The story so far

The Civil War officially ended in the East when Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House. In an untraditional gesture and as a sign of Grant's respect and anticipation of folding the Confederacy back into the Union with dignity and peace, Lee was permitted to keep his officer's saber and his horse, Traveller.

Johnston surrendered his troops to Sherman on April 26, 1865, in Durham, North Carolina, ended the Western Theatre

Fighting continued in the west, the so-called Trans-Mississippi Theater.

The Battle of Palmito Ranch, also known as the Battle of Palmito Hill and the Battle of Palmeto Ranch, was fought on May 12 – May 13, 1865, during the American Civil War. In the kaleidoscope of events following the surrender of Robert E. Lee's army on April 9, Palmito Ranch was nearly ignored. It was the last major clash of arms in the war.

Early in 1865, both sides in Texas made a gentlemen's agreement that there was no point to further hostilities. By that time, most Union troops had pulled out from Texas for campaigns in the east. The Confederates sought to protect their remaining ports for cotton sales to Europe, as well as importation of supplies. Mexicans tended to side with the Confederates due to a lucrative smuggling trade. Barrett instructed Lt. Col. David Branson to attack the rebel encampment at Brazos Santiago Depot near Fort Brown outside Brownsville, commanded by Confederate Major John "Rip" Ford.

Union forces marched upriver from Brazos Santiago to attack the Confederate encampment, and were at first successful, due to the Confederates being under the understanding that hostilities had ceased. However, after some confusion and bitter fighting, the Union forces were then driven back by a relief Confederate force. The next day, the Union forces attacked again, and again to initial success and later failure. Ultimately, the Union force retreated to the coast.

There were 118 Union casualties. Confederate casualties were "a few dozen" wounded, none killed. Like the war's first big battle at First Bull Run, which also yielded little gain for either side, the battle is recorded as a Confederate victory. Texas armies formally surrendered on May 26, 1865; Confederate general Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered his forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department on June 2.

On June 23, 1865, at Fort Towson in the Choctaw Nations' area of the Oklahoma Territory, Stand Watie signed a cease-fire agreement with Union representatives, becoming the last Confederate general in the field to stand down. The last Confederate naval force to surrender was the CSS Shenandoah on November 4, 1865, in Liverpool, England.

Before the War

European vs. Indian Nation warfare from 1731 through 1860

Initially conflict on the Great Plains was largely conducted on the Southern Great Plains in Spanish Texas that later would become New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. [1] Spanish conflicts began around 1731 and continued through 1790 against the Plains Apaches. As Americas began to move into Texas following the independence of Mexico, they to came into contact and conflict with the Plains Indians already in the region, such as the Plains Apache, Comanche, Jicarilla Apaches, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita. [2] Due to the geographic realities of the Northern Great Plains, there is very little contact and conflict until the Fort Laramie fight on 15 June 1853 [3] and the Grattan Massacre at Torrington Wyoming on 19 August 1854 [4] that began the Sioux War of 1854-Õ57. Considering the first encounters with Europeans in the later half of the 17^th century [5] through the Lewis and Clark expedition and years of migration across the Northern Great Plains by Europeans, the Northern Great Plains had a long period of peace between the American Indians and Europeans.

The First Sioux War began with the killing of GrattanÕs command in August of 1854 and continued through 1856 with engagements at Bluewater Creek Nebraska in which 86 BrulŽ and 7 solders were killed, [6] and raids and retaliation against emigrants, American settlements and stagecoaches. [7] While the First Sioux War did lead to many deaths, it was a very low intensity conflict driven largely from the destruction of a Platoon-equivalent from G Company, 6^th Infantry. Other larger scale conflicts were occurring in California, Oregon and on the Southern Great Plains. [8]

For all intents and purposes, warfare on the Northern Great Plains from 1803 through 1860 was a very low intensity conflict between Europeans and the Plains Indians, with one breakout that lead to less than one thousand dead on both sides. [9] The power vacuum caused by the Civil War would lead to a much longer and more violent series of wars on the Northern Great Plains.

While the fighting between the United States and Kaw, Comanches, Kiowa drifted into the Northern Great Plains at Republican Fork in Nebraska, [10] the Northern Great Plains generally was calm following the First Sioux War, as long as the United States abided by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 the Plains Indians remained peaceful. [11] ^[12] During the succession crisis of 1860-Õ61 the Army split into Unionist and Confederate loyalties and the majority of Regular and Militia units were called back to the east, as were many men of fighting age. The fighting continued in the Southwest, California, Oregon, and Idaho [13] while the Northern Great Plains remained quiet until the summer of 1862.

