4/29/2012:
A treaty effective this date in 1868 was the culmination of bloodshed, battle and painful memories. It reflected the complicated aftermath of another civil war, not between North and South, but between the American government and the great Sioux nation.
Following Indian Wars of the 1870s, the United States reclaimed 7.7 million acres of the Black Hills and moved the Teton Sioux to the Standing Rock Reservation. Although the Reservation originally occupied 2.7 million acres, subsequent land confiscations reduced the size to 1 million acres.
The first article of the new treaty stated: From this day forward all war between the parties to this agreement shall forever cease. The Government of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace and they now pledge their honor to maintain it.
Dakota Datebook written by Steve Stark
Sources:
Robinson, Elwyn B. 1966 University of Nebraska Press History of North Dakota
www.standingrock.org
www.standingrocktourism.com
www.ncrprograms.org