Spotted Tail

Spotted Tail was born in South Dakota in around 1823. A member of the Sioux tribe, Spotted Tail was related to Crazy Horse and distinguished himself as a warrior in battles with the Pawnee.

In 19th August, 1854, Spotted Tail, led an attack on a mail wagon on its way to Salt Lake City. Lieutenant John L. Grattan and his men were killed during the fighting. Spotted Tail was caught on 18th October but after spending time at Fort Laramie and Leavenworth was allowed to go free. This experience turned him into the leader of the peace faction of the Sioux tribe.

In March 1866 Spotted Tail began negotiations at Fort Laramie and eventually signed a peace treaty with the American government on 27th June, 1866. As a result Spotted Tail and his followers were given permission to hunt buffalo along the Republican River.

In 1868 Spotted Tail signed another treaty. Unable to read the document he was fooled into signing away Sioux lands along the Republican and the Platte. The Sioux were now forced to move 30 miles to the west. Unhappy with his leadership, on 29th October, 1869, a group led by Big Mouth, tried to kill Spotted Tail. He survived the attack and Big Mouth was executed.

In 1870 Spotted Tail and Red Cloud visited Washington where peace negotiations led to the Sioux being allowed to move to the upper White River. In 1873 Spotted Tail took part in a raid on a Pawnee camp that resulted in the deaths of over 100 men.

In 1874, George Armstrong Custer led a reconnaissance mission into Sioux territory that reported gold in the Black Hills, an area held sacred by the local Indians. In May 1875, delegations headed by Spotted Tail, Red Cloud, and Lone Horn traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet President Ulysses S. Grant.

Spotted Tail attempted to persuade President Grant to honor the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie: "My father, I have considered all the Great Father told me, and have come here to give you an answer.... When I was here before, the President gave me my country, and I put my stake down in a good place, and there I want to stay.... I respect the Treaty but the white men who come in our country do not. You speak of another country, but it is not my country; it does not concern me, and I want nothing to do with it. I was not born there.... If it is such a good country, you ought to send the white men now in our country there and let us alone."

Spotted Tail was murdered by Crow Dog on 5th August, 1881. Crow Dog was arrested and tried in a territorial court in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, and found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. However, the United States Supreme Court overturned the verdict because the Deadwood Court had no jurisdiction in a case of one Indian killing another on reservation lands and Crow Dog was released.

Primary Sources

(1) Spotted Tail, speech (March, 1868)

My father, I have considered all the Great Father told me, and have come here to give you an answer.... When I was here before, the President gave me my country, and I put my stake down in a good place, and there I want to stay.... I respect the Treaty but the white men who come in our country do not. You speak of another country, but it is not my country; it does not concern me, and I want nothing to do with it. I was not born there.... If it is such a good country, you ought to send the white men now in our country there and let us alone.