Plains, they are imprisoned thousands of miles from
their homelands to keep them from further influ-
encing other members of their tribes.
During their three years in prison, the Fort
Marion inmates are overseen by Richard Pratt,
a former army officer. Sympathetic to the Indi-
ans’ plight, he teaches his charges English and
educates them about non-Indian customs. Pratt
also gives the Indians pencils and paper to draw
pictures, which he sells to non-Indian tourists to
raise funds for his school. Using simple lines and
figures reminiscent of hide paintings, the inmates,
such as Howling Wolf and Zotom, use their pic-
tures to tell the story of their imprisonment and
to record their memories of living as hunters and
fighters on the Plains. (See also entry for MAY 3,
1875.)
December
The commissioner of Indian affairs orders
Plains Indians to settle on reservations.
The commissioner of Indian affairs announces that
any Indians on the northern plains who do not
report to their reservation agencies by January 31,
1876, will be considered “hostiles” at war with the
United States. The declaration helps justify a mili-
tary solution to the problem presented by Americans
clamoring for access to lands and goldfields in the
Black Hills (see entry for SUMMER 1874), an area
assigned to the Lakota Sioux by the 1868 Treaty of
Fort Laramie.
1876The U.S. Army leaves the Black Hills region.
Under pressure from white citizens, President
Ulysses S. Grant pulls the army out of the Black
Hills (see entry for SUMMER 1874). The retreat
shows that the government has no intention of pro-
tecting the area on behalf of the Lakota, despite the
1868 treaty promise that only officials authorized
by the Indians would be “permitted to pass over,
settle upon, or reside in the territory.” Immediately
after the military leaves the Black Hills, the region
is flooded by whites looking to take over the gold-
rich lands.The U.S. government attempts to
concentrate the Apache on the San
Carlos Reservation.
To open more land for whites, the United States
announces plans to consolidate all Apache on the
San Carlos Reservation, along the Gila River in
present-day Arizona. San Carlos offers little to the
Indians. The land is barren, and the area is a hotbed
for malaria. Despite the terrible living conditions at
San Carlos, most Apache agree to resettle there. The
exceptions are about half of the Chiricahua, who
escape to Mexico, and most of the Warm Springs
Apache, who find refuge in the mountains.United States v. Joseph gives individual
Pueblo the right to sell land.
In the United States v. Joseph, the federal government
attempts to prevent Pueblo individuals from selling
lands without its consent. Because the Pueblo were
given property rights by the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo (see entry for FEBRUARY 2, 1848), the Su-
preme Court finds against the government, holding
that the Pueblo should have the same rights as U.S.
citizens to sell their land. Its ruling also cites that the
Pueblo are unique among Indians because of their
settled way of life, implying that they are superior
to other Indian groups and hence deserve a greater
amount of autonomy over their economic affairs.
The Court will overturn this decision in United
States v. Sandoval (see entry for 1913).White hunters’ slaughter of the northern
Plains buffalo begins.
After having killed most of the buffalo of the south-
ern Plains (see entry for 1875), professional hunters
turn to the smaller herds to the north, which the
Northern Pacific Railway has made accessible. Dur-
ing the early 1880s, more than 5,000 white hunters
and skinners will come to the region. By 1883, they
will have killed so many animals that the northern
herds will have largely disappeared.