Chief Red Cloud, or Mahpiua-Luta, was the one of the key leaders of the Lakota people, a Sioux tribe that held land in the Great Sioux Reservation. When the US government sent two commissions to convince the Lakota people to comply to the Dawes Act, Red Cloud strongly opposed the move in order to prevent his people from being undermined due to the partitioning of Sioux Land. Additionally, Red Cloud believed the Dawes Act contradicted the Treaty of Fort Laramie and directly invalidated the Sioux’s previous claims to the land. In order to force the Sioux to comply, the commission tried to replace Red Cloud’s leadership with another Native American leader, American Horse, whom they believed would be more conducive to the act’s provisions. This attempt was unsuccessful, so the US government simply excluded Red Cloud from meetings in Washington DC discussing the implications of the Dawes Act.
Red Cloud led many battles during his lifetime and openly opposed many US government acts to further suppress Native American populations. His first main fight was against the Bozeman Trial. The Bozeman Trial was a trail intended to run through Lakota territory from Fort Laramie to Wyoming to collect gold fields. Chief Red Cloud protected his land and refused to give into negotiations for the construction of this trial. This is one example of many where Chief Red Cloud stands his ground against the United States government. When miners and squatters who were determined to stay and build the trail wouldn't leave, Chief Red Cloud staged an ambush that was so successful that a treaty resulted from this stand off. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 aimed to bring peace between the US government and Sioux people. It stated that the government would abandon forts around the Bozeman Trial and set aside part of Sioux land to be part of the Great Sioux Reservation.
Despite his successes with previous battles against the United States government, his efforts with the Dawes Act were unsuccessful because instead of getting his approval, the government found other Native American leaders to give them signatures for approval so Red Cloud's efforts were forgotten.
