Military and Oral History Conference:
Between Memory and History
“Memory and Oral Tradition on the Great Plains: The Plains Indian Wars of the Nineteenth Century”
Robert Lang, University of Wyoming.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the United States Army and Plains Indian societies engaged in many different armed conflicts. Although Americans classified many of these clashes as battles, natives viewed these events as massacres. Their understanding of military engagements resulted because of the many indiscriminate and unprovoked attacks against their people, which included the army’s policy of predawn attacks against sleeping villages and the targeting of noncombatants. Ultimately, the army prevailed over the numerous Plains tribes, largely because of its strategy for waging war.
By utilizing oral transcripts from native participants at places like Sand Creek, Washita and the various engagements of the Great Sioux War of 1876 and 1877, I will explore the effects of the army’s policy on Indian morale, their resolve to continue fighting American soldiers and the decisions to accept treaties that either limited or ended free life. Most significantly, these oral testimonies will add insight into native perceptions of events, including the justification for Indian depredations against whites that—while often exaggerated—preceded many of the army’s campaigns against the tribal societies of the Plains, as well as native condemnation of the massive casualties at Sand Creek, Washita, Wounded Knee and other places. In addition, investigating the oral testimonies, writings and other primary sources of white participants will also provide insight into the violence that so enraged Plains societies. Examining Indians’ understanding of various engagements also helps to explain how such “battles” entered the oral traditions of Plains societies as massacres.