01x07 - The Fetterman Fight

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From their first move
across the appalachians,

Americans pushed
west driven by their desire

for opportunity and land.

At every step, they must contend

with the original occupants,

spurring generations of
conflict with native nations.

When gold is found in Montana in 1862,

thousands of Americans
charged through land

claimed by the lakota sioux.

As their leader red cloud,

and a young warrior named
crazy horse fight back,

the lakota will take on the us army,

and win a victory that stuns the nation.

People live on myths,

and the myths that really
stick in the American experience

are the myths of the west.

The mountains were taller,
the deserts were harsher,

the snows were deeper.

The American west conjures wonder,

possibility, opportunity.

The figure of the mountain man.

Notorious outlaws.

The cowboy.

The discovery of gold in California.

This train of wagons
trailing across the prairie.

Everybody has a reason
for wanting this land.

But most of that land,
was already occupied.

We have been residents
for more than 10,000 years.

But this is a clash of two different ways

of seeing life itself.

Fighting for the future of
your homeland on the one side,

and fighting for the
destiny of the new republic

on the other side.

The history of the
west is a creation story.

It's the creation of what we
think of as modern america.

The west is a place
where anything is possible.

It is the essence of the American dream.

The core of this is, what
are we to be as a nation?

The reckoning is coming.

The west is this canvas on which

American dreams
become larger than life.

In the summer of 1862,

the United States is
consumed by a civil w*r.

The conflict plunges
Washington into debt,

and with every b*llet fired,

the federal government
edges closer to a financial crisis.

Then, a potential solution
arises in an unexpected place.

In 1862, when gold is
discovered in Montana,

it's great news for Lincoln
and for the entire union.

Lincoln later said that
w*r is a terrible thing,

and this w*r is the most terrible of all,

and the heavens were hung in black.

But it was not simply the cost in lives,

it was the cost in sustaining the army.

California was already contributing

its gold to the union,

but now Montana could
contribute its gold as well.

It was a major boost to the union,

when that boost was absolutely needed.

One of the most important factors

in the whole history of the
west is gold discoveries.

Every time this happens,

white civilization goes mad briefly.

Thousands and thousands

and thousands of people rush for gold.

At the time of the gold strike,

Montana is not yet a state.

To Americans, it's unknown wilderness,

part of the vast, sparsely
settled great plains.

The great plains has a forbidding image

in the minds of American settlers,

in the middle decades
of the 19th century.

To American farmers, the great plains,

and you see this on
many maps of the time,

is still part of the great American desert.

And Americans look out
on this great grassland,

that's the middle of the
north American continent,

and they see, that's land
that can be left to Indians.

Forces transforming the west elsewhere,

have largely bypassed this
part of the northern plains

and it's now dominated
by the lakota sioux,

who control over 740,000
square miles of land,

an area almost as large as Mexico.

The lakota originally are
from western Minnesota,

and they're not that strong,
they're not that numerous.

But through the acquiring of the horse

in the early 1700s,

they're going to move
out onto the great plains,

and they become very successful

in the harvesting of the bison.

Bison are the primary food source

for the plains Indians like the lakota,

and they use every piece of them.

Bones as tools and weapons,
hides for clothing and shelter.

But all along the southern
edge of lakota territory,

where thousands of migrants
follow the Oregon trail west,

the bison population is dropping rapidly.

These wagon trains
are chopping down trees,

they're muddying the water.

They're really destroying
the bison migration zones,

and permanently altering
the ecosystem for the worse.

In a treaty signed in 1851,

the lakota and other plains nations,

agree to let these migrants pass freely.

In exchange they were
guaranteed permanent sovereignty,

over their lands by the United States.

At fort laramie,

the federal government
begins a process of recognizing

indigenous control and authority across

vast portions of the northern plains,

and recognizing the boundaries
of various native nations.

But in 1863, frontiersman
John Bozeman

begins guiding miners along a new route.

