SITTING BULL
The Indian knew no law but that of simple justice, and in his dealings he had always wanted to be honest. On every hand, however, he now met cruelty, dishonesty and broken faith, and he learned to think of the white man as a terrible crushing power fit only to be done away with, and this finally became the keynote of his existence.
In 1862 there was an outbreak of the powerful Sioux tribes due directly to the failure of our government to keep its pledges to the Indians, who were depending upon the promised money due them in payment for their land. They were aroused to a sense of this injustice by an actual want of the necessities of life, for robbed of his hunting and fishing ground, the Indian knew no way to get a living. Some say that he should have tilled the soil like the white man, but it must not be forgotten that having lived for centuries in a savage state, he was not fitted to meet the demands of civilization.
The great Civil War was raging and draining the country of its fighting men. Knowing only one way to right their wrongs, the Indians seized this unique opportunity and on the morning of August 18th, 1862, a party of one hundred and fifty Sioux, under Chief Little Crow, began a massacre of the white settlers on both sides of the Minnesota River.
For three weeks the Indians had their own way, meeting with no strong resistance, most of the men then serving in the Union Army. Finally the government assembled a force large enough to resist the savages successfully and put down the uprising. But this was only temporary peace, for the Indians were very persistent. One Indian war after another was fought until the government forces became strong enough to maintain obedience from the red man.
One of the most disastrous of the battles in the West was that which took place after General Sheridan ordered the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes to give up their hunting grounds, and to go upon a reservation. This did not please the Indians. They stood firmly for their rights and another Sioux war resulted.
A U.S. TROOPER ON THE TRAIL
Three columns of troops under Generals Crook, Terry and Custer were sent out in May, 1876. But after a fierce but indecisive fight between Crook and the Sioux, the soldiers fell back to Tongue River.