Lewis & Clark Expedition (continues), The Sioux, Part 1, Calumet Bluff

The Corps of Discovery in late August 1804 approached the confluence of the Niobrara River and Missouri River near the border of today’s Nebraska and South Dakota.  Captains Lewis and Clark and men anticipate their first encounter with members of the Sioux Indian tribes of the northern plains in the Louisiana Territory.  They meet members of friendly Yangton Sioux chiefs and men at a place called White Bear Cliff, known today as Calumet Bluff.  The Sioux were a northern plains horse people feared across the Dakotas by other smaller tribes.  Their complex legacy in American history includes the brief and tragic Minnesota-Dakota War during the Civil War era and the successful repulse of Lieutenant Colonel Custer at the Little Bighorn (Greasy Grass) River in present day Montana.   (Tap for YouTube, HD, best on larger screens, 22 minutes.)

The Eastern Americans Meet the Peoples of the West Along the Missouri River