Global InformationMassacre Canyon information
Massacre Canyon Battlefield | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
 View looking southwest from the Massacre Canyon monument | |
   | |
| Nearest city | Trenton, Nebraska |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°12′23″N 100°57′53″W / 40.206443°N 100.964598°W |
| Area | 3,680 acres (1,490 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 74001118[1] |
| Added to NRHP | July 25, 1974 |
| Massacre Canyon Battle | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Brule Lakota Indians Oglala Lakota Indians | Pawnee Indians | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Little Wound, Two Strike | Sky Chief, Fighting Bear, Ruling His Son | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Around 1,000 Lakotas | Around 400 all in all, children, women and men | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown, but few | Unknown, but likely between 156 and 171, mostly women and children | ||||||
The Massacre Canyon battle took place in Nebraska on August 5, 1873, near the Republican River. It was one of the last hostilities between the Pawnee (Chaticks si Chaticks) and the Sioux (or Lakota) and the last battle/massacre between Great Plains Indians in North America.[2] The massacre occurred when a large Sioux war party of over 1,500 Oglala, Brulé, and Sihasapa warriors, led by Two Strike, Little Wound, and Spotted Tail attacked a band of Pawnee during their summer buffalo hunt. In the ensuing rout, many Pawnees were killed with estimates of casualties ranging widely from around 50 to over 150. The victims, who were mostly women and children, suffered mutilation and sexual assault.[3]
According to Indian agent John W. Williamson of the Genoa Agency on the Pawnee Reservation, who accompanied the Pawnee hunting party, "On the 2d [in fact the 3d[4]: 147 ] day of July, 1873, the Indians, to the number of 700, left Genoa for the hunting grounds. Of this number 350 were men, the balance women and children." Williamson stated that 156 Pawnee were killed though numbers vary by source. This massacre ranked among "the bloodiest attacks by the Sioux" in Pawnee history.[5] Cruel and violent warfare like this had been practiced against the Pawnee by the Lakota Sioux for centuries since the mid-1700s and through the 1840s. Attacks increased further in the 1850s until 1875. The Pawnee villages and Quaker agency near Genoa were attacked by the Lakota months and years prior to the massacre without US Government protection that had been promised in the 1857 Treaty with the Pawnee.
The Pawnee were traveling along the west bank of the canyon, which runs south to the Republican River, when they were attacked. "A census taken at the Pawnee Agency in September, according [to] Agent Burgess. . ." (see "Massacre Canyon Monument" article in External Links section) found that "71 Pawnee warriors were killed, and 102 women and children killed", the victims brutally mutilated and scalped and others even set on fire"[6] although Trail Agent John Williamson's account states 156 Pawnee died (page 388). This massacre is by some considered one of the factors that led to the Pawnees' decision to move to a reservation in Indian Territory in what is today Oklahoma, though not all sources agree on its impact in this way.[7][8]: 356–357
Principal chiefs at the battle were:
- Pawnee: Sky Chief, Sun Chief, Fighting Bear, Ruling His Son.
- Sioux: Spotted Tail (Brulé chief) (unclear[4]: 158 ), Little Wound (Oglala chief), Two Strike (Brulé chief). Chief Charging Bear (John Grass, Sihasapa) [citation needed].
Among the Pawnee dead were Sky Chief (Tirawahut Lesharo) who was surrounded and killed by the Sioux while skinning a buffalo, and the wife and four children of Traveling Bear, a former sergeant in the Pawnee Scouts who served under Maj. Frank North and a Medal of Honor recipient.[9]
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ The Nebraska Indian Wars reader, 1865–1877 By R. Eli Paul p.88 Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (April 1, 1998) Language: English ISBN 0-8032-8749-6
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:5was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b Indian Office Documents on Sioux-Pawnee Battle. Nebraska History Magazine, vol. 16, No.3 (1935), pp. 147-155.
- ^ Dunlay, Thomas W.: Wolves for the Blue Soldiers. Indian Scouts and Auxiliaries with the United States Army, 1860-90. Lincoln and London, 1982, p. 154.
- ^ The Chicago Tribune, Saturday, August 30, 1873; New York Times, August 21, 1873 (reported by William Burgess, Pawnee Indian agent)
- ^ Massacre Along the Medicine Road: A Social History of the Indian War of 1864, p. 389, By Ronald Becher. Publisher: Caxton Press (March 1, 1999) Language: English ISBN 0-87004-387-0
- ^ Blaine, Garland James & Martha Royce Blaine, “Pa-Re-Su A-Ri-Ra-Ke: The Hunters that were massacred”. Nebraska History, Vol. 58, No. 3 (1977), pp. 342-358.
- ^ Medal of honor: historical facts & figures By Ron Owens p.52