CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE PLAINS

INDIANS AND EURO-AMERICAN

SETTLERS AND SOLDIERS HAVE

OFTEN BEEN BLAMED ON BROKEN

TREATIES, BUT WHO ACTUALLY

DID THE 'BREAKING' HAS BEEN

CONFUSED BY HISTORICAL MYTHS

AND MODERN INTERPRETATIONS.

BY GREGORY MICHNO

nyone with an interest inWestern history as it has beeninterpreted during the pasthalf-century has no doubt seen,heard and read countless lita-nies about how white men con-tinually broke treaties with the

American Indians. White soldiers and settlers are nearlyalways depicted as heing the first to violate agreementsthat the Indians, if left in peace, would surely have kept.The tale is often repeated, but like so many historicalmyths, it dissolves upon closer examination.

The idea to treat with the Indians was an old one, goingback to the time of the first white settlers in the NewWorld. When the Colonies finally became the UnitedStates, that approach had not changed. George Washing-ton, in 1783, wrote that his government's policy must beto keep on good terms with the Indians, and to purchase

their lands in preference to driving them off by force ofarms. That strategy remained in effect for another century.The first Congress created the War Department in 1789,and Indian affairs remained under its jurisdiction untiltransferred to the Interior Department in 1849. TheBureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1824, and a com-missioner of Indian Affairs established in 1832. Regard-less of the jurisdiction, the underlying idea was to pay forIndian lands, draw a boundary line and hope that theland-hungry Americans would stay on their own side. Itgenerally did not work.

In what has been called the most important Indiantreaty in the nation's history, the 1795 Treaty of Greenvilleopened up the Ohio country, and brought forth thou-sands of settlers, speculators and surveyors, marking outthousands of square miles of townships and sectionsthat would carry the pattern of land ownership acrossthe breadth of the land. The Americans could hardly be

A U G U S T 2 006-—I- I • W I L D W E S T

held hack at an imaginary wilderness line, however, andthe Indians were continually moved farther west withnew treaties and new deals.

The idea of buying the Indians' land and constantlymoving them west hegan to change in the late 1840s.Most of the Indians had been removed west of the Missis-sippi, where it was thought there would be litde furtherintercourse between the tribes and the white Americans.A mighty river, however, was no deterrent, and the wordof fertile lands and gold discoveries soon drew tens ofthousands of Americans into Indian lands once again.Realizing that the old system would no longer work, thecommissioner of Indian Affairs in 1848 reported that itwotild he judicious "to colonize our Indian tribes beyondthe reach, for some years, of our white population."Thus, the idea of the reservation system evolved. Thefederal government would try to concentrate the tribesinto restricted areas, where it was believed depredations

from both sides could be better controlled, and wherethe Indians could more easily be induced to accept anagricultural economy.

The first major attempt to apply this policy to the West-ern tribes occurred near Fort Laramie (in what wouldbecome Wyoming) on September 17,1851. Superinten-dent of Indian Affairs David D. Mitchell, agent ThomasFitzpatrick and several other officers and officials metwith the Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow,Assiniboine, Gros Ventre, Mandan and Arikara tribes tomake "an effective and lasting peace." The agreementhas become known as both the Treaty of Fort Laramie of1851 and the Treaty of Horse Creek, since negotiationswere actually held some 35 miles from the fort at HorseCreek (in present-day Nebraska). In the first article, alltribes agreed to "abstain in future from all hostilitieswhatever against each other." In the second article, allagreed that the United States could build roads and forts

WILD WEST AUGUST 2006

through their territories, and in article four, the tribes agreedto make restitution for any wrongs committed against U.S.citizens. Article five designated tribal boundaries, and the vari-ous bands agreed to acknowledge each other's territories. Inarticle eight, it was agreed that any violation of the provisionswould allow the United States to withhold annuities.