Branching northwest from
the Oregon trail at fort laramie,

it shortens the journey to the
new gold fields by six weeks,

and cuts right through the
lakota's most prized land.

The pristine powder river basin.

By the 1860s this region

has become the last
best place for the lakota.

Not only does it have
massive herds of bison,

but it also has rivers,

and it was a place that the lakota

were coming from all directions to live.

The Bozeman trail

transects some of the most
valuable hunting territory

that the lakota had,

and when you create a trail like this,

it's really going to disturb the bison,

and it's going to make them leave.

And so, conflict arises
between Americans seeking gold,

and the lakota who
had been told in 1851

by the us government,

that this land was theirs forever,

and all of a sudden
it's not forever anymore.

The lakota decide to make a stand,

among them is a w*r chief
from the ogallala band, red cloud.

Red cloud says, we're gonna fight

to protect this homeland.

Red cloud is recognized

as one of the great leaders of the lakota.

He's one of the great
leaders in American history.

Red cloud was
orphaned as a young man,

when his father died from alcoholism.

He was raised by his uncles,

and driven to be the best
man he possibly could

for the lakota.

He's going to rise to military success

through attacks on
American settler trains,

in which he distinguishes himself

as a fighter at a very young age.

Over the next two years,

red cloud launches raids
along the Bozeman trail,

sparking widespread fear
amongst Montana-bound travelers.

And with union troops
engaged fighting the civil w*r,

he's almost unopposed.

Infrastructural forms of
the federal government,

basically don't exist,

in many places across western
North America after secession.

That's how limited the
federal government is,

at the time of the civil w*r.

But that begins to change

with the south's surrender in 1865.

At this exact moment,

the United States starts
to turn its eyes westward,

and think about incorporating
these vast spaces

into what is the United States.

And, the defining struggle for that,

is that it belongs to native
peoples who live there.

By 1866, some 2,000 miners
have already made their way

along the Bozeman trail to Montana.

And despite red cloud's
raids, more are on the way.

To protect them, general ulysses s. Grant

assigns a union w*r hero,

to head the army west of the Mississippi.

William tecumseh sherman.

From the outset, sherman
is short on soldiers.

At the end of the w*r,

the last thing that people want to do,

is support large armies
either financially or otherwise.

They're also very much focused

on the reconstruction of the south,

that also included the
occupation of the south

by us army forces.

And so, there was less political support

for maintaining a large
army, and sending it out

to engage in warfare, in the west.

From a peak of over a million,

the us army has been
reduced to around 38,000 men,

with most deployed to the south.

Even so, sherman decides
to construct three forts,

at key points along the


He assigns the task to a civil w*r officer

with a talent for engineering
and no combat experience,

colonel Henry car ring ton.

He was great at recruiting,

he was great at administration.

What he never did during
the civil w*r, was fire a g*n.

American fighting forces
come out of the civil w*r

with a sense of superiority.

They are a modern army,
they have mechanized weapons,

and so the assumption is,

that it should be relatively easy

to dispatch a bunch of wild Indians.

In June of 1866,

car ring ton makes his way
west along the platte river

with 225 wagons and
an entourage of soldiers

and civilians.

One of the things that is very different

about this occupation by the us military,

is the military is bringing
their families along with them,

women and children.

And what lakota leaders
at the time realize is that,

they're coming to stay.

Plains Indians understand,

now is the moment we
either turn this thing around,

or our ship is going down.

Red cloud draws a line,

and basically says, we're gonna fight.

Seeking to secure safe passage

for gold miners and settlers
headed to Montana territory,

colonel Henry car ring ton
plans to build three forts

along a key stretch of the Bozeman trail.

Fort Reno, fort c.F. Smith,

and at the foot of the bighorn mountains,

his regional headquarters,
fort Phil kearny.

Colonel car ring ton is
sent to the Bozeman trail

to establish these forts,

despite his lack of military experience.

And he is told by general sherman,

it's going to be a leisurely
frontier assignment.

In this, you should bring
your wife and children out.

He builds an amazing fort.

It's 17 acres, a huge amount of land,

all surrounded by an enormous
wall of ponderosa pine.

And what's enclosed
inside of this large wall,

is really a town.

It is a veritable community,

and it's built in a really
short amount of time.

For red cloud,

the arrival of the us
military is an act of w*r.

Knowing he can't fight alone,

he does something extraordinary.

So, what red cloud does is,

he's meeting with other tribal leaders.

He's urging them to
combine their forces,

to deal with this new threat to them,

which is the us army coming
into the powder river valley,

at an unprecedented level of force.

Red cloud finds his strongest allies

among bands of the
a rap a h* and the Cheyenne.

Two years earlier, they
survived a brutal m*ssacre

at the hands of the us army,
at sand creek in Colorado.

The sand creek m*ssacre is probably

the seminal event on the northern plains

during this period.

In 1864, colonel
chivington leads his troops

against the a rap a h* and Cheyenne,

and kills about 140 women and children

in this camp, led by two peace chiefs,

who had consistently tried to establish

peaceful relationships
with the United States.

Their bodies are mutilated,

and they are shown off in
Denver at the opera house.

The hatred

that this instills within the
northern Cheyenne people,

is hard to calculate.

Red cloud brings together

an unprecedented
coalition of plains warriors,

including fighters from the
lakota, a rap a h*, and Cheyenne.

Red cloud even reaches out to the crow,

which were known as the
historic enemy of the lakota.

It's a bridge too far for the crow,

but it shows you how creative he was

in thinking about this coalition

that was needed to
fight against the us army.

Even with a 2,000-strong
force behind him,

red cloud bides his time
and gets to know his enemy.

Luckily, the inexperienced car ring ton

has chosen to build fort
Phil kearny on open prairie.

From higher ground,
red cloud and his men,

can see over the walls.

The place colonel car ring ton chooses

is several miles away from
the nearest wood supply,

and that means he's gonna have to send

wood cutting expeditions
several miles away,

every day.

As the fall brings cooler weather,

wood becomes even more
vital, forcing carrington's men

to venture five miles
from the safety of the fort

to the nearest forest.

Waiting for them there,

is one of red cloud's fiercest fighters,

a young warrior named crazy horse.

Crazy horse remains

the most mysterious plains
Indian warrior of all time.

He had a vision as a young man,

that he could not be k*lled
in battle by his enemies,

and he's already famous for fighting

with that sort of abandon.

Crazy horse is probably
about 22 years old.

He embodied the
character of a much older

and experienced battle leader.

And so, when red cloud
sees this within crazy horse,

red cloud is going to give
him a real leadership role

in this fight.

Surrounded by an endless sea of grass,

soldiers inside the fort live
out each day under siege,

knowing that beyond the walls,

an invisible enemy lies in wait.

Red cloud takes a very
calculated approach

to figuring his enemy out.

He doesn't mount big attacks,

he mounts instead, dozens
of these guerilla-style attacks.

For car ring ton,

most of his soldiers
were newly recruited.

They were immigrants,

who this was the next
best job that they could get.

And so, when they see
these wagons coming back

with the dead, who have been mutilated,

this is a very shocking and
frightening thing for them.

For these soldiers,

who were sitting there
watching these gold miners

stream by towards
the Montana gold fields,

those gold fields had an
extremely powerful lure.

Almost a man a day,
by late fall, is deserting.

By the end of September,

red cloud and his allies have carried out

dozens of deadly raids
around fort Phil kearny.

Colonel Henry car ring ton

has already buried eight of his men.

Carrington is writing lots of letters

to his commanding officers saying,

I need more men, I need
more horses, I need better g*ns.

I think carrington's tone
grows increasingly agitated,

and insistent over the course of the fall,

as these attacks build and build.

He's trying to put on the
appearance of control,

while at the same time,
fearing for his very life.

Colonel car ring ton did
not have the resources

from the army that he was promised,

and there were moments in time

where car ring ton had
less than 10 officers,

less than 20 serviceable horses.

And on top of this,

there were women and
children at this fort as well.

How are they gonna protect them?

How are they gonna keep them safe?

America in 1866

is still rebuilding in the wake
of a devastating civil w*r,

and Andrew Johnson is
one year into his presidency,

having taking office after
Lincoln's assassination.

This former sl*ve owner

must now oversee the
reconstruction of the south.

In the aftermath of the
civil w*r, on the one hand,

you have a diminishment
of federal authority

in many portions of the American west.

The other hand you have the growing,

mining extractive economies,

occurring across western Montana

that are bringing thousands of migrants

through Indian homeland.

With the army focused
on rebuilding the south,

and protecting freed sl*ves,

western forces run short
on troops and supplies.

But at the besieged fort Phil kearny,

carrington's desperate call
for help is finally answered.

In September 1866, he
welcomes fresh soldiers,

more horses, and a
new second in command,

captain William j. Fetterman.

Fetterman is a genuine
hero of the civil w*r.

He's cited for bravery.

He's with sherman during
the march to the sea,

so he's kind of everywhere
during the civil w*r,

and has this really
remarkable military record.

Captain fetterman, when he arrives,

receives a hero's welcome
from many of the younger officers.

And a little clique forms around him,

which kind of leads to some division

between himself and colonel car ring ton.

Colonel car ring ton is cautious.

He's a small human being
who's never seen combat,

whereas captain fetterman
is aggressive, brave, strong,

epitome of the cavalry officer.

And so, this contrast,

really leads to a certain division

within the officer
corps at fort Phil kearny.

Among the soldiers
arriving with fetterman,

is a hotheaded officer, eager for action.

Lieutenant George w. Grummond

had some discipline problems,

drinking, carousing,
fighting, that kind of thing.

He was court martialed
several times during the civil w*r,

and had a reputation of being very rash,

and jumping ahead of command

when he was supposed
to be following orders.

But he does not have experience.

None of these men had experience

in fighting against native Americans.

Remember, these are a
bunch of civil w*r veterans

and their expectation of w*r

is lining up in front of
each other on battlefields,

and they're just kind of
hammering away at each other.

In the past,

when the military is facing
native peoples in the east,

they're dealing with peoples
who are largely sedentary.

Suddenly, when you move out west,

you're dealing with peoples
who are semi-nomadic.

They're always on the move.

The lakota light cavalry

was probably the finest
in the world at this time.

These men could do
anything on horseback.

They had been in combat
since they were in their mid-teens,

and they had been trained for combat

since they were young children.

Their knowledge of the landscape,

where the hills are,
where the valleys are,

unparalleled.

So, they really have every advantage

against any kind of
incomer to their territory.

After he arrives,

captain fetterman sets about drilling

his ragtag collection of soldiers.

They're now eager to
bring the fight to their enemy,

so too are commanders in St. Louis,

who order car ring ton
to attack the lakota

in their winter camps.

But car ring ton gets a
report that confirms his fears.

An old scout tells car ring ton

that there are villages and villages

of northern a rap a h*,
northern Cheyenne,

and lakota bands just
north of where they are,



and it says a lot about
red cloud at that time,

being able to assemble such a large,

and pretty diverse group of bands.

Outnumbered by red cloud's forces,

car ring ton calls off the attack.

Instead, he hunkers down,

using his troops only to
protect the teams of woodcutters,

who still must venture
miles to gather fuel.

After months of skirmishing

and picking off
individuals here and there,

red cloud decides

he's going to attack not just
the woodcutters themselves,

but when the relief force comes out,

they're going to engage
with them as well,

and try and draw them apart.

On December 6th, red
cloud gets his chance.

The signal comes

that the wagon train that
is out trying to get the wood

is under attack.