In 1851, the U.S. and Santee had negotiated the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux and Treaty of Mendota [14] , ceding vast amounts of land in Minnesota Territory. In exchange for money and goods, the Dakota agreed to live on a twenty-mile wide reservation centered on a 150-mile stretch of the upper Minnesota River. [15] The situation was not resolved as the United States Senate deleted Article 3 of each treaty during the ratification process. Much of the promised compensation never arrived, lost or effectively stolen due to corruption.

As Minnesota became a state in 1858, representatives of several Dakota bands led by Chief Little Crow traveled to Washington, D.C. to make further negotiations. Again, events did not transpire in the Indians' favor. The northern half of the reservation along the Minnesota River was lost, and rights to the quarry at Pipestone, Minnesota were ceded. [16] This was a major blow to the standing of Little Crow in the Dakota community.

During the War

In the summer of 1862, relations between the whites and Plains Indians degraded because of unpaid annuities, unscrupulous traders, poor diplomacy, and summer heat in Southwestern Minnesota. On 17 August 1862 4 Santee hunters killed white settlers near Acton Minnesota. [17] Other Sioux from a number of Santee bands decided open warfare against the whites was a good idea and so the next day there would be war under the leadership of Little Crow. [18]

On August 18, 1862, the Sioux opened their war with raids on Redwood Agency and roughly 200 settlers in Renville County along the Minnesota River [19] . Captain John Marsh with the 5^th Minnesota Infantry to the Lower Sioux Ferry, 34 died including the Captain during an ambush. [20] On 19 and 23 August New Ulm Minnesota was attacked by the Mdewakanton Santee under Little Crow, the settlers and refugees organized a militia and held New Ulm during a number of attacks, losing 32 dead while over 100 Santee died, over 190 buildings in the area were burned. [21] On August 20, 400 Santee under Little Crow attacked Fort RidgelyÕs 180 soldiers and 250 refugees; the attack was repulsed by canister shot from old howitzers. [22] On 22 August, Little Crow assaulted the Fort with over 800 warriors, again the howitzers allowed the whites to keep the Fort, in all 5 soldiers were killed, and at least 100 Santee graves in the woods. [23]

On the night of 2/3 September a detachment from relief force of the 6^th Minnesota Infantry that was recovering bodies and relieving the soldiers and civilians at New Ulm and Fort Ridgley was attacked at Birch Coulee near Morton Minnesota. 24 whites were killed, 67 wounded while only 2 Santee were killed. [24] Further attacks at Hutchinson Minnesota and Fort Abercrombie (Fargo) Dakota Territory were repulsed with few casualties to either side. [25]

By the end of September Colonel Sibley lead a large force of 1,619 combatants [26] against the Santee which lead to fighting on 23 September 1862 at Wood Lake. Many Santee did not join in the attacks, choosing to aid and protect settlers and to serve with the Minnesota soldiers who responded to the attacks. The Yankton Sioux chief Struck by the Ree deployed his warriors for this purpose. The fight at Wood Lake broke the will of the Santee when over 25 warriors were killed along with Chief Mankato, Little Crow fled into the Dakota Territory with around 200 warriors while 2000 Santee surrendered. [27]

The Sioux Uprising ended with hundreds of dead settlers and half-breeds and over one hundred soldiers killed and likely hundreds of Sioux warriors dead. 303 Sioux prisoners were convicted of murder and rape by military tribunals and sentenced to death six weeks after the uprising ended. President Lincoln reviewed the trial records and distinguished between those who had engaged in warfare against the United States and those who had committed the crimes of rape or murder of civilians. He approved of the execution of 38 and commuted the death sentences of the others, largely due to the pleas from Bishop Henry Whipple for clemency. [28] The 38, for whom the evidence seemed strongest, were executed by hanging in a single day on December 26, 1862 in Mankato Minnesota. Little Crow was killed while on a horse-stealing expedition, a 17 man band of Santee entered the Big Wood region of Minnesota, some of the Santee broke off and at Howard Lake the struck the Dustin family, killing four. [29] On 3 July 1863, Little Crow was killed by a settler while foraging at Hutchinson Minnesota. [30]

The retaliation for the Sioux Uprising continued into 1863 with 3,220 men, the largest force assembled in the western Indian Wars, when Sibley lead this force in a sweep to clear Minnesota and the eastern Dakota territory of hostile American Indians. At Big Mound in the Dakota Territory Sibley engaged the Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux on 24 July 1863, killing 40 Sioux while losing 4. [31] Throughout the remainder of 1863 and into 1864, Sibley maneuvered and fought the Sioux, in the style all the previous Indian conflicts in the American West, maneuver, find the enemy, engage, and withdraw to find more combatants in hopes of getting a settlement. Meanwhile in Colorado and northern Dakota, a new form of Indian War developed at Sand Creek and Killdeer Mountain.

