Chapter 2: Trails Across Wyoming
From the early 1840s to the present, Wyoming has been crossed by "trails to somewhere else." The travelers, even from the very beginning, rarely considered Wyoming as a primary destination. This was particularly true with the various emigrant trails that crossed the area in the mid-19
th century."Manifest destiny" pressed Americans toward settlement of the western frontiers. This sense that America was ordained by God to expand across the continent inspired Oregon Trail travelers. Even before the Lewis and Clark expedition, America contested with Britain over ownership of what is now the Pacific Northwest. By the early 1840s, Americans were settling in Oregon and by sheer numbers, establishing American hegemony over the region. For many of the travelers, the route from the East crossed the "wilderness" of Wyoming.
The Joel Walker party in 1840, the first to emigrate to Oregon specifically for settlement, crossed Wyoming. When the "Pathfinder," John Charles Fremont, led expeditions West in 1842 and 1843, wagon trains already were using the trail, first "blazed" by Robert Stuart’s "Reverse Astorians" in 1812. Fremont was the son-in-law of prominent U. S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a leading proponent of "Manifest Destiny" in the U. S. Congress.
In 1842, the explorer followed a wagon train bound for Oregon as he made his way to Independence Rock and west to South Pass. There, Fremont led his party north into the Wind Rivers. Not only did his party map the previously little-known Wind River Mountains in west central Wyoming, but he and his African American servant, Janisse, climbed what they believed was the highest peak in the range. (Actually, the mountain was 11
th highest among Wyoming mountains. Nearby Gannett Peak, the state’s highest mountain, was 300 feet higher).Fremont’s reports to Congress included the first written mention of the presence of coal in Wyoming, apparently observed a bit south of present Kemmerer in western Wyoming. While his weren’t the first maps of the Oregon Trail, they did provide significant information to aspiring Oregon travelers, inspiring numerous guidebooks published in the following two decades.
Following his western expeditions in the early 1840s, Fremont’s reports to Congress included proposals for dealing with Native Americans in the West. His Army-exploring rival, Stephan Watts Kearney, advocated leaving all but the roads to the Indians, using cavalry to subdue the Native people and continue control by sending major military expeditions every two or three years to "show the flag." He did not want to build permanent forts in the West. Fremont viewed his expeditions of 1842 and 1843 as useful for locating good places for forts. He favored construction of chains of forts that would provide locations where civilization could grow up around them. Fremont’s view eventually prevailed.
Both Fremont and Kearny later became involved in acquisition of California from Mexico after the Mexican War. Still later, in 1856, Fremont became the first Presidential candidate of the newly formed Republican Party. He never lived in Wyoming, but by the time of his death in 1890 (three days after Wyoming statehood), his name had been applied to numerous places. They include Fremont Lake and Fremont Peak as well as Fremont County.
During the period, Americans held contradictory views of
migration. The
perceived ease or difficulty of travel often depended on one’s point of
view. Oregonians, anxious to promote settlement, told others that Oregon was "a
garden" and the destination was worth the trail hardships. Many promoted greater
settlement by implying that while the trip west was not easy, with sufficient
Army protection, it would be at least "safe" from "hostile" attacks. On the
other hand, Midwesterners wishing to keep farmers there told of horrible
atrocities and hardships on trail. During the 1840s, the constant requests for
government help undermined "garden" claims as did reports of such incidents as
the Donner party disaster in the California Sierras.
Initially, former fur trappers such as Jim Bridger served as guides as travelers crossed west through the center of what is now Wyoming. They guided wagon trains consisting of 15-20 percent women, part of the mostly Midwest farm families who made up most of the emigrants. The travelers aspired to farms and permanent settlement in Oregon. It was not a journey for a poor person or a newly arrived European immigrant. Most were middle-class families—those who could afford the costs of a wagon, oxen and gear ($400), trail food ($200); powder and shot ($60); and cash to pay guides and ferry tolls. At a time when wages rarely amounted to $1 a day for European emigrant laborers in the cities of the East, it was no trip for a "poor man."
As historian John Philip Reid has demonstrated, Oregon Trail wagon trains were normally well-organized and orderly. They were a "civilization on wheels," the company organization serving as a substitute for "society." There was no expectation of fast fortune at the far end of the journey. They planned to form or join communities, modeled after those from where they had come. This is symbolically illustrated in the names of towns such as Portland, Salem, and Springfield, all named for familiar hometowns in the East.
Safety of travel was important to Oregon Trail travelers. It came from better guidebooks and maps, from more dependable sources of supplies and, eventually, from ferries and bridges built across raging rivers. By the 1850s, river ferries were being established. A Green River ferry was started by Mormons sent back from Salt Lake by Brigham Young. Jim Bridger started a North Platte River ferry near present Orin Junction. Over time, many ferries were being replaced with sturdy toll bridges. The Gruinard and Reshaw bridges near present Casper are examples.
For all travelers, scheduling the trip was critical. In order to avoid dangerous early fall snowstorms and other adverse weather, guide and guidebooks urged travelers to cross what is now Wyoming in June or July. In fact, some guides asserted that they should be at Independence Rock in central Wyoming by the Fourth of July to ensure safe passage over the Blue Mountains of Oregon before snowfall.
A few former fur trappers had stayed in Wyoming after the heyday of the fur business. Two of them, Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez, established Fort Bridger in southwestern Wyoming about 1842. Initially designed as a trading post for the few
trappers (the last rendezvous for such supplies was held in 1840), the posts became popular stopping and provisioning posts for Oregon Trail travelers. Fort Laramie, established as a fur post in 1834, provided supplies for travelers as they were crossing through "Indian country" and approaching the most difficult part of the journey over the Rockies.
Oregonians advocated for U. S. Army protection for travelers along the route. In 1849, the federal government complied with the purchase of Fort Laramie from the privately-owned fur company operating the post. The government paid $4,000, relocated troops to the site and began construction fort buildings, dispensing with the stockade that had once surrounded the fur post on the site. "Old Bedlam," as the bachelor officers’ quarters was nicknamed, was built that first year. Renovated when the site became a national historic site, the structure is the oldest standing building in Wyoming.
Even though safety was a primary concern for them, Oregon Trail travelers suffered from accidents and disease. Some people drowned while attempting to cross Wyoming rivers. Others died of injuries from animals or accidentally discharge of firearms. Some fell victim to sudden weather changes.
Many travelers believed "safety" came from army strategies against Indians. During the early period in the 1840s, few of the emigrants encountered difficulties with the Native people. In fact, during the two decades when the trails across Wyoming were the most active, fewer trail travelers died at the hands of Indians than Native people being killed by the travelers. According to John Unruh in The Plains Across, 362 travelers were killed by Indians, 90 percent of them west of South Pass, making the first half of the trail the safer portion. During the same 20 year period (1840-1860), Indian deaths as a result of encounters with emigrants numbered 426. Only 34 emigrant deaths occurred in the years before 1849. As Unruh noted, "the callous attitude of cultural and racial superiority so many overlanders exemplified was of considerable significance in producing the volatile milieu in which more and more tragedies occurred."
