Chronology of American Indian History

The eastern press reports the murders as an
outrage, but local whites largely support the kill-
ers. In the aftermath, only one of the vigilantes is
brought to trial; he is found not guilty by a jury of
whites after 19 minutes of deliberation.

May

The Kiowa raid a Texas wagon train in the
Salt Creek Massacre.
Although the Kiowa have settled on the reservation
laid out for them by the Treaty of Medicine Lodge
Creek (see entry for OCTOBER 21 TO 28, 1867),
they display open contempt for their Quaker agent
and refuse to stop attacking whites in Texas. On
one such raid, Kiowa leader Satanta and 100 war-
riors fall on a train of 10 wagons traveling through
the Salt Creek Prairie. The Indians kill seven men
and mutilate their corpses before riding off with 41
mules.
News of the massacre quickly spreads to Gen-
eral in Chief William Tecumseh Sherman, who is
visiting Texas to investigate Kiowa raids there. At
Fort Sill on the Kiowa reservation, Sherman con-
fronts the Kiowa’s leaders, including Satanta, who
boasts of his participation in the raid. As Sherman
orders his arrest, Satanta reaches for his revolver but
stops when he realizes the building they are in is sur-
rounded by troops. Satanta and two other Kiowa,
Satank and Big Tree, are arrested and transported
to Texas. Satank is killed in an escape attempt,
while Satanta and Big Tree are tried, found guilty
of murder, and sentenced to hang. Due to Quaker
lobbying, the Indians are later pardoned.

May 1

The decision in the Cherokee Tobacco Case
erodes tribal sovereignty.
In Boudinot v. United States, Cherokee businessmen
Elias Cornelius Boudinot and Stand Watie bring
suit against the United States for imposing a tax on
tobacco produced in their factory in the Cherokee
Nation. The tax, instituted in 1868, was levied on
all tobacco and liquor products sold within U.S.

borders. The Cherokees claim, however, the tax

cannot legally be applied to them because it violates

an 1866 treaty that guaranteed tribe members the

right to sell any product without having to pay tax

to the federal government.

The Supreme Court finds that because the

1868 tax law and the 1866 treaty contradict one an-

other only the one made last is legally enforceable.

This “last-in-time” rule is devastating to Indian

tribes. It allows Congress to create new laws that

completely override treaty promises. It also erodes

tribal sovereignty by establishing that general laws

can be applied to sovereign Indian nations if these

nations are not explicitly excluded.

October

Creek traditionalists join the Sands

Rebellion.

Accompanied by 300 armed men, Sands, a leader of

the traditionalist faction of the Creek tribe, storms

the annual meeting of the Creek National Council.

Sands and his followers oppose the new Creek con-

stitution and government, which was founded after

the tribe made peace with the United States at the

end of the Civil War (see entry for JULY 14, 1865).

Samuel Checote, principal chief of the Creek, sends

in the tribal militia, which quickly quells the Sands

Rebellion. The anger of the traditionalists, however,

will continue to drive a wedge into Creek politics

for many years to come.

1872

October 1 to 11

Apache leader Cochise and General Oliver

O. Howard meet.

Frontiersman Thomas Jeffords agrees to take peace

commissioner and general Oliver O. Howard into

the Dragoon Mountains, where Jefford’s friend Co-

chise, the Chiricahua Apache war leader (see entries

for FEBRUARY 4, 1861, and for JULY 15, 1862), and

his followers are hiding out. For nearly two weeks,