Red Cloud of the Oglala Sioux

Red Cloud, known as Makhpiya-luta to his own people, was born in1822 at the forks of the Platte River in western Nebraska. His father was a minor chief of the Brule Sioux, while his mother was of the Oglala band known as the Bad Faces. The origin of Red Cloud’s name has been the subject of much debate. According to Indian Affairs agent V.T. McGillycuddy, the name refers to “‘…the way in which his scarlet-blanketed warriors covered the hillsides like a red cloud’” (Olson 17). George E. Hyde, in his book Red Cloud’s Folk, suggests the name was derived from “…the ball of fire meteorite which passed

For the next two years, Red Cloud and his growing band made war on the whites. They attacked settlements, wagon trains, and skirmished with Carrington’s troops on several occasions. On December 21 1866, the Sioux attacked a wood cutting detail from Ft. Phil Kearny under the command of Lt. Colonel W.J. Fetterman. Fetterman’s orders were to stay with the detail, but when a small band of Indians under the leadership of a young Indian named Crazy Horse attacked, he pursued with his entire command of 80 men. After chasing the band over a small rise, Fetterman was suddenly confronted by over 2000 Sioux, Cheyenne, and Miniconjous. He and his entire command were wiped out. The Fetterman Massacre, or the Battle of One Hundred Slain as the Sioux called it, was “the worst disaster to befall the Army in the West up to that time” (Olson 51).

In 1878, after 10 years of negotiating and three visits to see the “Great Father” in Washington, Red Cloud and his people settled on the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota at the mouth of the White Clay Creek where it flowed into the White River. For the next twelve years, Red Cloud tried to live according to the white man’s ways and promoted peace with the white man among his people. In 1890, the last uprising of the Sioux took place on Wounded Knee Creek. The Sioux were fired up about reports of a “Messiah” walking the earth preaching to the Indians, “…the Ogalala heard that the son of God had come upon the earth in the west. They said the Messiah was there, but he had come to help the Indians and not the whites” (Olson 321). The Indians were instructed to perform the Ghost Dance to bring their dead relatives back to life and triumph over the whites. The wild, frenzied Ghost Dance alarmed the whites and they soon turned to the military to put an end to the practice. Red Cloud, as in the Custer incident, was not involved in the Ghost Dance problem, but tried to maintain the peace and act as a calming influence on the younger Indians. However, the military responded by massing troops on the reservations to forcibly put down what they considered a rebellion. Sitting Bull was killed in his Home on Standing Rock Reservation when troops came to arrest him for participating in the Ghost Dance ritual. T

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