. There was nothing to indicate that the Arikara had noticed the Oglala's presence. At dusk, the Oglala tried to drive the Arikara's horses away. The Oglala approached the horses to within about 80 meters when a line of Arikara warriors appeared in front of them. The Arikara had been warned by the Gros-Ventres! The 13 surprised Oglala warriors had to flee, only 7 of them returned alive. Among them was Red Cloud. He managed to reach the Missouri River unnoticed and escape in a round boat made of bison hide. After several days, he happened upon a Brule Lakota village, where he stayed for about a week before returning to his village on the Cannonball River. | Oglala (Lakota) Arikara | Red Cloud |
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| Red Cloud escaped in such a round boat made of bison hide. Source: Daniel Thomet 2010. | |||
| Summer 1858 | The Oglala were camped in the headwaters of the Great River in southwestern North Dakota at the foot of Eagle Nest Butte. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1858 | When Oglala scouts discovered 50 wandering families to the east of their camp, around 300 warriors rode towards the village. It turned out that they were Arapaho Indians who wanted to visit their relatives in the north, the Gros Ventres. The Arapaho were moving northeast from Slim Butte. However, as the Oglala had always been the enemies of the Gros Ventres and the Arapaho and the Gros Ventres were allies, the Oglala now attacked the Arapaho. All Arapaho warriors were killed, women and children taken prisoner. This was revenge for the failed Oglala attacks on the Gros Ventres and Arikara. | Oglala (Lakota) Arapaho | Red Cloud |
| Herbst 1858 - Sommer 1859 | After the Arapaho attack, the Oglala moved south to Fort Laramie. The Oglala did not leave Fort Laramie again until the summer. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Autumn 1859 | In the summer of 1859, the Oglala moved to the Powder River area to hunt in the fall. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Autumn 1859 | Red Cloud moved west with 75 warriors to drive the old enemies (Crow and Shoshone) out of Oglala territory. After a march of about ten days, the Oglala encountered 50 Shoshone warriors on the edge of the Bighorn Mountains. The Shoshone climbed a small hill and skillfully defended themselves against the Oglala on this rocky hill. Red Cloud killed one of the Shoshone. Shortly afterwards, the Shoshone left their position and began to spread out individually in the rocky surroundings, making it impossible for the Oglala to follow the Shoshone. Both sides lost warriors. | Oglala (Lakota) Shoshone | Red Cloud |
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| Eastern Shoshone warriors, photographed in 1885. Source: http://amertribes.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=basin. | |||
| Autumn 1859 | 4 White traders from Fort Laramie sold their goods in the Oglala village at the headwaters of the Belle Fourche River in central northern Wyoming. The warriors were mainly interested in blue cotton blankets, while the women mainly bought colorful cotton blankets to make clothes. Coffee and hominy (corn boiled and dried in ashes) were also traded, and soon the whole village smelled of coffee. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Winter 1859 | The Oglala spent the winter in the headwaters of the Belle Fourche River in central northern Wyoming. Scouts were sent to Fort Laramie, who returned to the Oglala camp after 20 days with 4 traders and many trade goods. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| April 1860 | The white trader Samuel Deon was still in the Oglala camp and had pitched his wagon and tent next to Red Cloud's tent when another trader called Leghan turned up one day. This trader brought whisky to the Oglala camp. Everything went normally until one day a young warrior, probably drunk, shot an older man dead in the middle of the village. The young warrior immediately fled to a nearby hill. Many warriors from the village pursued the murderer and seriously injured him. Despite this, the wounded man was still able to hold his position for a while. But at some point, the young warrior must have realized the hopelessness of his situation. He loaded his weapon, held it to his head and pulled the trigger. In the meantime, Leghan had fled and managed to hide without being found by the warriors. The old woman from the village, with whom he had lived for about two weeks, provided him with food and a blanket during the night so that Leghan could flee to Fort Laramie. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Winter 1860 | The Oglala camped on the east side of the Black Hills and spent the winter of 1860/1861 in the area of present-day Fort Thompson, where Fort Thompson was established in 1864. For the summer encampment of 1861, the Oglala moved back to southeast Wyoming, about 60 miles north of Fort Laramie. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1862 | The Oglala camped in the vicinity of Fort Laramie on the Laramie River and the North Platte River from the spring to early fall of 1862. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Young Man Afraid of his Horses Brave Bear |
| Autumn 1862 | The Oglala camped during the fall hunt about 12 miles south of the Belle Forche River springs in northern Wyoming. Before the first snow, the Oglala were visited by Samuel Deon and five large wagons of trade goods. Each of these wagons was pulled by 6 oxen. When Deon arrived, he found that 2 other traders were already in the village. One of them was a trader from the American Fur Company. The two traders were guests of Young Man Afraid of his Horses and Brave Bear. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Young Man Afraid of his Horses Brave Bear |
| Autumn 1862 | When gold was discovered in the Virginia City area of southwestern Montana in 1862, between 500 and 600 prospectors passed through Fort Benton on the Missouri River in Montana on their way to the gold fields. The prospectors traveled to Fort Benton either by steamboat on the Missouri. From Fort Benton, they traveled overland to the gold fields. This route was more expensive than the others and could only be used when the Missouri was not frozen over. The other route was via the Oregon Trail to Montana. Another option was to follow the famous Oregon Trail to Fort Hall in southern Idaho and from there to the gold fields in Montana. A third option was to travel overland west of Fort Walla Walla in Washington State to Fort Benton and from there to the gold fields in southwestern Montana. Both routes were either expensive or could only be used to a limited extent or not at all in winter. Both routes also meant long and arduous journeys. For this reason, more direct and faster routes were sought in 1863. The Bozeman Trail was opened in 1863. | Oglala (Lakota) Lakota | Red Cloud |
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| Virginia City in southwestern Montana is reminiscent of the time of the gold discoveries in the 1860s. Source: Thomet Daniel 2009. | |||
