HOMELAND - Plains Indian Timeline 1867-1878

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1867 - The Treaty of Medicine Lodge between the U.S. and the Cheyenne and Arapaho forces the two tribes to move to a reservation in Indian Territory, on land that was ceded by Indian tribes to the U.S. after the end of the Civil War.

1868 - Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 between the U.S. and the Indians creates the Great Sioux Reservation and reaffirms Sioux hunting rights. Renowned military leader General Armstrong Custer leads an attack on unarmed Cheyenne at the Washita River, killing mostly woman and children.

Northern Pacific Locomotive, 1900-1910 (Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)

1869 - The Transcontinental Railroad cuts across Native American lands.

1870 - In January, in the Massacre of the Marias, U.S. Soldiers slaughter 173 Blackfeet men, women and children on the Marias River in Montana, retaliation for the death of a white man and the wounding of his son. Later that year, due to disagreements about the implementation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, Red Cloud and Spotted Tail negotiate with President Ulysses S. Grant in Washington, D.C. It is reaffirmed that the Sioux (and other tribes) could live in the Powder River country, as well as hunt in it.

1872-1875 - The Lakota, with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, drive the Crow out of eastern Montana because of intertribal competition for the shrinking hunting grounds for buffalo.

Chief Sitting Bull (F. A. Rinehart, Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)

1872 - In August, two U.S. railroad survey teams, each accompanied by about 500 troops, head into eastern Montana and are attacked by bands led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, with few casualties, but severe consequences. General William Sherman testified before Congress in March: "This railroad is a national enterprise, and we are forced to protect the men during its survey and construction, through, probably, the most warlike nation of Indians on this continent, who will fight for every foot of the line."

1873 - In August, the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies move to the White River in northwest Nebraska next to Fort Robinson, living mostly on government rations. That same summer, an Oglala hunting party encounters some white buffalo hunters, who kill Whistler, a famous and friendly chief, and two other Oglalas. The Lakota and Pawnee escalate their ongoing war over the dwindling number of buffalo when Lakotas attack a Pawnee camp, killing 50 men, women and children and stealing their buffalo meat and skins. The Lakota also fight with the Crow tribe over hunting grounds in Montana. In addition, a skirmish erupts between Hunkpapa, Oglala, Miniconjous, Sans Arcs, and Cheyennes, led overall by Sitting Bull, and a railroad survey team led by General Custer, with a large military escort. Miners looking for gold in the Black Hills are frequently attacked by Indians.

1874 - Custer leads a large expedition, including 1,000 troops, into the Black Hills to explore and set up military posts. The expedition, which also includes geologists, finds gold and publicizes their discovery, leading to a massive influx of prospectors to the area. In September, the U.S. military are ordered to stop miners from trespassing on the Sioux Reservation.

1875 - There are 15,000 miners in the Black Hills at the beginning of the year. In spring, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail and other chiefs are summoned to Washington to meet with President Grant and discuss the Black Hills. The Indians argue among themselves about how to deal with the situation and nothing is resolved. The U.S. Senate Commission visits the Nebraska Agencies to offer $6 million for purchase of the Black Hills, but the Indians refuse. By November, President Grant abandons any attempts to keep the miners out of the Black Hills, ultimately reversing the U.S. position by protecting the miners and settlers. On December, 6, 1875, the U.S. Commissioner on Indian Affairs orders the Lakota onto the reservation by a Jan. 31, 1876, deadline, threatening to treat them as "hostiles" and have them arrested. Some Sioux, scattered during the harsh winter, don't receive the order.

Battle of the Little Big Horn, as enacted in Buffalo Bill's Wild West

1876 - On February 1, the Secretary of the Interior relinquishes jurisdiction over all so-called "hostile" Sioux - meaning those off the reservation lands - to the War Department. The Army is ordered in for the 1876 War that ensues, which includes the famous Battle of the Little Big Horn. In October, the Treaty of 1876 between the U.S. and the Sioux Nation of Indians, the Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians is signed, despite protests of the majority of the tribes, and enacted into law by Congress in February the following year.

1877 - The Wolf Mountain Battle occurs in January. Crazy Horse is killed at Fort Robinson in September, after volunteering to come to the fort to discuss ongoing conflicts. That same month, Red Cloud and Spotted Tail travel to Washington to meet with President Rutherford B. Hayes, receiving his promise that they could choose their own permanent settlement site within the reservation, which now excluded the Black Hills.

1878 - The Pine Ridge and Rosebud agencies (later made into reservations) are created in June.

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