A Century of Dishonor: A Sketch of the United States Government's Dealings with Some of the Indian Tribes

From their first encounter with Europeans through the middle of the 19th century, thousands of Sioux have lived and hunted on lands in present-day Minnesota. Their first experience with US government duplicity comes in 1830, when they cede lands in exchange for supplies and money, a portion of which never comes. The same thing happens in 1837, when chiefs from the Medawakanton band of Sioux cede all their lands east of the Mississippi River but do not receive the $18,000 money and supplies they are promised. In 1851, the Medawakanton and Wahpacoota Sioux cede 35 million acres west of the Mississippi River in exchange for a paltry sum (effectively $575,000) and the promise of a reservation that would protect them from onrushing settlements, but three years pass before the US government guarantees this reservation as a permanent home, a delay that prevents the Sioux from making permanent improvements on the land.

A period of unrest follows. Massacres carried out by a “strolling outcast band of Sioux, not more than fifteen in number” (159) terrify Minnesotans in the summer of 1857. Friendly Sioux help track down and punish the murderers, but the region remains on edge. Beginning in August 1862, hostile bands of Dakota Sioux slaughter hundreds of Minnesotans. In the midst of the Civil War, the US government sends troops to Minnesota, and open warfare ensues. US troops prevail, and some Dakota Sioux flee northward. Most, however, surrender and are subsequently tried by a military court. Hundreds are imprisoned, but 38 are publicly executed. Friendly Sioux also suffer: After the war all Sioux are treated as guilty and forcibly expelled from the state.

Sioux’ internal divisions intensify. Some argue for peace and even assimilation. Chief Red Cloud, for instance, visits US government officials in 1869 and comes away convinced of their good intentions. In 1870, some Santee Sioux break away from the tribe and declare their intention to become US citizens. Elsewhere, however, “some thousand or more” (176) Sioux refuse to settle on the reservation or to assimilate, instead following Chief Sitting Bull to unite with other tribes in resistance to further US expansion. The 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn is part of this broader war. After these Sitting Bull’s Sioux are defeated, Sioux that were friendly to white settlers, including Red Cloud’s band, again suffer removal.

The Poncas occupy a comparatively small tract of land along the Missouri River. An 1829 survey estimates their population at 600. They count the Sioux among their more powerful enemies. Prior to the 1850s, official government reports rarely mention the Poncas. After 1850, reports tell a familiar story: treaties delayed, funds missing, and grievances unheard. In 1863, in the aftermath of the Minnesota Sioux War (see Chapter 5), soldiers from Company B of the 7th Iowa Cavalry murder a group of Poncas, including three women and one child, but are never brought to justice. Afterward, surviving Poncas do the best they can amidst flood, drought, locusts, and broken government promises.

The bulk of Chapter 6 tells the story of the Poncas’ forced removal in 1877 from their home in Dakota Territory to a new reservation in Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. Here Jackson relies on lengthy extracts from two major sources: the recollections of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, and the published journal of E.A. Howard, agent for the Department of the Interior who oversaw the removal. In 1876, US government agents order Chief Standing Bear and several other chiefs to accompany them to Indian Territory to see if the land there suits them and, if it does not, to proceed to Washington, DC, to discuss the location of a new home with US President Ulysses S. Grant. When they arrive in Indian Territory, however, a US government inspector tells the Ponca chiefs that they have no choice but to relocate—the promised journey to Washington, DC, was a ruse. The Poncas, including Standing Bear and his family, make the forced march to Indian Territory. After 158 of his people perish, Standing Bear and 30 Poncas flee for their former home in Dakota Territory. They are pursued, seized, and imprisoned. Their case comes to the attention of some good people in Omaha, Nebraska, and the Poncas win their freedom in a court of law. Standing Bear travels east and tells his story, raises funds for his people, and even wins the support of several congressmen.  

E.A. Howard’s journal, published in part to refute Standing Bear’s story, in fact corroborates most of it. The Department of the Interior insists that the Poncas consented to move to Indian Territory, but the Howard journal shows that what the US government calls this consent is actually capitulate in the face of strong threats: On March 15, 1877, Howard demanded that “they should without delay give me their final answer whether they would go peaceably or by force” (210). Howard’s journal also describes the forced march on which many die, including Standing Bear’s daughter. Entries record Ponca injuries, illnesses, and deaths just as calmly as they record the weather or other mundane occurrences. For instance, the entry for June 8 reads: “Broke camp at Milford and marched seven miles. Roads very bad. Child died during the day” (214).

When they first appear in European and American travel journals, the Winnebagoes live in present-day Wisconsin. Through a series of treaties with the US government, the Winnebagoes cede rights to all their lands east of the Mississippi River and settle on an 18-square-mile reservation in western Minnesota. Some members of the tribe resent these moves, but most make the best of it. Unlike many of their neighbors in Dakota Territory, the Winnebagoes are not wanderers. They are farmers eager to have their own individual plots of land, which the US government promises to them in an 1859 treaty.

Alas, the Winnebagoes settle in western Minnesota on the eve the Minnesota Sioux War of 1862. The Winnebagoes are caught in the middle, “equally in danger from both whites and Indians” (227). After the war, Minnesotans drive out the Winnebagoes along with Sioux friendly to white settlers (see Chapter 5). Against their will, and in violation of treaty promises, nearly 2,000 Winnebagoes are forced onto a new reservation in Dakota Territory, where the soil is inhospitable for agriculture, where drought and insects prevail, and where they live in fear of their Sioux enemies. Many flee. In 1865, Winnebago chiefs beg for permission to leave Dakota. They want schools, a chance to practice their Christian faith, and, above all, a permanent home. The US government agrees, and this “deeply-wronged and much abused tribe” finally settles on the Omaha Reservation (240) in Nebraska.

For more than a decade, the Winnebagoes live peaceably and move toward assimilation. They open a school; elect younger, pro-assimilation chiefs; and prosper as farmers. The chapter’s final pages, however, strike an ominous tone. Using extensive quotations from the Secretary of the Interior’s 1876 Annual Report, Jackson shows US government officials planning the eventual removal of all tribes to Indian Territory. Jackson fears that the Winnebagoes, notwithstanding their success as American-style farmers in Nebraska, might once again fall victim to US government duplicity.