Mahpiya Luta l Lakota (1822 - 1909)

Born 20 Sep 1822 in Lakota Nation (now North Platte, Lincoln, Nebraska, United States)

Husband of Pretty Owl Lakota — married 1850 in Raw Hide Buttes, Lakota Territory

Descendants

Died 10 Dec 1909 at age 87 in Shannon, South Dakota, United States

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Biography

Red Cloud was a war leader and a chief of the Oglala Lakota. He led a campaign known as Red Cloud's War from 1866–1868, for control of the Powder River Country in northeastern Wyoming and southern Montana.^[1]

Maȟpíya Lúta (Red Cloud) ^[2] was born about 1822 in present-day North Platte, Nebraska near the forks of the Platte River, son of Lone Man, a Brulé Lakota chief and his wife Walks As She Thinks.^[3] There are multiple stories regarding the meaning of his name. Some claim he was called Red Cloud because there were crimson clouds in the sky when he was born.^[4] Biographer George Hyde suggests that the name came from the appearance of a meteor in the sky in the winter of 1821-22. ^[5] Red Cloud's father died when he was young and he and his siblings were largely raised by Smoke, an Oglala Lakota chief who was his mother's brother. ^[5]

According to his "autobiography" (assembled by several people from conversations with Red Cloud from 1893), Red Cloud wanted to excel as a warrior and had his first enemy encounter with the Pawnee at the age of sixteen. ^[6]

Red Cloud married a woman named Pretty Owl about 1849, at Raw Hide Buttes, Lakota Territory.^[7][8] Accounts vary, but Red Cloud and Pretty Owl had several children, including son Jack, and daughters Wears War Bonnet, Tells Him, ^{[6] [9]} Comes Back ^[10] Louise ^[11] and Charges at Him.

Red Cloud, age 62, appears on the 1890 census of the Pine Ridge Agency with his wife listed as "Mary." ^[12] In their later years, Red Cloud and Pretty Owl were baptized as Christian and given the names of John and Mary. ^[13]

Chief Red Cloud died 10 Dec 1909 on the Pine Ridge Reservation and is buried at the Red Cloud Cemetery, Pine Ridge, South Dakota.^{[14] [15]} The New York Times printed an obituary that said in part,

"In his war of thirty years against the whites Red Cloud became known to the government's Indian fighters as the boldest and fiercest of the Sioux leaders....Red Cloud was a diplomat of rare abilities.... When Red Cloud fought the whites he did so to the best of his ability but when he signed the first peace paper he buried his tomahawk, and this peace pact has never been broken." ^[16]

Resisting White Expansion

Red Cloud resisted the white expansion into his people's land, refusing to sign several treaties with the U.S. government. In 1866, he left negotiations that were taking place at Fort Laramie in Wyoming. On December 21, 1866, a party of 80 soldiers that was led by Captain William Judd Fetterman, were sent to eliminate their Native American problem. But more than 1,000 Indian warriors were waiting. This became known as the Fetterman massacre.^[17][18] By the spring of 1868, General Ulysses S. Grant decided to abandon the forts in the northern part of the Bozeman trail. Even though Red Cloud signed a treaty later that year ^[19] he resisted government from moving him and his people from their lands.^[20] "Red Cloud's War" was the name the US Army gave to a number of conflicts against the United States Army between 1866 and 1868.

At the end of Red Cloud's war he signed the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie.^[21] The U.S. promised it would abandon the Bozeman Trail. The U.S. also gave the Lakota Sioux possession of what is now the western half of South Dakota, along with large parts of Wyoming and Montana. Red Cloud agreed to stop fighting and moved onto a reservation in Nebraska known as the Red Cloud Agency. After the war, Red Cloud served his people as a diplomat.^[22]

In 1870, Red Cloud visited Washington with other Native American leaders where they met President Grant.^[23] In 1875 Red Cloud met with Grant again. Grant offered $25,000 to the Sioux if they would give up their rights to hunt along the Platte River in Dakota Territory. The leaders Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and Little Wound refused.

Red Cloud's son still wanted to fight for their land and way of life. After Sitting Bull's total defeat of General George Armstrong Custer's Seventh Cavalry in June 1876 whites began an aggressive campaign against Native Americans in the West. But Red Cloud still would not go to war.

In 1878, Red Cloud moved to Pine Ridge Agency. The Indian agent at the Pine Ridge Agency, treated the Indians dreadfully.^{[citation needed]} Red Cloud fought for their rights and he succeeded in having the agent dismissed. Red Cloud continued his work to keep the Indian lands and to maintain the power of traditional Native American leaders.

Research Notes

American Tribes.com - Mary Good Road also known as Pretty Woman also known as Pretty Owl Bad Face Band, Oglala Wife of Red Cloud. It is written that Red Cloud had only one wife, but it was reported by Mrs. James Cook in J. Olson, Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem, that in his younger days that Red Cloud had 5 wives. Although it seems that Pretty Owl would not share her husband with other women, she supposedly said to an old friend, Charles P. Jordan.^{[citation needed]} "When he, Red Cloud was a young man, I was very jealous of him and used to watch him very closely for fear some other woman would win him from me."

Another source claims Chief Red Cloud had two wives and eight children.^{[citation needed]} Extensive additional material previously included in this profile can be found at Extra information from Red Cloud profile

Sources

1. ↑ American Indian Relief Council - Biographies of Plains Indians Red Cloud — 1820-1909
2. ↑ PBS.org - Red Cloud Makhpiya-Luta (1822-1909)
3. ↑ Indians.org - Red Cloud
4. ↑ Biography.com - Red Cloud Biography Folk Hero, Activist 1822–1909
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Hyde, George. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK. 1937 Digitized at Archive.orgHyde
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Paul, Eli, ed. Autobiography of Red Cloud. Montana Historical Society Press. Helena, Montana. 1997.
7. ↑ Monroe, Judy. Chief Red Cloud 1822-1909 Google Books
8. ↑ American Tribes - Pretty Owl - Mary Good Road
9. ↑ Price, Catherine. The Oglala People, 1841-1879: A Political History. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. 1996. - p. 10
10. ↑ Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M595, 692 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Pine Ridge Agency, 1887; Roll: M595_363; Page: 5; Line: 13; Agency: Pine Ridge
11. ↑ Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M595, 692 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Pine Ridge Agency, 1886; Roll: M595_362; Page: 85; Line: 10; Agency: Pine Ridge
12. ↑ Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M595, 692 rolls); Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Record Group 75; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Pine Ridge Agency, 1890. p. 26 #647-652
13. ↑ The Indian Sentinel, 1916 - 1919; Society for the Preservation of the Faith among Indian Children, vol. 01, no. 12, p. 15 digitized at baptism
14. ↑ Biography of Red Cloud
15. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #6878358 - Burial - Red Cloud Cemetery, Pine Ridge, Shannon County, South Dakota, USA
16. ↑ New York Times, December 11, 1909, p. 11. Digitized at [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/12/11/101042774.html?pageNumber=11
17. ↑ Cowboys and Indians - Red Cloud's War, The Fetterman Massacre
18. ↑ Son of the South.net - Chief Red Cloud
19. ↑ Native American Facts - Chief Red Cloud Facts
20. ↑ Wyoming History - Red Clouds War
21. ↑ History.net - Red Cloud Facts, information and articles about Red Cloud, a Native American Indian Chief from the Wild West
22. ↑ Sage American History.net - Chief Red Cloud on Indian Rights
23. ↑ Armed Forces Journal - 1870 - Negotiations in Indian Country

See also:

• Wikipedia - Old Chief Smoke
• Wikipedia - The Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux
• NRC Programs.org - Biographies of Plains Indians Red Cloud — 1820-1909

• Space:Native Americans: Lakota
• Images:

US History - Chief Red Cloud

Encyclopedia Britanica - Red Cloud

Rohan.sdsu.edu - Red Clouds Speech

Wikipedia - Red Cloud - Maȟpíya Lúta

Wyoming State Archives - Red Cloud in Blue