Conquering Bear had the respect of the entire Lakota Nation and with his death chances for negotiating a new treaty were lost.

The distrust created by the Grattan massacre coupled with the rapid changes that occurred there after fragmented the clans and there was never again a leader of the entire nation.

Red Cloud is at the center of many of the subsequent treaty negotiations (he signed the 1868 Laramie treaty) but he did not have the support of most of the clans.

Crazy Horse was an example of the warriors who remained outside of Red Cloud's influence.  It was Crazy Horse, not Red Cloud that lead many of the key battles.

It is widely considered that it was Crazy Horse that breached the final defenses at the Little Big Horn to defeat Custer

It is during this period that the Great Plains Indians go from their established traditions as great warrior nations to being defeated and confined to reservations.

The initial book “The War of the Mormon Cow” focuses on the Grattan Massacre in 1854.  The massacre was as a result of a misunderstanding and was precipitated by the actions of the white settlers and the U.S. Army response. 

This was viewed as a violation of the Laramie Treaty of 1851 and also resulted in the death of Conquering Bear who had signed the treaty.  This lead to an extended period of increasing mistrust between the two sides.

An undersupplied western army struggled to keep things under control as the national focus turned to the Civil War 1861-1865.

The end of the Civil War unleashed a great deal of pinned up energy to move west; the money to build the railroad and, a large army spoiling for a new fight.      

The election of President Grant ushered a deliberate policy of defeating the various tribes and forcing them on reservations.  President Grant turned to General William Tecumseh Sherman to implement these polices.

In the late 1860s had seen the tribes along the Oregon trail and the new Continental railroad.  Tribes such as the Cheyenne and the Crow slowly defeated.   Then, in a more focused effort, attention was shifted north to the Lakota tribes.

The Lakota fought back.  Starting by helping with the attack on Julesburg and Fort Sedgwick in 1865 they put together a string of victories.  At one point, under the conditions of the 1968 Laramie treaty the army was forced to withdraw from several forts along the Bozeman trail.  The battle that received the most national attention, and is still remembered to this day, was the defeat of General Custer in 1876.

The second book “Black Robe Woman” focus on the period during the Civil War, life among the Lakota and the events leading up to the attack on Fort Sedgwick.

The third book “Two Fires in the Night” covers the attack on Julesburg, and Fort Phil Kearny (the Fetterman Massacre), and Custer at the Little Big Horn.  The story ends with the surrender and subsequent killing of Crazy Horse.   

Illustration: The Holy Road by Ken Mundie