Sustaining the Sioux Confederation:
Yanktonai Initiatives and Influence on the Northern Plains, 1680–1880

Robert W. Galler, Jr.

From the late-seventeenth to the late-nineteenth century, Yanktonais played a crucial role in sustaining the Sioux confederation. They served within intertribal forces resisting American encroachment, on diplomatic teams that sought peaceful initiatives, and as cultural mediators within the Sioux confederation. This essay argues that Yanktonais both strengthened internal links within the confederation and helped to establish Sioux significance on the northern plains.
In April of 1864, seven hundred Yanktonai lodges camped near the mouth of the Heart River and awaited the imminent arrival of their eastern Dakota and western Lakota kin. Within a few months, nearly two thousand lodges from seven Sioux tribes prepared to defend their land and prevent the travel of a growing number of wagon trains and American military units moving overland or up the Missouri River. Yanktonais stood prominent in this and other intertribal groups on the northern plains. According to Major General John Pope, it was "the powerful band of Yanktonais and other bands of Dakota Sioux" that would "obstruct navigation and prevent the passage of emigrants up the river or across the plains." Brigadier-general and commanding officer Henry Hastings Sibley noted Yanktonai leadership in initiating the intertribal gathering. "The Yanktonais have invited the disaffected of the other bands of Sioux to join them," Sibley noted, "and are determined to attack any boats or parties found within the limits of their country."1	1
Figure 1. Map of 19th Century Sioux Country, by Daniel G. Cole, in Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 13: Plains, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie (Washington, DC, 2001), 719, revised by Jessica M. Hixson.
While Yanktonais seem nearly invisible in most historical narratives of the northern plains, these nineteenth-century accounts show the influence and prominence given to a people that once constituted the largest of the original seven tribes of the Sioux confederation.2 A traditional American emphasis on military history has placed Dakotas and Lakotas at the center of histories that highlight the 1862 Dakota Conflict and 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn. A focus on these actions has also led to an expanding number of biographies of Sioux leaders, including Little Crow, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, and Sitting Bull. Consequently, Yanktonai diplomatic initiatives and cultural mediation have received less attention in portrayals of the American West. This essay argues that Yanktonai actions strengthened the Sioux confederation and thereby more broadly reveals the influence of tribes and tribal leaders who specialized in social and diplomatic relations away from the battlefield.3	. . .