At the first sign of the enemy,

lieutenant grummond and
a handful of other soldiers

break formation,

and gallop after a group
of lakota led by crazy horse.

They were all excited
about their first opportunity

to actually go on the offense,

and so, these officers
basically took off on their own.

And this is when soldiers
are actually attacked.

Grummond soon discovers,
he's not only surrounded,

but he's forgotten his g*n.

He manages to fight his
way out with only a saber,

but two other officers are shot dead,

and their bodies mutilated.

One is found impaled on a tree stump,

the other with his head cut in half.

Red cloud loses 10 men,
but gains a valuable insight.

The lakota realize that
the United States military

can't resist a retreating native force,

because of that mentality of superiority,

the perfect example of just
underestimating your opponent.

By the winter of 1866,

a native coalition led by
lakota warrior red cloud,

is harassing fort Phil kearny almost daily.

The American commander,
colonel car ring ton,

is down to six officers,
overseeing 300 soldiers.

At fort Phil kearny, by December,

more than a hundred people,

between soldiers and
travelers have been k*lled.

The bodies were usually mutilated.

It created this sense of fear

among the soldiers and travelers.

It also created a lot of
pressure on car ring ton.

He's beginning to receive other orders

that he should be more aggressive.

His own officers are telling him

that he should be more aggressive,

and so, he's trying to juggle all of that.

Colonel car ring ton
will not bravely go forth

and attack native
forces as he was ordered.

Instead, he is going to be ringed in,

in a siege by the lakota.

He sleeps in his uniform at night,

because he knows that
there's a force out there,

that may wipe him off the map.

After their successful
ambush of December 6th,

red cloud and his allies begin to work

on an even bolder plan,

red cloud's already
created this coalition of

Cheyenne, a rap a h*,
lakota, about 2,000 warriors

hidden in these valleys, that
are about three miles away.

He wants to shock
and scare the us army

so significantly that
they will abandon this fort.

He decides to create something
completely unanticipated,

and to create this enormous ambush.

The only problem, is how do you get

a big group of us soldiers out of the fort?

Over the next two weeks,

red cloud's scouts study
the fort from the high ground,

using mirrors and smoke signals

to relay messages about
troop movements inside.

Red cloud is probing,

and he's learning about his enemy,

how his enemy will react
in different situations.

But as red cloud gathers intel,

car ring ton gives strict orders.

No us forces should venture
beyond lodge trail Ridge,

the elevated rise between the fort

and the Bozeman trail to the north.

So, lodge trail Ridge

is inside of the range of the cannons.

It's also the last thing

that the army can see from
the fort looking to the north.

Once you lose sight of your forces,

you have lost command
ability for the field of battle.

And so, car ring ton is worried that

if any of his forces go beyond this point,

he won't be able to
send assistance in time.

After two weeks of waiting,

red cloud finally
decides it's time to strike.

On the morning of December


They had to get another load of wood,

and pretty soon pickets on pilot hill,

give a sign that says,

there are Indians
attacking the wood train.

Fetterman volunteers
to lead a relief force,

and car ring ton reminds
him of his orders.

Carrington says,

whatever you do don't
go beyond the Ridge line.

You mustn't go beyond
the Ridge line, three times.

They can see that these raiders

who are attacking the
wood train are pulling back.

And it plays into the belief of the army,

that they're scaring them away.

At fort kearny,

grummond comes running
up to colonel car ring ton

and grummond says, allow
me to take out the cavalry,

the man who was clearly so aggressive

and inflamed to get out into battle.

And he did allow grummond
to take about 25 cavalry men

out to accompany the men on foot.

Crazy horse pretends his horse is lame,

and rides to the top of the Ridge.

He's trying to draw both
fetterman and grummond

to follow him

and grummond
immediately begins pursuit.

At that point, fetterman
faces this quandary,

do I let them go off on their own,

or do I try and rejoin our
forces and keep them together?

