Leaders of their Tribe

Chief Two Moon
Cheyenne

The Cheyenne were old allies of the Sioux and in the early summer of 1876 Chief Two Moon caped at Charcoal Butte alongside Crazy Horse's Sioux. Below them camped on the Missouri River was Sitting Bull. This huge gathering of warriors alter moved to the edge of the Little Big Horn River and attacked the 7th US cavalry under General Custer.

American Horse
Oglala Sioux

In the summer of 1876 a US Army cavalry detachment under Captain Anson Mills discovered American Horse's village which was preparing to move south for the winter. Capt Mills attacked but was driven back. During his wait for reinforcements, under General Crook, the majority of the a few warriors remained and fought but eventually surrendered. American Horse was badly wounded and shortly afterwards died.

Red Cloud 1820-1909
Oglala Sioux

Chief of the Oglala Sioux, the largest band of the Dakota, Red Cloud rose quickly from a young warrior to Chief with 80 coups to his credit. Red Cloud was a great statesman and orator. In 1860 the US Government began building a road from Fort Laramie in Wyoming towards Montana in order to transport gold. Red Cloud advised the Government that this road would spoil the Sioux hunting grounds. The road was abandoned, after a bitter struggle, in 1866. After such a victory Red Cloud never fought again and died an old man in 1909.

Chief Joseph
Nez Perce

His Indian name-'Hinmaton-Yalakit' means 'Thunder coming from water over the land'. After suffering a defeat at the hands of the US Army at White Bird Canyon, Chief Joseph led his tribe towards Canada moving over 2,000 miles under continual harassment from the army. With only a day's journey left he was forced to surrender at the Bear Paw mountains in Montana. Chief Joseph and his tribe were placed on the Colville Reservation in Washington State where he died of old age in 1904.

Kicking Bear
Sioux

In 1889 the Sioux began the practice of 'Ghost Dance' which had spread from the Paiute tribe in Nevada. In performing this dance the Sioux thought that they would see the return of their dead warriors and the buffalo. Kicking Bear was an advocate of this dance. By wearing only Ghost dance shirts the wearer would, it was thought, be invulnerable to the white man's bullets. On December 29th 1890 at Wounded Knee 350 Native Americans died and this ended the long struggle for the proud people of the North American Plains.