Chronology of American Indian History

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January 23

U.S. troops massacre a Piegan village.
Two squadrons of the Second Cavalry led by Major
Eugene Baker attack a village of Piegan Indians (a
subtribe of the Blackfeet) in what is now north-
ern Montana to punish the Indians for past raids.
Baker follows the orders of his superior General
Philip H. Sheridan to “strike them hard.” His men
slaughter 173 Piegan, including 50 women and
children, and take another 140 prisoner. The pub-
lic denounces the massacre and pressures Congress
to defeat a bill that would transfer the Bureau of
Indian Affairs back to the Department of War (see
entry for MARCH 3, 1849).

April to June

Red Cloud visits Washington, D.C., and
New York City.
With the support of reformers from the East, Red
Cloud, the Lakota Sioux leader, known for his war
on army forts along the Bozeman Trail (see entry for
JULY 1866), lobbies to meet with President Ulysses
S. Grant to discuss the United States’s insistence that
the Lakota move to the Great Sioux Reservation.
The federal government agrees to send him and a
delegation of 20 followers to Washington, D.C., to
negotiate with President Grant and other officials.
The talks between the two parties quickly be-
come heated. After a brief visit with the president,
Red Cloud meets with the secretary of the inte-
rior, who reads the text of the 1868 Treaty of Fort
Laramie signed by Red Cloud (see entry for NO-
VEMBER 7, 1868) in order to remind the chief of
his promise to relocate to a reservation. He angrily
counters, “This is the first time I have heard of such
a treaty,” and declares he will not obey its terms.
When offered a copy of the document, he refuses it,
claiming, “It is all lies.”
After leaving Washington, D.C., Red Cloud
travels to New York City, at the invitation of
reformers sympathetic to his anger at the govern-
ment. There he gives an impassioned address at
Cooper Union, in which he outlines his people’s long

history of mistreatment. In the speech, Red Cloud

asks for his audience’s help in obtaining justice.

“In 1868 men came to our land

and brought papers. We could not

read them, and they did not tell us

truly what was in them.... When

I reached Washington the Great

Father [the president] explained

to me what the treaty was, and

showed me that the interpret-

ers had deceived me. All I want

is right and justice. I have tried to

get from the Great Father what

is right and just. I have not alto-

gether succeeded.”

—Lakota chief Red Cloud in a

speech at New York City’s Coo-

per Union

June 23

Canada passes the Manitoba Act to placate

rebelling Métis.

In response to the First Northwest Rebellion (see

entry for NOVEMBER 2, 1869), the Canadian par-

liament agrees to several Métis demands in the

Manitoba Act. Among its provisions is a land grant

of 1.4 million acres for the Métis, which is to be di-

vided into plots and allotted to individuals. Although

the act is passed into law, this plan will never be im-

plemented. (See also entry for AUGUST 24, 1870.)

August 24

Troops put down the First Northwest

Rebellion.

Alarmed by the Red River Métis’s declaration of inde-

pendence from Canada (see entry for NOVEMBER 2,

1869), the Canadian government sends more than