Indian Wars 439policy would probably have been best for the Indians.
Had they been guaranteed a reasonable amount of
land and adequate subsidies and allowed to maintain
their way of life, they might have accepted the situa-
tion and ceased to harass the whites.
Whatever chance that policy had was weakened
by the government’s poor administration of Indian
affairs. In dealing with Indians, nineteenth-century
Americans displayed a grave insensitivity. After 1849
the Department of the Interior supposedly had
charge of tribal affairs. Most of its agents systemati-
cally cheated the Indians. One, heavily involved in
mining operations on the side, diverted goods
intended for his charges to his private ventures. When
an inspector looked into his records, he sold him
shares in a mine. That worthy in turn protected him-
self by sharing some of the loot with the son of the
commissioner of Indian affairs. Army officers squab-
bled frequently with Indian agents over policy, and an
“Indian Ring” in the Department of the Interior sys-
tem typically stole funds and supplies intended for the
reservation Indians. “No branch of the national gov-
ernment is so spotted with fraud, so tainted with cor-
ruption... as this Indian Bureau,” Congressman
Garfield charged in 1869.
At about this time a Yale paleontologist, Othniel C.
Marsh, who wished to dig for fossils on the Sioux
reservation, asked Red Cloud for permission to enter
his domain. The chief agreed on condition that
Marsh, whom the Indians called Big Bone Chief, takeGulf of
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PACIFIC LOUISIANAARKANSASMISS.KANSASNEBRASKAMISSOURIIOWAILLINOISWISCONSINMINNESOTATEXASSOUTH DAKOTANORTH DAKOTANEW MEXICO
TERRITORYINDIAN TERR.MONTANAWYOMINGCOLORADOARIZONA
TERRITORYUTAH
TERRITORYNEVADAOREGONWASHINGTONCALIFORNIAIDAHODenver
Kansas
City
TopekaOmahaAlbuquerqueEl PasoKUTENAIBLACKFOOT
ASSINIBOINEARAPAHO TETONEASTERN APACHECHEYENNECOMANCHEKIOWAPAWNEEKANSAWICHIYELAOJIBWACADDOTONKAWAWICHITAATAKAPASANTEEIOWAOTOOSAGEFLATHEADCOLUMBIA
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KALAPUYAPAVIOTSOMAIDUMONOPAIUTEPANAMINTGOSIUTESHOSHONEBANNOCKGROS VENTRECROWCROWWIND RIVERUTENAVAJOWESTERN APACHEModoc War 1872-1873Clearwater
1877Big Hole 1877Fetterman's
Defeat 1868Rosebud1876Bear Paw Mountain
1877Little Big Horn 1876Hole-in-the-
Wall 1876
Pick of Rocks
1874Big Hole 1877Yellowstone
1873Kildee
Mountain
1864Slim Buttes
1876Stoney Lake
1863Dead Buffalo’s
Lake 1863Big Mound
1863White
Stone
Hills
1863Mud Springs 1865Sand Creek 1864Skeleton Canyon
(Geronimo Surrenders)
1866Crooked Creek
1864Red River War
1874–1875Rush Creek
1865
Ash Hollow 1855Wounded
Knee 1890Major Tribes
Indian removals before 1860
Western railroads
constructed 1869–1897
Indian battles with dates
(west of Mississippi)MEXICOCANADAIndian Wars, 1860–1890The frequent battles, involving nearly all tribes, show that the Indians did not cede their lands: The lands were taken in battle.