| Winter 1862 | Throughout the winter of 1862/1863, the war whistle was passed around between the Lakota and the Cheyenne. The Lakota were preparing for war against the whites. George Bent also recalled that the war whistle was in circulation among the Northern Cheyenne at this time. In fact, the first major battles between the Plains Indians and the US Army in North Dakota would take place in the summer of 1863 (Battle of Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, Stony Lake, Whitestone Hills). The white traders in the Oglala village were instructed in the spring of 1863 not to visit the Oglala again until the Oglala sent for them. | Oglala (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Cheyenne Wahpekute-Santee (Eastern Dakota) Brule (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| April 1863 | The Oglala were still camped about 12 miles above the source of the Belle Fourche River in northeastern Wyoming. With the influx of the Miniconjou, Yankton and Hunkpapa, the camp had grown to about 500 tents. These tribes lived in tipis made from tanned bison hides. The frame of the tipis consisted of long, thin pine trunks (lodgepole pine). | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| April 1863 | One morning, the Oglala discovered that around 500 horses were missing. Immediately, around 500 warriors led by Red Cloud set off in search of them. The tracks of the 500 horses were impossible to miss. Suddenly, the large group of Crows split into 5 smaller groups. The Oglala pursued 4 of these groups. Two groups were able to catch up with the Oglala. The leaders of these two groups were Red Cloud and a well-known warrior called 'The Sword'. Red Cloud's group was able to recapture the horses, with Red Cloud killing a Crow Indian. In the other group, 'The Sword' was killed by the Crow chief 'Spotted Horse' with an old small colt (pistol) before Spotted Horse himself was killed by the other Oglala of this group. | Oglala (Lakota) Crow Miniconjou (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Yankton (Western Dakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Spotted Horse Young Man Afraid of his Horses The Sword Old American Horse Brave Bear |
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| Crow-Warrior 1883 Source: http://hem.passagen.se/native/Dress.htm | |||
| June 1864 | John Bozeman and Jim Bridger independently organized wagon trains from Casper (Wyoming) to the gold fields of Virginia City (Montana). John Bozeman's route led through the Powder River area east of the Bighorn Mountains. At present-day Sheridan in northern Wyoming, the route entered Montana, where the Powder River and the Big Horn River had to be crossed. The route continued along the Yellowstone River to Virginia City. The route led right through the hunting grounds of the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho. According to the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1851, this area belonged to the Indians. Jim Bridger knew the Indians very well and therefore chose a route west of the Bighorn Mountains to Virginia City. This route was a few weeks faster and did not pass through the most important hunting grounds of the Plains Indians on the Powder River. However, this route was much more challenging than John Bozeman's. This is why John Bozeman's route prevailed. The route became known as the Bozeman Trail. The Bozeman Trail had a length of 680 miles. The use of the Bozeman Trail from 1865 by white settlers, gold seekers and adventurers led to the army being given the task of protecting the white wagon trains from the Indians. The invasion of Colonel Carrington with eight companies of the 18th Infantry in May 1866 into the Prairie Indians' most important remaining hunting grounds led directly to the 'Red Cloud War'. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Lakota | Red Cloud |
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| Bozeman Trail. Source: http://www.plentycoups.org/ | |||
| 30 July 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - The Powder River Expedition was the largest military operation of the US Army in the West up to that time. The aim of the expedition was to fight the hostile Indians along the Bozeman Trail and the Platte River. Conner went into the field with more soldiers than Sully and Sibley in 1863 and 1864. His army was composed as follows: - Conner himself led about 600 soldiers of the 2nd California Regiment as well as the Pawnee Company under Captain Franck North - Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker with 600 soldiers of the 16th Kansas Cavalry and the 11th Kansas Cavalry. Kansas Cavalry and the 11th Ohio Cavalry from Fort Laramie in southeastern Wyoming on August 5 - Colonel Nelson Cole commanded 1,400 soldiers of the 2nd Missouri Artillery and the 12th Missouri Cavalry from Ohama, Nebraska on July 1. Conner divided the troops into these three units, which were to meet at Rosebud Creek in Montana on September 1. Very bad weather made things difficult for the troops. Conner himself attacked the Arapaho at the Tongue River, while the other two columns were hard pressed by the Oglala under Red Cloud and the Cheyenne under Dull Knife. There were also 84 Winnebago and Omaha scouts. | Arapaho Omaha Winnebago Pawnee Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Black Bear Red Cloud Dull Knife |
| 2 August 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - General Conner crossed the Platte River and marched toward Powder River. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 11 August 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - General Conner began construction of Camp Conner (Central Wyoming) with Companies C and D of the 5th US Volunteer Infantry Regiment. The camp was renamed Fort Reno on November 11, 1865. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 14 August 1865 | Attack of Sawyers colums 1865 - Powder River Expedition 1865 - The Lakota and Cheyenne camped along the Powder River learned that Sawyer's troops were approaching them. 500 Lakota and Cheyenne rode towards Sawyer along the Powder River. The Indians met the soldiers about 25 kilometers from their village. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Dull Knife |
| 14 August 1865 Nicht erkannter Quellenhinweis | Attack of Sawyers colum 1865 - Powder River Expedition 1865 - From Sioux City (Nebraska), two companies consisting of discharged Confederate Army soldiers and 73 gold miners marched along the Niobrara River under the command of Colonel Sawyer. The troop was traveling with 80 wagons and 300 head of cattle. Sawyer's mission was to find a way to the gold mines in western Montana. At the Powder River near Pumpkin Butte (Bone Pile Creek), the troop was attacked by the Oglala under Red Cloud and the Northern Cheyenne under Dull Knife. The soldiers were besieged for 4 days, with few casualties on either side. During negotiations, Red Cloud and Dull Knife learned that Sawyer was meeting with General Patrick E. Conner at the newly established Camp Conner. Conner at the newly established Camp Conner (Fort Reno). The Oglala and Cheyenne learned that new forts were to be built in their territory. After the battle, Sawyer marched to Camp Conner with his troops. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Dull Knife |
| 16 August 1865 Nicht erkannter Quellenhinweis | Powder River Expedition 1865 - In the Camp Conner area, Frank North's Pawnee scouts killed a small group of wandering Cheyenne. Among them was Charly Bent's mother. | Oglala (Lakota) Pawnee Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Dull Knife |
| 5 September 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - Walker and Cole were attacked by 1000 Cheyenne and Lakota in the area north of the present-day town of Powderville in Montana. Artillery kept the Indians at a distance. Chief Roman Nose of the Cheyenne rode back and forth in front of the ranks of soldiers several times without being hit. The Northern Cheyenne medicine man, Ice, had made a war hood to protect Roman Nose from enemy bullets. The Hunkpapa, Sans Arc and Blackfeet then gave up the fight and returned to their camps. They alerted the Oglala camped further south under Red Cloud and the Northern Cheyenne under Little Wolf. | Hunkpapa (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Sans Arc (Lakota) Blackfoot (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Sitting Bull Red Cloud Little Wolf Roman Nose |
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| Roman Nose at Fort Laramie in 1868, shortly before his death. Source: http://www.search.com/reference/Roman_Nose. | |||
| 8 September 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - Cole and Walker were attacked by around 2000 Oglala and Cheyenne. However, the soldiers managed to repel the Indians. On the night of September 9, the soldiers were surprised by a heavy snowstorm that lasted the whole next day. Around 400 horses died. The soldiers had to feed on the horse carcasses. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Roman Nose |
