During September, 1851, more than 10,000 Plains Indians gathered near (across the river) in council with the U.S. Government, to sign the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Present were Oglala and Brule Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Arikara, Assiniboin, Mandan, Gros Ventre and Shoshone.
Thomas Fitzpatrick, fur trader and Indian agent to the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho, organized the council. David D. Mitchell, superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis, and the missionary, Father DeSmet, also participated. The treaty outlined each tribe's territory, and they agreed to no longer fight each other. They recognized the right of the government to build roads and forts on their lands. In return, the Army was to protect the Indians form white depredations. With the exception of hostilities following the Grattan Massacre (1854), tribes along the trail remained peaceful until the Indian War of 1864. Near here on the Wyoming-Nebraska line is the site of the first Red Cloud Agency, established for the Oglala Sioux in 1871.
Scotts Bluff County Rural Teachers and Students
Nebraska State Historical Society
Mile Post 3.2 on Hwy #26, Scottsbluff
Scotts Bluff County
Marker 233