With the treaty duly agreed to and signed, the Lakotaspromptly went north, and over thenext two years, attacked the Crows,invaded their lands in what wouldbecome Wyoming and Montana,moved in and drove them out. TheCheyennes joined in the attacks in1853. In 1854 they raided into Mexicoand New Mexico Tenitory, stole stockand killed or captured Anglos andMexicans. Even so, the United Statesnever ceased paying annuities.Although Lieutenant lohn Grattanfired into a Lakota village on theNorth Platte River in August 1854 overa dispute about a Mormon cow (lead-ing to the death of his command, theso-called Grattan Massacre), Indiansignatories of the Treaty of FortLaramie had been violating theiragreements for three years.

Thus began a string of treaties withthe more hostile Western tribes, whowere facing the possihility of reserva-tion life for the first fime. Was there a difference in characterbetween the Eastern and Western tribes that tended to makethe latter more readily disregard their oaths? Was the reserva-tion system too restrictive? Did the chiefs always understandthe treaty provisions? Was it ever really possible for the signa-tory leaders to impose their will on other members of theirtribe? Were the less hospitable lands the Plains Indians occu-pied simply not as desirable, making the whites less inclinedto encroach upon them? For whatever reasons, a survey ofsome of the more important treaties made during the latterhalf of the 19th century with the most warlike of the tribes inthe Great Plains and Southwest shows that it was the Indianswho most often were the first to break their promises. The factwill not be popular with many of our politically correct gener-ation, but facts should not be based on popularity.

On luly 1,1852, U.S. authorities made a treat}' with theMescalero Apaches in Santa Fe, and on July 11 hidian agentJohn Greiner went to Acoma, New Mexico Territor\; jf) signessentially the same agreement with Chiricahua Apachesunder Mangas Coloradas. The Indians agreed to abide by U.S.laws, said they would not fight with U.S. citizens, would allowforts to be built on their lands, would allow free, safe passage

through their lands, and would refrain from making anypredatory incursions into Mexico. Mangas accepted the treaty.He didn't like the article that said he would not be allowed toraid below the border, however, so he simply ignored thatpart. Later in the same month he signed the treaty, Mangasled his warriors on a raid into Mexico. In September 1852,other Apaches didn't even bother going to Mexico, but beganraiding around Fort Webster in New Mexico Territory. TheIndian promises were again short-lived.

On July 7,1853, at Fort Atkinson, Kansas Territory, an agree-ment was reached between the United States and the Kiowa,Comanche and Apache tribes. The articles provided that therewould be peace between the Indians and the United States,that the government could build roads and forts in Indianlands, and that the Indians would make restitution for

40 AUGUST 2006-—*- t— WILD WEST

injuries done to U.S. citizens and would cease molestingthem. There were to be no raids in Mexico, and the Indiansagreed to restore al! captives. Article eight stated that if theIndians violated the treaty, annuities could be withheld. TheSenate made amendments to the treaty, which the Indiansagreed to, and signed, on July 21,1854.

The same month the amendments were signed, Comanches

went to Texas and fought with soldiers of the Regiment ofMounted Rifles, wounding two enlisted men and fatallywounding Captain Michael E. Van Buren. In August they raidedinto south Texas near CotuUa, and fought and wounded sev-eral Rangers. Also in August, Comanches attacked but failedto capture a stage carrying $300,000 in specie on the LowerMilitary Road near Howard's Well, Texas. There were numerousraids during the next few years; the three tribes completelyignored the agreement they had made.