| 19 September 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - The Pawnee of the Pawnee Battalion under General Conner found Cole and Walker with about 800 soldiers. The soldiers were in a miserable condition. A short time later, the soldiers reached Camp Conner on the upper Powder River (near the source of the Powder River - Wyoming). The Cheyenne moved on to the Black Hills to hunt buffalo. Many horses were driven away by the Indians. The remaining 600 horses were no longer fit for action. Neither Cole nor Walker had any experience with the prairie Indians. Both commanders were always afraid that their horses would be driven away by the Indians. For this reason, neither commander allowed the horses to graze on the open prairie. During several strong and cold storms, many horses starved to death. Most of the cattle herd was also lost. It can be assumed that the two columns would have been destroyed without the artillery. | Lakota Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud |
| 24 September 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - General Conner and his troops reached Camp Conner. There, Conner was ordered to proceed to Fort Laramie, where he was relieved of his command and sent to Salt Lake City. From the statements of the Cheyenne and a long report by Colonel Cole to General Grant, it is clear that General Conner was held largely responsible for the disaster. He had sent two columns under two colonels into the field and failed to regulate the overall command of the troops. Already in the Black Hills, the two commanders were fighting over supreme command. Conner also promised to meet with Cole and Walker in the Black Hills on September 1, but this never happened. Instead, Conner set up Camp Conner and attacked the Arapaho camp. Colonel Cole was tried in St. Louis and got off with a reprimand. Captain Frank North returned to the Pawnee Reservation in Kansas with his Pawnee scouts. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud |
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| General Patrick Conner between 1860 and 1865. source: http://www.old-picture.com/civil-war/General-Patrick-Connor-E.htm | |||
| End of September 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - Conner had barely retreated from the area when the Plains Indians along the Bozeman Trail began to fight back against the white immigrants more fiercely than ever. Newspapers reported that it was impossible to exchange goods and information between Fort Reno in Wyoming and Virginia City in southwestern Montana without being attacked by the Indians. This situation prompted the government to negotiate at Fort Laramie in 1866. And the army planned to secure the Bozeman Trail militarily against Indian raids from the summer of 1866. This in turn led directly to the Red Cloud War, as Red Cloud learned of the US Army's plans during the 1866 negotiations at Fort Laramie. Red Cloud realized that the US Army wanted to build forts in the very area that had been promised to the Indians as their inviolable territory for all time according to the negotiations at Fort Laramie in 1866. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 10 October - 28 October 1865 | Powder River Expedition 1865 - Treaty of Fort Sully 1865Oglala, Hunkpapa, Sans Arc, Two Kettle, Yanktonai, Miniconjou, Blackfeet and Lower Brule signed peace treaties with the US government at Fort Sully in what is now Pierre, South Dakota. None of the known warring chiefs were present at Fort Sully, not even Red Cloud or Sitting Bull. The tribes were allocated reservations and promised annual payments. In return, the Indians had to keep off the white man's roads. Despite this treaty, the Indian raids on the white immigrants along the Bozeman Trail naturally continued. When the US government realized this, it decided to start new treaty negotiations in Fort Laramie in 1866. Sitting Bull's Hunkpapa were not present and began attacking Fort Rice again in the spring of 1866. | Oglala (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Sans Arc (Lakota) Two Kettle (Lakota) Lower Brule (Lakota) Yanktonai (Western Dakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Blackfoot (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Reconstruction of an adobe house on what is now the Lower Brule Reservation in South Dakota. Tribes such as the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and Pawnee lived in such houses. Source: Thomet Daniel 2010. | |||
| 28 March 1866 | That day, Colonel Carrington received orders to move to capture Fort Reno on the Bozeman Trail and establish two more forts along the Bozeman Trail. On May 19, about 700 soldiers of the 18th US Infantry, 226 wagons and about 1,000 head of cattle left Fort Kearny (Nebraska) and marched via Fort McPherson (May 24, Nebraska), Fort Sedgwick (May 30, Colorado, in the Julesburg area) to Fort Laramie. By June 4, the last wagon had crossed the Platte River. Carrington only had horses for about 200 men, most of the soldiers marched on foot. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Young Man Afraid of his Horses |
| 4 June 1866 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1866A commission from Washington arrived at Fort Laramie and began peace negotiations with the Southern Lakota, during which the government attempted to secure the safe use and construction of forts along the Bozeman Trail. . | Oglala (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) | Red Cloud Spotted Tail |
| 13 June 1866 | Treaty of Fort Laramie (Lakota) 1866Colonel Carrington arrived at Fort Laramie. Upon his arrival, negotiations were underway between the Southern Lakota and the US government regarding the safe use and construction of forts along the Bozeman Trail. However, the Indians did not know exactly what was at stake and what was in store for them. That quickly changed when Carrington arrived at the gates of Fort Laramie and the Indians realized what Carrington was up to. After Red Cloud and Young Man Afraid Of His Horses learned that Colonel Carrington wanted to build forts on the Powder River area along the Bozeman Trail, they left on June 14 and did not sign the treaty, unlike the Brule Lakota chief, Spotted Tail. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Young Man Afraid of his Horses |
| 17 June 1866 | Colonel Carrington left Fort Laramie for Fort Reno. Carrington had far too little ammunition for his outdated Springfield rifles (front loaders) and he also lacked suitable horses. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 28 June 1866 | Colonel Carrington reached the open Fort Reno west of present-day Kaycee in central Wyoming. Instead of building a new fort in the area, Colonel Carrington chose Fort Reno as the first fort along the Bozeman Trail. He replaced the two volunteer companies stationed at Fort Reno with two companies of his 18th U.S. Infantry. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 13 July 1866 | Colonel Carrington arrived at Piney Creek with the 18th US Infantry. Fort Phil Kearny was established here in the fall of 1866. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 15 July 1866 | Colonel Carrington began construction of Fort Phil Kearny, about 40 miles north of Fort Reno, east of the Bighorn Mountains in northeastern Wyoming. The location of the fort was extremely unfavorable, surrounded by hills and mountains, without a clear view. The fort was completed in December 1866. The fort measured 178 by 73 meters. The fort was built together with Fort Reno and Fort C.F. Smith along the Bozeman Trail to protect the immigrants on this route. Fort Phil Kearny was initially occupied by the 18th US Infantry. Up to 400 US soldiers, 150 civilians, a field howitzer and 5 mountain howitzers were stationed at the fort. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Fort Phil Kearny. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Phil_Kearny | |||
| 20 July 1866 | The Dillon and Kirkendall wagon trains were attacked by Lakota and Cheyenne on the Bozeman Trail. In both cases, the Indians approached the wagons with seemingly peaceful intentions, spoke with the wagon leaders, exchanged gifts, and shortly thereafter opened fire on their hosts. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud |
