Sioux

The Sioux tribe, though maybe not known by name, is known because their clothing, horseback riding, tipis, and headdress have become the iconic image of the Indigenous Americans. Making up one of the larger common language groups of the Plains Native Americans, the Sioux are much more nuanced and influential than their created stereotype suggests.

Fig. 1 Sioux Warriors

The Sioux: Map

There are four branches of the Sioux, each controlling their specific territory in the Great Plains region of North America. These tribes controlled a territory that extended from present-day Minnesota and Iowa, across North and South Dakota, and into present-day Montana.

The Sioux originally lived in the woodland along the upper Mississippi River. From early records of explorers in the 1600s, they once dominated present-day Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and North & South Dakota. By the 1700s, some Sioux migrated farther west across the Missouri River because their traditional enemy–the Chippewa–had acquired rifles through fur trade with the French. In addition, Europe's demand for furs had reduced the amount of game in Sioux's traditional territory.

Fig. 2 Sioux Treaty Map

The Sioux: Culture

Though the Sioux is known as Plains Native Americans, it should be noted that not all branches of the Sioux adopted the entire nomadic lifestyle that is associated with the Plains indigenous tribes. Each branch had its unique form of culture and lifestyle. Although most tribes on the plains became dependent on the horse who lived in tipis year-round, not all tribes gave up their villages, farming, and pottery. The typical way of life on the Great Plains did not evolve until Europeans when these tribes acquired the horse.

The Horse and the Buffalo

The significant change created by the introduction of the horse transformed semi-nomadic societies into fully nomadic ones that could follow and hunt large herds of buffalo and other plains animals consistently and efficiently. First brought to North America by the Spanish in the 1500s, the horse gained widespread use by the Plains Native Americans, especially the Sioux, by the 1700s.

Fig. 4 Sioux Tipi Illustration

Tribes that used horses were no longer dependent on farming near rivers. Hunters could now cover a much larger area and with the ability to carry all that they needed with them, including the portable tipis. Not all tribes completely abandoned their permanent villages, but hunters could leave their villages for more extended periods with horses and tipi's.

Before acquiring horses, the Sioux used many methods to hunt buffalo, such as sneaking up on them or forcing a stampede over cliffs. They could ride with the galloping herds on horseback, using bows, arrows, lances, or rifles to pick off specific animals.

The Sioux Sun Dance

The name "sun dance" comes from the Sioux Tribe. The purpose of the dance was to come into contact with the spirit world to promote prosperity in keeping buffalo plentiful, bring victory in battle, settle disputes, and heal the sick. The various rituals for the dance are numerous and complex. Many dances involved drumming, singing, and dancing. Some tribal traditions associated with the dance included pain or mutilation, such as men having skewers implanted in their chests and dancing backward until they were ripped out.

Fig. 5 Sioux Sundance

Sioux Language

The Sioux are comprised of dozens of tribes with a similar language - Siouan. It is the fifth-largest spoken indigenous language spoken in North America. Though closely related in origin, the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota have distinct dialects of Siouan, which differentiate them from each other.

Sioux History

The Sioux had a stiff resistance to the expansion of the Europeans and then the Americans into their tribal territories. Because of this fierce resistance, they gained a reputation as famous Plains warriors, adding to today's mythos and stereotypes. Nevertheless, the conflicts did not have distinct beginnings or endings as they spanned several decades. The range of confrontations with the Sioux between 1850 and 1890 are known as the "Sioux Wars," They began with the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of present-day South Dakota.

In 1851, the U.S. government negotiated a peace treaty with the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho to assure safe passage for Americans migrating west along the Oregon Trail. Soon after, however, violence broke out along the trail.

Confronted by the U.S. calvary, the Lakota band offered to pay for the cow, but an Army Lieutenant - John Grattan- insisted on arresting those who killed the cow and rode to the band's village with thirty men. When the Lakota refused, Grattan ordered an attack, killing the band's chief in the first attack. The Lakota counterattacked and destroyed the entire detachment of soldiers. In response, the U.S. Army sent more troops, killing 85 Lakota.

The Minnesota Uprising and the War for the Bozeman Trail

The Lakota were not the only branch of Sioux to have a conflict with the encroaching white American settlers. The central issue of the Minnesota Uprising was land, and American settlers were establishing themselves in Santee territory along the Minnesota River. A Santee chief attacked a group of settlers, killing five, setting off a back-and-forth series of attacks and retaliations in 1862.

The War for the Bozeman Trail occurred soon after the Minnesota Uprising, and it also involved white settlers on Lakota land in Montana. However, in this cycle of Sioux and U.S. Army attacks and retaliations, the Sioux were successful - for a short period- in keeping the expansion of American settlement out of their territory. Having taken many casualties in maintaining the Bozeman Trail, the U.S. government yielded to the Sioux's demands in the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868.

Wounded Knee

Another incident occurred in 1890, and because it combines violence and unnecessary nature, it has symbolized the many massacres of Native Americans throughout American History.

The events of Wounded Knee begin with creating a new religion adopted by a band of the Sioux. Called the Ghost Dance Religion, starting in 1888, it was believed that performing the rituals would bring about drastic change to the Great Plains, and with the help of those Sioux who had passed, the Great Plains would be restored to what they were before the white Americans arrived. This religion spread, and its rituals grew in popularity and number.

U.S. officials became alarmed at the size of the gatherings and banned the practice of the Ghost Dance. But the Sioux remained defiant and continued the tradition. The U.S. Army ordered the arrest of several Sioux chiefs, including Sitting Bull and Big Foot. Chief Big Foot, who was ill at the time, decided he wanted peace and ordered his tribe of 350 Sioux to move and join up with a peaceful band of Sioux who was not defying the Ghost Dance ban. However, it was too late. The U.S. Army had intercepted his band and ordered them to make camp near Wounded Knee Creek. A rifle was fired either by accident or in purposeful resistance during that process. This triggered an attack on the Native Americans by the controlling U.S. Army. The result was a massacre of at least 150 and 300 men, women, and children of the Sioux band.

Fig. 6 The Aftermath of Wounded Knee