On June 19,185B, in Washington, D.C, the United Statessigned a treaty with theWahpeton, Sisseton, Wahpakute andMdewakanton Dakotas. The treaty contained many of theusual provisions, including one that stated the Indians wouldcommit no depredations on U.S. citizens, nor would theyfight with other tribes. If they did so, annuities would he with-

Above: Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas and Comanches haveall set up their tepees at Medicine Lodge Creek in southwestKansas in October 1867 to talk peace with U.S. officiais, asseen in the November 16,1887, Harper's Weekly. Below: Aserene scene from the peace council at Medicine Lodge,where the Kiowas and Comanches agreed to treaty provisionson October 21, and the Cheyennes and Arapahos did thesame on the 28th. The author contends that it was the Indianswho first broke the promises of the Medicine Lodge Treaty.

held. Unfortunately, some annuities were already being with-held for depredations by some of these bands afrer they per-petrated the Spirit Lake Massacre in Iowa in 1857, breaJdng atreaty they had signed in 1851. The lesson did not seem toregister. After signing the new treaty in 1858, the Dakotaswent right back to attacking the Chippewas in 1859, plusdepredating and killing the stock of white settlers adjacent totheir reservation. They had repeatedly violated the treatyagreements long before the deadly Minnesota (Great Sioux)Uprising in August 1862.

ortions of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes\signed the TYeaty of Fort Wise, Colorado Terri-' tory, on February 18,1861. As part of the stipu-lations, the tribes agreed to cede all landspreviously claimed by them and to allow roads

through their new lands. The reservation land was to beassigned in severalty to individual Indians. They were to beprotected if tbey behaved, settled down and resided on thereservation, and induced all the other hands to join them.Those bands that did not settle on the reservation within oneyear were not entided to any benefits. All annuities could bediscontinued entirely if the Indians did not make a reason-able effort to comply with the provisions.

The signatory bands of Cheyenne and Arapaho never com-plied with one provision of the treaty. They did not settle, norcould they convince any nonsignatory bands to settle. In fact,because the Cheyenne Black Kettle sold out his people with-out their consent, the other bands were so angry that he lostmuch of his prior influence and favor with them (see "War-riors and Chiefs" in the December2005 WildWest).i:\ieepisode illustrates one major problem in treaty making: In-dians who did not sign did not believe the provisions boundthem. And, even among the bands of leaders who did sign,there was always the excuse that thev could not hold in their

WILD WEST »-* AUGUST 2006 41

young men. If that argument had any validity, so too did thepoint made by General William T. Sherman. His men too weresometimes uncontrollable. "Tell the rascals so are mine,"Sherman said, "and if another white man is scalped in all thisregion, it will be impossible to hold mine in." The Cheyennes,totally ignoring the Fort Wise Treaty, were already at war withthe United States in 1864 when Colorado Territory soldiersattacked them at Sand Creek.

In October 1865, U.S. commissioners made a series oftreaties with various Sioux hands at Fort Sully in Dakota Terri-tory. In the agreements, the Indians promised tocease hostilities with the United States, to endattacks on other tribes and to withdraw fromexisting roads or any others later established.The problem was that all the signatories werefrom generally friendly bands, and those stillroaming Nebraska's Sand Hills, the Black Hillsand Powder River Country did not considerthemselves bound by the treaty. If that was thecase, then they were still operating under theTreaty of 1851, which they did sign.

As mentioned earlier, these Lakotas hadrepeatedly broken that treaty's stipulations.They probably had no second thoughts aboutbreaking them again when they refused to allowroads and forts in their territory as promised. Assoldiers built Forts Reno, Phil Kearny and C.FSmith along the Bozeman Trail, the Lakotas furi-ously attacked and killed soldiers and emigrantsalike. Wagon train ambushes and fights alongCrazy Woman Creek, Clear Creek, the NorthPlatte and Peno Creek, along with a major raid on the PawneeAgency in Nebraska, all occurred in 1866. Plains Indians wipedout the command of Captain William Fetterman in December

Lett: The first major treaty with Western tribeswas signed at Horse Creek, near Fort Laramie,in 1851. By 1871 treaty making with Indianswas dead. Below: Major General Winfield S.Hancock led a costly campaign in the summerof 1867 against the Cheyennes, who laterblamed him for breaking the October 14,1865, Treaty of Little Arkansas in Kansas. Theauthor argues that the warriors had brokenthat treaty nearly a full year before Hancockarrived in western Kansas.