| 20 July 1866 | A wagon train of 39 soldiers and civilians under Lt. George Templeton, traveling from Fort Reno to Fort Phil Kearny, was ambushed at Crazy Womans Fork, a tributary of the Powder River. Templeton and Lt. Daniels rode ahead as scouts and were attacked by about 50 Lakota, killing Daniels. Templeton was driven back to the wagon train by the Lakota. About 200 Lakota and Cheyenne attacked the wagon train beginning at noon and besieged it late into the night. When another wagon train arrived from Fort Reno under the command of Captain Burrowes, the Lakota retreated. 1 officer and 1 soldier were killed, 6 soldiers wounded. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud |
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| Crazy Woman's Fork in eastern Wyoming. The wagon train was attacked at the left edge of the picture, the defensive position was in the area of the right edge of the picture. | |||
| 3 August 1866 | From Fort Phil Kearny, Companies D and G, under the command of Captain Nathanial Kinney, left Fort Phil Kearny heading north. Their mission was to find a suitable site for a third fort (in addition to Phil Kearny and Fort Reno) along the Bozeman Trail. Jim Bridger was there as a scout. Fort C.F. Smith was built about 90 miles northeast of Fort Phil Kearny. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 3 August 1866 | Fort C.F. Smith was located on the Bozeman Trail. A few hundred meters behind the fort, the wagons of the immigrants crossed the Bighorn River and continued their journey north. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 6 December 1866 | The guards on Pilot Hill signaled with their flags that the lumberjacks on Piney Island were being attacked by Indians. Piney Island was south of Sullivant Hill, about four miles from the fort. Carrington rode towards the Indians from the east, Fetterman from the west. The Indians were to be pinned down in this way. In the ensuing skirmish, Lieutenant Bingham and Seargant Bowers were killed and 5 soldiers were wounded. Bingham and Bowers rode too far ahead and were cut off from the other soldiers and killed. Orders were not followed that day, there were misunderstandings, cowardice and stupid mistakes. The pursuit of the Indians almost ended in disaster! It seems that this maneuver was a kind of dress rehearsal for the Battle of Fetterman on December 21. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Arapaho (Arapaho) | Red Cloud Black Coal |
| Middle of December 1866 | Red Cloud had gathered an estimated 4,000 warriors along the Tongue River at this time to fight the soldiers along the Bozeman Trail. Crow Indians reported that the tents stretched for more than 40 miles along the Tongue River. | Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Northern Arapaho (Arapaho) Northern Arapaho (Arapaho) Miniconjou (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) | Roman Nose Dull Knife Red Cloud Crazy Horse Little Chief Sorrel Horse Black Shield Rain-in-the-face |
| 21 December 1866 | Captain William Judd Fetterman and 5 companies were ambushed by about 2000 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho and were killed along with his entire command of 81 soldiers. 10 decoys (2 Cheyenne, 8 Lakota) under the command of Crazy Horse lured the soldiers into the valley of Peno Creek, about 2 miles from Fort Phil Kearny. No soldier escaped with his life. The Lakota decoys were American Horse, Young Men Afraid Of His Horses, He Dog, Little Hawk (Crazy Horse's younger brother) and Big Nose and Bird Ash of the Cheyenne). . 10:00 a.m.: Lt. Wands, under orders from Col. Carrington, leads a logging train of 10 soldiers from Company E under Seargent Legrow to 'Piney Island' southwest of the fort. 10:50 a.m.: The sentries on Sullivant Hill signal with flags that the logging train is being attacked by a large number of Indians. 11:15 a.m.: On Colonel Carrington's orders, Captain Fetterman leaves the fort with Company A and parts of Company C of the 18th Infantry (infantry soldiers with old Springfield Muzzle Loaders). The order was to free the logging train and return to the fort. Under no circumstances were the Indians to be pursued further than Lodge Trail Ridge. 11.30 a.m.: Lieutenant George Grummond followed Fetterman with 25 cavalrymen and two civilians, James Wheatley and Issac Fisher. A little later, the doctor followed the soldiers. Grummont caught up with the infantry southwest of Sullivant Hill, where the Big Piney had to be crossed. From then on, the two units rode on together. Shortly before 12:00 noon: Fetterman rode toward Lodge Tail Ridge. The infantry was in the center, Lt. Grummond with the cavalry on the flanks and in front of the infantry. Fetterman saw Indians riding back and forth on the steep slopes, swinging blankets to scare the soldiers' horses. The infantry fired, the Indians fled out of range, but kept coming back. When Fetterman was at the top, he saw the small group of Indians that Carrington had fired at with the howitzer earlier. They joined the decoys. The decoys later included such famous chiefs as Crazy Horse, Dull Knife, Black Shield, Big Nose and White Bull. | Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Oglala (Lakota) Cheyenne Northern Arapaho (Arapaho) Miniconjou (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Big Nose Red Cloud Medicine Man Little Chief Black Shield Hump Crazy Horse Young Man Afraid of his Horses He Dog |
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| Monument at the Fetterman Battlefield in northeastern Wyoming. Source: Daniel Thomet 2009. | |||
| 21 December 1866 | 12:00 p.m.: Fetterman was still standing on Lodge Trail Ridge as ordered by Carrington. The infantry fired on order at the Indians on the Bozeman Road. Now the Indians who had earlier ambushed the wagon train appeared in Fetterman's rear at the base of Lodge Trail Ridge and rode toward Fetterman. Fetterman could have decided to ride down to the Bozeman Trail, kill as many Indians as possible and then return to the fort. But things turned out differently. 11:35 a.m.: The guards on Sullivant Hill signal with their flags that the wagon train is no longer under attack. 11:40: Carrington had the howitzers fire on about 50 Indians at the point where Big Piney Creek crosses the Bozeman Road. The Indians then rode up the slopes of Lodge Trail Ridge. Shortly after noon: Fetterman ordered the infantry and cavalry to ride down to the Bozeman Trail. From here, however, Fetterman turned west against Colonel Carrington's orders, following the Bozeman Road and riding into the valley of Peno Creek. Massacre Hill lay to his right. 12:10 The decoys crossed Peno Creek at the end of Massacre Hill, followed by Grummond's cavalry. The infantry followed at a run. After the decoys crossed Peno Creek, they split into two groups, rode away from each other and then back to Peno Creek. This was the signal to attack. West of Massacre Hill, the mounted Cheyenne rode toward the soldiers. The Oglala advanced on foot. Fetterman's commands must have been barely audible over the clamor of the Indians. Grummond stopped his cavalry and Fetterman was able to catch up a little. Nevertheless, infantry and cavalry were separated during the first attack. After about 15 minutes, the infantrymen could barely hold their position and ammunition was running low. Some men left the position and tried to make their way to the cavalry. Shortly afterwards, the position of the two civilians and the six infantrymen collapsed. They fought to the end with rifle butts, bayonets and knives until the last man was dead. The rest of the cavalry now tried to reach the hill and probably wanted to flee over the hill towards the fort. To their horror, however, they saw that many Indians were coming up from the other side of Massacre Hill! Once on the hill, the soldiers lined up like infantry behind small, flat boulders for defense. 