Indian Conflicts
The deaths that fired the imagination of the American public, of course,
were those caused by Indian attacks. The earliest emigrants and the
Native Americans had very few problems, but as the number of emigrants grew,
relations became strained. The wagon trains killed off small game,
disturbed the migratory patterns of the buffalo, ruined important hunting
grounds, and left behind a variety of deadly diseases. Few emigrant
trains differentiated between the various Indian tribes, and as reports of
Indian attacks spread, many had a policy of shooting on sight.
Grattan Fight
The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was created to prevent these kinds of
problems, but it was too poorly crafted and too poorly followed to be of
much use. Citizens pressured the government to protect the trains, but
its attempts often made matters worse. A classic example is the Grattan battle of August 19, 1854, west of Torrington. A small group
of Minnecoujou Sioux had killed and eaten a cow belonging to a Mormon
emigrant train. When the train reached Fort Laramie, the Mormons
complained to the authorities. Brave Bear, a chief of the Brulè Sioux,
offered to pay for the animal in accordance with the 1851 treaty. Lt.
John Grattan, West Point trained and full of enthusiasm, didn't want such a
boring solution. He and 28 soldiers rode boldly into a camp of 5,000
Minnecoujou, Brulè, and Oglala Sioux. Through a drunk interpreter who
harbored his own grudge against the Sioux, Grattan demanded that the
butchers be handed over. The interpreter added his own insults to
Grattan’s demands and when the affronted Sioux refused to cooperate,
Grattan's men opened fire. All 29 soldiers died, along with several
Sioux, including the spurned peace maker, Brave Bear. Relations
between the army and the Sioux, already under tremendous strain, were
permanently damaged.
By the mid 1860's many Native Americans actively targeted emigrant trains in
a futile attempt to stop the tide. The army continued to provide some
protection, but with the Civil War in progress, most of the nation's energy
was focused elsewhere. The Oregon Trail soon became so dangerous that
most travel shifted south to the newer Overland Trail, which followed the
same general route that I-80 does today.
Fanny Kelly's Story
Emigrants continued to take the easier Oregon Trail, however, and there are
many stories of wagon train attacks during the mid-1860's. East of
Glenrock on July 12, 1864, a small wagon train crossed Box Elder Creek (more
or less where I-25 crosses today) and traveled about half a mile upstream.
It was late afternoon when suddenly, “ . . . the bluffs before us were
covered with a party of about 250 Indians, painted and equipped for war,”
relates Fanny Kelly. The wagons formed into a circle and were
surrounded by the band of Oglala Sioux. At first the Indians parleyed,
saying they wanted peace, but as dusk fell they opened fire on the train.
Of the seven men in the party, three were killed, two were wounded, and two
were unhurt, including Kelly's husband. The Indians ransacked the
train and took four captives: Kelly, her young niece Mary, and two
others. Kelly was able to slip Mary out of the Indian camp during the
night of July 13, instructing the child to return to the Oregon Trail and
seek help. Her absence was soon noted, however, and a group of braves
went after her. Mary found her way back to the trail where she
encountered a small group of soldiers who were suspicious that she might be
a decoy for an ambush and hesitated to approach her. While the
soldiers were trying to decide what to do, Mary's pursuers arrived.
The soldiers quickly retreated, thinking that their suspicions had been
correct, and the braves killed Mary. Kelly learned Mary’s fate when
one of her captors rode up beside her. "At his saddle hung a bright
and well-known little shawl, and from the other side was suspended a child's
scalp of long fair hair." Kelly fainted from the shock, but went on to
survive five months of captivity. After her freedom was purchased by a
white trader, she wrote My Captivity Among the Sioux about her
experiences. The book helped fan anti-Indian sentiment among the white
population.
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