The Lakotas

Presently known as the Lakota people—often spelled Lahkota or more phonetically, lak^hóta—Lewis and Clark most often called them Tetons. Teton is an English borrowing from T^hít^huwa which despite numerous interpretations from historians and writers, has no definite meaning. Teton peoples are often referred to by the name of their band. There were three main groups, the Oglala, Brule, and Saone, and the latter group was divided into the Minneconjou, Hunkpapa, Sans Arc, Two Kettles, and Blackfoot—not to be confused with the Algonquian-speaking Blackfoot. Collectively, they are often called the seven bands of the Lakota Nation. At the time of the expedition, the bands typically lived separately, hunted freely within each other’s territory, and came together for community events. There was no evidence, however, of a centralized Lakota government.^[1]Raymond J. DeMallie, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13 (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001), 794.

An informative name for the Teton is the Plains Sign Language gesture for the Sioux in general, a motion denoting cut throats and head decapitations.^[2]Douglas R. Parks, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13, 749–751, 755. Also clear is the captains’ belief that the Teton Sioux threatened American trade in the upper Missouri:

These are the vilest miscreants of the savage race, and must ever remain the pirates of the Missouri, until such measures are pursued, by our government, as will make them feel a dependence on its will for their supply of merchandise. Unless these people are reduced to order, by coercive measures, I am ready to pronounce that the citizens of the United States can never enjoy but partially the advantages which the Missouri presents.^[3]Moulton, Journals, 3:418

The Tetons were relatively new to the Missouri, and also relatively new to world of trade. Siouan-speaking peoples—possibly part of the Mound Builder culture during their prehistory—were recorded by early French explorers and missionaries as generally moving westward from Lake Michigan to lands between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Only after the smallpox epidemics of the late 18th century decimated the Arikaras, Mandans, and Hidatsas, did the Teton Sioux move into lands west of the Missouri. Immediately following the expedition, the Arikaras—not the Teton Sioux—became the gatekeepers of the American trade in the upper Missouri. The Tetons’ battles with America would come in the second half of the 19th century.

Encounters

That the expedition experienced Lakota Sioux Difficulties in late September 1804 is one of the more commonly related experiences of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Two Sioux attacks, perhaps the Teton, occurred during the winter at Fort Mandan. Wanting to protect their hosts, the Mandans and Hidatsas, the captains ordered a military response. That show of force did not result in actual skirmishes. A third encounter was an attack on a hunting party. Joseph Whitehouse, on 14 February 1805, records that the hunters’ horses and weapons were taken by marauding Sioux. After a gift of cornbread, one of the horses was given back, and the party was able to safely return to the Knife River Villages.

On the 1806 return home, the captains went out of their way to avoid the Teton Sioux. After leaving the Arikara, the captains took evasive actions at the first sign of any nearby Indians. After a couple of false alarms, they finally met some Teton Sioux on 30 August 1806 who beckoned the captains to meet with them. The captains refused, essentially told the men off, and received a rude gesture in return. If anyone else offered insults or gestures during the encounter, they were omitted from the written record.

Treaties and Wars

The Treaty of 1851, for the first time, established boundaries for the Teton Sioux and other participating bands. Annuities for over half a century were promised in return for the right to build roads and military posts on Sioux lands. Thereafter, conflicts due to cultural and political misunderstandings between Oregon Trail emigrants, overzealous U.S. Army commanders, and treaty signers led to raids, massacres, and wars.^[4]DeMallie, 795.

To protect Powder River lands, Oglala Red Cloud led a series of successful battles against the U.S. Army. Red Cloud’s War precipitated the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie that established the Great Sioux Reservation—including the Black Hills—for the Oglala, Miniconjou, Brulé, Yanktonai, and Arapaho signers. Hunkpapa Sitting Bull refused to sign and would become a symbol of native resistance and independence.^[5]“Red Cloud’s War,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cloud%27s_War accessed on 30 January 2021.

In 1874, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led the Black Hills Expedition to locate a site for a military post. The fact that Custer also found gold leaked to the public, and the Army was unable to stop prospectors from trespassing on Sioux lands. In May 1875, Sioux delegations including Brulé Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, and Minneconjou Lone Horn tried to persuade U.S. President Grant to honor the former treaties and keep the miners out. That fall, one meeting between government and Sioux representatives was held and the diplomatic solution was essentially abandoned.^[6]DeMallie, 797.

Of the Lakota people’s struggles and conflicts between 1850 and 1890, much has been written. Many Lakota leaders became icons of independence, resistance, military leadership, bravery, and spirituality. Sitting Bull, whose Sun Dance vision prophesized of the defeat of Custer, was killed by Army soldiers with questionable motives as he was being arrested at Standing Rock at the end of 1890. Just two weeks later, on 29 December, nearly three hundred Lakota people would be killed at the Battle of Wounded Knee, also known as the Wounded Knee Massacre. After fighting with Crazy Horse at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and surviving the Wounded Knee Massacre, Oglala medicine man Black Elk worked with ethnologists to document his life and Oglala spiritual practices, notably in two books, The Sacred Pipe and Black Elk Speaks. His books have inspired both native and non-native peoples for generations.^[7]DeMallie, 797; “Black Elk,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Elk and “Sitting Bull,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull both accessed 30 January 2021.

Today, one half of enrolled Teton Sioux reside among several reservations each with a separate government.^[8]“Lakota People,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_people, accessed 21 January 2021. These include:

• Rosebud Indian Reservation: “home of the federally recognized Sicangu Oyate (the Upper Brulé Sioux Nation) also known as Sicangu Lakota, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe”^[9]“Rosebud Indian Reservation,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosebud_Indian_Reservation, accessed 30 January 2021.
• Lower Brulé Indian Reservation^[10]“Lower Brulé Indian Reservation,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Brule_Indian_Reservation, accessed 30 January 2021.
• Pine Ridge Indian Reservation: home of the federally recognized Oglala Sioux Tribe^[11]“Oglala,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oglala, accessed 30 January 2021.
• Standing Rock: Home to several Sioux subgroups including the Hunkpapa^[12]“Standing Rock Indian Reservation,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Rock_Indian_Reservation, accessed 30 January 2021.
• Cheyenne River Indian Reservation: “home of the federally recognized Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe or Cheyenne River Lakota Nation (Oyate).” It also includes Miniconjou, Sans Arc, Blackfoot, and Two Kettles.^[13]“Cheyenne River Indian Reservation,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_River_Indian_Reservation, accessed 30 January 2021.
• Fort Berthold
• Various others in the United States and Canada

For Further Reading

• Pekka Hämäläinen, Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019)
• Stephen E. Ambrose, Crazy Horse and Custer (New York: Anchor Books, 1996)
• Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1971)
• John S. Gray, Centennial Campaign: The Sioux War of 1876 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988).
• Donald Jackson, Custer’s Gold: The United States Cavalry Expedition of 1874 (New Haven, 1966).
• John G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks (Norman: Bison Books, 1961).