12:40 At this point, Carrington sent more reinforcements from the fort. The Indian scouts saw this and reported it to their chiefs. Fetterman's infantry took cover between a flat rock formation, the cavalry was about 100 meters away. The cavalry was by this time without Lt. Grummond, who had probably been killed right at the start of the fight. With the cavalry, still down on the Bozeman Road, civilians Wheatley and Fisher were fighting the attacking Indians with 5 or 6 soldiers. The Indians launched a final attack on the inexperienced cavalrymen. At 12:50 the battle was over. One of the last soldiers to die was the trumpeter Metzger, who had fought to the end with his battered trumpet and died with 12 wounds to his body. Most of the soldiers died from arrows, as the Indians were hardly armed with rifles at this time. 12:45: Captain Ten Eck crossed Big Piney Creek with his 75 soldiers and reached a hill on the right side of Bozeman Road. From here he rode towards Peno Creek. 12:50: Captain Ten Eyck and his soldiers reach a hill east of Massacre Hill and can see down into the valley. The Indians try to lure Ten Eyck down, but he waits and sends a dispatcher to Carrington. 13:05: The dispatch rider Soldier Sample reaches the fort. Captain Ten Eyck calls for reinforcements again. Carrington wrote him a message and referred to the 40 soldiers who had been sent on the march shortly before with the ambulance and 3,000 rounds of ammunition. Soldier Sample rode back to Ten Eyck and arrived about the time the Indians began to leave the valley. Shortly afterwards, Ten Eyck's men saw the dead soldiers lying in the snow for the first time. Carrington himself remained in the fort, as about 3/4 of his soldiers were already in the field. He feared an attack by the Indians on the empty fort. By the evening of December 21, around 49 dead soldiers had been brought into the fort on wagons, the remaining 32 soldiers, mainly cavalrymen, not until the next day. The lumberjack platoon on Pine Island had heard nothing of the battle at Fettermann; they were too far away to hear the noise of battle. After this victory, Red Cloud was at the height of his power, even if he himself was not present. But he was the organizer and brought the tribes together at the Tongue River. Apart from the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, the Battle of Fetterman was the only battle fought by the US Army against the Indians from which no soldier returned alive. The losses suffered by the Indians must have been considerable. Estimates vary widely, but one can assume around 60 or more dead and around 300 wounded, of whom an estimated 100 died later. White Elk, a Cheyenne, kept repeating that this battle claimed more lives than the Battle of Little Big Horn. The night after the battle, Colonel Carrington sent a volunteer dispatch rider to Fort Laramie to inform his superiors of the disaster and again request reinforcements, rifles and rations. Portugee Phillips rode 236 miles through snowstorms. He rode only at night. In the late morning of December 24, he reached the telegraph station 'Horseshoe Station', where a telegram was sent to Fort Laramie. The telegram never arrived! Portugee Phillips then rode another 40 miles to Fort Laramie. It arrived at the fort between 11 p.m. and midnight. Carrington's message was immediately forwarded to Omaha, the headquarters of his superior, General George Crook. From then on, news of the defeat spread very quickly and soon ended up in the newspapers. | Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Oglala (Lakota) Cheyenne Northern Arapaho (Arapaho) Miniconjou (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Big Nose Red Cloud Medicine Man Little Chief Black Shield Hump Crazy Horse Young Man Afraid of his Horses He Dog |
| 3 July 1867 | J.R. Porter, a civilian supplier, came to Fort Phil Kearny with 700 new 'Springfield Allien Second Conversion' rifles and 100,000 cartridges. These rifles could now fire cartridges for the first time and had a much higher firepower than the old 'Muzzle Loaders'. In the 'Fettermann Battle', the soldiers were still equipped with these old rifles. In the two subsequent battles (Hayfield Fight and Wagon Box Fight), these new weapons were to give the soldiers a decisive advantage. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Springfield model 1866 second rear loader. Source: http://www.worthpoint.com. | |||
| 22 July 1867 | 9 days before the Battle of Hayfield, new Breech-Loading Springfield rifles arrived at Fort C.F. Smith. The new rifles made a decisive contribution to the success of the soldiers in the coming attacks by the Lakota and Cheyenne. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Crazy Horse High Back-Bone Little Wolf |
| July 1867 | Throughout the month of July, Lakota and Cheyenne warriors attacked civilian hay workers and loggers a few miles northwest of Fort Phil Kearny and repeatedly attempted to drive off grazing cattle. The attacks were not very violent and were only carried out by a few warriors, as the Lakota held their sun dance ceremonies in July. These usually ended in the last week of July. The civilian workers were protected by soldiers from A Company of the 27th US Infantry. | Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud High Back-Bone |
| End of July 1867 | After the end of the Sun Dance ceremonies, the Lakota and Cheyenne decided to attack the forts on the Bozeman Trail again. Fort C.F. Smith was to be attacked by Cheyenne warriors under High Back-Bone. Fort Phil Kearny was to be attacked by Crazy Horse. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Crazy Horse High Back-Bone |
| 31 July 1867 | Company A of the 27th U.S. Infantry, guarding the civilian hay workers and loggers of Fort Phil Kearny, was relieved by Company C of the 27th U.S. Infantry under Captain James Powell. Powell brought 51 soldiers and rations for 10 days. Each soldier had 150 rounds of ammunition. 13 soldiers and one officer guarded the timber transports from the loggers to the fort and back. Of this squad, 8 soldiers and the officer guarded the loggers themselves, while the remaining 4 soldiers guarded the 'side camp', a log cabin used for defense and storage. This left Captain Powell with 24 soldiers, which he positioned at the location of the 13 oval wagon boxes. . | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Crazy Horse High Back-Bone Little Wolf |
| 1 August 1867 | Warriors of the Oglala under Crazy Horse, Miniconjou under High Back-Bone, Sans Arc and about 60 Cheyenne under Little Wolf camped in the area of Fort Phil Kearny and prepared for an attack. A total of about 1000 warriors were assembled. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Crazy Horse High Back-Bone Little Wolf |
| 1 August 1867 | About 2 miles southwest of Fort C.F. Smith, Lt. Col. Luther P. Bradley and Lt. Sigismund Sternberg of the 27th Infantry, with 21 soldiers and 7 civilians, fought against 500 to 800 Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors. Two officers and one private were killed and 4 soldiers were wounded. The Indians suffered heavy losses. The Indians did not know that only about a week before the battle, the old muzzle-loading rifles had been replaced by new, more modern Springfield Model 1866 rifles, which had a much higher rate of fire. | Miniconjou (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Oglala (Lakota) Arapaho | American Horse Little Wolf Red Cloud |
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| This is where the Battle of Hayfield took place, about a mile northeast of the present-day town of Fort Smith in southern Montana. Source: Thomet Daniel 2009. | |||
