Red Cloud
Born c. September 20, 1822
Nebraska
Died December 10, 1909
Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota
Native American (Lakota) tribal leader and warrior
"I was born a Lakota and I have lived a Lakota and I shall die a Lakota. Before the white man came to our country, the Lakotas were a free people.… The white men made the laws to suit themselves and they compel us to obey them."
Red Cloud was leader of the most successful war involving Native Americans and the United States. His success is not measured in the number of people killed or the amount of territory taken. Instead, Red Cloud is credited for stopping, at least for a few years, the loss of land and way of life of his tribe. From 1866 until the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, Red Cloud and his warriors frustrated U.S. government attempts to build a road for miners and settlers that led across Lakota (Sioux) lands and into Montana. The treaty led U.S. troops to abandon three forts built to protect the road, and Sioux sovereignty (authority) over the territory was recognized. The treaty was compromised by the early 1870s, as Red Cloud lobbied in vain to have the agreement honored by the United States.
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