The Northern Pacific Railroad surveys
Isaac Stevens had already made treaties with many of the indigenous nations along the Northern Pacific route. Now those treaties would be violated and traditional hunting grounds would be reduced even further. The Oceti Sakowin, or Sioux, in particular refused to accept this further erosion of their rights. Negotiations between the Sioux and the American government were held at Fort Peck in 1871. There, Chiefs Sitting Bull and Black Moon refused to concede any more of their hunting grounds to American colonists. Backed by the American government, the railroad board pressed on anyway, sending heavily armed survey parties into Sioux lands to plot the railway’s course.
The survey of 1871
The first survey took place in the summer of 1871. Mindful of the cost of waging war, Oceti Sakowin warriors watched the survey parties from afar but did not engage. The surveyors, meanwhile, battled the elements and, on occasion, each other, but did not seek out conflict with Native Americans. The 1872 and 1873 surveys were not so bloodless.
The survey of 1872
In 1872, a survey party led by engineer John Haydon and Major Eugene Baker set out to chart a path over Bozeman pass and down the Yellowstone River. This route cut through Oceti Sakowin hunting grounds, which the Northern Pacific has promised not to do. Although Chief Sitting Bull was still mindful of the cost of war and wary of breaking the peace with the United States, some of his fellow warriors felt differently. On August 14th, 1872, a group of warriors slipped away from their camp at dusk to raid the encroaching survey party and steal their horses. Despite his misgivings, Sitting Bull led the raid.The raid caught the surveyors by surprise. Major Baker, a heavy drinker, was passed out in his bunk and could not be woken, and most of the rest of the military guard was asleep. Despite this, the survey crew rallied and Sitting Bull and his men were pushed back. However, as a result of the raid, already rising tensions between the engineers and the military men on the team came to a head, and the survey went no farther. Haydon and Baker each blamed the other for the expedition’s failure. The incident, known in various places as the Battle at Pryor’s Creek, The Battle of Arrow Creek, or simply The Baker Battle, filtered into public consciousness and the public began rapidly losing faith in the Northern Pacific and its endeavor.
The survey of 1873
The survey party of 1873 was troubled from the start. Colonel David Stanley and George Custer commanded it. The two men clashed repeatedly over Stanley’s alcoholism and Custer’s unwillingness to follow orders. On August 4th, 1873, when Custer’s and Stanley’s parties had temporarily separated, Oceti Sakowin warriors and their allies launched an ambush on Custer’s troops. Outnumbered but better trained, it took Custer’s troops more than three hours to repel the troops led by war leaders Gall and Rain-in-the-Face.Enraged by the ambush, Custer began actively pursuing Sitting Bull and his men, determined to defeat them once and for all. On August 11th Custer’s men clashed with Sitting Bull’s and handily defeated them. The ease with which his men won the fight gave Custer the mistaken impression that the Native Americans were no threat, an impression which would have fatal consequences three years later, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Meanwhile, the relative success of the 1873 survey did little to re-inspire confidence in the Northern Pacific, and it went into its second period of bankruptcy later that same year, when the stock market crashed.
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