The types of travelers across Wyoming changed dramatically after James Marshall found gold in January 1848 at Sutter’s Mill in California. As word spread east, the gold rush gained momentum. In 1849 more than 25,000 people—the so-called "49’s" flocked to California in that single year.
While safety in travel had been a stronger consideration for Oregon Trail travelers, speed was paramount to those scurrying off to the California gold rush. Across most of Wyoming, the two trails—Oregon and California—were identical. Only at "parting of the ways" in western Wyoming did the Oregon travelers, far fewer in number, take the right fork northwest to Oregon while the more numerous California-bound gold seekers took the left fork to the southwest.
The post-1849 migration differed substantially from its 1840s counterpart. California-bound travelers were overwhelmingly male (up to 85 percent), young, and single. Unlike the Oregon-bound trail wagons, heavily laden with supplies and often pulled by slow-moving oxen, the wagons and coaches carrying California travelers were in a hurry. Men heading to California did not want someone else to beat them to the gold nuggets awaiting in the gold fields. Many traveled by ship either around South America or to Panama, crossing by land and boarding Pacific ships bound for San Francisco. Others took more southerly trails. Just a third of all gold seekers used the trail through Wyoming.
The trails across Wyoming were not "one-way." While the majority of travelers were westbound, coaches carrying mail and passengers traveled in each direction. Supply points catered mostly to westbound travelers, but were also used by mail and coach traffic returning east. Some of the eastbound travelers were individuals who had "seen the elephant"—had met with difficulties either on the trail or at the destination point and had decided to return home.
Simultaneous with the gold rush migrations, substantial numbers of Mormons used the same trail en route to the Salt Lake valley. Many of the Mormons made the trip with handcarts, pulling them the hundreds of miles from Omaha to Utah. While many successfully completed the trip, two companies that had started too late in the season were caught by snowstorms in Wyoming. In October 1856, 67 of the 404 members of the party died in the snows before the rescue parties from Salt Lake City arrived on the scene to bring them to the valley.
In all, nearly 350,000 people crossed what is now Wyoming from 1841-1860, the majority bound for California. They hired fast stagecoaches, traveled without the burden of supplies (that sometimes lead to disaster), and sought the quickest shortcuts, regardless of the risks involved. Likewise, they had little regard for the culture of Native people and the wild game they depended on to survive on the Plains.
With the increasing numbers using the trails, knowledgeable guides made substantial money and sales of guidebooks flourished. The federal government sent army explorers west to locate better routes. One of these was an expedition of 18 men to the Salt Lake Valley via the Oregon Trail and then back across southern Wyoming led by Capt. Howard Stansbury in 1849. His expedition mapped southern Wyoming. The route contained vast stretches of "desert," but it was nonetheless largely unobstructed by mountain ranges except at the eastern edge. Stansbury’s party camped near present-day Laramie, saw no obvious passage over the Laramie Range to the east, so left the Laramie Plains roughly following the present route of U. S. Highway 287 into present Colorado. Stansbury’s maps became important when a transcontinental railroad route was being chosen some 15 years later.
As incidents between travelers and Native people increased in frequency and severity, the U. S. Government sought to placate Native people by negotiating treaties. In the summer of 1851, almost 10,000 Indians camped downriver from Fort Laramie while their leaders met with U. S. government treaty commissioners. The result was the first Fort Laramie treaty, known as the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.
In it, the federal government agreed to restrict travel across Native lands to the existing trails, only constructing forts along them for the convenience of travelers. In return, Native people agreed not to harm the travelers. Further, the government treaty-makers insisted that Native people select "chiefs" with whom the government could deal, even though some tribes had no traditions for such authority in a single leader. The government also expected the tribes to honor "tribal boundary lines"—the Shoshones, to stay in what is now western Wyoming, the Lakota to
restrict their hunting to north of the North Platte River and east of the Powder River; the Crow, to stay west of the Powder River; and the Arapahoes and Cheyenne to stay south and east of the North Platte River. Such land "borders" were not part of Native understanding.. In exchange for honoring the terms of the treaty, the Federal government offered to pay the tribes annuities in the form of goods valued at $50,000 annually for 50 years. (Later, the Senate unilaterally changed the term to $50,000 per year for just 10 years).
Travelers, particularly those bound for California, had little regard for terms of government agreements with the Native people. Minor incidents continued, but the "peace" from Fort Laramie treaty of 1851 came to an end with Grattan fight on August 19, 1854. The incident began through a typical example of cultural misunderstanding. A small group of Minicoungous, hunting in the area near present-day Lingle, noticed a wayward cow wandering beyond a hill near the trail. Apparently assuming that the cow, like a buffalo, was there for the taking, the group killed and skinned the animal. They were preparing to dine on the remains. Meanwhile, the cow’s owner, a member of a Mormon company traveling along the trail, went looking for the lost animal. The cow previously been following the caravan, but apparently was tempted by better grass away from the trail and got separated from the owner. When the Mormon owner saw what had occurred, he reported the "theft" to the commander at Fort Laramie, about five miles west of the incident site.
The commander sent out a detachment of 28 soldiers under the command of a newly-arrived lieutenant, fresh from West Point graduation, Lt. John Grattan. Grattan’s lack of experience, combined with relying on an interpreter who had been drinking led to disaster. Details of the fight are a mystery, but soon after Grattan’s troops confronted the Indians, shooting began. One soldier staggered back to the fort to report that Grattan, the interpreter and the entire command had been killed while Minnicougou losses numbered considerably less.
The army, alarmed at what was its greatest loss of men in one incident to that time in the West, ordered Gen. William S. Harney west to "punish" the Indians for the act. Harney treated the assignment not as an effort to hunt down the perpetrators but as collective punishment against all Indians. On Sept. 3, 1855, in the "battle" of Blue Water, Harney’s 600 troops overran Little Thunder’s camp of Brulé in retaliation for the Grattan "massacre.". Eighty-six Indians were killed, seventy women and children were captured, and their tipis were looted and burned. The site is located about six miles to the northwest of Ash Hollow in Nebraska.
Despite increasing threats from Indians, travelers continued to seek quicker, shorter routes across the plains and Rockies. The federal government assisted by assigning U. S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers to duty exploring the West. In 1857, after considerable pressure from Western constituents for military roads, Congress passed a law authorizing three "Pacific Wagon Roads." One was the Fort Kearney, South Pass and Honey Lake wagon road to be laid out in three sections. Frederick V. Lander, a native of Salem, Mass., who had worked on a Puget Sound to Council Bluffs route in 1854, was hired to lay out a section of the new road and later the entire road. The goal was to provide a cut-off from South Pass westward so that traffic did not need to detour as far south as Salt Lake City. His surveys convinced him that seven travel days and 500 miles could be saved through a shortcut. The so-called Lander cut-off accomplished the goal, but substantial traffic never used the route, hampered by dangerous river crossings and long stretches across barren plains where water was scarce. In 1858 Lander offered to build a railroad along the trail if sufficiently subsidies were provided. His plans for bridges (and a railroad) never came about because the Civil War intervened. Given a colonel’s appointment in the Union Army, he was wounded in the first year of the war and died five months later from the effects. He was 40. The town of Lander is named for him.
By the middle 1850s, other entrepreneurs offered a variety of transportation methods to the West. Some were novel and entirely impractical such as Scientific American publisher Rufus Porter’s proposal for a hot-air balloon, powered by a steam engine and designed to carry 100 people across country at the unheard of speed of 100 mph. In 1849, he asked a down payment of $50 on the proposed $200 one-way fare. The balloon was never built due to technical troubles.
The federal government helped by requesting bids to carry the U. S. Mail to the West Coast. Previously, mail went twice a month from New York by water route to San Francisco. The Wells-Fargo company joined with other firms to create the Overland Mail Company, offering twice-per-week mail service from St. Louis to San Francisco. Nicknamed the "Butterfield route" after the company president, it did not pass through Wyoming, but south through New Mexico Territory. In June 1858, regular stagecoach service began through Fort Laramie. The firm was organized by William Russell who soon brought in Alexander Majors and William Waddell as partners. The company ran stagecoaches built by the Concord, N. H., firm of J. Stephens Abbot and Lewis Downing. The so-called Concord coaches became a mainstay in Western transportation.
The Russell, Majors and Waddell company ran up huge debts, much coming from setting up 94 stations, one every 10-15 miles along the route, hiring station-tenders and more than 75 drivers for the 110 coaches (each coach costing $1,500 and weighing one ton). Each coach carried up to nine passengers and 25 pounds of mail, carried for $1 per pound. The firm struggled along for three years, borrowing money at crucial times to keep the coaches running. In October 1859, the primary creditor, Ben Holladay, foreclosed on the firm and took possession of the stage-line. For the first years under Holladay’s ownership, the line continued to run roughly along the route of the Oregon-California trail.
In 1861, a great experiment in speedy communication was launched with the first run by the Pony Express. Riders stopped and changed horses every 10-15 miles at one of the 190 stations the company established along the California Trail. It took 10-13 days to deliver a letter from St. Joseph, Mo., to San Francisco. The cost was prohibitive to all but the most important messages—$5 per ounce. The Pony Express lasted only 18 months even though the achievements of its riders became part of the enduring Western legend. William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody gained his first fame as a youthful rider with the Pony Express, going on to use the experience as part of his theatrical productions with his Wild West Show that he formed in 1883 and operated into the early 20th century.
The Pony Express was made obsolete by a stunning engineering achievement that is nearly forgotten today—construction of the first transcontinental telegraph line. Like the Pony Express and the overland stage-line, the telegraph was heavily subsidized by the federal government. In fact, the government offered to pay $40,000 per year for ten years to the company successfully completing the task. Edward Creighton met with executives of the Western Union company and a California-based firm. He agreed to take on the task as the contracting agent for the eastern 1,100 miles, leaving the western portion to the California firm’s contractor. He was assisted by his brother John, 11 years his junior, who took charge of construction details. Creighton’s company arranged for poles to be taken to treeless stretches of the plains, brought in the wires and set the stations up along the route. The entire task took six months. On Oct. 24, 1861, the two coasts were connected for the first time with almost instant communication. In later years, the two men invested in Wyoming cattle ranching. Following Edward Creighton’s death in 1874, much of his fortune endowed Creighton University in Omaha.
The Civil War in the East caused problems with overland trail travel. Many soldiers, previously assigned to guard stage station property (in essence, a federal government subsidy to the company) had to be reassigned to duty in the East. With increasing incidents of stock theft and harassment of coaches and fewer soldiers to guard against it, Holladay asked the federal government for permission to move the route of the stage-line further south. Some historians say his primary motivation was to capitalize on passenger and freight service to Denver and the rich Colorado gold fields. The precedent was set when Creighton asked Denver for a $40,000 payment in exchange for connecting the telegraph line through that city. Denver refused the offer so Creighton built to the north.
Holladay’s company built a new series of 31 stage stations along what is now southern Wyoming. (One is the oldest standing structure in Albany County—Big Laramie Stage Station, now part of a private ranch home). The army assisted in moving the company equipment and personnel to the new route. Even though one of Holladay’s reasons for moving involved the risks of the more northern route, he still expected (and received) U. S. Army protection for the stations and coaches along the new route.
The army was pressed thin by having to provide protection for the Oregon-California trail (and the transcontinental telegraph along that route) and the newly established "Overland Trail" for Holladay’s coaches. Army commander of the region Col. William A. Collins had few regular or volunteer troops to spare. Consequently, when the newly established Fort Halleck (near present Elk Mountain) was garrisoned, the troops included a number of "galvanized Yankees"—former Confederate soldiers who had volunteered to serve on the frontier as an alternative to incarceration in a prisoner-of-war camp in Illinois.
Collins commanded the troops from the fort named for him—Fort Collins, in Colorado. During his first tour in the West, his young son Caspar accompanied him, drawing floor plans and sketches of many military facilities. Later, young Caspar joined the army and, with the rank of lieutenant, was assigned duty along the Oregon-California trail route. Tensions between the army and Native people increased substantially after Col. Chivington and a Colorado militia company in 1864 attacked a Cheyenne-Arapaho camp along Sand Creek in Colorado, killing indiscriminately. Plains tribes reciprocated with a series of raids against stage stations and ranches the following spring.
In July 1865, Lt. Collins led a small detachment from Sweetwater Station to Platte Bridge Station near where two toll bridges had been built to ferry overlanders across the North Platte. Shortly after his arrival, a group of Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho gathered to attack the station. In the ensuing skirmish, Collins and four other soldiers were killed. (That same day, about five miles west of the fort, Sgt. Amos Custard and 24 men accompanying supply wagons were attacked. Three soldiers survived the "Battle of Red Buttes.")
The army, to honor young Collins, renamed the post for him. They could not call it "Fort Collins." Such a post already existed, having been named for Caspar’s father, Col. William Collins. Consequently, they called the fort "Fort Caspar." Three years later, the post was abandoned, but in the late 1880s when a railroad was built into the area and a town was established on the site, it was named "Casper"—the "e" replacing the "a" as a result of a post office spelling error. Thus, Wyoming’s second largest city shared a "family connection" with Fort Collins, Colorado.
Gold was the motivating factor for the dramatic increase in traffic on the Oregon-California trail in 1849. A dozen years later, gold in Montana prompted a new trail across north central Wyoming. Georgia-born John Bozeman, disregarding treaties that had set aside the Powder River country for the Lakota, blazed a "short-cut" from the Oregon Trail route to Montana in 1863. (He was killed along the trail in 1867).
The federal government initially condemned the trespassing, but in the summer of 1866, Col. Henry Carrington and 700 soldiers were ordered to the area to build forts for protecting trespassing miners. While a hastily-arranged "treaty conference" was held at Fort Laramie, supposedly gaining Indian approval for the action—even though the Native signers had no stake in the Powder River country—Carrington’s troops left Fort Laramie to set up forts along the Bozeman Trail. The Carrington command built Fort Reno and Fort C. F. Smith. The primary post, however, was to be Fort Phil Kearny (located halfway between present Buffalo and Sheridan). While Carrington’s group continued construction of a wood stockade around the post, Indians harassed groups sent out to cut timber or graze post animals. The incidents intensified in the fall of 1866. (Photographer Ridgway Glover was one victim while setting up his bulky equipment to shoot photographs of the fort from a nearby hill).
Civil War veteran Capt. William Fetterman was assigned to the newly constructed post in November 1866. The following month, on December 21, despite his lack of knowledge of frontier Indian fighting, he volunteered to lead a guard detachment of 80 men to escort a wood-gathering party back to the fort. A half dozen Lakota warriors appeared on a nearby hill, yelling obscenities in an attempt to lure the unit over the ridge. One of the taunters, it is said, was Crazy Horse. In later testimony, Col. Carrington, Fetterman’s commander, contended he had told the young inexperienced officer not to go over Lodge Trail Ridge. Whether he had been warned is an
open question, but Fetterman ordered his troops to chase the harassers over the ridge. Awaiting was a substantial force of Lakota warriors who ambushed the column. Within 20 minutes, Fetterman and his entire command were dead.
When Col Carrington learned of the incident, he feared that the 120 or so soldiers at the post were in danger. He sought volunteers to ride to the nearest telegraph station, Horseshoe Station, 190 miles to the south, to alert army officials. Two men offered to make the journey, despite deep snows and cold temperatures. One was John "Portugee" Phillips (born Manual Felipe Cardoso in the Azores in 1832), who was a civilian wintering at the fort in preparation for returning to the Montana gold fields the following spring. Another volunteer to make the hazardous ride was Daniel Dixon. As they proceeded under what was a full moon by day and bright sun on heavy snow, other riders rode with them from time to time en route to the telegraph station. At Fort Reno, Phillips was given an additional message from Lt.Col. Henry Wessels to deliver to the commander at Fort Laramie. Three men, Phillips, Dixon, and Robert Bailey, rode into Horseshoe Station on Christmas morning where the telegraph messages were sent to army commanders. Phillips continued southward to Fort Laramie alone. A Christmas night party was in full swing at "Old Bedlam," the bachelor officers’ quarters, when Phillips rode into the post. The post commander, alerted to the troubles, sent reinforcements to Fort Phil Kearny, but the unit didn’t leave until January 6. As it turned out, the delay was irrelevant because the Indians opted not to further attack the soldiers or the post. While Phillips’ ride was not made alone for much of the way, nonetheless, it was a formidable achievement—riding 238 miles in winter snows, avoiding contact with Indians, and making the distance in only four days. It remains celebrated as the "greatest ride in Wyoming history." The federal government paid Phillips and Dixon $300 each for making the ride. Phillips stayed in Wyoming, ranched near Chugwater and died in Cheyenne in 1883.
The army’s efforts to keep the trail open seemed futile, however. In 1868, the U. S. Government sent representatives to another treaty conference at Fort Laramie. Under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, the army abandoned the forts along the Bozeman Trail and the government agreed to bar miners from using the shortcut across Native lands. At least some of the impetus for the agreement was from government officials’ concern for construction of the transcontinental railroad, then building across what is now southern Wyoming.
The Bozeman Trail, like the Oregon-California-Mormon route and the overland stagecoach line, were being made obsolete. A transcontinental railroad was about to transform transportation west and, with it, make it necessary to establish Wyoming as a territory.
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851
Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, in the Indian Territory, between D. D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian affairs, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, Indian agent, commissioners specially appointed and authorized by the President of the United States, of the first part, and the chiefs, headmen, and braves of the following Indian nations, residing south of the Missouri River, east of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the lines of Texas and New Mexico viz, the Sioux or Dahcotahs, Cheyennes, Arrapahoes, Crows, Assinaboines, Gros-Ventre Mandans, and Arrickaras, parties of the second part, on the seventeenth day of September, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
ARTICLE 1. The aforesaid nations, parties to this treaty, having assembled for the purpose of establishing and confirming peaceful relations amongst themselves, do hereby covenant and agree to abstain in future from all hostilities whatever against each other, to maintain good faith and friendship in all their mutual intercourse, and to make an effective and lasting peace.
ARTICLE 2. The aforesaid nations do hereby recognize the right of the United States Government to establish roads, military and other posts, within their respective territories.
ARTICLE 3. In consideration of the rights and privileges acknowledged in the preceding article, the United States bind themselves to protect the aforesaid Indian nations against the commission of all depredations by the people of the said United States, after the ratification of this treaty.
ARTICLE 4. The aforesaid Indian nations do hereby agree and bind themselves to make restitution or satisfaction for any wrongs committed, after the ratification of this treaty, by any band or individual of their people, on the people of the United States, whilst lawfully residing in or passing through their respective territories.
ARTICLE 5. The aforesaid Indian nations do hereby recognize and acknowledge the following tracts of country, included within the metes and boundaries hereinafter designated, as their respective territories, viz:
The territory of the Sioux or Dahcotah Nation, commencing the mouth of the White Earth River, on the Missouri River; thence in a southwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte River, thence up the north fork of the Platte River to a point known as the Red Bute, or where the road leaves the river; thence along the range of mountains known as the Black Hills, to the head-waters of Heart River; thence down Heart River to its mouth; and thence down the Missouri River to the place of beginning.
The territory of the Gros Ventre, Mandans, and Arrickaras Nations, commencing at the mouth of Heart River; thence up the Missouri River to the mouth of the Yellowstone River; thence up the Yellowstone River to the mouth of Powder River in a southeasterly direction, to the head-waters of the Little Missouri River; thence along the Black Hills to the head of Heart River, and thence down Heart River to the place of beginning.
The territory of the Assinaboin Nation, commencing at the mouth of Yellowstone River; thence up the Missouri River to the mouth of the Muscle-shell River; thence from the mouth of the Muscle-shell River in a southeasterly direction until it strikes the head-waters of Big Dry Creek: thence down that creek to where it empties into the Yellowstone River, nearly opposite the mouth of Powder River, and thence down the Yellowstone River to the place of beginning.
The territory of the Blackfoot Nation, commencing at the mouth of Muscle-shell River; thence up the Missouri River to its source; thence along the main range of the Rocky Mountains, in a southerly direction, to the head-waters of the northern source of the Yellowstone River; thence down the Yellowstone River to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard Creek; thence across to the headwaters of the Muscle-shell River, and thence down the Muscle-shell River to the place of beginning.
