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Conflict on the Plains

An archaeologist’s photographic montages evoke the struggles of Plains Indian tribes in the 19th century and honor the sacred power of forgotten historical places.

By Thomas Carr

28 Jan 2016

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For millennia, the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains lived a life tightly interwoven with nature. They were highly mobile hunter-gatherers dependent on a variety of animals—particularly bison—and wild plants. Even their homes were portable and made from the skins of bison. Eventually, Euro-Americans would want the grassy plains and their resources for themselves, and the tribes of the Great Plains would be told to assimilate or face annihilation.

Trading posts were common places for Native Americans and traders to conduct business. Ash Hollow, in Nebraska Territory, was the location of freshwater springs used by local tribes. In 1855, at the beginning of the Plains Wars, a battle between U.S. Army forces and Lakota warriors unfolded near Ash Hollow.

By the early 1860s conflicts between Indian tribes and settlers had dramatically increased. On November 29, 1864, approximately 700 U.S. Army volunteer soldiers attacked a designated peaceful village of Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians along Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado Territory. Nearly 200 victims, mostly women and children, were massacred. The victims were scalped and mutilated, and the soldiers returned to Denver to celebrate their “victory,” bringing souvenirs from the battlefield, including, according to some witnesses, the scalps of the massacred Indians.

The U.S. Army took advantage of the Plains tribes’ vulnerability to brutal winter conditions. On November 27, 1868, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer ordered horseback-mounted troops to charge into a camp of sleeping Cheyenne on the Washita River in western Oklahoma. Only about half of the approximately 250 people in the village survived the attack. Custer also ordered his men to take or destroy all food, animals, lodges, and every other thing the Cheyenne needed for survival.

For Plains Indian tribes, bison represented an important part of their history and their relationship with the earth. Bison often figured into religious stories and ceremonies, and to this day some tribes revere them as sacred. During the centuries leading up to the 1800s bison were also a vital source of sustenance. In June 1869, General William Tecumseh Sherman reportedly remarked that the quickest way to compel the Indians to assimilate was for soldiers to shoot bison until they became too scarce to support native peoples. Sherman’s suggestion echoed the military’s unofficial policy of the period, and bison were nearly eradicated. By 1900 it was estimated that fewer than 1,000 bison remained on the Great Plains.

Throughout the 1860s and 1870s, conflict and battles wore on. On July 11, 1869, the U.S. Cavalry killed Southern Cheyenne Chief Tall Bull, along with as many as 50 Cheyenne and Sioux men, women, and children, at the Battle of Summit Springs in Colorado. The Army also captured more than 300 horses and mules, making the loss even more devastating for the tribes.

Custer’s commanders had hoped to surround the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian warriors, but Custer underestimated their numbers. His group of just over 200 soldiers was divided from the rest of the troops gathered for the battle. Custer and his men were cornered and killed. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was an encouraging yet fleeting victory for the tribes.

By the late 1870s, the conflict was not going well for the tribes that continued to fight against the U.S. Army. In October 1878, troops from Fort Robinson, in Nebraska Territory, captured 149 Cheyenne Indians. Led by Chief Dull Knife, they had escaped from Indian Territory in Oklahoma a month earlier and then fled to their northern homeland in a desperate attempt to hold on to their traditional way of life.

In January 1879, the Cheyenne led by Chief Dull Knife were imprisoned at Fort Robinson. Their imprisonment in harsh winter conditions, paired with a lack of fuel for heat and a scarcity of food, drove them to attempt a desperate escape. The soldiers pursued the fleeing Cheyenne along the White River Valley, killing 64 people (including women and children) and recapturing dozens more.

By early 1890, disillusionment was widespread among the Plains tribes. A spiritual leader from the Northern Paiute tribe named Wovoka told of a prophecy in which native peoples would be reunited with the spirits of the dead and Euro-American settlers would be removed from their land, ultimately bringing peace and prosperity. This would be achieved through the so-called Ghost Dance.

On December 29, 1890, roughly 350 Lakota were ordered to surrender their weapons and turn themselves in on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Most were already disarmed, but one warrior still had his rifle and would not surrender it. The troops began shooting. The number of casualties is unclear, but between 200 and 300 Native Americans, including women and children, were killed in the slaughter. This massacre brought the Plains Indian Wars to a close.

No one can be certain how many lives were lost in the Plains Indian Wars. When viewed in the larger context of forced relocation, disease, and starvation, most scholars agree that the Native American population dropped by 80 to 90 percent between the time of European contact and 1900, amounting to millions of lives. The only certainty is that it’s a period in history that we are still learning and healing from.

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The images in this series represent my interpretation of the struggle of Native Americans throughout the Plains Indian Wars between 1855 and 1890. During this period, the U.S. government actively sought to destroy or assimilate the entirety of Plains Indian culture.

The photographs are montages created from my original contemporary photographs of battlefield, military, sacred, and massacre sites, layered with 19th-century ethnographic photographs of Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, and Lakota peoples. The historic sites represented in these images include the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and Battle of Summit Springs site in Colorado; the Battle of Blue Water Creek site, Ash Hollow State Historical Park, and Fort Robinson State Park in Nebraska; Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana; Washita Battle National Historic Site in Oklahoma; the Wounded Knee Massacre site in South Dakota; and the Fetterman Fight site, Fort Laramie National Historic Site, and Devil’s Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

These montages are not intended as historical documents—they are meant to evoke the feelings I experienced when visiting these places of conflict, struggle, and violence, and the sincere reverence I felt for the people who lived and died there. The sacredness and spiritual power I encountered at the sites was palpable, yet the experience remains difficult to put into words. Only through images can I express my sense of how the past imbues these places that endure today.

I am an archaeologist who works with Native Americans to address some of the most painful parts of our collective history. This project was inspired by watching the healing process between Euro-Americans and Native Americans—one that is happening, albeit too slowly. That process involves acknowledging our tragic past, coming to grips with its consequences, and finding a way to create a new future together. Perhaps these images will further inspire us to more closely examine the past and the necessity for healing in the present.

Thomas Carr

Thomas Carr is a Colorado archaeologist and photographer. He works with film and digital cameras, and has exhibited his work widely over the past 35 years. He has also lectured extensively on the history of photography and archaeology. In characterizing his own work, Carr states that “as a young photographer I found myself drawn toward making images of places with subtle indications of a past human presence. This led to my pursuit of a career in archaeology, which has allowed me to visit many significant historic sites and associated landscapes. I endeavor to document the essence of these places in visual terms.”

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