Carving Out the West at the Great Smoke Conference
In 1851, American Indian tribes gathered to seek protection of their western lands from frontiersman on the Oregon Trail
- By Paul VanDevelder
- Smithsonian.com, April 02, 2009, Subscribe
In 1851, the United States Congress invited the widely scattered Indian tribes of the West to gather for a grand peace council at Fort Laramie in the Nebraska Territory. Conceived and organized by treaty commissioners Thomas Fitzpatrick, the Irish immigrant who blazed open the Oregon Trail in 1836, and David Mitchell, the Indian superintendent for the West, the Indians called the gathering "The Great Smoke." For its part, Congress wanted safe passage for white settlers on the Oregon Trail. For theirs, Indians wanted formal recognition of their homelands—1.1 million square miles of the American West—and guarantees that the United States Government would protect their lands from encroachment by whites. In a month-long spectacle of feasting and negotiating on a scale that would never be repeated, they both got their wish.
The celebrations that marked the end of the peace council at Horse Creek, the drumming and dancing, singing and feasting, went on without pause for two days and nights. On the evening of September 20, the treaty commissioners’ long-awaited supply-train appeared on the eastern horizon, prompting a great rejoicing in the Indian camps arrayed among the hills above the North Platte. The following day, commissioner David Mitchell rose early and raised the American flag over the treaty arbor. One final time he discharged the cannon to call Cat Nose, Terra Blue, Four Bears, and all the other headmen, to the council circle beneath the arbor. There, where Dragoons had worked into the wee hours of the morning unloading the wagons bearing gifts and provisions, the Indians quietly gathered at their accustomed places. Dressed in the gayest of costumes and painted with glaring hues of their cherished vermillion, Mitchell presented the chiefs with gilt swords and the uniforms of generals. Then, he called each band forward to claim its gifts, and despite the atmosphere of great excitement, the vast multitude of Indians remained calm and respectful, and not the slightest trace of impatience or jealousy was apparent throughout the ceremony.
For weeks, 15,000 nomads of the great western tribes had set aside their ancient animosities and camped together in a spirit of peace and friendship at the confluence of the North Platte and Horse Creek in the Nebraska Territory. The legendary mountain man Jim Bridger, Jesuit priest Pierre De Smet, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, the intrepid adventurer and trader, met each day with the headmen of the twelve tribes to etch the first boundaries into America’s vast western landscape, a region marked on maps of the day as “territory unknown.” It was a deliberate, painstaking process, and day by day, one river, one mountain range and one valley at a time, a new American West gradually took shape on a map that was unlike any previously drawn. Bridger and De Smet found themselves embroiled in a world of geographical nuance and arcane oral histories, all of which had to be squared, as neatly as possible, on a sheet of parchment showing dozens of geographic features that were known to fewer than half a dozen white men.
When the task was completed, political boundaries establishing a dozen new tribal homelands covered a contiguous swath of real estate larger than the entire Louisiana Purchase. The 1.1 million square miles of land claimed by the western tribes in the treaty negotiated at Horse Creek (and ratified the following year by the U.S. Senate) would one day envelop twelve western states and corral the future cities of Denver and Fort Collins, Kansas City, Billings, Cheyenne and Sheridan, Cody and Bismarck, Salt Lake City, Omaha and Lincoln, Sioux Falls and Des Moines, within one vast territory that was owned, as it had been since time immemorial, by Indian nations.
By month’s end, the Indians’ vast herd of 50,000 ponies had nibbled the last blade of short grass to dust and roots, for miles around. The slightest evening zephyr raised a choking wall of flying refuse and human waste that engulfed the sprawling encampment in swirling clouds of debris. So once the tribal headmen had touched the pen to the final document, and once the presents had been distributed by Mitchell at the arbor, the women quickly struck the teepees, loaded the prairie buggies with their belongings, and gathered up their children for the long journey home.
With quiet elation, Thomas Fitzpatrick, the white-headed Irishman and long-time friend the Indians called Broken Hand, watched from the solitude of his camp as the last bands of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho struck their villages. Despite his ambivalence about the Indians’ future, Fitzpatrick had worked diligently for many years to persuade the western tribes to meet in a formal peace council with the Great White Fathers. Certainly, no one’s diplomatic skill or intimate knowledge of the tribes–their many languages, unique customs, and of the country they occupied–had been more instrumental in bringing the council to a successful conclusion. Old men such as Cat Nose and Gray Prairie Eagle knew that this was the first gathering of its kind in the history of the American West, and that most likely it would be the last. Events of coming years would affirm their clairvoyance, as no assemblage equal to its grandeur and its diplomatic promise would ever again be convened on the high plains of North America.