The territory of the Crow Nation, commencing at the mouth of Powder River on the Yellowstone; thence up Powder River to its source; thence along the main range of the Black Hills and Wind River Mountains to the head-waters of the Yellowstone River; thence down the Yellowstone River to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard Creek; thence to the head waters of the Muscle-shell River; thence down the Muscle-shell River to its mouth; thence to the head-waters of Big Dry Creek, and thence to its mouth.
The territory of the Cheyennes and Arrapahoes, commencing at the Red Bute, or the place where the road leaves the north fork of the Platte River; thence up the north fork of the Platte River to its source; thence along the main range of the Rocky Mountains to the head-waters of the Arkansas River; thence down the Arkansas River to the crossing of the Santa Fe road; thence in a northwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte River, and thence up the Platte River to the place of beginning.
It is, however, understood that, in making this recognition and acknowledgement, the aforesaid Indian nations do not hereby abandon or prejudice tiny rights or claims they may have to other lands; and further, that they do not surrender the privilege of hunting, fishing, or passing over any of the tracts of country heretofore described.
ARTICLE 6. The parties to the second part of this treaty having selected principals or head-chiefs for their respective nations, through whom all national business will hereafter be conducted, do hereby bind themselves to sustain said chiefs and their successors during good behavior.
ARTICLE 7. In consideration of the treaty stipulations, and for the damages which have or may occur by reason thereof to the Indian nations, parties hereto, and for their maintenance and the improvement of their moral and social customs, the United States bind themselves to deliver to the said Indian nations the sum of fifty thousand dollars per annum for the term of ten years, with the right to continue the same at the discretion of the President of the United States for a period not exceeding five years thereafter, in provisions, merchandise, domestic animals, and agricultural implements, in such proportions as may be deemed best adapted to their condition by the President of the United States, to be distributed in proportion to the population of the aforesaid Indian nations.
ARTICLE 8. It is understood and agreed that should any of the Indian nations, parties to this treaty, violate any of the provisions thereof, the United States may withhold the whole or a portion of the annuities mentioned in the preceding article from the nation so offending, until in the opinion of the President of the US, proper satisfaction shall have been made.
In testimony whereof the said D. D. Mitchell and Thomas Fitzpatrick commissioners as aforesaid, and the chiefs, headmen, and braves, parties hereto, have set their hands and affixed their marks, on the day and at the place first above written.
D. D. Mitchell, Thomas Fitzpatrick
Commissioners.
Sioux:
Mah-toe-wha-you-whey
Mah-kah-toe-zah-zah.
Bel-o-ton-kah-tan-ga.
Nah-ka-pah-gi-gi.
Mak-toe-sah-bi-chis
Meh-wha-tah-ni-hans-kah.
Cheyennes:
Wah-ha-nis-satta.
Voist-ti-toe-vetz
Nahk-ko-me-ien.
Koh-kah-y-wh-cum-est,.
Arrapahoes:
Be-ah-te-a-qui-sah.
Neb-ni-bah-seh-it.
Beh-kah-jay-beth-sah-es.
In the presence of
A. B. Chambers, secretary.
S. Cooper, colonel, U. S. Army.
R. H. Chilton, captain, First Drags.
Thos Duncan, capt., Mounted Riflemen.
Thos. G. Rhett, brevet captain R. M. R.
W. L. Elliott, first lieutenant R. M. R.
C. Campbell, interpreter for Sioux.
John S. Smith, interpreter for Cheyennes.
Robert Meldrum, interpreter for Crows.
Crows:
Arra-tu-ri-sash.
Doh-chepit-seh-chi-ek.
Assinaboines:
Mah-toe-wit-ko.
Toe-tah-ki-eh-nan.
Mandans and Gros Ventres:
Nochk-pit-shi-toe-pish.
She-oh-mant-ho.
Arickarees:
Koun-hei-ti-shan.
Bi-atch-tah-wetch.
H. Culbertson, interpreter for Assiniboines and Gros Ventres.
Francois L’Etalie, interpreter for Arickarees.
John Pizelle, interpreter for Arrapahoes.
B. Gratz Brown.
Robert Campbell.
Edmond F. Chouteau.
Source: "Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851." In Indian Treaties, 1778–1883. Compiled by Charles J. Kappler. Washington, DC: 1904, pp. 594–596
Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868
ARTICLES OF A TREATY
MADE AND CONCLUDED BY AND BETWEEN
Lieutenant General William T. Sherman, General William S. Harney, General Alfred H. Terry, General O. O. Augur, J. B. Henderson, Nathaniel G. Taylor, John G. Sanborn, and Samuel F. Tappan, duly appointed commissioners on the part of the United States, and the different bands of the Sioux Nation of Indians, by their chiefs and headmen, whose names are hereto subscribed, they being duly authorized to act in the premises.
ARTICLE I.
From this day forward all war between the parties to this agreement shall for ever cease. The government of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace, and they now pledge their honor to maintain it.
If bad men among the whites, or among other people subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent, and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington city, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained.
If bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation upon the person or property of nay one, white, black, or Indian, subject to the authority of the United States, and at peace therewith, the Indians herein named solemnly agree that they will, upon proof made to their agent, and notice by him, deliver up the wrongdoer to the United States, to be tried and punished according to its laws, and, in case they willfully refuse so to do, the person injured shall be reimbursed for his loss from the annuities, or other moneys due or to become due to them under this or other treaties made with the United States; and the President, on advising with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and regulations for ascertaining damages under the provisions of this article as in his judgment may be proper, but no one sustaining loss while violating the provisions of this treaty, or the laws of the United States, shall be reimbursed therefor.
ARTICLE II.
The United States agrees that the following district of country, to wit, viz: commencing on the east bank of the Missouri river where the 46th parallel of north latitude crosses the same, thence along low-water mark down said east bank to a point opposite where the northern line of the State of Nebraska strikes the river, thence west across said river, and along the northern line of Nebraska to the 104th degree of longitude west from Greenwich, thence north on said meridian to a point where the 46th parallel of north latitude intercepts the same, thence due east along said parallel to the place of beginning; and in addition thereto, all existing reservations of the east back of said river, shall be and the same is, set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from time to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them; and the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employees of the government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article, or in such territory as may be added to this reservation for the use of said Indians, and henceforth they will and do hereby relinquish all claims or right in and to any portion of the United States or Territories, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid, and except as hereinafter provided.
ARTICLE III.
If it should appear from actual survey or other satisfactory examination of said tract of
land that it contains less than 160 acres of tillable land for each person who, at the time, may be authorized to reside on it under the provisions of this treaty, and a very considerable number of such persons hsall be disposed to comence cultivating the soil as farmers, the United States agrees to set apart, for the use of said Indians, as herein provided, such additional quantity of arable land, adjoining to said reservation, or as near to the same as it can be obtained, as may be required to provide the necessary amount.
ARTICLE IV.