1866, and they attacked soldiers at Fort PhilKearny and Fort C.F. Smith in August 1867.

While the "friendly" Sioux were making newtreaties in Dakota Territory, the Cheyermes andArapahos signed the Treaty of Uttle Arkansasin Kansas on October 14,1865. The treaty pro-claimed perpetual peace between the Indiansand the United States and among the othertribes. A reservation encompassing lands onboth sides of Kansas' southern border was setup; the Indians agreed to live on it, and agreednot to leave it without U.S. consent. If they gotapproval to leave the reservation, they agreednot to depredate and not to camp within 10miles ofa road. They agreed to relinquish all

claims to lands north of the Arkansas River, but they couldstill hunt there. The United States was allowed to build roadsand posts on Indian land. All former treaties were abrogated.

The agreement lasted until May 1866, when Cheyennesignored their promise of perpetual peace hy killing, scalpingand mutilating Lew Cassil and his party of five hunters nearJamestown, Kan. The warriors had broken the Treaty of UttleArkansas nearly a full year before the arrival in westernKansas of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, the man who theCheyennes later blamed as the one to first break the peace.

Four days after the Cheyennes andArapahos signed the Treaty of LittleArkansas, the Kiowas and Comanchessigned a similar document. Theypromised the same perpetual peacewith the United States, agreed to liveon dieir reservation set up for themwithin die confines of present-dayOklahoma, agreed not to leave thereservation without consent andpromised to refrain from depreda-tions while off the reservation. TheKiowas and Comanches lost evenless time in breaking their promises

i than did the Cheyennes.8 The month before the treaty, the> Comanche Eagle Drinking and thes Kiowa Little Mountain, signatoriesI of the treaty, had captured severalI children in Wise County, Texas. The

Americans refused to give out treatypresents while the captives were being held. The Indians sim-ply turned them in and collected the gifts.

The ink, as they say was hardly dry on the treaty, when the

42 AUGUST 2006 > ' WILD WEST

signatory Indians rode off to Texas totake more captives. In January 1866,they killed a number of settlers andcaptured 13-year-old HubertWeinand. In March they were inTexas again, killing, stealing stockand capturing James, Samuel andJennie Savage in Parker County. Laterin the year, they captured FJiza andIsaac Brisco, Theodore and BiancaBabb, Fremont Blackwell andThomas Sullivan. But the attack thatbrought the most anger was led bySatanta, another signer of the Treatyof Little Arkansas, on the Box familyin Montague County, Texas. Afterkilling the father, the Kiowas rapedthe mother and oldest daughter, andcarried away Mary, Margaret,Josephine, Ida and Laura Box. Theykilled infant Laura on the road backto Kansas, where they sold the othercaptives to authorities at Fort Dodge.The settlers and soldiers were out-raged when they heard the details ofthe torture of women and children.The attack was a major incident thatbrought General Hancock to theKansas plains. The Indians' continualdisregard of the treaties only made itworse for them.

The wars that developed becauseof Indian indiscretions needed to be"ended" by additional treaties. TwoOctobers after the Litde Arkansasagreements, the same tribes wereback in Kansas, this time at MedicineLodge Creek, about 70 miles south ofFort Larned. Once again, many of thesame stipulations were put down onpaper. All war between the Indians—Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas andComanches—and the United Statesand its citizens was to cease. TheIndians agreed to stay on their reser-vations, hut they could hunt south ofthe Arkansas River with U.S. consent.They would not oppose any railroadsand would not attack any persons attheir homes or while traveling. They would not kill or capturewhites, nor oppose any military posts. They would not attackany other tribes friendly to the United States. Once more, thetreaty was not worth the cost of the paper.