During the winter of 1863–1864, SullyÕs superior, Major General John Pope, formulated a plan for ending the war with the Sioux. He would order a large force of infantry, cavalry, scouts, mounted infantry and a large support train along with howitzers, [32] commanded by Sully, into the field to find the Sioux and engage them in battle. In addition, he would send infantry behind SullyÕs force to establish strong-posts in the ÒIndian country.Ó They established Fort Rice on 7 July at the mouth of Cannonball River and moved on. The Sioux, who had been operating north of Fort Rice, moved across the Missouri River and took a strong position on the Little Missouri River, about 200 miles from the fort. On 26 July, Sully marched out to engage them in battle. On the 28th, he arrived near the Sioux camp that he reported included 3,000-5,000 warriors lead by Sitting Bull and Gall dug in around a larger 1,600-lodge camp. [33] Heavy fighting ensued, but eventually the artillery and long-range firearms took effect and the Sioux began losing ground. The camp was taken with heavy artillery fire and the civilians and warrior broke and fled. Over 150 warriors were killed; 40 tons of pemmican, and hundreds of tipis burned, and over 3,000 dogs were killed for the loss of 5 soldiers. [34] On 7-9 August Sully crossed the North Dakota Badlands and was attacked at the Little Missouri River by survivors of Killdeer Mountain, over one hundred Sioux were killed for the loss of 9 Union soldiers.

While not technically part of the Northern Great Plains theatre, the events at Sand Creek in November 1864 created the environment under which Northern Great Plains tribes operated. While SullyÕs campaign could have killed many more civilians than ChivingtonÕs assault did, Sully, like Sherman, was able to restrain his soldiers and focus their violence against the Sioux warriors, and only once the civilians fled did they destroy the camp at Killdeer Mountain. Chivington also led an assault in retaliation for an attack on settlers, in this case due to Hungate Massacre on 11 June 1864. Chivington, unlike Sully planned to kill any Cheyenne his command came across, warrior, civilian, peaceful, or hostile.

Many of the Southern Cheyennes and Arapahos were ready for peace and camped near Fort Lyon on the eastern plains. Both of the tribes had recently signed a treaty with the United States in which they ceded their lands to the United States and agreed to move to the Indian reservation to the south of Sand Creek in Oklahoma. [35] Black Kettle, one chief of a group of mostly Southern Cheyennes and some Arapahos, some 800 in number, reported to Fort Lyon in an effort to declare peace.

Colonel John Chivington and his 800 troops of the 1^st  Colorado Cavalry, 3^rd Colorado Cavalry and a company of 1^st New Mexico Volunteers marched to their campsite in order to attack the Indians. On the morning of November 29, 1864, the army attacked the village of 115 Cheyenne and 8 Arapaho lodges and massacred most of its inhabitants. Fifteen soldiers were killed and over 50 wounded [36] , making Sand Creek one of the most costly battles in the Plains Indian wars. Between 120 and 184 Cheyennes were reported dead, and some were reportedly mutilated, and most were women, children, and elderly men. Chivington and his men later displayed scalp and other body parts in the Apollo Theater in Denver. [37] While historically called a massacre, the number of soldiers killed and wounded indicates it was a hard fight for the soldiers, even against civilians.

While Sully and SibleyÕs campaigns in Minnesota and the northern half of the Dakota territory were able to break the back of Sioux resistance and settle the regions in regards to further uprisings without overt assaults on non-combatants, ChivingtonÕs assault was a military failure in terms of Unions soldiers killed, as many as died in both of SullyÕs fights. Furthermore, it failed strategically since the Northern and Southern Cheyenne as well as Lakota rose up across Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, and the Dakota in retaliation for Sand Creek from 1865 through 1868.

Lago's Situation

Lago is the fictional representation of the area around Buffalo Wyoming and Johnson county, the old fort build in the 1850s caught fire and burned down during an Indian attack in early 1861 and no replacement has been forthcoming from the United States Government. The western territories, especially the gold country of Montana were strongly Confederate in leaning during the war.

Lago was founded by a pair of soldiers turned Ranchers, a M.J. McCormick and J.E. Duniway, when the war broke out, both returned to the east as their country called for soldiers. J.E. Duniway returned in 1862 because of wounds received in battle and nothing was heard of McCormick until his return to or about Lago on May 30 1865.

Rumor has it the property of many Confederate officers has been seized and redistributed by the Federal Government.