Chronology of American Indian History

October

Sitting Bull’s followers escape to Canada.
Wanting to escape warfare but unwilling to be con-
fined to a reservation, Sitting Bull and his followers
set off for Canada. Although free from the threat of
massacre by the U.S. Army, they find it difficult to
replicate their traditional ways because there are too
few buffaloes in the area. On the brink of starva-
tion, the Canadian exile of Sitting Bull’s people will
end four and a half years later with their reluctant
return to the United States (see entry for JULY 19,
1881).

November 25

Soldiers destroy Dull Knife’s camp.
Eleven hundred troops led by Colonel Ranald
Mackenzie attack Cheyenne leader Dull Knife’s
camp of 183 lodges along the Powder River, in pres-
ent-day Wyoming. During the surprise assault, 40
Cheyenne are killed. The others watch helplessly as
Mackenzie’s soldiers set their camp and possessions
ablaze. With the Indians’ defeat, more than 1,000
Cheyenne are left without food or shelter in the
dead of winter. The night after the attack, 11 infants
freeze to death when temperatures fall to 30 below
zero. (See also entry for SEPTEMBER 9, 1877.)

1877

The United States takes control of the
Black Hills.
Eager to gain possession of the Black Hills (see entry
for SUMMER 1874), Congress enacts the Black Hills
Act, which amends the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
By the terms of the original treaty, any amendment
must be approved by three-fourths of the Lakota
Sioux male population (see entry for NOVEMBER 7,
1868). A commission is sent to the Great Sioux Res-
ervation to obtain the necessary signatures, but the
number collected falls far short of this requirement.
Through the Black Hills Act, therefore, the United
States essentially confiscates 7.7 million acres legally

held by the Lakota. The act offers the Indians no

compensation for this gold-rich land.

Congress passes the Desert Land Act.

To encourage whites to settle in western desert lands,

the Desert Land Act allows settlers to buy up to 640

acres of land for $1.25 per acre if they agree to irrigate

the land within three years. The law will accelerate

white settlement in Indian lands in the Southwest.

January 1 to 8

Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux forces fight the

Battle of Wolf Mountains.

The Battle of Wolf Mountains is the last major con-

flict in the U.S. Army’s war with the Cheyenne and

Lakota Sioux (see entry for JANUARY 31, 1876). A

series of skirmishes ends with a five-hour battle on

January 8, during which soldiers under the com-

mand of Nelson A. Miles drive Indians led by Crazy

Horse out of their camp in the Wolf Mountains.

Their supplies depleted, Miles’s exhausted men do

not pursue the Indians, who also are suffering from

fatigue and lack of food.

May 3

U.S. officials and Nez Perce leaders meet

in council.

In 1863, the United States negotiated with Nez

Perce leaders a treaty that reduced the tribe’s reser-

vation. Several tribal chiefs, including Old Joseph,

refused to recognize the treaty. Their followers be-

came known as “non-treaty” Nez Perce.

To convince the non-treaty Nez Perce to relo-

cate to the reduced reservation, the U.S. government

sends a commission headed by General Oliver O.

Howard to meet with their leaders, including Chief

Joseph (Heinmot Tooyalaket)—the son of Old Jo-

seph (The Kakas), who became the leader of the elder

chief ’s band after his death in 1871. As talks with

Howard grow heated, Chief Joseph, hoping to avoid

warfare, hesitantly agrees to move the non-treaty Nez

Perce to the tribe’s reservation by June 14. (See also

entry for JUNE 15, 1877.)