Red Cloud

Background

He was born on a tributary of the North Platte River in Nebraska in 1822.

Career

Red Cloud early distinguished himself as a warrior. By the 1860 Makhpiyaluta (his Native American name) was leading his own band of warriors and had gained an important reputation. In the Sioux War of 1865-1868 he was war chief of all the Oglala. In 1866 he learned of the U. S. government's intention to build the Bozeman Trail and to construct three forts along it; this road would run through land guaranteed by treaty to the Sioux. Red Cloud gathered 1, 500 to 2, 000 warriors and in December lured Capt. W. J. Fetterman and 80 soldiers into a trap and massacred them. Only the severe cold of winter prevented his overrunning the post itself. Though at the famous Wagon Box Fight of August 1867 Red Cloud saw the deadly accuracy of the U. S. Army's new rifles, the government conceded defeat in 1868. The Bozeman Trail was closed and the forts abandoned. The Sioux happily set fire to these forts while Red Cloud went to Ft. Laramie, Wyo. Here on November 6, 1868, he signed a treaty that, unknown to him, provided for reservations and the cession of certain tribal lands. Finding out the terms of the treaty, angry young warriors turned more and more to the militant leader Crazy Horse. In 1870 Red Cloud journeyed to New York and Washington, D. C. , to clarify the treaty and to speak in defense of the Sioux. His speeches aroused public opinion to the extent that the government revised the treaty. A special agency for the Oglala Sioux was created on the North Platte River. Thereafter Red Cloud counseled his people to remain peaceful. He frequently charged the government agents with fraud, graft, and corruption, but he advised the Oglala to be loyal to the U. S. government. During the final Sioux War, of 1875-1876, though he opposed the war faction led by Crazy Horse, he refused to cede the Black Hills. In 1881 Red Cloud was removed as chief. Thereafter he declined in prestige and importance. His tribe was moved to the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota following the final Sioux War. He became blind in his later years and died at the Pine Ridge Agency on December 10, 1909.

Achievements

• As a result of the so-called "Red Cloud War" (1866-1868), he managed to achieve the withdrawal of US troops from the valley of the River Powder in the southeast of Montana and the north of Wyoming and the signing of the most acceptable treaty for the Indians. Announcements of Red Cloud's death and recognition of his achievements were printed in major newspapers across the country. As had been typical of the US perception during Red Cloud's prominence in war, the article in The New York Times mistakenly described him as leader of all the Sioux bands and tribes, but noted his abilities as a leader and diplomat. While he was a prominent leader, the Lakota were highly decentralized and never had one overall leader, especially of the major divisions, such as Oglala and Brulé. Red Cloud was the most photographed American Indian of the nineteenth century. He was first photographed in 1872 in Washington D. C. by Mathew Brady, just before meeting with President Grant. He was among the Indians photographed by Edward S. Curtis. In 2000, he was posthumously selected for induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame. There are 128 known photographs picturing Red Cloud. He has been honored by the United States Postal Service with a 10¢ Great Americans series postage stamp.

Views

Quotations: "I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love. "

"We were told that they wished merely to pass through our country. . . to seek for gold in the far west . . . Yet before the ashes of the council are cold, the Great Father is building his forts among us. . . . His presence here is . . . an insult to the spirits of our ancestors. Are we then to give up their sacred graves to be allowed for corn?"

"Look at me. I was a warrior on this land where the sun rises, now I come from where the sun sets. Whose voice was first surrounded on this land - the red people with bows and arrows. The Great Father says he is good and kind to us. I can't see it. .. "

"I hope the Great Heavenly Father, who will look down upon us, will give all the tribes his blessing, that we may go forth in peace, and live in peace all our days, and that He will look down upon our children and finally lift us far above this earth. "

"The whites, who are educated and civilized, swindle me, and I am not hard to swindle because I do not know how to read and write. "

"The Great Spirit will not make me suffer because I am ignorant. He will put me in a place where I shall be better off than in this world. "

"Even if you live forty or fifty years in this world, and then die, you cannot take all your goods with you. "

"When I was a young man, I was poor. In a war with other nations, I was in eighty-seven fights. There I received my name and was made Chief of my nation. But now I am old and am for peace. "

"The white man has got the gold out of the land which belonged to the red man.

Red Cloud"

Connections

He was married Pretty Owl. They had six children.

Father:

Lone Man

He was a Brulé Lakota leader.

Mother:

Walks As She Thinks

child:

Charges At Red Cloud

1861- ____

child:

Wears War Bonnet Red Cloud

1850 - ____

child:

Jack Red Cloud

1858 - 1928

child:

Comes Back Red Cloud

1865 - ____

child:

Louise Red Cloud

1854 - ____

child:

Tells Him Red Cloud

1860 - ____

Wife:

Pretty Owl

References

• Red Cloud: Photographs of a Lakota Chief (Great Plains Photography)
• Crazy Horse And Chief Red Cloud: Warrior Chiefs- Teton Oglalas
• The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend
• Red Cloud: the Great Ogallala Sioux War Chief (1922)