The Kiowas and Comanches signed the Treaty of MedicineLodge on October 21,1867. The next month they were readyto go raiding in Texas. By early January 1868, Big Tree ledabout 300 Kiowas and Comanches across Red River and,vdthin two days, killed seven whites and took 10 captives, sixof whom were soon killed. Jn early February, Comanchesraided farther south into Llano Count}', Texas, attackingwomen and children in the Friend and Johnson cabins. In

Top: The U.S. peace commissioners meet with representatives of the Sioux and othertribes in a Fort Laramie tent in the spring of 1868. Among the commissioners areBrevet Maj. Gen. William S. Harney (second from left, white beard), who retired fromthe Army in 1863; Lt. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman {third from left); and civiliannegotiator Nathaniel G. Taylor (seated at far right). Above: Brigadier General AlfredHowe Terry (far left) poses with other peace commissioners and a blanketed Indianwoman during the Fort Laramie negotiations.

June and August 1868, similar attacks, murders and captureswere made on the McFlroy and Russell homes in north Texas.

The Cheyennes and Arapahos also signed the Treaty ofMedicine Lodge in October 1867. It was very similar to theone signed by the Kiowas and Comanches, except it outlineda different reservation, this one wholly within Indian Territory(present-day Oklahoma). Treaty stipulations also includedgiving the Indians the right to hunt south of the ArkansasRiver. They promised not to attack white settlers or travelersand not to attack any tribes friendly with the United States. Itis important to note that there was never any provision in thetreaty that said the Indians were to be given weapons or

W I L D W E S T ' - A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 43

ammunition, and, if the Indians held uptheir end of the bargain, they wouldreceive annuities at the agency everyOctober 15.

As was the usual case, only one monthlater, a war party of Cheyennes and Ara-pahos broke the promises. This time thewarriors rode to east-central Kansas toattack the Kaws but were handily beaten.The defeat meant that a revenge raidwould be needed. In the spring of 1868,the Cheyennes again attacked the Kaws,plus some white families, thus breakingthree promises: attacking friendly In-dians, riding north of the Arkansas andattacking settlers. Also, in May of that year, other Cheyenneswent beyond the Arkansas, camping near Fort Wallace andattacking wagon trains on the Smoky Hill River, The Indiansarrived at Fort Lamed in lune, four months before the agreed-upon October issue date, demanding arms and ammunitionthat were never promised to them in the treaty. Under pres-sure, agent Edward Wynkoop acquiesced and gave them gunsand ammunition on luly 29. With that, about 200 Cheyennes,Arapahos and Lakotas headed for north-central Kansas,ostensibly to fight the Pawnees, which they were not allowedto do either. Instead, they attacked white settlers. When theinitial raids were over hy late August, about 40 Kansas settlershad been killed, several women raped and several womenand children captured. The U.S. authorities apparently neverlearned.

ome of the last major treaties to be madeViith the tribes that had been driving thepeace commissioners to distraction for thepast 20 years were signed at Fort laramiebetween April 29 and May 10,1868. In them,

the various bands of Lakotas, Cheyennes, Arapahos andCrows agreed to die usual stipulations that they had alreadyagreed to repeatedly. All war between the tribes and the U.S.government and its citizens would cease. Any "bad men"among all parties would be arrested and punished. The Lako-tas were assigned a reservation that fell in the bounds ofpresent-day South Dakota west of the Missouri River, but theright was given to al! government officers, agents or employ-

Left: Oglala Sioux Old ManAfraid of His Horses, secondfrom right stands amongsome of the men who signedthe Treaty of Fort Laramie inMay 1868. The Lakotas andCheyennes, the author pointsout broke the terms of thattreaty many times before theBattle of the Little Bighorn inJune 1876. Below left: Themost famous Oglala leader.Red Cloud, held off on signingthe Treaty of Fort Laramie untilNovember 1868, but did notdirectly fight the whites again.

ees to enter the lands. Stirvey rights werealso granted. The Indians promised to sendtheir children to school. They relinquishedthe right to occupy any other land. Theypledged to withdraw all opposition to anycurrent or future military posts, and not tooppose railroads in existence or later to beconstructed. They promised to not attack,kill, scalp or capture any whites, nor attackanyone else friendly to the whites, TheUnited States in turn agreed to abandon itsposts along the Bozeman Trail and closethe road within 90 days. It should be noted,however, that not until November 1868would Lakota leader Red Cloud make his

mark on the treaty that many other of his tribesman hadsigned in May.

