As a warrior and a statesman, Red Cloud's success in
confrontations with the United States government marked him as
one of the most important Lakota leaders of the nineteenth
century. Although the details of his early life are unclear, Red
Cloud was born near the forks of the Platte River, near what is
now North Platte, Nebraska. His mother was an Oglala and his
father, who died in Red Cloud's youth, was a Brulé Red Cloud was
raised in the household of his maternal uncle, Chief Smoke. Much
of Red Cloud's early life was spent at war, first and most often
against the neighboring Pawnee and Crow, at times against other
Oglala. In 1841 he killed one of his uncle's primary rivals, an
event which divided the Oglala for the next fifty years. He
gained enormous prominence within the Lakota nation for his
leadership in territorial wars against the Pawnees, Crows, Utes
and Shoshones. Beginning in 1866, Red Cloud orchestrated the
most successful war against the United States ever fought by an
Indian nation. The army had