North America 1866: Red Cloud's War
21 December 1866
21 Dec 1866
Red Cloud's War
Following the Civil War, the US government moved to confine the Indians of the west to reservations, buying up their land to cater for the expansion of the white population into the interior. In 1866, the Army started building forts along the Bozeman Trail, a gold-mining route which crossed unceded Indian land, provoking a conflict with Lakota Sioux led by Red Cloud. After numerous clashes, the government backed down, abandoning the Trail to avoid disrupting its work on the Pacific Railroad.