The (Sad) Anniversary of the "Grattan Massacre"

On August 19, 1854, US infantry under the command of  John Grattan, a new second lieutenant, went into a camp of Brulé Lakota in response to the killing of a stray cow by a visiting member of the Miniconjou, another Lakota tribe. In an ensuing standoff the Brule chief, Conquering Bear, was shot in the back. His warriors then killed 29 soldiers. This was reported in the Eastern press as the "Grattan Massacre" and led to immediate retaliation, beginning the Sioux Wars.  The war was driven by ever greater tragedy, fueled by human obdurateness, hubris, and stupidity.

The full story is told many places in detail; here's a brief summary. A group of settlers were moving west along the Oregon trail, and one of their cows wandered away. It was killed by High Forehead, a visiting Miniconju, and the settlers protested to army officials in Camp Laramie. While a treaty had been signed two years before that would have addressed this, but the commander at nearby Fort Laramie either was ignorant of it or ignored it. The exchange of a horse and a cow was refused by the army for the dead cow. Lieutenant Grattan, said by many to be itching for a fight, then went to the Brule camp with perhaps 29 soldiers and an interpreter and attempted to arrest High Forehead and obtain a cash payment, although the Brule had no cash. The soldier's interpreter in fact spoke little Lakota (and perhaps no Brulé) and kept calling the warriors -- who numbered about 1500 --  "women." Negotiations broke down, and one of the soldiers then shot Conquering Bear in the back (he lived for nine more days). The Lakota immediately killed most of the soldiers some escaped but were were pursued and killed (one who got back to Fort Laramie and died a few days later).  A local trader who spoke both Brulé and English, but who was not used by the army as a translator, was also present and survived. The soldiers bodies were scalped and mutilated.

In Washington then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (later President of the Confederacy) declared the Lakota's actions to have been deliberate. General William S. Harney, who was on leave in Paris, was recalled and put in charge of 600 troops and instructed to exact revenge. Harney, who had his own very "colorful" career and a reputation for cruelty, said " "By God, I'm for battle—no peace."  Battles, massacres, and years of misdealings and broken treaties ensued. Eventually Harney mellowed. and he came to seek peace with Native Americans. After death the Sioux came to call him "Man-who-always-kept-his-word."

The Sioux Wars may seem to have been inevitable; a clash of cultures that could result in thousands dead and one or both of the cultures destroyed. Yet there were numerous people on both sides who had an understanding of the other side and the circumstances; their voices were drowned out in both camps. The stubborn and the ignorant pushed the conflict and gave us the tragedy. And that is a part of the tragedy for us all.