Flashback Friday: The “Flagpole Affair” at Red Cloud Agency, 1874

On October 23, 1874, Lakota warriors entered Red Cloud Agency and chopped up the pole that agent John J. Saville planned to use to fly the American flag. The stage was now set for an armed confrontation, and only decisive action by Lakota leaders and U.S. troops prevented bloodshed. The incident represented the larger confrontation, conflict, and transformation brought on by gradual cultural domination of the Lakota by the whites.

The story of this conflict and the events leading up to it are explored in the article “The ‘Flagpole Affair’ at Red Cloud Agency: An Incident in the Cultural Transition of the Oglala Lakota” by Randy Kane. It appears in the Fall 2016 issue of Nebraska History.

It began with the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Though it removed military posts from the Bozeman Trail, it also established a reservation for the Lakota (Western Sioux) and began the process of tribal confinement.

Oglala Chief Red Cloud had understood by the Treaty of 1868 that the food and supplies distribution point for his people would be at Fort Laramie, but government officials determined that too many whites lived nearby and passed through the area. An “agency” for the Oglala Lakota was established along the North Platte River thirty miles downriver from the fort.  The agency at White River, known as Red Cloud Agency after the prominent Oglala Leader, became the administrative center for the Oglala to be supervised by an appointed agent representing the government.

Agent John J. Saville arrived at Red Cloud agency in 1873. The Peace Policy authorized church denominations to appoint the agents. Saville did the bookkeeping, hired the agents, supervised the distribution of annuities and payments and acted as a liaison with the military forces in the area.

In 1874, Saville attempted to erect a pole to fly the American flag over the Red Cloud Agency. Saville stated that the flag would be flown only on Sundays to let the Indians know that the agency employees did not want to be disturbed for business on that day or flown as a sign to the military camp that the agency was in trouble.

The Indians, including Red Cloud, initially objected. Capt. William H. Jordan wrote that the Indians considered the erection of a flagpole as “a declaration of war against them.” Lt. Emmet Crawford responded when the Indians began chopping up the flagpole. He later testified that the agency people objected to the flagpole because “it looked too much like a military camp.”

The most prominent player in the flagpole incident, however, was the Oglala leader Sitting Bull. He personified the cultural evolution of many Oglala towards acceptance of the agency and reservation way of life. Sitting Bull went on to navigate complicated and tragic relationships between Native Americans and the U.S. government.

In September of 1875, Sitting Bull once again played role in quelling a disturbance created by the Lakota during negotiations at Red Cloud Agency with the government’s Allison Commission to purchase the Black Hills. In September 1876, after the summer battles at the Rosebud and the Little Bighorn, another commission led by George Manypenney came to Red Cloud Agency to dictate terms of an “agreement” forcing the Lakota to sell the Black Hills.  The Indians had little choice and band leaders and headmen signed the documents.

Shortly after, Sitting Bull left the agency and went to the camp of Crazy Horse. Sitting Bull volunteered to join a delegation of Lakota chiefs to negotiate peace with Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles. On December 16, 1876, as the delegation approached the cantonment under the flag of truce, Crow Indian scouts serving with the army treacherously killed Sitting Bull and the other Lakota. This act infuriated Miles and ruined his attempt to negotiate surrender.

Overall, many people suffered from their involvement in this fraught period in Indian-government relations. Saville was relived from office as a result of his attempt to administer cultural change. Sitting Bull was killed in his attempt to accommodate cultural change.

Source: http://www.blog-nebraskahistory.org/

Contact: brittanyhamor@gmail.com

 

From the Kitchen Table to Congress: Doris Royal’s Tax Campaign

“Do you realize I haven’t contributed a dime to this farm today according to the IRS?” Doris Royal told her husband after a twelve-hour day pitching hay and feeding cattle. Starting in 1975, Royal launched a prolonged, but ultimately successful campaign to reform federal inheritance tax laws. This article can be found in the 2015 summer issue of Nebraska History.

The Royal Petition, Doris’s campaign, started from her own kitchen table and became well-known in all fifty states. The petition addressed the issue of estate tax discrimination against married women. The government did not recognize marriage as a true partnership, meaning that after the death of a spouse, estate taxes would apply to property transfer from one spouse to another. Royals did not believe it was fair that she might have to pay estate tax after spending most of her life contributing to the farm’s success. The law she was fighting to change became known as the “widow’s tax.” She spoke out and gained supporters from a range of political viewpoints, including both conservatives and feminists.

Congress and the public became aware of the widow’s tax, but Royal was aggravated by the slow pace of legislation. She requested permission from the Chief Counsel of the House Committee to testify on her topic. She made a memorable entrance by walking in with three cardboard apple boxes containing over 130,000 signed petitions. Six months later Congress finally took action on a bill to modify the estate tax. Senator Edward Kennedy’s opposition to the bill persuaded some Democratic senators, but failed to prevent Senate approval with bipartisan support. President Ford signed the Tax Reform Act of 1976. It increased estate tax exemption, but did not eliminate the “widow’s tax” provision.

Royal then began the second phase of her campaign. She and her neighbors mailed letters asking citizens to write to their senators and representatives. Royal even wrote to the newly elected president, Jimmy Carter. The letter campaign and travel meant Royal barely assisted her husband with the farm work, but she believed talking at venues was worth her time. A 1980 law fixed some of the problems with the 1976 law, but still did not provide a spousal tax-free of property with 100 percent marital deduction with no exceptions.

When Royal entered the third phase of her campaign she returned to public speaking and refocused her efforts solely on the widow’s tax. By August of 1981, over six years since the original petition, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed an Economic Recovery bill. It went into effect January 1, 1982. The act included a provision for an unlimited marital deduction on federal estate taxes. In addition, all gifts to one’s spouse were deemed tax-free. Royal declined an opportunity to be at the presidential signing ceremony. She was tired of traveling and too busy working with livestock.

Doris Royal claimed she was more comfortable on a tractor than in front of a microphone, but her successful campaign made people think otherwise. Royal’s campaign changed the law on three levels. It first raised the dollar amount of the estate tax exemptions. Then the government officially acknowledged a woman’s “non-working” labor contribution as added value to the estate. Finally, surviving spouses no longer had to pay estate taxes at all. As historian Amy Forss wrote, “She did not realize her overall role in changing history while it unfolded thirty years ago, but she did indeed prove that one person can make a difference.”

— Brittany Hamor, Editorial Assistant

From the Kitchen Table to Congress: Doris Royal’s Tax Campaign