Reconstruction, Expansion, and the Triumph of Industrial Capitalism 13the government and White settlers had taken over three-fourths of the land
that had been titled to Indians in the previous treaties. And Custer and the
7th Cavalry were still maneuvering in the Black Hills area.
So the violence was rising, too. In 1874, in the Black Hills, in Sioux ter-
ritory, an expedition of the 7th Cavalry found gold and, despite some minor
government attempts to prevent an invasion of White miners, over 7000 set-
tlers poured into the area looking to strike it rich, establishing places like
Custer City and Deadwood. The Sioux, simply put, had been invaded. The
Bureau of Indian Affairs demanded that the Indians report to the government
reservation agencies but over 8000 refused. Thus, in June 1876, Custer’s 7th
Cavalry attacked the Sioux but foolishly struck them at a strong point along
the Little Bighorn River, and his forces were destroyed, with every man under
his command and Custer himself killed. “Custer’s last stand,” however, would
be just a setback in the white onslaught against the Sioux. The army
regrouped and attacked with more ferocity and by 1877 the Sioux were forced
out of the Black Hills and onto reservations, and railroad barons, miners,
ranchers, and farmers started to take over the land that the Indians had held.
To the northwest, the Nez Percé met a similar fate. They lived in Oregon,
but white settlers began to move into their areas and use it for farming and
grazing for livestock. In 1855, they signed a treaty with the U.S. government
giving them about 7 million acres in Idaho, but in 1863, after a gold discovery,
were forced to renegotiate and ended up with just a tenth of their original
land. Some Nez Percé, led by Chief Joseph, refused to move onto the smaller
reservation in Idaho. As he lay dying, Chief Joseph’s father had told him “You
must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home.
A few years more and white men will be all around you. They have their eyes
on this land. My son, never forget my dying words. This country holds your
father's body. Never sell the bones of your father and your mother.”
Chief Joseph thus was able to negotiate to remain on native lands in the
Wallowa Valley of Oregon, but in 1877, the government and army decided
that the Nez Percé would have to go, and Chief Joseph, to save his tribe from
slaughter, agreed to leave for Idaho.
In the meantime, to avoid bloodshed, Chief Joseph and about 800 Indians
decided to head for Canada, with 2000 U.S. army soldiers in pursuit. For
three months, the Nez Percé fought and escaped the army as they made their