2 August 1867  | On the morning of August 2, two white hunters near Fort Phil Kearny spotted Oglala, Miniconjou, Sans Arc and Cheyenne ready to attack. Shortly after the two hunters sounded the alarm at the wagon camp, the Indians attacked the loggers and the 'side camp'. 200 Indians attacked and drove off the civilians guarding the cattle herd at 9 a.m. 500 Indians attacked the wagon camp with the loaded lumber, drove off the men and set the wagon camp on fire. The first attack on the wagon train probably came from the southwest. Due to the surprisingly constant and strong fire for the Indians because of the new rifles, they soon had to retreat behind a hill about 600 meters away. There the warriors got rid of all superfluous equipment and clothing and prepared for the next attack. Before the second attack began, the Indians collected their dead and wounded. The second attack took place on the east-southwest line at an angle of about 180 degrees. The Indians managed to kill an officer and two soldiers by snipers behind a hill in the northwest. But again the soldiers fired a constant and deadly barrage into the ranks of the Indians, most of whom were attacking on horseback. Many soldiers fired so long and so intensely that the barrels of their rifles began to glow red. The third attack took place at around 12.00 noon on foot from the northwest. This time the Indians came closer to the wagon fort than ever before. However, since the attack was only coming from one direction, Powell gathered all his men on that side of the wagon train and again fired a constant, heavy and deadly fire in the direction of the attacking Indians. As a result, the third attack also failed and the Indians had to retreat safely. Reinforcements from Fort Phil Kearny arrived around 1 pm. Major Benjamin Smith began firing on the Indian positions with his mountain howitzers. The guns drove off about 500 Indians east of the wagon fort. Shortly after Major Smith's arrival, 4 lumberjacks and 14 soldiers came out of their dugouts outside the wagon fort and charged towards the wagon fort. The Indians now ceased their attack. The soldiers wasted no time and marched back towards Fort Phil Kearny, with soldiers scalping a few more Indians. Again the Indians collected their dead and wounded before leaving. The reason for the clear defeat in this battle, as in the Battle of Hayfield on August 1, was the new Springfield Model 66 rifles. With these new rifles, the cartridges were loaded from the rear. With up to 10 cartridges fired per minute, a much higher cadence could be achieved than with the old 'muzzle loaders'. With the old muzzle loaders, an average of two shots could be fired per minute. There were long pauses between shots. The US Army suffered 3 dead and 2 wounded in the wagon fort and 3 dead in the side camp. The losses of the Indians cannot be precisely quantified. However, the losses were high: 50 to 100 dead Indians and just as many wounded, many of whom died later. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Red Cloud Crazy Horse High Back-Bone Little Wolf |
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| Scene from Wagon Box Fight. Source: http://www.militaryphotos.net | |||
| October 1867 | Captain Dandy, quartermaster of Fort Phil Kearny, met a group of Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne at Big Piney Creek. The US Army discussed with the Indians that the Bozeman Trail with the 3 forts should possibly be abandoned. In return, the Indians promised to cease all hostilities. | Oglala (Lakota) Cheyenne Arapaho | Red Cloud |
| 1867 | Fort Buford in western North Dakota was besieged by the Lakota for most of the year. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) | Red Cloud Crazy Horse Gall Sitting Bull |
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| Fort Buford, North Dakota. Source: Thomet Daniel 2009 | |||
| 1868 | Treaty of Fort Laramie (Lakota) 1868In the Treaty of Fort Laramie, the Lakota were granted the area in South Dakota and west of the Missouri River as a reservation. However, the Ponca lived in two different places on the Niobrara River in the outermost tip of this area. This gave the Lakota (especially their arch-enemies, the Oglala and Brule) a perfect excuse to attack their old enemies again: they now lived within their reservation. Until 1876, the Ponca were to be attacked again and again by the Lakota. The overlapping of the Sioux and Ponca reservations was simply a planning error. | Ponca Oglala (Lakota) Lakota | Red Cloud |
| 2 March 1868 | General Ulysses S. Grant wrote to General Sherman that the forts along the Bozeman Trail should be evacuated. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 29 April 1868 | Treaty of Fort Laramie (Lakota) 1868The Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868 was a treaty between the US government, represented by Lieutenant General William Tecumseh Sherman, General Harney, General Alfred Terry and General Sanborn with - Lakota (Hunkpapa, Brule, Oglala, Miniconjou , Blackfeet, Two Kettles, Sans Arc) - Yankton (Yanktonai) - Dakota (Santee) - Arapaho The Brule-Lakota with Spotted Tail, Red Leaf, Swift Bear and Standing Elk, signed on April 29. April. April. Oglala-Lakota with Man Afraid of his Horses, Sitting Bull and American Horse signed May 25. Miniconjou-Lakota with Spotted Elk (Big Foot) and Bull Bear signed on May 26. The Hunkpapa-Lakota along with Sans Arc, Blackfoot and Two Kettle under Gall, Bear's Rib and Running Antelope signed at Fort Rice on July 2. Red Cloud signed the treaty on November 6, 1868, after the three forts on the Bozeman Trail had been abandoned and burned by the Indians. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse did not sign the treaty. The Black Hills were granted to the Indians forever. The Indians were given the area of the Great Sioux Reservation, approx. 240000 km². The treaty began to crumble as early as 1872, when the army sent engineers under the protection of American troops into the Great Sioux Reservation to explore a suitable route for the railroad. And when Custer advanced into the Black Hills in 1874 with around 1,000 soldiers to search for gold, the treaty, like many others, was already a waste of time. The treaty established the entire area of the present-day US state of South Dakota west of the Missouri River, including the Black Hills (from the northern border in Nebraska to the 46th parallel and from the Missouri River in the east to the 104th meridian in the west) as Indian land (Great Sioux Reservation) for unrestricted and undisturbed use and settlement by the Great Sioux Nation. Land cessions were only to be possible if at least three quarters of all adult male Sioux agreed. After 1876, the Sioux had to give up their land along the Powder River. The Great Sioux Reservation became smaller and smaller. Chief Washakie of the Shoshone was able to secure a reservation for his tribe on the Wind River in Wyoming. The Crow Indians have traveled more than 100,000 km. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Blackfoot Two Kettle (Lakota) Sans Arc (Lakota) Yanktonai (Western Dakota) Yanktonai (Western Dakota) Santee (Eastern Dakota) Northern Arapaho (Arapaho) Crow Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Eastern Shoshone | Red Cloud Man-afraid-of-his-horses American Horse Sitting Bull One Horn Spotted Elk Bull Bear Spotted Tail Red Leaf Swift Bear Standing Elk Running Antelope Gall Bear's Rib Fire Heart Long Mandan The one that has neither horn Two Bears Mad Bear Red Ensig Little Chief Dull Knife Washakie |
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| Signing of the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, source: http://www.ask.com/wiki/Fort_Laramie_Treaty_(1868). | |||
| 19 May 1868 | Major General Augur gave the order to abandon the three forts along the Bozeman Trail. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Summer 1868 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868The peace terms of Red Cloud were fulfilled. The Bozeman Trail and Forts Reno, Phil Kearny and C.F. Smith were abandoned. Couriers were sent in search of Red Cloud. John Richard, a Sioux half-breed, found Red Cloud and about 3,000 warriors in the Gallatin Valley. Most of the Lakota tribes gathered around Red Cloud then gathered at Fort Laramie in southeastern Wyoming, only Red Cloud and his band 'Bad Faces' did not arrive at Fort Laramie until the spring of 1969. | Oglala (Lakota) Blackfoot (Lakota) Two Kettle (Lakota) Sans Arc (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 29 July 1868 | As a precondition for treaty talks, Fort C.F. Smith was evacuated by Red Cloud and burned down by the Indians. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 20 August 1868 | Like Fort C.F. Smith, Fort Phil Kearny was also evacuated. The empty fort was then burned down by the Lakota. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Replica of Fort Phil Kearny in northern Wyoming. Source: Thomet Daniel 2009. | |||