For the moment, however, such reflections were luxuries to be enjoyed by white men in distant towns, villages, and cities, men whose proxies had at long last claimed their coveted prize–safe passage for white settlers through Indian country to the Oregon Territory and the new state of California. The road to Canaan by way of Manifest Destiny, unburdened of legal encumbrances and threats of hostility from the tribes of the plains, was now open to the restless multitudes. For the Indians the true test of the Great White Father’s solemn promises lay not in words and lines drawn on a sheet of parchment, nor in the ashes of the council fire, but in deeds done on an unmarked day in an unknowable future. In one fashion or another, the old men knew that test would come just as surely as the snows would soon fly over the short grass prairie.
As they were bundling up their lodges and preparing to leave, Cheyenne hunters rode back to camp with stirring news. A large herd of buffalo had been sighted in the country of the South Platte, two days’ travel to the southeast. Waves of excitement raced through the villages. The Cheyenne and Sioux, with their enormous encampments, were particularly eager to make one last chase before the first snows drove them into their winter villages at Belle Fourche and Sand Creek. From their separate camps, Fitzpatrick, Mitchell, and De Smet, watched the last members of Terra Blue’s band ride away in the late afternoon. Before long, after leaving behind swirling motes of dust on a grassless plain, the nomads merged with the southern horizon. The broad and familiar sweep of the North Platte country was suddenly forlorn and strangely hushed. It was as if the grand kaleidoscopic pageant of the gathering–an event unique in the pages of America’s rapidly unfolding story–had been nothing more than a colorful prelude to a feast of bones for the coyotes, raptors, and the implacable wolves.
(Excerpted from Savages and Scoundrels: The Untold Story of America’s Road to Empire through Indian Territory by Paul VanDevelder, published by Yale University Press in April 2009. Copyright 2009 by Paul VanDevelder. Excerpted by permission of Yale University Press.)
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Comments (20)
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How wonderful this book sounds. the gathering of the tribes into one council without infighting. Too bad that the United States once again broke treaties that were made at the council. If the tribes had only known their future they could have wiped out these white men and kept all lands that were their sacred trust. Just think these tribes would be the leaders of their destiny, not the congress that always broke treaties. Giving gifts that were meaningless to the tribes and trying to have them dress up as white men what a travesty that our government once imposed upon peoples that did not understand. I once felt that manifest destiny was something to be proud of, now I hand my head in grief as the White Man still to this day writes treaties with other countries and as history is doomed to repeat itselt still does not keep treaties.
Posted by Robin on April 17,2009 | 12:36 PM
Native Americans and friends don't have to let the past confine our thoughts to the horrors of the murders, lies and thefts of history. The real story must include the future, where our best times await us. Now that is something to believe.
Posted by Jeff Sylvester on April 10,2009 | 11:43 PM
I haven't read the Smithsonian article on American Indians, but have always been interested in these spiritual people. I do remember watching "The Native Americans" on PBS in NYC with music by Robbie Robertson and other native americans. That story was also told by mostly natives and was informative and rich. All Native Americans must continue to speak about who they are, where they came from and where they are going. It is best that they tell there own story and let the country and the world hear their voice. This country has never admitted to its genocide of some many tribes (remember 500 Nations). Now it is time to admit it, ask for forgiveness and create a better dialogue and relationship with native americans for a better country and better world. GOD BLESS THEM.
Posted by Maggie on April 10,2009 | 02:10 PM
This story of course is in wonderful juxtaposition to the arrogance that our government officials often display when speaking on the international stage. We constantly question other countries' intentions while implying that our own are pure as the driven snow. Unfortunately, the mass media fail in their job of setting the historical story straight. Many thanks to Mr. VanDevelder for doing so. I look forward to reading the whole book.
Posted by M Zivin on April 9,2009 | 02:07 PM
I wish to thank you for this information that was so helpful for me to understand what my people went through. I've always read this great magazine and will continue to do so. most of all I appreciate the articles written about my people, the American Indians. I'm quarter blood Mohawk and very proud to claim my heritage.May the Creator bless those responsible for writing our history. I'm looking forward to more of our history. May you walk in peace.
Respectfully,
Ms Barbara Briggs
(Dream Chaser)
Posted by Barbara J Briggs on April 9,2009 | 10:29 AM
G'chi miigwetch*, PBS...
for speaking a story that has not been revealed by so credible an organization.
We are pleased, for you have exercised responsibly the obligation that comes with power / influence.
There is much strength in your words.
May The Creator bless you for this good thing that you have do to and for, so many.
Humbled and heartened,
-- Carey
* G'chi miigwetch, "huge thanks", in Central Ojibwe dialect.
Posted by Carey & Linda-Marie ( Assinewe ) Conway on April 8,2009 | 06:35 AM
I am so gratified by the wonderful responses to this snapshot of history that I, as the author, wanted to personally thank all of the present and future responders for their thoughtful and penetrating observations. It is very clear to me, as well as the editors at the Smithsonian who helped to put this together, that this topic continues to touch deep nerves in our national ‘being.’ It is not a subject that we can consign to the mists of history or dismiss in a few hundred words.