Before the soldiers could pull out of the forts, the Lakotasattacked them at Fort Reno on July 19,186B, breaking thetreaty before the time frame stipulation had even run itscourse. Still, as promised, the U.S. Army abandoned the postsand closed the road within the time limit. And, not aspromised, but as should have been expected, the Lakotas wereback in Kansas in Augtist 1868, far south of their reservation,raiding and killing along with the Cheyennes. Also in August,they were far north of their reservation at Fort Buford on theMissouri River, stealing stock and killing and wounding sevensoldiers. In August 1869, Lakotas were in south-centralNebraska, wiping out a party of 10 surveyors under NelsonBuck. In September 1869, they killed civilians and soldiersnear present-day Lander, Wyo. In December 1869, Lakotasattacked mail stages in Wyoming Territory between FortLaramie and Fort Fetterman. In April 1872, they attacked rail-road property near Fort McPherson in Nebraska, and inAugust they attacked soldiers at Fort McKean (in present-dayNorth Dakota), as well as a surveying and railroad party trav-eling through the area. The surveyors were far away from theIndian reservation, and the Indians had expressly pledged tonot harass any such expeditions.

In 1873 it was more of the same, as Lakotas repeatedlyattacked another railroad expedition and fought with its 7thCavalry escort under Lt. Col. George A. Custer. Even Custer'sgovernment expedition into the Black Hills in 1874, so loudlyContinued on page54

44 AUGUST 2006 X T 111 >-* WILD WEST

JAXONBILTHAT COMPAMCUSTOM HATS & RENOVATIONS

"KICKJN'

ROY S. JACKSONRO. BOX 4 1 7 - HWV 93 SOUTH

SALMON, IDAHO 83467WORK (208) 756-6444HOME (208) 756-1016

www.jaxonbilthQts.com

"OPEN R O A D P

CUSTOM HMS6X10X 50X loax

Flom$146to$540

other OW Wesf & MovteRavorttes Availabtelll

We AcceptcontlnentGl USAlll ^

Ask about our ottier cotofs & stytesiCustom orders welcome.

Old West Jailer's Keys.Set ot 5 keys on largemetal ring.29-714 $20ppd

Old West SetMl873 "Fast Draw" Pistol. Replica non-iiring .45calibre single action revolver with 4.75" barrel. Actionworks: spin the cylinders, cock the hammer and pulltiie trigger. Wood grips. Length: 10,5". Weighl: 2 ibs.22-1186/G Antique Gray Finish Model $65ppd

Deluxe Texas Ranger Silver Badge.Historically accurate, solid copper, nickel-plated, thensilver pialed and tinally antiqued, with pin back.14-331 Deluxe Texas Ranger Badge $19ppd

COLLECTOR'S A R M O m , LTD.» P' wwSend U Money Order J Check Enclosed

P.O. Box 1050. Lofion, VA 22199 3 60 page catalog

Catalog Requests & Credit Card Orders Only:Call Toll Free: 1-877-276-6879

Name .

Add ress. _ ^

City, State, Zip

^ Money Back (Less Postage) if Not Satisfied . ^

DEADWOOD continued from page 28

walking with her best friend at recess, andgoing to church with her family on Sunday.I couldn't forget her."

