In accordance with the Constitution, the United States in 1870 viewed Indian tribes as nations and therefore negotiated treaties with them. However, once a treaty had been negotiated, ratified by the Senate, and proclaimed by the President, actually adhering to the agreements was another matter. United States policy favored placing all Indian nations on reservations, out of the way of American settlement. When American settlers decided to settle on Indian reservation lands, the federal government tended to ignore Indian concerns in order to help the squatters.
Briefly described below are some of the events regarding American Indian nations 1870, 150 years ago.
Flathead (Bitterroot Salish)
In western Montana, settlers ignored the treaty with the Flatheads, settled in the Bitterroot Valley, and asked the government to evict the Flatheads who have remained in the valley. Victor, the Flathead chief who had signed the 1855 treaty, died and the position of chief was assumed by his son Charlo. There were now more than a thousand Americans in the Bitterroot Valley and Charlo insisted that the Flathead had never relinquished their rights to the valley.
Most of the Flatheads in the Bitterroot Valley were engaged in agriculture. Their farms produced 5,000 bushels of wheat, 650 bushels of potatoes, and 60 bushels of corn. With regard to livestock, they had 600 head of cattle, 100 hogs, and about 1,100 horses. They were seen as more agricultural than other tribes.
For more background see: Indians 101: The Flathead Indians 150 years ago, 1869
Gros Ventre and Assiniboine
In Montana, the Gros Ventre and the Assiniboine became allies and lived together in the Milk River area. The Assiniboine gave the Gros Ventre 100 women as wives in order to verify the alliance.
The Gros Ventre (Atsina) language is a part of the Algonquian language family and is most closely related to Arapaho. The ancestors of the Gros Ventre and Arapaho once lived in woodlands near the Great Lakes. In the early 1700s they were pushed out onto the plains. The northern-most group of Arapaho became known as the Gros Ventre and settled in Montana.
The Assiniboine language is a part of the Siouan language family and is most closely related to Yankton-Yantonai, Stoney, and Teton Sioux. At the time of first European contact, the Assiniboine were located about 100 miles west of Lake Nipigon in present-day Ontario, Canada. Their homelands stretched into the tall grass prairies of southern Saskatchewan. During the 18th century they migrated west onto the plains areas of Alberta, Canada and Montana.
Bannock
In Montana, Bannock chief Tendoy led 700 of his people to the territorial capital of Virginia City. Prompted by a winter of starvation, the Bannocks confronted the governor and demanded that the United States take some positive action to provide them with a permanent reservation. While they reached an agreement with the governor, this agreement was not submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification.
Bannock and Shoshone
In Idaho, about 300 Bannocks under the leadership of Tahgee and about 100 Shoshones from the Bear River Valley in Utah came to the Fort Hall Reservation. They asked for the clothing ration which had been promised to them under their treaty and requested a council with the Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
At the council, Boise Shoshone leader Captain Jim and Bruneau Shoshone leader Bruneau Jim explained that they had no horses and wanted to stay permanently at Fort Hall. On the other hand, Pocatello expressed a desire to continue his nomadic lifestyle.
Shoshone
In Utah, the Shoshone under the leadership of Pocatello assembled near Corinne to receive their annuity goods. Each Indian received a red shirt. In addition, blankets, fishhooks, pans, pots, traps, hatchets, butcher knives, and combs were distributed. The value of the goods was about $5,000.
Refugees
As a result of the 1869 Riel Rebellion in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, a number of Métis, Ojibwa, and Cree families fled south into the United States, settling in the Milk River and Spring Creek (near Lewistown) areas in Montana and in north-central North Dakota.
Indians 101
Twice each week Indians 101 explores various American Indian topics. More about nineteenth-century histories from this series:
Indians 101: American Indian court cases 150 years ago, 1870
Indians 101: The Lame Cow War
Indians 101: Fort Fizzle and the Nez Perce
Indians 101: Imposing Laws on the Nez Perce
Indians 101: The Fur Trade in Northwestern Montana, 1807-1835
Indians 101: The Methodists Run the Siletz Reservation
Indians 101: The Cherokee Trail of Tears
Indians 101: Greed, Corruption, and the Foundation for Oklahoma Statehood, 1893 to 1894