Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

1. The illusion of the "Permanent Indian Frontier" and broken treaties

They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it.

Systematic land dispossession. The history of the American West is defined by the relentless encroachment of European settlers on Native American lands. Through a series of deceptive treaties, the United States government repeatedly established "permanent" frontiers, only to dismantle them whenever white settlement, gold rushes, or railroad expansion demanded more territory.

Deceptive treaty-making. Government commissioners frequently used bribery, intimidation, and misrepresentation to secure signatures from unauthorized or minor chiefs. The legal rights of the tribes were systematically ignored, leaving them with no recourse but to watch their ancestral homes disappear. Key elements of this pattern included:

• The shifting of the "permanent frontier" westward across the Mississippi and past the 95th meridian.
• The exploitation of tribal divisions to sign treaties without the consent of the majority.
• The unilateral abrogation of treaties by Congress whenever valuable resources were discovered.

The cost of expansion. This relentless drive, justified by the concept of Manifest Destiny, viewed the indigenous population as a mere obstacle to progress. The result was the near-total destruction of ancient cultures and the forced dependency of once-proud, self-sufficient nations.

2. The tragic exile and forced relocation of tribes

I will not go to the Bosque. I will never leave my country, not even if it means that I will be killed.

Forced military relocation. In the Southwest, General James Carleton initiated a brutal campaign to clear the Rio Grande Valley for white settlers by forcibly relocating the Navahos and Mescalero Apaches. Under the command of Kit Carson, the military utilized a scorched-earth policy, destroying crops, orchards, and livestock to starve the Indians into submission.

The devastating march. Thousands of Navahos were forced to undertake the "Long Walk," a grueling three-hundred-mile trek to the barren reservation of Bosque Redondo. Many died of cold, hunger, and disease along the way, while others were kidnapped and sold into slavery. The harsh reality of this exile included:

• The destruction of over five thousand sacred peach trees in Canyon de Chelly.
• Severe winter exposure and starvation during the forced march.
• High mortality rates at the alkaline, disease-ridden Bosque Redondo reservation.

A bittersweet return. After years of misery and death, the Navahos were finally permitted to return to a fraction of their original homeland. Though they survived as a people, their wealth was gone, and they remained permanently confined within restricted reservation borders.

3. The desperation of starvation and betrayal

So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung.

Starvation as a catalyst. In Minnesota, the Santee Sioux were pushed to the brink of starvation due to delayed government annuities and the refusal of local traders to extend credit. When the Indians begged for food from well-stocked agency warehouses, they were met with contempt and indifference.

The outbreak of violence. Driven by desperation and insulted by local traders, a small group of Santees committed a series of murders, igniting a full-scale uprising led reluctantly by Chief Little Crow. The Santees struck back against their oppressors, targeting the agencies and settlements that had choked their way of life. The conflict resulted in:

• The siege of Fort Ridgely and the attack on the town of New Ulm.
• The mobilization of a massive military force under Colonel Henry Sibley.
• The eventual defeat and scattering of the Santee Sioux.

Mass execution and exile. Following the uprising, the military conducted hasty trials without legal representation, sentencing hundreds of Santees to death. President Lincoln commuted most sentences, but thirty-eight Santees were hanged in the largest mass execution in American history, and the survivors were banished to barren lands in Dakota.

4. The brutality of unchecked military force

I saw the American flag waving and heard Black Kettle tell the Indians to stand around the flag, and there they were huddled—men, women, and children.

Betrayal of peaceful tribes. Under the leadership of Black Kettle, the Southern Cheyennes sought peace and complied with military instructions to camp at Sand Creek under the promised protection of Fort Lyon. Despite their peaceful compliance and the display of both the American flag and a white flag of surrender, they were targeted for destruction.

Unspeakable military atrocities. Colonel John Chivington led a force of Colorado Volunteers in a savage, unprovoked dawn attack on the defenseless village, which consisted mostly of women, children, and the elderly. The soldiers committed horrific atrocities, mutilating the dead and slaughtering infants without mercy. The tragedy of Sand Creek included:

• The slaughter of over a hundred peaceful Cheyenne women and children.
• The brutal mutilation and scalping of victims by American soldiers.
• The destruction of the peace party's trust in the United States government.

A legacy of hatred. The massacre at Sand Creek extinguished any hope of peaceful coexistence and drove the surviving Cheyennes, Arapahos, and Sioux into a desperate war of revenge. It proved to the tribes that the white man's promises of safety were deadly illusions.

5. The power of unified resistance

The white man has taken our country, killed all of our game; was not satisfied with that, but killed our wives and children.

Defending the hunting grounds. When the United States military attempted to open the Bozeman Trail through the Powder River country, the Oglala Sioux leader Red Cloud organized a powerful coalition of Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos to resist. This unified force successfully blockaded the road and besieged the newly constructed military forts.