Captain fetterman has no choice,

but to follow behind and support him.

And so, all 81 of these soldiers and men

end up in the valley,

on the other side of lodge trail Ridge.

This massive trap that
red cloud has set is sprung.

Carrington is at the fort

and all of a sudden they start to hear

g*nshots over the hill.

They don't see anything,

but they know something is going on.

From where fort Phil kearny
is, it's impossible to see

any further than a mile to the north.

This is what red cloud
used to his advantage.

It was easy to hide in
that hillside landscape.

Ya!

Once fetterman and his infantry

are sufficiently
descended into that valley,

he looks back at lodge trail Ridge,

and sees that the tribes
have already closed

his escape to the fort.

The tribes close in from all three sides.

Once they're in the
middle of the trap, it's over.

And all 81 men who rode
out a fort Phil kearny that day

are k*lled in that battle.

Everybody is horribly desecrated.

Scalped, stomachs are cut open,

entrails are pulled out,
limbs are hacked off.

The mutilation of enemies
that you've k*lled in battle

for the lakota,

it had very specific
meanings in a spiritual context.

Because once you k*lled an enemy,

you'd k*ll their body here,

but that didn't necessarily mean

you'd k*lled them in the next life.

So, maybe in order to do that,

you would take out their
eyes so they couldn't see,

or cut off their hands
so they couldn't fight.

But one body is spared,

the bugler, who used his instrument

as a weapon in a
desperate fight for his life.

And his bravery was such that the lakota,

decided that he deserved
not to be mutilated.

And so, he was honorably
laid on the ground

and a buffalo blanket
laid over the top of him.

The lakota and their allies lose 65 men.

One estimate puts the number
of arrows fired at 40,000,



Back at the fork,
car ring ton sends a rider,

John "portuguee" Phillips,

into a gathering storm to
fort laramie, 250 miles south.

Before the day is up,
he makes one final order.

Colonel car ring ton
is absolutely terrified

that the fort is going to
come under attack next.

Their best fighters are dead,
their best officers are dead.

He orders all the men
to emergency stations.

He orders the women and children

into the ammunition storage area,

so that they can be blown
up rather than be captured.

This is the end.

The night of red cloud's ambush,

a blizzard rolls across
the northern plains,

towards fort Phil kearny.

Red cloud just delivered

what would turn out to be a
shocking blow to the us army

and his goal was to deliver

a political signal to the us,

about the wisdom of
maintaining the Bozeman trail.

The storm blankets
the powder river country

in deep snow.

But on December 25th, 1866,

John "portuguee" Phillips emerges,

and enters fort laramie.

His journey almost 250 miles.

Completed in four days
of sub-zero temperatures,

kills his horse on arrival.

And he walks into a Christmas ball

being held at fort laramie,

with the news that there
has been a massive defeat

at fort Phil kearny and
captain fetterman is dead.

As reinforcements
race to carrington's aid,

the w*r department in
Washington gets a telegram.

It's the worst defeat in us army history

to that point in the west.

Never before had a force that large

been destroyed to the man.

It was a shock to the American psyche.

People just couldn't wrap
their minds around the fact

that fetterman's troops had
been dispatched in this way.

The idea that this pre-industrial,

quote "savages", could
defeat the United States army,

and not only defeat an
army of the United States,

but defeat it where the entire
regiment was eradicated,

really clashes with the idea

of the United States
emerging as this great power.

Three weeks after the battle,

car ring ton is relieved of duty.

Army commanders in
Washington open an inquiry.

Carrington, as you can imagine,

receives enormous criticism,

and the biggest thing that he does

as part of defending himself,

is to create someone else
to blame for what's happened,

and he settles on fetterman.

Carrington pushes back with
this narrative that, you know,

fetterman didn't obey orders.

And fetterman has
been written about as a

glory hound with no respect,

became the basis for all future historians

to write the narrative
of the fetterman fight,

and it could not have been more untrue.

