THE SIOUX NATION

The Sioux are a confederacy of several tribes that speak three different dialects, the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota. The Lakota, known for their hunting and warrior culture, are comprised of seven tribal bands and are the largest and most western of the three groups, occupying lands in both North and South Dakota . The Dakota, or Santee Sioux, live mostly in Minnesota and Nebraska , while the smallest of the three, the Nakota, primarily reside in South Dakota , North Dakota and Montana .

The Sioux have been a proud people with a rich heritage. They were the masters of the North American plains and prairies, feared by other tribes from the great lakes to the Rockies .

Migrating west from Minnesota , the Sioux became nomads of the plains, taking advantage of horses which were originally brought to the Americas by the Spanish in the 1500s. Following the buffalo, they lived in teepees to allow them quick mobility.

Though the Sioux were known as great warriors, the family was considered the center of Sioux life. Children were called “Wakanisha” which meant sacred and were the center of attention. While monogamy was most often practiced, Indian men were allowed to take on more than one wife. However, infidelity was punished by disfigurement.

The roles of men and women were clearly defined with the men expected to provide for and defend the family. Hunting was taken very seriously and infraction of the hunting rules could lead to destruction of a man's teepee or other property. Women were the matriarchs, ruling the family and domestic lives of the band.

The Sioux are traditionally a deeply spiritual people, believing in one all-pervasive god, Wakan Tanka, or the Great Mystery. Religious visions were cultivated and the people communed with the spirit world through music and dance. Rituals of self-sacrifice, by inflicting slashes upon themselves or other self-inflicted wounds, asserted their identity as Indian warriors. This was also practiced by mourners during burial ceremonies.

War and battles were another underlying principle of the Sioux people, because through it, men gained prestige, and their prestige was reflected in the family honor.

THE LAKOTA

This association of seven tribes was known as warriors and buffalo-hunters. Sometimes called the Tetons, meaning “prairie dwellers,” the seven tribes include:

Oglala ("they scatter their own," or "dust scatterers")

Sicangu or Brule ("Burnt Thighs")

Hunkpapa ("end of the circle"),

Miniconjou ("planters beside the stream"),

Sihasapa or Blackfeet (Not to be confused with the separate Blackfeet tribe)

Itazipacola (or Sans Arcs: "without bows")

Oohenupa ("Two Boilings" or "Two Kettle")

This band migrated west from Minnesota after the tribe began to use horses. There were about 20,000 Lakota in the mid 18th century, a number which has increased to about 70,000 today, of which approximately 1/3 still speak their ancestral language.

The Lakota were located in Minnesota when Europeans began to explore and settle the land in the 1600s. Living on small game, deer, and wild rice, they were surrounded by large rival tribes. Conflict with their enemy, the Ojibwa eventually forced the Lakota to move west. By the 1700s, the Lakota had acquired horses and flourished hunting buffalo on the high plains of Wisconsin , Iowa , the Dakotas, and as far north as Canada . The Tetons, the largest of the Lakota tribes dominated the region.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

The historical political organization was based on the participation of individuals and the cooperation of many to sustain the tribe's way of life. Leaders were chosen based upon noble birth and demonstrations of bravery, fortitude, generosity, and wisdom.[1]

Societies

Political leaders were members of the Naca Ominicia society and decided matters of tribal hunts, camp movements, whether to make war or peace with their neighbors, or any other community action.[2] Societies were similar to fraternities; men joined to raise their position in the tribe. Societies were composed of smaller clans and varied in number among the seven divisions.[1] There were two types of societies: Akicita, for the younger men, and Naca, for elders and former leaders.[1]

Akicita societies

Akicita ("warrior") societies existed to train warriors, hunters, and to police the community.[2] There were many smaller Akicita societies, including the Kit-Fox, Strong Heart, Elk, and so on.[2]

Naca societies

Leaders in the Naca societies, per Naca Ominicia, were the tribal elders and leaders, who would elect seven to ten men, depending on the division, each referred to as Wicasa Itancan ("chief man"). Each Wicasa Itancan interpreted and enforced the decisions of the Naca.[2]

The Wicasa Itancan would elect two to four Shirt Wearers who were the voice of the society. They settled quarrels among families and also foreign nations.[1] Shirt Wearers were often young men from families with hereditary claims of leadership. However, men with obscure parents who displayed outstanding leaderships skills and had earned the respect of the community might also be elected. Crazy Horse is an example of a common-born "Shirt Wearer".[1]

A Wakincuza ("Pipe Holder") ranked below the "Shirt Wearers". The Pipe Holders regulated peace ceremonies, selected camp locations, and supervised the Akicita societies during buffalo hunts.[2]

THE ERA OF CONFLICT

As white settlers continued to push west onto Sioux lands and multiple treaties were made and broken, the Sioux retaliated, resulting in several major wars and numerous other battles and skirmishes.

Dakota War of 1862

When 1862 arrived shortly after a failed crop the year before and a winter starvation, the federal payment was late. The local traders would not issue any more credit to the Santee and one trader, Andrew Myrick , went so far as to tell them that they were 'free to eat grass or their own dung'. As a result, on August 17 , 1862 the Dakota War of 1862 began when a few Santee men murdered a white farmer and most of his family, igniting further attacks on white settlements along the Minnesota River .