The United States agrees, at its own proper expense, to construct, at some place on the Missouri river, near the centre of said reservation where timber and water may be convenient, the following buildings, to wit, a warehouse, a store-room for the use of the agent in storing goods belonging to the Indians, to cost not less than $2,500; an agency building, for the residence of the agent, to cost not exceeding $3,000; a residence for the physician, to cost not more than $3,000; and five other buildings, for a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, miller, and engineer-each to cost not exceeding $2,000; also, a school-house, or mission building, so soon as a sufficient number of children can be induced by the agent to attend school, which shall not cost exceeding $5,000.
The United States agrees further to cause to be erected on said reservation, near the other buildings herein authorized, a good steam circular saw-mill, with a grist-mill and shingle machine attached to the same, to cost not exceeding $8,000.
ARTICLE V.
The United States agrees that the agent for said Indians shall in the future make his home at the agency building; that he shall reside among them, and keep an office open at all times for the purpose of prompt and diligent inquiry into such matters of complaint by and against the Indians as may be presented for investigation under the provisions of their treaty stipulations, as also for the faithful discharge of other duties enjoined on him by law. In all cases of depredation on person or property he shall cause the evidence to be taken in writing and forwarded, together with his findings, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, whose decision, subject to the revision of the Secretary of the Interior, shall be binding on the parties to this treaty.
ARTICLE VI.
If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or legally incorporated with them, being the head of a family, shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the privilege to select, in the presence and with the assistance of the agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservation, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which tract, when so selected, certified, and recorded in the "Land Book" as herein directed, shall cease to be held in common, but the same may be occupied and held in the exclusive possession of the person selecting it, and of his family, so long as he or they may continue to cultivate it.
Any person over eighteen years of age, not being the head of a family, may in like manner select and cause to be certified to him or her, for purposes of cultivation, a quantity of land, not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and thereupon be entitled to the exclusive possession of the same as above directed.
For each tract of land so selected a certificate, containing a description thereof and the name of the person selecting it, with a certificate endorsed thereon that the same has been recorded, shall be delivered to the party entitled to it, by the agent, after the same shall have been recorded by him in a book to be kept in his office, subject to inspection, which said book shall be known as the "Sioux Land Book."
The President may, at any time, order a survey of the reservation, and, when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for protecting the rights of said settlers in their improvements, and may fix the character of the title held by each. The United States may pass such laws on the subject of alienation and descent of property between the Indians and their descendants as may be thought proper. And it is further stipulated that any male Indians over eighteen years of age, of any band or tribe that is or shall hereafter become a party to this treaty, who now is or who shall hereafter become a resident or occupant of any reservation or territory not included in the tract of country designated and described in this treaty for the permanent home of the Indians, which is not mineral land, nor reserved by the United States for special purposes other than Indian occupation, and who shall have made improvements thereon of the value of two hundred dollars or more, and continuously occupied the same as a homestead for the term of three years, shall be entitled to receive from the United States a patent for one hundred and sixty acres of land including his said improvements, the same to be in the form of the legal subdivisions of the surveys of the public lands. Upon application in writing, sustained by the proof of two disinterested witnesses, made to the register of the local land office when the land sought to be entered is within a land district, and when the tract sought to be entered is not in any land district, then upon said application and proof being made to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and the right of such Indian or Indians to enter such tract or tracts of land shall accrue and be perfect from the date of his first improvements thereon, and shall continue as long as be continues his residence and improvements and no longer. And any Indian or Indians receiving a patent for land under the foregoing provisions shall thereby and from thenceforth become and be a citizen of the United States and be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of such citizens, and shall, at the same time, retain all his rights to benefits accruing to Indians under this treaty.
ARTICLE VII.
In order to insure the civilization of the Indians entering into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially of such of them as are or may be settled on said agricultural reservations, and they, therefore, pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school, and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States agrees that for every thirty children between said ages, who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house shall be provided, and a teacher competent to teach the elementary branches of an English education shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians and faithfully discharge his or her duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article to continue for not less than twenty years.
ARTICLE VIII.
When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands and received his certificate as above directed, and the agent shall be satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence cultivating the soil for a living, he shall be entitled to receive seeds and agricultural implements for the first year, not exceeding in value one hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year he shall continue to farm, for a period of three years more, he shall be entitled to receive seeds and implements as aforesaid, not exceeding in value twenty-five dollars. And it is further stipulated that such persons as commence farming shall receive instruction from the farmer herein provided for, and whenever more than one hundred persons shall enter upon the cultivation of the soil, a second blacksmith shall be provided, with such iron, steel, and other material as may be needed.
ARTICLE IX.
At any time after ten years fro the making of this treaty, the United States shall have the privilege of withdrawing the physician, farmer, blacksmith, carpenter, engineer, and miller herein provided for, but in case of such withdrawal, an additional sum thereafter of ten thousand dollars per annum shall be devoted to the education of said Indians, and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall, upon careful inquiry into their condition, make such rules and regulations for the expenditure of said sums as will best promote the education and moral improvement of said tribes.
ARTICLE X.
In lieu of all sums of money or other annuities provided to be paid to the Indians herein
named under any treaty or treaties heretofore made, the United States agrees to deliver at the agency house on the reservation herein named, on or before the first day of August of each year, for thirty years, the following articles, to wit:
For each male person over 14 years of age, a suit of good substantial woollen clothing, consisting of coat, pantaloons, flannel shirt, hat, and a pair of home-made socks.
For each female over 12 years of age, a flannel shirt, or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woollen hose, 12 yards of calico, and 12 yards of cotton domestics.
For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel and cotton goods as may be needed to make each a suit as aforesaid, together with a pair of woollen hose for each.
And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named, it shall be the duty of the agent each year to forward to him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimate from year to year can be based.
And in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of $10 for each person entitled to the beneficial effects of this treaty shall be annually appropriated for a period of 30 years, while such persons roam and hunt, and $20 for each person who engages in farming, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase of such articles as from time to time the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate to be proper. And if within the 30 years, at any time, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better uses for the Indians named herein, Congress may, by law, change the appropriation to other purposes, but in no event shall the amount of the appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period named. And the President shall annually detail an officer of the army to be present and attest the delivery of all the goods herein named, to the Indians, and he shall inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the manner of their delivery. And it is hereby expressly stipulated that each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation, one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier date. And it is further stipulated that the United States will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians or family of persons legally incorporated with the, who shall remove to the reservation herein described and commence farming, one good American cow, and one good well-broken pair of American oxen within 60 days after such lodge or family shall have so settled upon said reservation.
ARTICLE XI.
In consideration of the advantages and benefits conferred by this treaty and the many pledges of friendship by the United States, the tribes who are parties to this agreement hereby stipulate that they will relinquish all right to occupy permanently the territory outside their reservations as herein defined, but yet reserve the right to hunt on any lands north of North Platte, and on the Republican Fork of the Smoky Hill river, so long as the buffalo may range thereon in such numbers as to justify the chase. And they, the said Indians, further expressly agree:
1st. That they will withdraw all opposition to the construction of the railroads now being built on the plains.
