Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border

by Porter Fox

Red Cloud, a thirty-year-old Oglala Lakota and the tribe’s head warrior, led his band in formation to a field outside of Fort Laramie in late summer. Red Cloud was six feet tall and towered over other braves. He had a wide forehead and hooked nose and adorned himself with eagle feathers and ribbons. At important meetings, he slicked his hair back with bear grease and braided in the wing bone of an eagle. Red Cloud was the son of a drunk and a fierce warrior who had fought his way to power. He did not drink and did not accept gifts from whites. Legendary acts of bravery and cunning had made him a supernatural figure to many. He was a shaman who practiced the sun dance—a four-day purification ceremony in which dozens of pieces of flesh are ripped from a warrior’s body. His followers said he could talk to animals, fly, and be in two places at once. They said he was also capable of casting spells and interpreting omens.