On November 5 , 1862 in Minnesota, in courts-martial , 303 Santee Sioux were found guilty of rape and murder of hundreds of American settlers and were sentenced to a hanging. No attorneys or witness were allowed as a defense for the accused, and many were convicted in less than five minutes of court time with the judge. [3] President Abraham Lincoln remanded the death sentence of 284 of the warriors, signing off on the execution of 38 Santee men by hanging on December 26 , 1862 in Mankato, Minnesota , the largest mass-execution in US history. [4]

Afterwards, annuities to the Dakota were suspended for four years and the monies were awarded to the white victims. The men who were pardoned by President Lincoln were sent to a prison in Iowa , where more than half died. [3]

Aftermath of Dakota War

During and after the revolt, many Santee and their kin fled Minnesota and Eastern Dakota to Canada , or settled in the James River Valley in a short-lived reservation before being forced to move to Crow Creek Reservation on the east bank of the Missouri . [3] A few joined the Yanktonai and moved further west to join with the Lakota bands to continue their struggle against the United States military. [3]

Others were able to remain in Minnesota and the east, in small reservations existing into the 21st century, including Sisseton-Wahpeton, Flandreau, and Devils Lake ( Spirit Lake or Fort Totten ) Reservations in the Dakotas . Some ended up eventually in Nebraska , where the Santee Sioux Tribe today has a reservation on the south bank of the Missouri . Those who fled to Canada now have descendants residing on eight small Dakota Reserves, four of which are located in Manitoba (Sioux Valley, Long Plain [Dakota Tipi], Birdtail Creek, and Oak Lake [Pipestone]) and the remaining four (Standing Buffalo, Moose Woods [White Cap], Round Plain [Wahpeton], and Wood Mountain) in Saskatchewan.

Red Cloud's War

Red Cloud's War (also referred to as the Bozeman War) was an armed conflict between the Sioux and the United States in the Wyoming Territory and the Montana Territory from 1866 to 1868. The war was fought over control of the Powder River Country in north central Wyoming , which lay along the Bozeman Trail , a primary access route to the Montana gold fields.

The war is named after Red Cloud , a prominent chief of Oglala Sioux who led the war against the United States following encroachment into the area by the U.S. military . The war, which ended with the Treaty of Fort Laramie , resulted in a complete victory for the Sioux and the temporary preservation of their control of the Powder River country. [5]

Among the provisions of the Treaty of Fort Laramie was the granting of permanent possession of the Black Hills The treaty, however, was not honored by the United States; gold prospectors and miners flooded the region in the 1870s.

Black Hills War

Between 1876 and 1877, the Black Hills War took place. The Lakota and their allies fought against the United States military in a series of conflicts. The earliest being the Battle of Powder River , and the final battle being at Wolf Mountain . Included are the Battle of the Rosebud , Battle of the Little Bighorn , Battle of Warbonnet Creek , Battle of Slim Buttes , Battle of Cedar Creek , and the Dull Knife Fight .

Wounded Knee Massacre

The Battle at Wounded Knee Creek was the last major armed conflict between the Lakota and the United States , subsequently described as a " massacre " by General Nelson A. Miles in a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. [6]

On December 29 , 1890 , five hundred troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry , supported by four Hotchkiss guns (a lightweight artillery piece capable of rapid fire), surrounded an encampment of the Lakota bands of the Miniconjou and Hunkpapa [7] with orders to escort them to the railroad for transport to Omaha, Nebraska .

By the time it was over, 25 troopers and more than 150 Lakota Sioux lay dead, including men, women, and children. The actual number of those who died is under dispute, some accounts stating twice that number. Some of the soldiers are believed to have been the victims of "friendly fire" as the shooting took place at point blank range in chaotic conditions. [8]

Around 150 Lakota are believed to have fled the chaos, many of whom may have died from hypothermia .

TODAY

Whether we are inside the Lakota Nation, or seeking to understand it from the outside, it's imperative to know the history of the Lakota people. We must appreciate the undaunted courage, the enduring spirit of survival, and the happy spirit of laughter among the Lakota. We must also appreciate the depth and breadth of challenges this people faces. Injustice has been a crippling force – both the generations of wrongs done to the Lakota by non-native people and power structures, as well as injustice from within some Native power structures. Generational poverty (in whatever culture it is found) becomes a self-generating force for failure if not properly understood and addressed. Substance and sexual abuse also present formidable barriers to taking the initiative for a better life.

But the Lakota people are here, still proud, still strong, still surviving, in the face of inestimable difficulties. And the victory of a better life will come.

Life Initiatives, Inc exists as a partnership between Native and Non-Native people to address these challenges with confidence and realism. Few people have the fortitude to simply “will” themselves past these barriers to a better life, but with the support of one another, with spiritual strength, and with a clear strategy, we can take the initiative for a better life.

 

[1] Hassrick, Royal B.; Dorothy Maxwell, Cile M. Bach (1964). The Sioux: Life and Customs of a Warrior Society . University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-0607-7 .  

[2] Mails, Thomas E. (1973). Dog Soldiers, Bear Men, and Buffalo Women: A Study of the Societies and Cults of the Plains Indians . Prentice-Hall, Inc.. ISBN 013-217216-X .  

[3] Time-Life Books (1994). War for the Plains . Time-Life Books. ISBN 0-8094-9445-0 .  

[4] Mark, Steil; Tim Post. " m/part5.shtml Execution and expulsion ", Minnesota Public Radio , 2002 - 09-26 . Retrieved on 2007 - 05-08 .  

[5] Brown, Dee (1970). Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee , ch. 6 . Bantam Books. ISBN 0-5531-1979-6 .  

[6] Letter: General Nelson A. Miles to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs , March 13, 1917.

[7] Liggett, Lorie (1998). Wounded Knee Massacre - An Introduction . Bowling Green State University . Retrieved on 2007 - 03-02 .

[8] Strom, Karen (1995). The Massacre at Wounded Knee . Karen Strom.