Red Cloud’s war
Red Cloud’s War is considered the biggest war won by the Native American and was an armed conflict between the Lakota tribe and the United States Government in Wyoming and Montana between 1866 and 1868 . Access to the Montana gold fields was through the Bozeman trail and this encroached on Powder River County in central Wyoming, which resulted in the conflict.
Gold was discovered in 1963 in the Bannack area of Montana, which lead to increase in the number of white settlers in the area. It also lead to the discovery of the Bozeman trail, which ran from Fort Laramie through the Powder River county to Yellowstone and the Bozeman Pass. This affected the hunting grounds of the Lakota in Powder River county. Though a council was called in 1866 to discuss a treaty between the Lakota and United States, it was done in bad faith by the United States government.
As the United States government continued construction along the Bozeman trail, the native Americans organised a resistance against travellers on the trail by targeting traders, emigrants and mail carriers. The biggest defeat was the massacre of Lieutenant Colonel William Fetterman’s column just outside Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming, in December of 1866. This lead to the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty