Curiously enough,there was no attempt at retaliation on the part of the army,and no serious break until 1860,when the Sioux were involved in troubles with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes.In 1862,a grave outbreak was precipitated by the eastern Sioux in Minnesota under Little Crow,in which the western bands took no part.Yet this event ushered in a new period for their race.The surveyors of the Union Pacific were laying out the proposed road through the heart of the southern buffalo country,the rendezvous of Ogallalas,Brules,Arapahoes,Comanches,and Pawnees,who followed the buffalo as a means of livelihood.To be sure,most of these tribes were at war with one another,yet during the summer months they met often to proclaim a truce and hold joint councils and festivities,which were now largely turned into discussions of the common enemy.It became evident,however,that some of the smaller and weaker tribes were inclined to welcome the new order of things,recognizing that it was the policy of the government to put an end to tribal warfare.
Red Cloud's position was uncompromisingly against submission.
He made some noted speeches in this line,one of which was repeated to me by an old man who had heard and remembered it with the remarkable verbal memory of an Indian.
"Friends,"said Red Cloud,"it has been our misfortune to welcome the white man.We have been deceived.He brought with him some shining things that pleased our eyes;he brought weapons more effective than our own:above all,he brought the spirit water that makes one forget for a time old age,weakness,and sorrow.But Iwish to say to you that if you would possess these things for yourselves,you must begin anew and put away the wisdom of your fathers.You must lay up food,and forget the hungry.When your house is built,your storeroom filled,then look around for a neighbor whom you can take at a disadvantage,and seize all that he has!Give away only what you do not want;or rather,do not part with any of your possessions unless in exchange for another's.
"My countrymen,shall the glittering trinkets of this rich man,his deceitful drink that overcomes the mind,shall these things tempt us to give up our homes,our hunting grounds,and the honorable teaching of our old men?Shall we permit ourselves to be driven to and fro --to be herded like the cattle of the white man?"His next speech that has been remembered was made in 1866,just before the attack on Fort Phil Kearny.The tension of feeling against the invaders had now reached its height.There was no dissenting voice in the council upon the Powder River,when it was decided to oppose to the uttermost the evident purpose of the government.Red Cloud was not altogether ignorant of the numerical strength and the resourcefulness of the white man,but he was determined to face any odds rather than submit.
"Hear ye,Dakotas!"he exclaimed."When the Great Father at Washington sent us his chief soldier [General Harney]to ask for a path through our hunting grounds,a way for his iron road to the mountains and the western sea,we were told that they wished merely to pass through our country,not to tarry among us,but to seek for gold in the far west.Our old chiefs thought to show their friendship and good will,when they allowed this dangerous snake in our midst.They promised to protect the wayfarers.
"Yet before the ashes of the council fire are cold,the Great Father is building his forts among us.You have heard the sound of the white soldier's ax upon the Little Piney.His presence here is an insult and a threat.It is an insult to the spirits of our ancestors.Are we then to give up their sacred graves to be plowed for corn?Dakotas,I am for war!"In less than a week after this speech,the Sioux advanced upon Fort Phil Kearny,the new sentinel that had just taken her place upon the farthest frontier,guarding the Oregon Trail.Every detail of the attack had been planned with care,though not without heated discussion,and nearly every well-known Sioux chief had agreed in striking the blow.The brilliant young war leader,Crazy Horse,was appointed to lead the charge.His lieutenants were Sword,Hump,and Dull Knife,with Little Chief of the Cheyennes,while the older men acted as councilors.Their success was instantaneous.In less than half an hour,they had cut down nearly a hundred men under Captain Fetterman,whom they drew out of the fort by a ruse and then annihilated.
