Unit 1 Individual Project
AIU Online

Abstract
Native American Tribes are a huge part of our nation’s history; at the beginning they were a free group of people who had their own set of beliefs and religion. But over time wars and government agencies made it extremely hard on these tribes to just live their lives. Crazy Horse, Lt. Custer, and General Crook were very important in the history of the Sioux tribe.

The Sioux Native American Tribe is one of the many tribes residing within the United States, who in 1868 signed a treaty at a conference in Wyoming, promising peace between their tribe and the whites. In this treaty the Sioux agreed to settle in the Dakota Territory at the Black Hills reservation (Sioux Nation>Life and Culture-Reservations and Treaties, 2009). There are three major dialects that are spoken in the Sioux and these are Lakota, Western Dakota, and Eastern Dakota. Mythology and beliefs are very important to the Sioux, and some are still practiced today. Within the Sioux tribe are separate tribes and one of those tribes are the Lakota, they also speak the dialect Lakota. One of the things I found interesting is that the dream catcher started with the Lakota tribe, which started from a dream that one of their spiritual leaders had. In the dream he spoke with Ikotomi about the cycle of life and choosing you right path (Crystal, 1995). It is said to remove all the bad visions and dreams so an individual is able to focus on the right path for their life journey. They believe that the dream catcher holds the destiny of their future. One of the things that differs between the way that Native Americans tribes are and the way our nation is that the Sioux were not governed by laws but by customs passed down throughout their tribes. Each individual tribe had their own chief, and a tribe council who would set up their own customs and standards the tribe would follow. To become part of this council you had to prove that you were benevolent, do good deed and generally come from a good family. But also you would have to have nobility form battle and be a significant part of your community. Unlike in our community today, the Sioux gave their upmost respect to their elders, these were the people who would pass down the tribal stories and ancestral values to the younger members of the tribe (Sioux Nation>Life and Culture-Community, 2009). In each village there was also a holy person known as a medicine man, who held a great deal of influence over the people of the tribe. This person could either be a man or woman, but whomever it was, the tribe believed that they could communicate with the other side or could heal any ailments the tribe encountered (Sioux Nation>Life and Culture- Community, 2009). The spiritual foundation of the Lakota Sioux is what they call the seven sacred rites. These are a set of ceremonies and beliefs, which they consider to be very powerful and critical to their way of life. These rites are The keeping of the soul, Inipi: The Rite of Purification, Hanblecheyapi: Crying for a Vision, Wiwanyag Wachipi:The Sun Dance, Hunkapi:The Making of Relatives, Ishna Ta Awi Cha Lowan:Preparing a Girl for Womanhood, and Tapa Wanka Yap:Throwing of the Ball (Crystal, 1995). The Keeping of the Soul is a way for spiritual healing to be performed after death, to enable the person’s soul to cross over to the land of the Great Spirit and stay at peace. One of the most well-known Sioux tribe members is Tasunka Witho, aka Crazy Horse. He was known in his tribe as a born leader, a visionary and a charismatic defender of his tribe (Sioux Nation>Significant People-Crazy Horse, 2009). He refused to sign any treaty that the United States offered his tribe, he didn’t want to have to follow any rules and regulations set up by the government. After The U.S. War Department ordered all the Lakota tribe to live on reservations, he gathered up 1,200 warriors of the Oglala and Cheyenne tribes to fight in the Battle of Rosebud. Crazy Horse was also involved in the attack on Lt. Custer’s 7th Calvary, in the Battle of Bighorn. Lt. Custer ordered an attack on a village, unbeknownst to him, containing more than 2,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, the Lt. and his entire unit was killed (Sioux Nation>Significant People-Crazy Horse, 2009). After this battle the American people demanded that all the Sioux tribes were to be contained on reservations. Some of the tribe members agreed to go on the reservations, and some resorted to fleeing to Canada in fear of their life. So in reality Crazy Horse just made things worse for his tribe, in killing Lt. Custer he made the Native American tribes look like crazy people just killing everyone they can. General Nelson Miles was given the task of finding Crazy Horse and bringing him to justice. General Crook told Crazy Horse that if he surrendered, his people would have a reservation in the Powder River area, and after constant harassment, Crazy Horse finally surrendered, thinking that his people would be taken care of but the promise of a reservation for his people was not followed through with. Crazy horse was killed later that year. Another important event is U.S Campaign against the buffalo; they knew how much that the Native American Tribes depended on the buffalo to survive. Not only do they depend on the buffalo for food but to the Sioux, they depend on them spiritually also. The government knew that as long as the buffalo were around then they could not fully control the tribes and force them to live on the reservations (Sioux Nation>Key Events & Battles-Buffalo Campaign, 2009). Soon the government organized groups to secretly kill a big part of the buffalo to force the tribes to have to depend on them for their well-being. As time passed the buffalo numbers depleted dramatically. The buffalo became pretty much extinct by the early 1883, and without the buffalo, the Sioux were forced to either move to the reservation or starve to death (Sioux Nation>Key Events & Battles-Buffalo Campaign, 2009). All these events and more were the leading causes of the Native American tribes being forced to move to the reservations and becoming more ruled by government and less by their own customs and regulations.

References
Crystal, E. (1995). Lakota – Dakota – Sioux Nation. Retrieved 2013, from Crystal Links: http://crystalinks.com/sioux.html

Sioux Nation>Life and Culture-Community. (2009). Retrieved 2013, from Galafilm Productions: http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/sioux/lc_community.html

Sioux Nation>Life and Culture-Reservations and Treaties. (2009). Retrieved 2013, from Galafilm Productions: http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/sioux/lc_reserve.html

Sioux Nation>Significant People-Crazy Horse. (2009). Retrieved 2013, from Galafilm Productions: http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/sioux/sp_crazy.html

Sioux Nation>Key Events & Battles-Buffalo Campaign. (2009). Retrieved 2013, from Galafilm Productions: http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/sioux/ev_buffalo.html