2RHPZ
12-21-2005, 09:20 AM
Lakotas: Feared Fighters of the Plains
The Teton Sioux, or Lakotas, battled other tribes to become the dominant force on the Northern Plains and then took on the U.S. Army in an effort to maintain their way of life.
By Gregory Lalire
The fighting men discovered a large tepee village near a creek on the Great Plains. According to the reminiscences of one of those men, "A great dance was in progress, in the center of which a small pole from which floated an Indian flag was standing." The man came up with a plan. He and several of the other well-trained fighting men would break off from the main body and surprise the Indians of the village. They would charge on horseback "through that portion of the village farthest removed from the congregated dancers" and do whatever was necessary to capture that offensive flag.
The charge began. As a diversion, the small party of fighting men set fire to the first lodge they came to before dashing for the flag. Although surprised by the sudden appearance of their longtime enemies, warriors in the village responded quickly. The fighting men soon faced, according to their leader's account, "flying arrows and scathing bullets." The leader was about to cut the sapling that supported the flag when one of his men took a rifle bullet and started to fall from his horse. The leader and another man caught their wounded comrade and held him in the saddle as they galloped back to the main body, which had drawn off toward a bluff just west of the village.
Link (http://historynet.com/we/bllakotas/)
The Teton Sioux, or Lakotas, battled other tribes to become the dominant force on the Northern Plains and then took on the U.S. Army in an effort to maintain their way of life.
By Gregory Lalire
The fighting men discovered a large tepee village near a creek on the Great Plains. According to the reminiscences of one of those men, "A great dance was in progress, in the center of which a small pole from which floated an Indian flag was standing." The man came up with a plan. He and several of the other well-trained fighting men would break off from the main body and surprise the Indians of the village. They would charge on horseback "through that portion of the village farthest removed from the congregated dancers" and do whatever was necessary to capture that offensive flag.
The charge began. As a diversion, the small party of fighting men set fire to the first lodge they came to before dashing for the flag. Although surprised by the sudden appearance of their longtime enemies, warriors in the village responded quickly. The fighting men soon faced, according to their leader's account, "flying arrows and scathing bullets." The leader was about to cut the sapling that supported the flag when one of his men took a rifle bullet and started to fall from his horse. The leader and another man caught their wounded comrade and held him in the saddle as they galloped back to the main body, which had drawn off toward a bluff just west of the village.
Link (http://historynet.com/we/bllakotas/)