I spent many years researching this book, and when it came time to put words to paper, I found myself making dozens of difficult choices and decisions on every page. My editors at Yale Press and I were determined -- however tempted we were to venture down side roads --to stay the course to the end. That end was a fresh and vigorous ‘realignment’ of the major events in the first century of this nation, events that set us off on the course that eventually led to that place, as many of you have correctly extrapolated from this snippet of the book, where we find ourselves today.
Lastly, on a personal note, my heritage is also Scotch-Irish, on my mothers side, and Native American. The roots of our family tree are anchored in soil on both sides of the Atlantic, and in that sense, as I wrote in the introduction, I, like many of us, am the genetic embodiment of our nation’s family tree. But how did we get from there to here, I wondered? What is the real American narrative that lurks behind the sanitized story so many generations of American school children have been taught? Surely, that was a story, a crossing, as sailors like to say, that would be worthy of the fiercest storm. After all…it’s OUR story.
Posted by Paul VanDevelder on April 7,2009 | 04:01 PM
Although the Native American part of my heritage is only 1/16th, and because the Scottish-Irish immigrant part of the family settled in western Pennsylvania, nowhere close to the Plains tribes, this account is not about my tribe. Indeed, because of conflicts between those tribes that used the area my European family settled as a hunting ground, I have not yet learned exactly which tribe from which my Grandmother's Grandfather chose and married a wife. But the love my Grandmother felt for her Grandmother was real and deeply felt. I still feel a tug on my being whenever I read about such bland assurance of eminent domain that the newcomers displayed. We continue, don't we? I do not believe there will never be an end to such tomfoolery as war. I think we may all need an injection that finally connects the primitive and advanced parts of our brains, a la Arthur Koestler, in "The Ghost In The Machine."Read it and restore hope. Lyn Macfarlane
Posted by Lyn Macfarlane on April 7,2009 | 12:01 PM
will history repeat it self? will this story be told 150 years in the future about the whites that occupied the americas. will it be told by spanish/mexicans how they took back the land?
Posted by w mengel on April 6,2009 | 06:30 PM
Given the European concept of land "ownership" vs the Native American concept, such conflicts & changes that did take place were inevitable, furthermore, the near extermination of the buffalo herds which had supported or supplemented not only the diets, but the lifestyle of so many members of the very diverse Native American tribal groups even before the introduction of the riding horse by the Spanish in the 1500's,coupled with the 19th century's attitudes re "race" & the Native Americans' ideas of what was "manly & respectable" in the support of one's family & tribe all contributed to the modern dilemma facing not only the remaining Native Americans, but the decendants of those Europeans who directly participated in those conflicts. There are no easy answers.
Posted by Stephen M Taylor, Sr. on April 6,2009 | 02:33 PM
As a docent at one of the California Missions for many years, and having always loved the study of history, I learned a great many things about the culture clash that took place between the native inhabitants of this continent and the intruders from Europe - and they came from many differing cultures themselves! It has been interesting to observe the changing attitudes about the whole thing, but I am often reminded not to romanticize either side of any of the conflicts...and to remember that there were truly good men on both sides...as there always are. The native peoples were at a stage in their development which the intruders had long since grown past which left a terrible chasm which neither was aware of - or could have done anything about if they had been. I cannot help but applaud all my First American friends and neighbors for continuing to work their way through generations of problems and am very certain that they will succeed - as they already have in many, many ways no one even thinks about, let alone writes about or comments on! Today it seems all of us, First Americans, white, black, yellow and brown, indeed our whole nation, have arrived at a most disturbing point in time which will require the very best of all of us to work through - plus a great deal of prayer. God help us all. We need it.
Posted by Anne Trueman on April 6,2009 | 11:47 AM
my grandfather was born in a covered wagon - and grew up in a sod hut -
in the the Dakota territory -
Taught to read by his mother, he hunted buffalo to pay for his college education - He bacame a law clerk and then a barrister and plead before the US Supreme court during his career - he read classical greek for his pleasure - volunteered for the war with Spain -
his son, my father - was for 6 yearsa Col. in the US army and fought the north africa and Italy campaigns -
I grew up in Belle Fourche -many of my friends were Sioux - I volunteered for the Marines during the Korean war -
With this background - I am still deeply ashamed at what your article does not even mention -
one of the first great genocides of modern times -
the destruction of great peoples like the Sioux and the Navajo
and it is morally undefendable - against this background - that the Republic continues to treat the survivors of these peoples as second class citizens -
Posted by pelikan on April 6,2009 | 08:45 AM
The 1851 gathering of the American Indian Tribs and the Government of the United States Tribs at Fort Laramie was an effort of a modern act to take over (which history recorded) that had been going on for centuries and centuries between the strong and the weak tribes of the world. The great difference, we Americans (as a Christian nation) have a tang of shame. Unfortuntally, it will probaly not be the last as other tribes become stronger than the our USA tribe.
Posted by Wesley F. Buchele on April 5,2009 | 11:13 PM
Excellent history! You cav be sure I'll read the book
Posted by George Sivanich on April 5,2009 | 05:33 PM
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