The Death of The Bison

Written By Max Gibson

At one point their population numbered in the tens of millions, the Great Plains of North America their habitat and domain. They were the bison, also known as the American buffalo, and were the native inhabitants of the Great Western Plains. Benefitting from plentiful land and resources, the bison flourished for several millennia before humans inhabited their land.  Their territory was extensive, but the 19^th century would prove fatal for the vast majority of the bison population. Hunted to near extinction by American market hunters, the once massive bison population was reduced to a mere 1,000 by the turn of the century.

Initially sanctioned by the United States government, the wide spread slaughter of bison was proposed to effectively weaken the Native Indians of the west, whose livelihood was in many ways tied to the bison. Venerated by various Native American tribes, the bison was central to their culture and heritage. As anthropologist S. Neyooxet Greymorning posits the bison was intertwined with Native American life. “[The buffalo] was utilized in many ways,” Greymorning states. “It was used in ceremonies, as well as to make tipi covers that provided homes for people [in addition to] utensils, shields, weapons and parts [that] were used for sewing with the sinew.”

Moving West

It was the American expansion west justified by the belief of “manifest destiny” that would eventually lead to the bison’s demise. That prevailing mindset permeated U.S government policy as ambitious settlers saw the western plains as theirs for the taking. However, numerous Native American tribes, inhabitants for millennia past, stood in the way of European-American expansionists access to the coveted territory.

Eager to remove the Indian population from the land to use for their own gain, the U.S government waged numerous battles with native tribes to wrest away the territory. The Plains Indian Wars, along with numerous other running conflicts, characterized the struggle for territory, as versatile and resilient Native American forces presented countless difficulties for the American settlers.

When gold was discovered in the Montana Territories more conflicts arose throughout the area. The Bozeman Trail through Montana crossed sacred territory that was mainly protected by the Sioux and doubled as prime hunting grounds for bison. The Sioux warriors were notorious for frequently attacking travelers who passed through the trail. The infamous Fetterman Massacre was recorded as one of the bloodiest altercations of the conflict. Ambushed by the Sioux while following the trail, some eighty European-American men were slaughtered in the attack. It was the Army’s worst defeat on the Plains until the Battle of Little Bighorn ten years later.

Seeking an accord with the Native tribes, General William Sherman negotiated numerous treaties that were meant to quell the conflicts between the American government and the native peoples. However, despite the stated purposed of these treaties, American forces conceived an alternative tactic to uproot the indigenous tribes from their land.

Native Americans, inextricably tied to the welfare of the bison for their livelihood and sustenance, the invading American settlers realized, could be eliminated culturally, if the bison could be exterminated. Thus the American government set out to destroy the plentiful buffalo population while enforcing a reservation system to confine the Indians to a tiny fragment of their ancestral territories.

Genocide in Action

“Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone,” said Columbus Delano the Secretary of the Interior in the early 1870’s. “The rapid disappearance of game from the former hunting-grounds must operate largely in favor of our efforts to confine the Indians to smaller areas, and compel them to abandon their nomadic customs.” But although Delano’s intentions were clear, there was one large issue impeding the initiative; the buffalo population was too vast for the U.S Army to tackle alone.

Choosing to then facilitate the extermination of the buffalo population, the U.S Army opened their forts and bases to hunters and game catchers to use for their own needs. Ignoring the already established treaties between the U.S and Native American tribes, the government turned a blind eye as new American hunters mercilessly slaughtered bison for sport while reprimanding Indians who hunted cattle for food.

Prized Possessions

Synonymous with the increasing popularity of leather in the 1870’s, buffalo hide became an inexpensive alternative to leather as hide hunters began to earn massive profits for their valued commodity. As historian Andre Isenberg states, “Hide hunters who were responsible for destroying millions of bison in the 1870’s were not operating under the command of the federal government.” Rather, Isenberg believes, “They were private citizens looking to make money. But many Army officers certainly approved of what the hunters were doing.” It was this practice, repeated over time that would lead to the buffalo’s demise.

Slaughtered mercilessly from the 1870’s on, the buffalo population plummeted. By 1893 less than 400 buffalo remained throughout the Great Plains. Crippled by the scarcity of bison, the culture of the Plains Indians and other neighboring tribes began to unravel.

A primary source of food protein, nomadic housing and clothing in the form of warm blankets and countless ceremonial objects, the death of the buffalo eroded many Native American communities from within. The American government uprooted tribes, forcing them to relocate to designated reservations. The American settlers devastated the physical and spiritual livelihood of the Native American tribes. The results were tragic. “When the buffalo went away, the hearts of my people fell to the ground,” records Crow Chief Plenty [Coups] (otherwise known as Aleek-chea-ahoosh) in his personal biography. “After this nothing happened. There was little singing anywhere.”