| End of August 1868 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868After Fort Reno had also been cleared, the Bozeman Trail was closed. Red Cloud was finally a hero among the Lakota and was able to sign the Treaty of Fort Laramie as the last chief with his head held high. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Information board at the former site of Fort Reno. | |||
| 6 November 1868 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868The Oglala under Red Cloud signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie. Red Cloud adhered to the treaty for the rest of his life and never fought against the US Army again. As soon as it became known that Red Cloud would sign the treaty, about 600 warriors separated from Red Cloud and left his camp at Powder River. Beginning in the summer of 1869, these warriors carried out several raids on settlers, farmers and stagecoaches on the Wyoming prairie. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Begin of 1869 | Father de Smet visited Red Cloud in his village and persuaded him to visit President Grant in Washington. The trip made a lasting impression on Red Cloud: the sheer number of white people, the houses, the telegraph poles, the gunboats, the railroad. When Red Cloud returned, he had an invitation to a lecture tour in his pocket. Red Cloud traveled to the East Coast a total of seven times before the end of his life. These trips led Red Cloud to the realization that armed resistance against the whites was pointless. The whites were too strong and too superior. From then on, Red Cloud refused to fight against the whites. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Spring 1869 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868Red Cloud camped with his Oglalas band 'Bad Face' on the North Platte River. He then rode to Fort Laramie with his key warriors and signed the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. On the way to the fort, Red Cloud stopped at the large trading post and met Colonel William G. Bullock. The colonel wanted to shake Red Cloud's hand. Red Cloud replied: 'Wait, my friend, until I have washed my hands. My hands are bloody up to my elbows. I want to wash my hands before I shake a man's hand again. The Oglala spent the summer in the Fort Laramie area. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 1870 | Red Cloud visited Washington for the first time. After seeing the sheer number of whites on the east coast and the military strength of the US army, he began to campaign for peace with the whites. Red Cloud was to visit the US President seven more times before the end of his life. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Red Cloud (center) during his visit to Washington. To his right is American Horse. American Horse fell 6 years later at the Battle of Slim Buttes. Source: http://www.mesoamerica.de/na-portraitgalerie/lakota-rc/redcloud.htm. | |||
| Summer 1871 | Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868Red Cloud Agency No. 1 was established west of the present-day town of Henry on the border between Nebraska and Wyoming. This reservation was part of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. In 1873, Red Cloud Agency No. 1 was relocated to the Crawford area. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| August 1873 | Red Cloud Agency No. 2 was relocated to what is now the town of Crawford on the White River in northwest Nebraska. The old station had to be relocated due to the wave of immigration triggered by the new Union Pacific Railroad. Red Cloud Agenda 2 was located about 30 miles west of the Spotted Tail Agency. After the murder of an Indian agent, the US Army sent troops from Fort Laramie to Red Cloud Agency No. 2 in March 1874 and stationed them at Camp Robinson (later Fort Robinson). Camp Robinson consisted of tents in the vicinity of Red Cloud Agency No. 2. After the murder of Crazy Horse at Camp Robinson in 1877, Red Cloud Agency No. 2 was relocated a third time. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| September 1875 | At the invitation of the Allison Commission on behalf of the U.S. government, about 100 reservation Indians gathered a few miles east of Red Cloud Agency II in the area of present-day Crawford in northeast Nebraska to negotiate the sale of the Black Hills. Among them were Red Cloud and Spotted Tail. Both were willing to sell the Black Hills. At a meeting before the actual gathering, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse decided not to accept the invitation. Nevertheless, 400 'Northern Indians' rode to Red Cloud's agency (Northern Indians were those Indians who still lived freely and not on reservations). On September 23, Little Big Man rode with warriors to Red Cloud Agency II and threatened to kill anyone who would sign the treaty. The commission proposed ceding the Black Hills to the whites for 1.75 million dollars. The Indians refused. Red Cloud made the following counter-proposal: the Black Hills were to be ceded on condition that the government supported the Sioux for 7 generations. Around 10,000 Indians were present at the negotiations, of which only around 400 were Northern Lakota. Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Gall were not present. The negotiations did not lead to an agreement. The Allison Commission returned to Washington in anger and recommended that a fair price be set for the Black Hills and that this be made to the Indians as a final offer. The increasing influx of settlers and prospectors into the Black Hills put pressure on the US government. According to the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868, the land belonged to the Indians and the US government had undertaken to protect the Indians from possible intruders. | Hunkpapa (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Sitting Bull Red Cloud Long Horn Spotted Tail Little Big Man Crazy Horse |
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| Chief Little Big Man of the Oglala. Source: Thomet Daniel 2010. | |||
| End of 1875 | Around 15,000 gold seekers lived in the Black Hills area. The US Army patrolled the Black Hills to drive the prospectors out of the area. However, the US Army performed this task more than half-heartedly. The prospectors were determined to defend their new home by any means necessary and were also very well armed. Little by little, small towns and cities emerged from the former tent camps. This included Deadwood in the southwest of South Dakota. Deadwood was built in 1876 during the gold boom and still looks like a town from the Wild West era today. | Hunkpapa (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Sitting Bull Red Cloud Crazy Horse |
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| Deadwood in southwestern South Dakota in 1876 Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadwood_(South_Dakota) | |||