2d. That they will permit the peaceful construction of any railroad not passing over their reservation as herein defined.
3d. That they will not attack any persons at home, or travelling, nor molest or disturb any wagon trains, coaches, mules, or cattle belonging to the people of the United States, or to persons friendly therewith.
4th. They will never capture, or carry off from the settlements, white women or children.
5th. They will never kill or scalp white men, nor attempt to do them harm.
6th. They withdraw all pretence of opposition to the construction of the railroad now being built along the Platte river and westward to the Pacific ocean, and they will not in future object to the construction of railroads, wagon roads, mail stations, or other works of utility or necessity, which may be ordered or permitted by the laws of the United States. But should such roads or other works be constructed on the lands of their reservation, the government will pay the tribe whatever amount of damage may be assessed by three disinterested commissioners to be appointed by the President for that purpose, one of the said commissioners to be a chief or headman of the tribe.
7th. They agree to withdraw all opposition to the military posts or roads now established south of the North Platte river, or that may be established, not in violation of treaties heretofore made or hereafter to be made with any of the Indian tribes.
ARTICLE XII.
No treaty for the cession of any portion or part of the reservation herein described which may be held in common, shall be of any validity or force as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by at least three-fourths of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested in the same, and no cession by the tribe shall be understood or construed in such manner as to deprive, without his consent, any individual member of the tribe of his rights to any tract of land selected by him as provided in Article VI of this treaty.
ARTICLE XIII.
The United States hereby agrees to furnish annually to the Indians the physician, teachers, carpenter, miller, engineer, farmer, and blacksmiths, as herein contemplated, and that such appropriations shall be made from time to time, on the estimate of the Secretary of the Interior, as will be sufficient to employ such persons.
ARTICLE XIV.
It is agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars annually for three years from date shall be expended in presents to the ten persons of said tribe who in the judgment of the agent may grow the most valuable crops for the respective year.
ARTICLE XV.
The Indians herein named agree that when the agency house and other buildings shall be constructed on the reservation named, they will regard said reservation their permanent home, and they will make no permanent settlement elsewhere; but they shall have the right, subject to conditions and modifications of this treaty, to hunt, as stipulated in Art. XI hereof.
ARTICLE XVI.
The United States hereby agrees and stipulates that the country north of the North Platte river and east of the summits of the Big Horn mountains shall be held and considered to be unceded. Indian territory, and also stipulates and agrees that no white person or persons shall be permitted to settle upon or occupy any portion of the same; or without the consent of the Indians, first had and obtained, to pass through the same; and it is further agreed by the United States, that within ninety days after the conclusion of peace with all the bands of the Sioux nation, the military posts now established in the territory in this article named shall be abandoned, and that the road leading to them and by them to the settlements in the Territory of Montana shall be closed.
ARTICLE XVII.
It is hereby expressly understood and agreed by and between the respective parties to this treaty that the execution of this treaty and its ratification by the United States Senate shall have the effect, and shall be construed as abrogating and annulling all treaties and agreements heretofore entered into between the respective parties hereto, so far as such treaties and agreements obligate the United States to furnish and provide money, clothing, or other articles of property to such Indians and bands of Indians as become parties to this treaty, but no further.
In testimony of all which, we, the said commissioners, and we, the chiefs and headmen of the Brule band of the Sioux nation, have hereunto set our hands and seals at Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, this 29th day of April, in the year 1868.
N. G. TAYLOR,, W. T. SHERMAN, Lieutenant General, WM. S. HARNEY, Brevet Major General U.S.A., JOHN B. SANBORN,
S. F. TAPPAN, C. C. AUGUR, Brevet Major General, ALFRED H. TERRY, Brevet Major General U.S.A.
Attest: A. S. H. WHITE, Secretary.
Executed on the part of the Brule band of Sioux by the chiefs and headman whose names are hereto annexed, they being thereunto duly authorized, at Fort Laramie, D. T., the twenty-ninth day of April, in the year A. D. 1868.
MA-ZA-PON-KASKA, his X mark, Iron Shell, WAH-PAT-SHAH, his X mark, Red Leaf, HAH-SAH-PAH, his X mark, Black Horn, ZIN-TAH-GAH-LAT-WAH, his X mark, Spotted Tail, ZIN-TAH-GKAH, his X mark, White Tail, ME-WAH-TAH-NE-HO-SKAH, his X mark, Tall Man, SHE-CHA-CHAT-KAH, his X mark, Bad Left Hand, NO-MAH-NO-PAH, his X mark, Two and Two.
TAH-TONKA-SKAH, White Bull.
CON-RA-WASHTA,, Pretty Coon.
HA-CAH-CAH-SHE-CHAH, Bad Elk.
WA-HA-KA-ZAH-ISH-TAH, Eye Lance.
MA-TO-HA-KE-TAH, Bear that looks behind.
BELLA-TONKA-TONKA, Big Partisan.
MAH-TO-HO-HONKA, Swift Bear.
TO-WIS-NE, Cold Place.
ISH-TAH-SKAH, White Eye.
MA-TA-LOO-ZAH, Fast Bear.
AS-HAH-HAH-NAH-SHE, Standing Elk.
CAN-TE-TE-KI-YA,The Brave Heart.
SHUNKA-SHATON, Day Hawk.
TATANKA-WAKON,, Sacred Bull.
MAPIA SHATON, Hawk Cloud.
MA-SHA-A-OW, Stands and Comes.
SHON-KA-TON-KA,Big Dog.
Attest: ASHTON S. H. WHITE, Secretary of Commission, GEORGE B. WITHS, Phonographer to Commission, GEO. H. HOLTZMAN, JOHN D. HOWLAND, JAMES C. O’CONNOR
CHAR. E. GUERN, Interpreter.
LEON T. PALLARDY, Interpreter.
NICHOLAS JANIS, Interpreter.
Executed on the part of the Ogallalla band of Sioux by the chiefs and headmen whose names are hereto subscribed, they being thereunto duly authorized, at Fort Laramie, the 25th day of May, in the year A. D. 1868.
TAH-SHUN-KA-CO-QUI-PAH, Man-afraid-of-his-horses.
SHA-TON-SKAH, White Hawk.
SHA-TON-SAPAH, Black Hawk.
EGA-MON-TON-KA-SAPAH, Black Tiger
OH-WAH-SHE-CHA, Bad Wound.
PAH-GEE, Grass.
WAH-NON SAH-CHE-GEH, Ghost Heart.
COMECH, Crow.
OH-HE-TE-KAH, The Brave.
TAH-TON-KAH-HE-YO-TA-KAH, Sitting Bull.
SHON-KA-OH-WAH-MEN-YE, Whirlwind Dog.
HA-KAH-KAH-TAH-MIECH, Poor Elk.
WAM-BU-LEE-WAH-KON,, Medicine Eagle.
