The book begins by conveying the attitudes of Europeans and their respective nations towards the native tribes encountered in the new world. The Spanish were brutal, the English were cruel yet more subtle than the Spaniards, and once formed, the United States would persecute the natives as well. The Navajo of the Southwest led by Manuelito initially accepted American entry into Indian land, though enacted a policy of retaliation once agreements were violated. Atrocities were committed throughout the war, including a massacre of the Navajo at Fort Wingate, New Mexico in September 1861. Little Crow, chief of the Santee Sioux in Minnesota, also began with attempts to adopt an assimilated American lifestyle, paying a visit to President Buchanan to establish peaceful relations. In the summer of 1862, Little Crow grew frustrated sparking Little …show more content…
Despite the rush of settlers due to the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in 1858, peace continued until 1864, when soldiers attacked Cheyenne Indians on the South Platte River. Fighting ended with the Sand Creek Massacre led by Colonel Chivington. Chief of the Oglala Sioux, Red Cloud, focused on maintaining Indian land between the Black Hills and Big Horn Mountain. Contrary to his wishes, the United States government began building a road through Powder River Country, resulting in Red Cloud’s War. Beginning with the Fetterman massacre of soldiers in December of 1866, combat ended two years later with the Fort Laramie Treaty that closed the Powder River Road. The Great Council at Medicine Lodge Creek in 1867 included Black Kettle’s Cheyenne as well as four thousand Kiowa, Comanche, and Arapaho once again hoping to negotiate a lasting peace. One year later, Black Kettle, who survived the Sand Creek Massacre, was killed in another led by George