One of the things that all of
that speculation and debate

about who's wrong and who's to blame

ignores is the fact that
there was a remarkably

brilliant plan ex*cuted by red cloud

that worked almost beyond
how they could have imagined.

Fetterman's fight communicates

a level of indigenous capability

that few American
policymakers believe possible.

It's always seen as how
did the us military fail,

not how did the native Americans win?

As the fetterman fight
prompts outrage back east,

red cloud takes his w*r
beyond the powder river country.

He targets the most visible symbol

of American power in the west,

and a dire threat to lakota lands,

the transcontinental railroad.

One of the things that
red cloud is very aware of,

is that the railroad has already come

into what's now Kansas, Nebraska,

and through tribes like
the southern Cheyenne.

He's aware of the
impact that that can have

on their whole culture and economy.

On August 7th, 1867,

Cheyenne and lakota allies
attack a union pacific train

in Nebraska,


powder river country.

This attack underscores the fact

that native tribes
remain formidable forces,

and that this idea that modern machinery

is going to somehow facilitate

an easy end to native
conflict, is a fantasy.

Many in Washington
believe it is simply easier

to diplomatically treat with native peoples

than to fight them,

especially after the
carnage and destruction

of five years of the civil w*r.

With its thousand-mile route

cutting through the northern plains,

the railroad is highly vulnerable

to red cloud's hit-and-run attacks,

and the only way to keep
it safe, is to make peace.

Red cloud comes to the negotiations

with the United States in


Red cloud insists that the
Bozeman trail be abandoned.

The us army, they agree to all of that.

They abandon the Bozeman trail,

they abandon the forts.

In the spring of 1868,

general sherman returns to fort laramie

with a peace commission,
appointed by president Johnson,

and offers the lakota a new treaty.

It closes the Bozeman
trail to miners and settlers,

and shutters the three
forts built by car ring ton.

But for five months, red cloud
will withhold his signature,

until he sees the forts
burn to the ground.

It's one of the most decisive victories

for native peoples in American history.

It makes red cloud the most important

northern plains native American,

and maybe the most visible
native American in the country,

and it proves the level
of lakota resistance.

The same treaty creates
the great sioux reservation,

giving the lakota exclusive control

over 48,000 square miles of land,

an area five times
the size of Connecticut.

The fort laramie treaty
of 1868 is unprecedented.

The federal government
is committing itself

to a new vision of Indian affairs,

in which it recognizes
autonomy and jurisdiction

of Indian nations across vast portions

of their former homelands.

The treaty proves the
power of the lakota nation,

and red cloud becomes the
only native leader in history

to win a w*r against the us.

After red cloud's w*r in 1868,

after the signing of
the fort laramie treaty,

he promised never to take up arms

against the United States again.

And as a man of his word, he never did.

And so, he's often seen
as a peace chief after this,

and never gets his real due

as the military genius that he was.

Red cloud remains true to his word,

but the disaster at fort Phil kearny

prompts a shift in us policy
towards the plains nations.

For some, any Indians
outside the reservation

will be considered hostile, and at w*r.

It's after the fetterman fight

that you have William
tecumseh sherman

using the term extermination,

to talk about dealing with the lakota,

and other so-called troublesome tribes.

The fetterman fight is the moment

in which the power of the lakota nation

is clearly communicated
to the federal government.

Very few native nations

would ever obtain that
level of federal recognition

and supposed protection.

And sadly, very few native
nations would ever suffer

such betrayals of those
commitments thereafter.

Today, red cloud is celebrated

as the leader who
outsmarted the us army

as he fought to preserve
his people's way of life.

Eventually though the
treaty he won is broken.

The lakota will continue
to fight the us without him,

most famously when sitting bull defeats

general George custer
at the little bighorn.

But in time their resistance
will be suppressed,

and the vast grasslands that
the lakota once roamed freely

are now taken over

by cattle ranchers
sparking a new conflict,

over who gets control of
these last wide open spaces.