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The Arikara War - The First Plains Indian War |
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Taking place in 1823, the Arikara War is noted as the first Plains Indian War between the United States and the western Native Americans. The Arikara, also known as the Arikaree or Ree Indians, were a semi-nomadic group who lived in tipis on the plains of South Dakota for several hundred years. Primarily an agricultural society, they were often bullied by their nomadic neighbors, especially the Sioux. Occupying a central location for trade between the Indians and the white settlers to the east, they also began to come into conflict with the many traders encroaching upon their lands.
Though the Arikaras were never noted for their friendliness to white settlers, all hell would break loose when a chief’s son was killed by a trading company employee.
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Arikara Medicine Men, 1908, courtesy Library of Congress. This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!
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Several of the Arikara fought valiantly alongside the soldiers, while others there were cut off, returned to the base camp as they had been directed. During the battle, three Arikara warriors, Little Brave, Bobtail Bull, and Bloody Knife, were killed along with some 260 other men serving under Custer. Searching for scapegoats, the Arikara scouts were undeservedly blamed by many for the the loss of the Battle of the little Bighorn. Today, the Arikara are still associated with the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes, known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. They live primarily on the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota.
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Arikara tipi, 1908, photo by Edward S. Curtis, courtesy Library of Congress.
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Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, © May, 2006
Also See: The Arikara Tribe - Indians With Horns Frontier Skirmishes and Battles Tales The Hidatsu Tribe - North Dakota Pioneers The Mandans - Friends of the Settlers
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From the Rocky Mountain General Store
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