CHON-GAH-MA-HE-TO-HANS-KA, High Wolf.
WAH-SECHUN-TA-SHUN-KAH, American Horse.
MAH-KAH-MAH-HA-MAK-NEAR, Man that walks under the ground.
MAH-TO-TOW-PAH, Four Bears.
MA-TO-WEE-SHA-KTA, One that kills the bear.
OH-TAH-KEE-TOKA-WEE-CHAKTA, One that kills in a hard place.
TAH-TON-KAH-TA-MIECH, The Poor Bull.
OH-HUNS-EE-GA-NON-SKEN, Mad Shade.
SHAH-TON-OH-NAH-OM-MINNE-NE-OH-MINNE, Whirling hawk.
MAH-TO-CHUN-KA-OH, Bear’s Back.
CHE-TON-WEE-KOH, Fool Hawk.
WAH-HOH-KE-ZA-AH-HAH,
EH-TON-KAH, Big Mouth.
MA-PAH-CHE-TAH, Bad Hand.
WAH-KE-YUN-SHAH, Red Thunder.
WAK-SAH, One that Cuts Off.
CHAH-NOM-QUI-YAH, One that Presents the Pipe.
WAH-KE-KE-YAN-PUH-TAH, Fire Thunder.
MAH-TO-NONK-PAH-ZE, Bear with Yellow Ears.
CON-REE-TEH-KA, The Little Crow.
HE-HUP-PAH-TOH, The Blue War Club.
SHON-KEE-TOH, The Blue Horse.
WAM-BALLA-OH-CONQUO, Quick Eagle.
TA-TONKA-SUPPA,, Black Bull.
MOH-TOH-HA-SHE-NA, The Bear Hide.
Attest: S. E. WARD, JAS. C. O’CONNOR, J. M. SHERWOOD, W. C. SLICER, SAM DEON, H. M. MATHEWS, JOSEPH BISS Interpreter: NICHOLAS JANIS, LEFROY JOTT, ANTOINE JANIS.
Executed on the part of the Minneconjou band of Sioux by the chiefs and headmen whose names are hereunto subscribed, they being thereunto duly authorized.
HEH-WON-GE-CHAT, his + mark, One Horn.
OH-PON-AH-TAH-E-MANNE, The Elk that Bellows Walking.
HEH-HO-LAH-ZEH-CHA-SKAH, Young White Bull.
WAH-CHAH-CHUM-KAH-COH-KEEPAH, One that is Afraid of Shield.
HE-HON-NE-SHAKTA, The Old Owl.
MOC-PE-A-TOH, Blue Cloud.
OH-PONG-GE-LE-SKAH, Spotted Elk.
TAH-TONK-KA-HON-KE-SCHUE, Slow Bull.
SHONK-A-NEE-SHAH-SHAH-ATAH-PE, The Dog Chief.
MA-TO-TAH-TA-TONK-KA k, Bull Bear.
WOM-BEH-LE-TON-KAH, The Big Eagle.
MATOH, EH-SCHNE-LAH, The Lone Bear.
MA-TOH-OH-HE-TO-KEH, The Brave Bear.
EH-CHE-MA-KEH, The Runner.
TI-KI-YA, The Hard.
HE-MA-ZA, Iron Horn.
Attest: JAS. C O’CONNOR, WM. D. BROWN, NICHOLAS JANIS, ANTOINE JANIS, Interpreters.
Executed on the part of the Yanctonais band of Sioux by the chiefs and headmen whose names are hereto subscribed, they being thereunto duly authorized:
MAH-TO-NON-PAH, Two Bears.
MA-TO-HNA-SKIN-YA, Mad Bear.
HE-O-PU-ZA, Louzy.
AH-KE-CHE-TAH-CHE-KA-DAN, Little Soldier.
MAH-TO-E-TAN-CHAN, Chief Bear.
CU-WI-TO-WIA, Rotten Stomach.
SKUN-KA-WE-TKO, Fool Dog.
ISH-TA-SAP-PAH, Black Eye.
IH-TAN-CHAN, The Chief.
I-A-WI-CA-KA, The One who Tells the Truth.
AH-KE-CHE-TAH, The Soldier.
TA-SHI-NA-GI, Yellow Robe.
NAH-PE-TON-KA, Big Hand.
CHAN-TEE-WE-KTO, Fool Heart.
HOH-GAN-SAH-PA, Black Catfish.
MAH-TO-WAH-KAN, Medicine Bear.
SHUN-KA-KAN-SHA, Red Horse.
WAN-RODE, The Eagle.
CAN-HPI-SA-PA, Black Tomahawk.
WAR-HE-LE-RE, Yellow Eagle.
CHA-TON-CHE-CA, Small Hawk, or Long Fare.
SHU-GER-MON-E-TOO-HA-SKA, Fall Wolf.
MA-TO-U-TAH-KAH, Sitting Bear.
HI-HA-CAH-GE-NA-SKENE, Mad Elk.
Arapahoes.
LITTLE CHIEF, TALL BEAR, TOP MAN, NEVA, THE WOUNDED BEAR, WHIRLWIND, THE FOX, THE DOG BIG MOUTH, SPOTTED WOLF, SORREL HORSE, BLACK COAL, BIG WOLF, KNOCK-KNEE, BLACK CROW, THE LONE OLD MAN, PAUL, BLACK BULL, BIG TRACK, THE FOOT, BLACK WHITE, YELLOW HAIR, LITTLE SHIELD, BLACK BEAR, WOLF MOCASSIN, BIG ROBE, WOLF CHIEF,
Witnesses:
ROBERT P. MCKIBBIN, Captain 4th Infantry, and Bvt. Lieut. Col. U. S. A., Commanding Fort Laramie, WM. H. POWELL, Brevet Major, Captain 4th Infantry, HENRY W. PATTERSON, Captain 4th Infantry, THEO E. TRUE, Second Lieutenant 4th Infantry, W. G. BULLOCK. FORT LARAMIE, WYOMING TERRITORY, November 6, 1868.
MAH-PI-AH-LU-TAH, Red Cloud.
WA-KI-AH-WE-CHA-SHAH, Thunder Man.
MA-ZAH-ZAH-GEH, k, Iron Cane.
WA-UMBLE-WHY-WA-KA-TUYAH, High Eagle.
KO-KE-PAH, Man Afraid.
WA-KI-AH-WA-KOU-AH, Thunder Flying Running.
Witnessess:
W. MCE. DYE, Brevet Colonel U. S. Army, Commanding.
A. B. CAIN, Captain 4th Infantry, Brevet Major U. S. Army.
ROBT. P. MCKIBBIN, Capt 4th Infantry, Bvt. Lieut. Col. U. S. Army.
JNO. MILLER, Captain 4th Infantry.
G. L. LUHN, First Lieutenant 4th Infantry, Bvt. Capt. U. S. Army.
H. C. SLOAN, Second Lieutenant 4th Infantry.