Red Cloud, chief of the Oglala Lakota, for years frustrated efforts of the United States government to open up the West. From 1859 on, he and his warriors, living near Fort Laramie, Wyoming, attacked whites encroaching on Indian Territory along the North Platte River. By 1865, he was effectively discouraging white intrusion by way of the Bozeman Trail. Red Cloud led the 1866 massacre of 80 troops from Fort Kearney, one of the posts built to protect the trail, an event that led to the abandonment of the trail by the whites in 1868. A peace treaty, which Red Cloud signed, seems to have been a turning point for the war chief. After visiting Washington, D.C., he agreed to settle down as a reservation chief. According to Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, he sold out to the whites, permitting corrupt and inadequate conditions on Sioux reservations. He lost his status as head chief in 1881. After the Wounded Knee massacre (1890) he lived quietly on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Red Cloud, chief of the Oglala Lakota, for years frustrated efforts of the United States government to open up the West. From 1859 on, he and his warriors, living near Fort Laramie, Wyoming, attacked whites encroaching on Indian Territory along the North Platte River. By 1865, he was effectively discouraging white intrusion by way of the Bozeman Trail. Red Cloud led the 1866 massacre of 80 troops from Fort Kearney, one of the posts built to protect the trail, an event that led to the abandonment of the trail by the whites in 1868. A peace treaty, which Red Cloud signed, seems to have been a turning point for the war chief. After visiting Washington, D.C., he agreed to settle down as a reservation chief. According to Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, he sold out to the whites, permitting corrupt and inadequate conditions on Sioux reservations. He lost his status as head chief in 1881. After the Wounded Knee massacre (1890) he lived quietly on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Family Members
Advertisement
See more Red Cloud memorials in:
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