Tactical Indian victories. Utilizing brilliant guerrilla tactics and decoy maneuvers, the allied tribes inflicted severe casualties on the invading troops. The most notable engagement was the Fetterman Fight, where an entire command of eighty-one soldiers was lured into an ambush and destroyed. Key elements of this successful resistance included:

• The complete blockade of the Bozeman Trail, halting civilian and military travel.
• The utilization of skilled decoy leaders like Crazy Horse to lure soldiers into traps.
• The strategic isolation of Fort Phil Kearny and Fort C. F. Smith.

A rare treaty victory. Faced with an expensive and unwinnable war, the United States government capitulated to Red Cloud's demands, abandoning the forts and closing the Bozeman Trail. It was a rare and historic victory, demonstrating the formidable power of unified Native resistance.

6. The systematic destruction of native resources

Has the white man become a child that he should recklessly kill and not eat?

Extermination of the herds. The ultimate defeat of the southern Plains tribes—the Kiowas, Comanches, and Southern Cheyennes—was achieved not by military genius, but by the systematic extermination of the buffalo. White commercial hunters slaughtered millions of animals for their hides, leaving the carcasses to rot and destroying the Indians' primary source of food, clothing, and shelter.

The fight for survival. Realizing that the disappearance of the buffalo meant the death of their way of life, leaders like Quanah Parker and Satanta launched desperate campaigns to drive the white hunters from the Plains. They attacked the hunters' base at Adobe Walls and raided settlements, but were ultimately starved into submission. This ecological warfare resulted in:

• The destruction of over three million buffalo in a three-year period.
• The forced surrender of starving tribes who could no longer feed their families.
• The slaughter of thousands of captured Indian ponies by the U.S. Army.

The loss of freedom. With their horses killed and the buffalo gone, the southern Plains tribes had no choice but to accept confinement on reservations, dependent on meager and often corrupt government rations.

7. The greed for gold and sacred lands

One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.

Invasion of sacred ground. Paha Sapa, the Black Hills, was the sacred center of the Sioux world, guaranteed to them forever by the treaty of 1868. However, when a military expedition led by George Armstrong Custer confirmed the presence of gold, thousands of white miners invaded the territory, violating the treaty with the tacit support of the government.

The Great Sioux War. When the Sioux refused to sell their sacred hills, the government ordered all independent bands to report to reservations or be treated as hostiles. This sparked a major conflict, uniting leaders like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Gall, and culminating in the famous defeat of Custer's Seventh Cavalry at the Little Bighorn. The struggle for the Black Hills involved:

• The illegal invasion of treaty-guaranteed lands by gold prospectors.
• The historic victory of unified tribes at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
• The subsequent relentless winter campaigns by the U.S. Army to avenge Custer.

The theft of Paha Sapa. Despite their military victories, the starving and exhausted Sioux were eventually forced to surrender. The government confiscated the Black Hills, forcing the reservation chiefs to sign away their sacred lands under the threat of starvation.

8. The heroic but doomed flight for freedom

From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.

A broken friendship. For decades, the Nez Percés had maintained a peaceful relationship with white Americans, boasting that they had never killed a white man. However, when gold was discovered in the Wallowa Valley, the government ordered Chief Joseph's band to abandon their ancestral home and move to a small reservation.

An epic retreat. Rather than submit to forced relocation, Chief Joseph led his people on an epic thirteen-hundred-mile retreat toward Canada, pursued by several columns of the U.S. Army. Despite being burdened with women, children, and the elderly, the Nez Percé warriors repeatedly outmaneuvered and defeated the superior military forces. The remarkable journey included:

• A brilliant tactical retreat across the rugged Bitterroot Mountains.
• The devastating surprise attack by Colonel Gibbon at the Big Hole River.
• A final, tragic siege just forty miles short of the Canadian border.

Tragic surrender and exile. Exhausted, freezing, and starving, Chief Joseph surrendered to save his surviving people, trusting in promises that they would be returned to their homeland. Instead, they were exiled to malaria-ridden lands in Indian Territory, where many died of disease and heartbreak.

9. The death of a dream and the final tragedy

A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream... the nation's hoop is broken and scattered.

The rise of the Ghost Dance. In their despair, the defeated and impoverished tribes turned to a new religious movement founded by the Paiute Messiah, Wovoka. The Ghost Dance promised the return of the buffalo, the resurrection of dead ancestors, and the peaceful disappearance of the white invaders.

Military panic and paranoia. The widespread adoption of the Ghost Dance alarmed reservation agents and military authorities, who interpreted the peaceful religious ceremonies as a prelude to a hostile uprising. This paranoia led to the assassination of Sitting Bull and the dispatch of the Seventh Cavalry to disarm Big Foot's band of Minneconjous. The tension culminated in:

• The surrounding of Big Foot's freezing, sick band at Wounded Knee Creek.
• A chaotic confrontation during a forced search for weapons.
• The indiscriminate slaughter of nearly three hundred men, women, and children by Hotchkiss guns.

The end of an era. The massacre at Wounded Knee marked the symbolic end of Indian freedom and resistance in the American West. The sacred hoop was broken, and the surviving tribes were left to endure the bleak reality of reservation confinement.