General Patrick Conner organizes 3 columns of soldiers to begin an invasion of the Powder River Basin, from the Black Hills, Paha Sapa, to the Big Horn Mountains. They had one order: "Attack and kill every male Indian over twelve years of age." Conner builds a fort on the Powder River. Wagon trains begin to cross the Powder River Basin on their way to the Montana gold fields.

Spotted Tail, Roman Nose, Old

 Man Afraid of His Horses, Lone Horn, Whistling Elk, Pipe and unknown. This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Chief Red Cloud, Lakota Sioux Chief

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

“I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.” - Chief Red Cloud (Makhipiya-Luta) Sioux Chief

Sitting Bull

Sioux Maiden, 1908.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

“When a child my mother taught me the legends of our people; taught me of the sun and sky, the moon and stars, the clouds and storms. She also taught me to kneel and pray to Usen for strength, health, wisdom, and protection. We never prayed against any person, but if we had aught against any individual we ourselves took vengeance. We were taught that Usen does not care for the petty quarrels of men." - Geronimo [Goyathlay], Chiracahua Apache

Zuni Pueblo

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Sioux Tipis, 1902.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

Mandan Man making an offer of the buffalo skull, 1908. 

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

“Whenever the white man treats the Indian as they treat each other, then we will have no more wars. We shall all be alike--brothers of one father and one another, with one sky above us and one country around us, and one governmnet for all.” - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce

Mandan Indian atop the bluffs of the Missouri River, 1908.

This image available for photographic prints HERE!

"We are now about to take our leave and kind farewell to our native land, the country the Great Spirit gave our Fathers, we are on the eve of leaving that country that gave us birth, it is with sorrow we are forced by the white man to quit the scenes of our childhood...we bid farewell to it and all we hold dear." - Charles Hicks, Tsalagi (Cherokee) Vice Chief speaking of The Trail of Tears, November  4, 1838

Second Treaty of Fort Laramie - This treaty guaranteed the Sioux Indians' rights to the Black Hills of Dakota and gave the Sioux hunting permission beyond reservation boundaries. The treaty also creates the Great Sioux Reservation and agrees that the Sioux do not cede their hunting grounds in Montana and Wyoming territories. The Army agrees to abandon the forts on the Bozeman Trail  and the Indians agree to become "civilized."

George Armstrong Custer established himself as a great Indian fighter by leading the Massacre on the Washita in Indian Territory ( Oklahoma ) in which Black Kettle is killed. The entire village was destroyed and all of its inhabitants were killed.

In June, Navajos signed a treaty after the Long Walk when Kit Carson rounded up 8,000 Navajos and forced them to walk more than 300 miles to the Bosque Redondo reservation in southern New Mexico . English officials called it a reservation, but to the conquered and exiled Navajos it was a prison camp.

Board of Indian Commissioners -  Congress created the Board to investigate and report alleged BIA mismanagement and conditions on reservations where corruption was widespread. The Board continued to operate as an investigative and oversight commission that also helped shape and direct American Indian policy.

Federally-sponsored Sac and Fox and Iowa tribes in Nebraska.

On January 20, Buffalo Soldiers, under the command of Captain Francis Dodge, came upon a settlement of Mescalero Apaches in the most remote region of New Mexico’s Guadalupe Mountains and attacked them, killing ten Mescalero Apaches and taking 25 ponies.

On January 23, in the Massacre on the Marias, 173 Blackfeet men, women and children were slaughtered by U.S. soldiers on the Marias River in Montana in response for the killing of Malcolm Clarke and the wounding of his son by a small party of young Blackfeet men.

On March 30, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified. It finally recognized the natural right of all men to vote, including Indians. Women continued to be second-class citizens.

Custer and the Seventh Cavalry come to the northern plains to guard the surveyers for the Northern Pacific Railroad. He has a chance encounter with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.

On June 5, Alcatraz’s first Indian prisoner known as Paiute Tom started his prison term at the infamous facility. Tom’s stay at the prison was short. He was shot and killed by a guard two days after arriving. It’s unknown today what he was convicted of or why he was killed.

On February 25, the Skokomish reservation was established, near Shelton, Washington .

On July 26, the order was given that friendly Indians were to remain in fixed camps at the Wichita Agency, Indian Territory , and answer periodic roll calls.

On September 10, a group of Kiowa and Comanche attacked a military supply caravan along the Washita River, Indian Territory , in present day Oklahoma . The soldiers barricaded themselves for several days until others came to help. One soldier was killed.

On November 9, the Indian Bureau reported that Plains Indians outside reservations were "well-fed . . . lofty and independent in their attitudes, and are a threat to the reservation system."

George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry begin to forcibly place the Lakota Sioux onto reservations.

Sitting Bull organizes the greatest gathering of Indians on the northern plains.