Abstract
As the United States Army defeated the Plains Indians in battle, the United States government endeavored to eradicate their way of life. Plains Indian people were confined to reservations where they were subjected to policies of acculturation by coercion and where their lives were controlled by government laws and agents (Figure 21). Divisions grew between traditionalists and those people who accepted many of the new ways. Indian people experienced poverty, powerlessness, dependency, and despair. “You see this barren waste,” Red Cloud told a white visitor to Pine Ridge. “Think of it! I, who used to own rich soil in a well-watered country so extensive that I could not ride through it in a week on my fastest pony, am put down here…. Now I, who used to control five thousand warriors, must tell Washington when I am hungry. I must beg for that which I own. If I beg hard, they put me in the guardhouse. We have trouble. Our girls are getting bad. Coughing sickness every winter carries away our best people. My heart is heavy….”1
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