Warfare was constant between whites and Indians in the late nineteenth century, as Native Americans fought to protect their land and their heritage from white encroachment. Although they had the benefit of state-of-the-art weapons (repeating rifles obtained from fur traders), they were up against formidable U.S. forces.
As the dust settled from the Civil War, soldiers from both sides of that conflict were ready to step into another fray. The battle to acquire U.S. territories from Indians was predominantly fought by Civil War veterans, including a significant number of black men who were assigned to a fighting group called the Buffalo Regiment. Under the guidance of Generals William T. Sherman, P.T. Sheridan, and George Custer, these “Buffalo Soldiers” advanced confidently and repeatedly against Indian tribes.
Although some battles against Indians were brutal on both sides, other conflicts were nothing but displays of dominance by U.S. troops. One such battle was the Sand Creek Massacre, which occurred in Colorado in 1864. At that time, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes inhabited the Sand Creek region after being forcibly relocated there due to the gold rush in 1861. Miners overtook their area and pushed the tribes into a desolate locale.
The approximately 400 Indians living in this area believed they had been granted immunity and protective custody by the United States government when Colonel J.M. Chivington’s troops arrived. Chivington ordered his troops to slaughter the Indian men, women, and children to flaunt their dominance over the natives.
The gold rush also led to another legendary conflict. The Sioux tribe, led by Chief Sitting Bull, had been relocated to the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory and had been living there in peace when miners determined the Black Hills to be another gold rush target in 1875. General Custer was called to lead troops to move the Sioux away from the area the miners sought to excavate. Undaunted, the Sioux pushed back in a clash that would become known as the Sioux War and would span from 1876 to 1877.
The warfare came to a head on June 25, 1877 at Little Bighorn in the Montana Territory. General Custer, seeking to overtake the ore-rich land for the miners, came across a settlement of over 7,000 Indians from the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. Even though he realized the U.S. forces were largely outnumbered, Custer believed that the element of surprise would work to his advantage. Dividing his troops into three groups of approximately 200 men each, he directed the groups to encircle the camp and launch an attack.
However, before the attack could commence, Custer and his group found themselves surrounded by an Indian sneak attack led by famed war Chief Crazy Horse. The well-armed Indians attacked Custer and his men without mercy. In a two-hour battle, Crazy Horse’s 2,500 warriors massacred Custer and his 264 men. Winning the Sioux War did not ensure their safety, so Chief Sitting Bull led his Sioux to Canada, where they established themselves as peaceful and law-abiding residents.
While the Sioux were struggling in the northern plains, the Nez Perce tribe, led by Chief Joseph, was fighting a similar battle in the Pacific Northwest. This tribe was centralized in Oregon and Idaho after ceding large amounts of land to the United States in the name of peace. However, the United States made continued attempts to concentrate the Nez Perce into smaller and smaller areas. In 1877, the U.S. told the Nez Perce that they would be removed either by agreement or force from the Wallowa Valley. The tribe resisted this encroachment with several battles that reduced both U.S. and Nez Perce forces.
Chief Joseph had a reputation for being a humane and noble leader, and he did not wish for the bloodshed to continue. He decided to seek Chief Sitting Bull’s advice, but needed to travel to Canada to do so. He mobilized his troops and began the 75-day, 1,500 mile trip to Sitting Bull’s locale, only to be overcome by U.S. forces 30 miles from the Canadian border.
After first promising to return the tribe to their ancestral lands in Idaho, the U.S. government redirected the Nez Perce’s trek south, placing them in an Indian camp in Kansas. The camp was infected with malaria and over one-third of the Nez Perce died while in Kansas. Eventually, the remaining members of the Nez Perce tribe were relocated to Oklahoma. They would later be allowed to return to the northwest but were never allowed to return to the Wallowa Valley. These moves took their toll on the Nez Perce tribe, and by the time they were allowed to return to the northwest, they numbered only a fraction of the once-strong tribe.
The Apache was another tribe damaged by warfare. Although several Apache accepted the relocation effort and became relatively successful farmers and cattle ranchers in Oklahoma, many others firmly resisted relocation efforts. Led by Geronimo and Cochise, Apache warriors established a base in the Rocky Mountains, where they fought a nine-year guerilla war against U.S. troops. The U.S. eventually pushed the Apache further into the southwest and Mexico and captured Geronimo. Cochise surrendered and allowed his tribe to be relocated and concentrated.
There was one final event in the series of Indian Wars. An Indian named Wovoka, who also went by the English name Jack Wilson, dreamt that a supreme being would rescue the Indians from the opposing U.S. forces. Wovoka’s dream indicated that Indians could hasten the rescue by performing a “Ghost Dance” on the eve of each New Moon.
Indian tribes, especially the Sioux, placed their faith in the Ghost Dance and performed it with unprecedented fervor. White settlers, although not believing Wovoka’s prophecy, feared the atmosphere the Ghost Dance created and asked the federal government to make the religious ceremony illegal. Although the government never fulfilled that request, they watched Ghost Dance ceremonies with a cautious eye.
When a particularly passionate Ghost Dance raised concerns in 1890, authorities stepped in to control the furor by arresting the Chief. During the arrest, the Chief was killed, which only served to inflame the already resentful Indians. The atmosphere was tense.
The tension spilled over into conflict on the night of December 29, 1890. An accidental gunfire at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, caused both sides to mistakenly believe that warfare had begun. The result was a bloodbath, with over 200 Indians—men, women, and children—and a significant number of U.S. soldiers killed. The Indians harbored resentment for the massacre, but for the most part they sought an end to the Indian Wars and allowed themselves to be integrated into American society.