K.B. Farnum, the Reverend Henry Smith,Dan Dority and lohnny Bums are lessercharacters on Deadwood, and not toomuch is known ahout their real lives. Far-num was a successful Deadwood business-man and investor, as well as a judge whosentenced many horse thieves and cattlerustlers to hanging. On the HBO drama,Preacher Smith suffers from a brain tumorand is smothered hy Swearengen; in reallife, however, he was prohahly murderedby Indians while walking to a neighboringcamp to deliver a sermon. Less is knownahout Dority and Burns. Most likely bothmen worked as hartenders and managersfor Swearengen during the Gem Theater'sheyday. Other real-life personalities haveshovm up in the third season, such asGeorge iiearst (see "Westerners," in August2000 lVi/f/We5f), anearly illiterate miningtycoon who fathered the future newspaperpublisher William Randolph Hearst.

Tbanks to the seamless craft of Dead-wood producer and writer David Milch, themen of Deadwood live once again. Sol Starchecks his inventory and readies the hard-ware store for another day's customers.Outside on the street, Sheriff Bullock warnsa peddler hawking locks of Indian hair tostay away from reputable merchants. Overat the blacksmith shop, Charlie Utter out-fits his horse for a trek across the moun-tains. Back at the Gem, Al Swearengenpours himself another cup of coffee andperuses the latest edition of the Pioneer.

Perhaps Misters Star, Bullock, Utter andSwearengen—possibly Wild Bill Hickok,too—would be puzzled by their newfoundcelebrity, and find our interest in their grit-ty lives baffling. Under different circum-stances perhaps, they might have fadedinto obscurity and remained strangers tous, like many other men of the Wild West.But one fact is undeniable: Deadwoodwould have heen a very different placewithout them, ww

Author Mary Franz writes from ChestnutHill. Mass. Suggested for further reading:The Real Deadwood: True Life Histories ofWild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, OutlawTowns, and Other Characters of the Law-less West, by John Ames; Old DeadwoodDays, by Fstelline Bennett; Deadwood: TheGolden Years, by Watson Parker; and WildBill Hickok: Deadwood City—End of Trail,by Thadd Turner.

TREATIES continued from page 44

condemned by Indians and many modern-day white historians alike, was allowedunder the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In1876, when the Lakotas were far from theirreservation and occupying Crow lands, theU.S. military had the proper authority' toattempt to make them comply with thetreaty by trying to force them back onto thereservation. It is painfully obvious, however,that the Lakotas and Cheyennes had bro-ken the treaty many times before the Bat-tle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876.

By 1871 Congress seemingly had finallyrealized that attempting to make lastingtreaties with the American Indians waslike trying to store water in a sieve. It out-lawed further treaty making and statedtbat hencefortli no Indian tribe would beconsidered an independent nation. In1887 the Dawes Act attempted to addressthe Indian "problem" differently by parcel-ing out tribal lands to individual Indians inseverally, with rights and responsibilitiesnot unlike every other U.S. landowner, anddeclaring that those who received allottedlands would be citizens of the UnitedStates. The act was not very successfuleither, and was overturned in the Wheeler-Howard (Indian Reorganization) Act of1934, which restored the lands to tribalownership.

Some American citizens were never verysuccessful in honoring their government'streaties. In that respect, Indian tribes expe-rienced the same prohlem. With the ahovelist of broken treaties on the record, it isincredible tliat historians can suggest thatevery time the Indians went to war, it wasthe white man's fault. It is an invalid gener-alization. Propagating such nonhistoricaldiscourse, simply because it appears to betbe "right" thing to do, is not right. Injus-tices against Indians in theWildWest arealso on the record and should not be takenlightly But the U.S. government, militaryand civilians were not always to blame forfailed treaties. Tbe Indians had their fairshare of culpability, ww

FrequentWiid West contributor GregoryMichno is the author o/Lakota Noon: TheIndian Narrative of Custer's Defeat; Battleat Sand Creek: The Military Perspective;and Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: WesternBattlesand Skirmishes 1850-1890. r/iey arerecommended for further reading, alongwith Indian Atfairs: Laws and Treaties,edited by Charles J. Kappler; and Docu-ments of United States Indian Policy, editedby Francis Paul Prucha.

54 A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 WILD WEST