Red Cloud
(1822–1909), Oglala Sioux leader
Born near the forks of the Platte River, Nebraska, Red Cloud became a leader (shirt‐wearer) in the “Bad Faces” military lodge for his exploits against enemy Pawnees, Utes, and Crows. Concerned about white encroachments, he launched “Red Cloud's War” in 1866–67 against the army's Bozeman Trail posts. During several engagements, especially the annihilation of William J. Fetterman's eighty‐man column outside Fort Phil Kearny, his followers proved a match for the bluecoats.
In the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), the government conceded to Red Cloud's demands that the Bozeman Trail forts be abandoned. Thereafter he adopted a more conciliatory stance, apparently convinced that his people stood little chance of winning a war against the United States. Made a “chief” by federal officials, he was in 1876 stripped of this position, only to regain government recognition the following year after helping to convince Crazy Horse to surrender. Red Cloud sought to maintain traditional ways among his people while demanding that the U.S. government honor its treaty obligations. Controversial for both his decision to abandon military methods and his stubborn determination to preserve tribal customs, his diplomacy was aimed at mitigating the effects of the Oglalas' transition to reservation life.
Bibliography
- James C. Olson, Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem, 1965.
- Robert W. Larson, Red Cloud: Warrior‐Statesman of the Lahota Sioux, 1997
