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Great American Indian Chief. He won both his war and the peace settlement -- the treaty which he signed on November 6, 1868. Red Cloud continued to lead the Oglallas, although the compromises he made over reservation control and land cessions lost him the support of many former followers. Fascinated by cameras, he posed often, and was probably the most photographed Indian of his time. He headed the Red Cloud Agency at Fort Robinson for several years, and then established the Sioux agency at its present Pine Ridge location. Red Cloud died December 10, 1909.
Born in 1822, Red Cloud forced his way to leadership of the Oglalla Sioux by the time he was forty. The Oglallas with their Cheyenne allies dominated the rich hunting grounds of the Powder River country of Wyoming and Montana. During the Civil War, to provide access to the Montana gold fields, John Bozeman mapped a trail straight through the heart of Oglalla country. Red Cloud strongly opposed the route, and in hopes of stopping use of it peaceably he attended a council at Fort Laramie in June 1866. There he discovered a column of soldiers en route up the Bozeman Trail to build three forts for protection of travelers to the gold fields. Red Cloud immediately left the council, and gathered two thousand warriors to continually harass the forts. On December 21, 1866, the Indians set an ambush that annihilated Captain W.J. Fetterman and his eighty men. Red Cloud kept a relentless pressure upon the three forts until he succeeded in forcing their abandonment. He won both his war and the peace settlement -- the treaty which he signed on November 6, 1868. Red Cloud continued to lead the Oglallas, although the compromises he made over reservation control and land cessions lost him the support of many former followers. Fascinated by cameras, he posed often, and was probably the most photographed Indian of his time. He headed the Red Cloud Agency at Fort Robinson for several years, and then established the Sioux agency at its present Pine Ridge location. Red Cloud died December 10, 1909.
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