Sicangu

Yet this event ushered in a new period for their race.

The surveyors of the Union Pacific were laying out the proposed road through the heart of the Southern Buffalo country, the rendezvous of Ogalalas, Brules, Arapahos, Comanches, and Pawnees, who followed the buffalo as a means of livelihood.

To be sure, most of these tribes were at war with one another, yet during the summer months, they met often to proclaim a truce and hold joint councils and festivities, which were now largely turned into discussions of the common enemy.

It became evident, however, that some of the smaller and weaker tribes were inclined to welcome the new order of things, recognizing that it was the policy of the government to put an end to tribal warfare.

When a council was held, and the other young men stood at a distance with their robes over their faces so as to avoid recognition, Spotted Tail always put himself in a position to hear all that was said on either side and weighed all the arguments in his mind.

When he first went on the warpath, it appears that he was, if anything, overzealous to establish himself in the eye of his people.

And as a matter of fact, it was especially hard for him to gain an assured position among the Brules with whom he lived, both because he was an orphan and because his father had been of another band.

Yet it was not long before he had achieved his ambition, though in doing so he received several ugly wounds.

Yet this event ushered in a new period for their race.

The surveyors of the Union Pacific were laying out the proposed road through the heart of the southern Buffalo country, the rendezvous of Ogalalas, Brules, Arapahos, Comanches, and Pawnees, who followed the Buffalo as a means of livelihood.

To be sure, most of these tribes were at war with one another, yet during the summer months, they met often to proclaim a truce and hold joint councils and festivities, which were now largely turned into discussions of the common enemy.

It became evident, however, that some of the smaller and weaker tribes were inclined to welcome the new order of things, recognizing that it was the policy of the government to put an end to tribal warfare.

When a council was held, and the other young men stood at a distance with their robes over their faces so as to avoid recognition, Spotted Tail always put himself in a position to hear all that was said on either side, and weighed all the arguments in his mind.

When he first went on the warpath, it appears that he was, if anything, overzealous to establish himself in the eye of his people.

And as a matter of fact, it was especially hard for him to gain an assured position among the Brules with whom he lived, both because he was an orphan and because his father had been of another band.

Yet it was not long before he had achieved his ambition, though in doing so he received several ugly wounds.

Uh, my name is Nick Estes.

I am an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

I'm also co-host of the Red Nation podcast.

I have a Red Scare podcast/Substack where I write.

End of Part 1 Part 2 Custer's Last Battle of Custer Battlefield by Robert M. Utley This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Section 2A Road to Little Bighorn Recipe for Disaster Road to the Little Bighorn The Indians who wiped out Custer were Teton Sioux and Northern Cheyennes.

Seven separate tribes made up the Teton Sioux, Unkpapa, Blackfoot, Oglala, Brule, Tukelo, Sanzark, and Miniconju.

Once they had lived around the headwaters of the Mississippi River, but pressed by Chippewas armed with muskets obtained from white traders, they retreated in the late 18th century westward to the Missouri River and beyond.

In turn, they pushed aside weaker tribes and finally overspread the plains cut by the valleys of the Yellowstone River and its major tributaries, the Powder, Tongue, and Bighorn.

Most of the Tetons, some 15,000, succumbed to the lure of free rations and went to the reservation.

Even Red Cloud, after exasperating government officials with shifting demands, finally gave in.

But neither he nor his equally powerful rival, Spotted Tail, chief of the Brules, wanted an agency on the Missouri.

The Indian Bureau at last agreed to locations far up the White River across the reservation boundary in Nebraska and established Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies.