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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [-15], (5) Lines: 28 to 45 ——— 8.82pt PgV ——— Normal Page PgEnds: TEX [-15], (5) A NOTE ON SIOUX GROUPS AND LEADERS This study refers to a constellation of individuals and groups. To bring some order to the panoply that follows, a thumbnail sketch of the borderland Sioux and their leaders may be useful. By the early to mid-nineteenth century, the Sioux inhabited the territory stretching from the forests and prairies of modern-day Minnesota and Iowa to the grasslands as far west as Montana and Wyoming. Although the nineteenthcentury Sioux considered themselves a single people,they did not live as a single political entity. People lived in bands, which in turn were parts of larger entities, of which there were at least thirteen in the nineteenth century.1 The Mdewakantons, Wahpekutes, Sissetons, and Wahpetons (using English forms) called themselves the Dakotas and are also collectively known as the Santees or the Eastern Sioux. The Mdewakantons and Wahpekutes, who generally lived along the Mississippi and lower Minnesota Rivers, are often referred to as Lower Santees, while the Sissetons and Wahpetons, who lived along the Minnesota River to its headwaters and on the prairies to the west, are the Upper Santees. Those Upper Santees who lived closest to the Minnesota headwaters had considerable contact with and close cultural ties to the Yanktonais farther west. Burnt Earth (Sisseton) and Waneta (Sisseton born but the leader of a CutheadYanktonai band) were among those Dakota leaders who attempted to open a trade with the British along the Red River of the North after British traders evacuated Sioux territory following the War of 1812. Standing Buffalo (Burnt Earth’s nephew),White Cap (Wahpeton), and Little Crow (Mdewakanton) were among those who led their followers onto the plains and then north into what is now Manitoba during and after the Dakota Conflict of 1862. Little Crow’s grandfather, also named Little Crow, had allied his people with the British during the War of 1812. Standing Buffalo,White Cap,and others 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 [Last Pa [-16], (6) Lines: 45 ——— 67.58002pt ——— Normal PgEnds: [-16], (6) continued west into what is now Montana and Saskatchewan. Standing Buffalo was killed in a fight with the Crows in 1871. Most of his band then followed his son, the younger Standing Buffalo. Standing Buffalo’s and White Cap’s people eventually settled principally on reserves in Saskatchewan. Others resided on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana. The Yanktons and Yanktonais are collectively the Yankton or Middle Sioux, although they, too, call themselves Dakotas. At midcentury they inhabited a swath of territory between the Santees and the Missouri River. The Yanktons lived in the southern part of this territory, while the Yanktonais lived to the north. Struck by the Ree (Yankton), Two Dogs (Yanktonai), Medicine Bear (Yanktonai), and others brought their people up the Missouri River into what are now North Dakota, Montana, and Saskatchewan during the 1860s. Most eventually settled on the Fort Peck Reservation, while smaller numbers joined Standing Buffalo’s and White Cap’s people on their reserves. The Oglalas, Brulés, Minneconjous, Two Kettles, Sans Arcs, Blackfeet, and Hunkpapas (again, using English forms) call themselves Lakotas and are collectively known as the Tetons or the Western Sioux. The Lakotas lived beyond the Missouri River and were moving west in the nineteenth century as buffalo along the river became increasingly scarce. Sitting Bull and his uncle, Four Horns, and cousin, Black Moon (all Hunkpapas), Spotted Eagle (Sans Arc), and Crazy Horse (Oglalla) were among the most prominent leaders of the nonreservation Lakotas in the 1860s and 1870s. Four Horns and Black Moon entered Saskatchewan in the months following the Custer fight on the Little Bighorn. Sitting Bull joined them the following May. Big Road and Little Hawk took the remainder of Crazy Horse’s band north to Canada in early 1878, following the murder of Crazy Horse in 1877.2 Lakota refugees began returning to Montana soon after the food crisis became acute in 1879. By 1880, the trickle south was a stream. Sitting Bull...

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