Terms
Title | Meaning |
---|---|
Title
Battle of Little Bighorn |
Meaning
Also known as Custer's Last Stand or the Battle of the Greasy Grass, it was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army on June 25 and 26, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory. It was an overwhelming victory for the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho, led by several major war leaders, including Crazy Horse and Gall, inspired by the visions of Sitting Bull (Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake). The U.S. Seventh Cavalry and a battalion of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, suffered severe defeat. |
Title
Battle of Wood Lake |
Meaning
The last battle of the U.S.-Dakota War in September, 1862, between Dakota and U.S. military forces. |
Title
Battle of Wounded Knee |
Meaning
The last major battle perpetrated by the U.S. government against the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota Oyate (Sioux) on December 29, 1890. |
Title
BIA |
Meaning
Bureau of Indian Affairs |
Title
Big Eagle (Wambditanka) |
Meaning
Wambditanka (Great War Eagle). A chief of one of the bands of Mdewakanton Dakota at the time of the U.S.-Dakota War in 1862; commonly called Big Eagle, and sometimes known as Jerome Big Eagle. |
Title
Birch Coulee |
Meaning
A battle location of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 located near Morton, Minnesota. |
Title
Bishop Henry Whipple |
Meaning
The first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota who was a missionary to the Dakota people. |
Title
Boarding School (Native American/Indian) |
Meaning
A school managed and regulated by the government to assimilate Native Americans into White society. Called "residential schools" in Canada. |
Title
Bounty |
Meaning
An amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for the capture of a person or thing. In this case, refers to U.S. government money (up to $200 in the late 1860s) rewarded to people for the capture of Dakota (often also Lakota and/or Nakota) people during the Punitive Expeditions after the U.S.-Dakota War. |
Title
Bureau of Indian Affairs |
Meaning
Created in 1824, it is responsible for delivering a broad range of services to Federally-recognized Indian tribes and their members. |
Title
Burlington Northern |
Meaning
A railroad company formed by the merger of the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, Spokane, Portland and Seattle railroad companies. |

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