1877, "Sell or Starve"

The Manypenny Commission was sent to the Black Hills by Congress to impose new treaty terms upon the Sioux. Essentially there were only three options which were presented to the elders who remained at the Indian Affairs agency campsites during the winter months: die out of starvation because the government rations would cease completely, die in battle as the US troops exacted vengeance for Little Bighorn, or sell off approximately 7 million acres of prime real estate from the Great Sioux Reservation. With guns and troops in place to deal with any resistance, the Manypenny Commission ensured that tribal elders signed the new treaty before them.

The Sioux counter that the treaty terms were unclear to those who were signing the document, since it was written in English and only partial verbal translations were made available to them. Since the commission arrived during the winter months, over half of the tribes were out at the winter hunting grounds. And according to the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, no new treaties with

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