This Date In History: January 31, 1876 (Part One)

January 31, 2026 and 1876

This Date in History: A Dead-of-Winter Deadline 150 Years Ago Today

(Part One)

What really happened on this date 150 years ago? The question is really not what happened but rather, “What did not?” The date proved fateful in many ways, and it is one of many that could be marked as “the beginning of the end.” For one, it set in motion more events that led to the ignominious demise of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer.

Perhaps more sadly, it marked the start of a military campaign – often one of winter warfare against non-treaty Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho bands. Its purpose was to force those non-treaty tribes onto reservations set aside by treaties to which they had not agreed. Those bands, and any Indians who had left their reservations, would now be called “hostiles.”

Oftentimes the name “hostiles” fit. As with any two-sided issue, justification for that hostility would be a matter of perspective.

What makes this date fateful is that January 31, 1876 was the arbitrary date set by General Philip Sheridan for all bands and tribes mentioned above to move onto reservations set by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Not only was this deadline totally unrealistic, it was more than unreasonable.

As always, a discussion of this demands background as to why the U.S. military under Generals Sherman and Sheridan –with the apparent blessing of President U.S. Grant — established this date.

For years (perhaps to its credit when viewed through what they knew only at the time) the United States had pursued a Peace Policy toward nomadic Indian tribes. No marked or surveyed boundaries delineated various tribal lands. In fact, concepts of boundaries were blurred at best. The Black Hills, in what was then Dakota Territory, were considered sacred homelands by Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho as well as by the Sioux who had moved westward. That would become a matter of concern relating to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which I’ll discuss shortly.

The Peace Policy, though, could be summed up as good intention by those in the eastern United States. With lack of defined boundaries for tribal lands, and with waves of western movement by European-American settlers, many viewed the more native tribes as uncivilized nomads. The lands those tribes roamed were seen as unsettled and therefore free for the taking by settlers, prospectors, etc.

The Peace Policy sought to offer reservations ceded specifically for each tribe, with food and clothing supplied annually as needed. The belief was that Indians could be educated in the white man’s knowledge and ways. They would be taught to farm so they could live in one place and produce their own food, raising beef, vegetable gardens and other farm crops. They would be influenced toward various “Christian” religious beliefs and practices.

A treaty with many of the Plains tribes was attempted near Fort Laramie in 1851. It tried to do away with inter-tribal warfare (yes, they warred among themselves over homelands and hunting grounds long before white men arrived). It sought to protect tribes and individuals from wrongs by white settlers, and to persuade tribes to live permanently on lands set aside for them. It sought tribal approval for safe travel by white settlers though tribal homelands and hunting grounds. It also allowed for the building of military forts, supposedly to protect both Indians and whites.

The treaty was actually never ratified by Congress, however. The original called for “annuities” to be provided to the tribes for the next 50 years. Some tribal leaders had approved it based on that promise. However, before ratifying it, Congress scaled the annuities back to five years, with an option to add five more when the first five years expired.

Tribes had long scattered by the time Congress ratified the amended version. Many tribal leaders had refused to accept even the first treaty. Those who did approve were under the belief that they had agreed to the first version. It could be said that the treaty was broken. In the eyes of those who had agreed to the first version, that was the case. In the eyes of Congress, they could not break a treaty to which all parties had not signed.

Readers will see this pattern over the next few years. Differences in language, culture and types of government led to many misunderstandings and broken promises – real or imagined – between the U.S. government, its military, and various Indian tribes. Sadly, some treaties truly were later flat-out violated and promises directly broken. Plenty of space will be dedicated to those issues over time.

In the prelude to the Little Bighorn, matters escalated all the more when gold fever was unleashed. The rush in what would become Montana Territory shift later to the Black Hills. When John Bozeman established his namesake trail as a shortcut to Montana gold fields, it cut directly through the heart of hunting grounds cherished by Arapaho, Cheyenne and even Sioux tribes. Settlers took some game. Worse, their livestock grazed heavily on the lands along the trail, pushing buffalo away.

That and other factors led to raids and predations against settlers by those tribes who saw their lands and hunting grounds violated. Five military forts were built along that trail, and others were built over in the Dakota Territory. Much of the resulting conflict could be summed up in what is known as Red Cloud’s War. That conflict is a topic in and of itself.

Red Cloud’s War led to U.S. government acquiescence in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. In part two I’ll discuss issues that stemmed from it and contributed to continuing conflicts. Suffice it here to say that many causes of those conflicts were factors that led to the deadly deadline of January 31, 1876. ;That ultimatum would bring conflicts to a climax at the Little Bighorn.