The westward drive of the warlike Sioux Indians along a thousand miles of prairie and woodland, from the upper reaches of the Mississippi to the lower Powder River in Montana, is one of the epic migrations of history. From about 1660 to the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the Teton Sioux swept away all opposition: Arikaras, Ponkas, Crees, Crows, Cheyennes--all fell away and dispersed as the Sioux advanced, until the invaders ranged over a vast territory in the northwest, hunting buffalo and raiding their neighbors. During the ensuing years of heavy conflict, between 1865 and 1877, Red Cloud of the Oglalas stood out as one of the greatest of the Sioux leaders. George E. Hyde was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1882. As a boy he became interested in Indians and began writing about them in 1910. He has produced some of the most important books on the American Indian ever written, including Indians of the High Plains, Indians of the Woodlands, Red Cloud's Folk, Spotted Tail's Folk, and Life of George Bent, all published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Hyde died in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1968 at the age of 86. Royal B. Hassrick was the author of serveral books on Indians and Indian art, including The Sioux: Customs of a Warrior Society, also published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

From the mid-1860s until the end of organized resistance on the Great Plains, Red Cloud, the noted Oglala Sioux, epitomized for many the Indian problem. Centered on Red Cloud?s career, this is an admirably impartial, circumstantial, and rigorously documented study of the relations between the Sioux and the United States government during the years after the Civil War.

Surveys past and present religious beliefs and practices of the Oglala Sioux, relating them to Oglala social and cultural identity and the preservation of that identity

Draws on Red Cloud's autobiography, which was lost for nearly a hundred years, to present the story of the great Oglala Sioux chief who was the only Plains Indian to defeat the United States Army in a war.

One of the most dramatic battles of the Indian Wars is described in a revised edition with new material including official army reports and recent archaeological evidence.

Places the information about the Lakota chief's life within the larger context of Indian tribal conflicts and Anglo-Indian wars

"These images reveal much about Red Cloud - from the height of his position as a tribal leader in the 1870s through his years as an effective and controversial statesman to his old age and death in the early twentieth century. Goodyear provides a fully drawn portrait of the renowned Lakota leader and his relationships with outsiders, particularly those who continually attempted to capture his likeness with a camera."--BOOK JACKET.