Fort Buford State Historic Site [ND]

Description

Fort Buford State Historic Site preserves remnants of a vital frontier plains military post. Fort Buford was built in 1866 near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, and became a major supply depot for military field operations. Original features still existing on the site include a stone powder magazine, the post cemetery site, and a large officers' quarters building which now houses a museum. Fort Buford, located near present-day Williston, was one of a number of military posts established to protect overland and river routes used by immigrants settling the West. While it served an essential role as the sentinel on the northern plains for 19 years, it is probably best remembered as the place where the famous Hunkpapa Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, surrendered in 1881.

The site offers a short film, tours, exhibits, and occasional recreational and educational events.

Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site [WY]

Description

At the Fort location the visitor will find an interpretive center with exhibits, videos, and self-guided tours of the fort and outlying sites. The fort tour leads the visitor through the site to building locations, archaeological remains, and interpretive signs pinpointing the surrounding historic landmarks. A Civilian Conservation Corp Cabin has been refurbished to depict the quarters of an Officer's wife and a Non-Commissioned Officer's Quarters. The two satellite sites of Fort Phil Kearny are the Fetterman Fight and the Wagon Box Fight battlefields. Maps to the sites and interpretation are available at the Visitor Center. At both battlefields, the visitor will find an interpretive trail which leads through the battle providing both Indian and White perspectives of the conflict. The visitor can go to the actual locations of the skirmish lines and Indian charges and see the weapons and personnel involved.

A second website for this site can be found here.

The site offers short films, exhibits, tours, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Traverse des Sioux Historic Site [MN]

Description

The Traverse des Sioux location was a meeting place and crossroads for centuries, and was frequented by American Indians and European fur traders and farmers. In 1850, with the passing of a treaty in 1851 the land at Traverse des Sioux became open to the public. Within a year, a booming town was located on the site, with a population of over 300. Less than two decades later, another town was chosen as the county seat, and nothing was left of Traverse des Sioux.

The Historic Site offers self guided tours and hiking. The website offers a brief history of the location and visitor information.

Big Mound Battlefield State Historic Site [ND]

Description

A headstone here marks the place where Dr. Josiah S. Weiser was shot on July 24, 1863. This death precipitated the Battle of Big Mound, a skirmish between General Henry H. Sibley's Minnesota Volunteers and a group of Sioux who were believed to have been involved in the Dakota Conflict of 1862.

The site is open to the public.

Website does not specify any interpretive services available at the site.

Standing Rock State Historic Site [ND]

Description

This site is called Inyan Bosendata by Sioux Indians who consider it sacred. The rock, four feet tall and shaped like an inverted cone, stands on a complex of prehistoric burial mounds dating from the Woodland Period (A.D. 0–1400). There is a marker on the site.

The site is open to the public.

Website does not specify any interpretive services available at the site.

Rosebud Battlefield State Park [MT]

Description

This 3,000-acre Eastern Montana rolling prairie park preserves the site of the June 17, 1876, battle between the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians and General Crook’s soldiers supported by the Crow and Shoshone Indians. Remote, quiet, and undeveloped, the park includes prehistoric sites and the homestead ranch of the Kobold family.

The site is open to the public.

Website does not specify any interpretive services available at the site beyond signage.

Fort Dilts State Historic Site [ND]

Description

This site marks the location of a sod-wall protective enclosure hastily constructed by an 80-wagon party and their cavalry escort. They were attacked by Sioux Indians while en route to Montana gold fields in September 1864 and stayed corralled within the six-feet-high and two-feet-thick walls for 14 days until rescued by a column of troops from Fort Rice. There is a marker on the site.

The site is open to the public.

Website does not specify any interpretive services available at the site.

Camping With the Sioux—Fieldwork Diary of Alice Cunningham Fletcher

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Annotation

This site presents two fieldwork journals written by anthropologist Alice Cunningham Fletcher during her six-week stay with a group of Dakota Sioux women in 1881. The journals are indexed by date and can be searched or read as a narrative.

Visitors will find a 1,000-word biographical essay about Fletcher and a bibliography of sources, including three books, three Smithsonian collections of related materials, five collections of papers, and six links to sites about Sioux Indians and 19th-century anthropology of the Sioux. A gallery of 36 photographs contains pictures of Fletcher, her two travelling companions, scenes of Sioux life, and portraits of Sioux Indians, including Sitting Bull.

In her journals, Fletcher transcribed 14 folk tales related by her Sioux hosts. These tales are indexed by title and presented separately as well as in the journals. The site offers unique sources particularly useful for students of Native American history, women's history, and the history of anthropology and ethnography.