| 7 September 1876 | Crooks Horse Meat March 1876 - The next day, the Indians were threatened that the US government would withhold rations if the Indians did not cede the Black Hills to the US government. The commission also planned to close the Great Sioux Reservation and send the Indians to a new reservation in Oklahoma. The commission was accompanied by a company of soldiers with bayonets fixed and a cannon. The chiefs Red Cloud (Oglala Lakota) and Spotted Tail (Miniconjou Lakota) had no choice but to sign. This forced 'treaty' also violated the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868, which required a 3/4 majority of all male Indians for such treaties. On February 28, 1877, the US Congress ratified the treaty. The Black Hills thus became the property of the USA. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 8 September 1876 | Black Hills treaty 1876A commission headed by George Manypenny met at the Great Sioux Agency. The commission wanted to conclude a 'treaty' with the Indians in which they were to cede the Black Hills and the territories in Montana and Wyoming that had not yet been ceded to the US government. The US government forced the chiefs on the reservations to cede the land previously belonging to the Indians, including the Black Hills, by treaty. Otherwise, the US government threatened to stop supplying food to the Indians on the reservations. The Treaty of Fort Laramie required a 3/4 majority of the Indians for such regulations, which the US government simply ignored. The contracts were signed on the following dates: - At the Spotted Tail Agency on September 23, 1876 - At the Red Cloud Agency on September 26, 1876 - At the Standing Rock Reservation on October 11, 1876 - At the Cheyenne River Agency on October 16, 1876 The U.S. Senate ratified the 'treaty' on February 28, 1877 From the perspective of the U.S. government, the Black Hills and the territory occupied by the free Indians now belonged to them. This also made the settlements and the presence of prospectors in the Black Hills legal. From the point of view of the US government, the last free prairie Indians were now in an area that belonged to the US government and no longer to the Indians. General Sheridan now declared all-out war on the Indians from his headquarters in Chicago. | Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Hunkpapa (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) | Red Cloud Sitting Bull Spotted Tail |
| 22 October 1876 | Colonel Ranald Mackenzie was ordered by General George Crook to disarm the Red Cloud and Red Leaf agencies (Brule Lakota) and confiscate the ponies. The reason for this was that the large Indian village on the Little Big Horn River had received a large influx of Indians from the reservation before the Battle of Little Big Horn. In addition to some old rifles, 722 ponies were confiscated and divided among the Pawnee scouts, the rest were sold to the town of Cheyenne in eastern Wyoming. After this action, Red Cloud and his family had to walk about 30 miles back to the agency. As soon as they arrived at the agency, Red Cloud was dropped off and replaced by Spotted Tail. General Alfred Terry collected all the rifles, ammunition and horses from the Cheyenne River Agency (Miniconjou-Lakota) and the Standing Rock Reservation (Hunkpapa-Lakota). | Oglala (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) | Red Cloud Red Leaf |
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| Chief Red Cloud of the Oglala, photographed at the Red Cloud Agency in 1876. Source: Thomet Daniel 2010. | |||
| 28 February 1877 | Black Hills treaty 1876The Treaty of Black Hills became law. The Indians lost the entire area around the sacred Black Hills, a total of around 40 million acres of reservation land. Sitting Bull then fled to Canada with a group of Hunkpapa. Up to this point, the Black Hills were part of the Great Sioux Reservation due to the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. Only around 10% of all male Lakota signed the treaty, but Congress passed the law anyway. According to the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868, the signatures of at least 3/4 of all men on the Great Sioux Reservation would have been required. | Hunkpapa (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) | Sitting Bull Red Cloud Spottet Tail |
| October 1877 | After Crazy Horse's murder, the Red Cloud Agency was relocated a third time, this time to the Missouri River in South Dakota, in the area of the source of Medicine Creek, about 45 km south of present-day Pierre. As early as 1878, the agency was moved again and renamed the Pine Ridge Reservation, this time to its final location in South Dakota, as a result of the division of the Great Sioux Reservation into 7 smaller reservations. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| Autumn 1877 | Red Cloud Agency II and the Spotted Tail Agency in Nebraska were relocated to the new Red Cloud Agency III on the Missouri River in South Dakota. Red Cloud led 8,000 Oglala east on the famous `Trail of Tears`. However, some of the Oglala did not march to the new reservation on the Missouri, but to Canada. After just one year, the Oglala were relocated again, this time to the Pine Ridge Reservation. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| December 1878 | Northern Cheyenne Exodus 1877 - Red Cloud came to Fort Robinson to talk to the Cheyenne. He complained about the poor condition of the Cheyenne. But Red Cloud was unable to help the Cheyenne. | Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Oglala (Lakota) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) Northern Cheyenne (Cheyenne) | Dull Knife Red Cloud Left Hand Wild Hog |
| 27 October 1890 | Major General Nelson A. Miles (commander of the Missouri Military Division) visited the Pine Ridge Reservation and tried to convince the Ghost Dancers to give up their religion. Little Wound refused. Red Cloud himself did not take part in the dances, but his son Jack Red Cloud led the dance ceremonies on the Pine Ridge Reservation. | Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Little Wound Jack Red Cloud Red Cloud |
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| Pine Ridge Reservation and Badlands, South Dakota. Source: Wikipedia | |||
| 31 October 1890 | On the Rosebud Reservation, Short Bull explained to the Indians that he had to shorten the time until the arrival of the 'New World' because of the massive presence of the US Army on the reservations. Instead of arriving in the spring of 1891, the New World was to arrive in just one month and he called on all spirit dancers to gather and dance between the Rosebud Reservation and the Pine Ridge Reservation at Pass Creek. The new ghost dancer shirts were to protect the dancers from the soldiers' bullets should they attack. The Lakota began to speak of a 'holy war' against the whites. | Brule (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) | Short Bull Red Cloud Kicking Bear |
| 20 November 1890 | Due to the unrest, President Benjamin Harrison sent Brigadier General John Brooke with five companies of infantry and three companies of cavalry to the Pine Ridge Reservation and the Rosebud Reservation, the center of the Ghost Dance movement. In addition, the Nebraska National Guard was deployed to guard the southern border of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Colonel Miles was assigned to manage the crisis. For the first time in 12 years, the Indians were again directly confronting the US Army. Nevertheless, dancing continued on the Pine Ridge Reservation, at least at the camps of Little Wound, Big Road and No Water. Little Wound was recognized as a leader. In the camps of Big Foot and Hump in the Cheyenne River Reservation, about 600-700 Miniconjou Lakota are said to have worked as spirit dancers. The ghost dancers of the Rosebud Reservation and the Pine Ridge Reservation were forced into the 'Stronghold Tables' in the badlands of South Dakota by the strong presence of American troops. The dance grounds in the Badlands were relatively easy to defend. Here the Lakota continued to dance. | Oglala (Lakota) Brule (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Miniconjou (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud Short Bull Little Wound Hump Big Foot Big Road No Water Kicking Bear |
| 12 December 1890 | Due to his diplomatic skills, Chief Big Foot (Spotted Elk) was asked by Red Cloud to come to the Pine Ridge Reservation to help settle disputes between the Indians and the white authorities. But Big Foot initially had no intention of going to the Pine Ridge Reservation. | Miniconjou (Lakota) Oglala (Lakota) | Big Foot Red Cloud |
| Spring 1893 | Red Cloud's old friends, Samuel Deon and Charles Allen, began documenting Red Cloud's life. Red Cloud, who had gone blind in the meantime, was regularly interviewed on the Pine Ridge Reservation. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 1897 | Red Cloud visited the US President in Washington DC. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
| 1909 | Red Cloud died at the age of 87 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. | Oglala (Lakota) | Red Cloud |
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| Red Cloud grave at Red Cloud College in the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. Source: Thomet Daniel 2010 | |||