Touch the Clouds
Touch the Clouds was a Minneconjou Lakota who stood nearly seven feet tall and was reported to have weighed 280 pounds in his prime. This was at a time when the average American cavalryman stood about 5’6′ and weighed about 140 pounds. During his youth he developed his reputation as a warrior in battle against the Crow, and as a leader when he led parties to steal horses from enemy tribes, army corrals, and crossing wagon trains. During the 1860s Touch the Clouds and other members of his group were sent to the Cheyenne River Agency, a reservation established for the Lakota on the Missouri River.
They remained there during the beginning of the Great Sioux War and following the defeat of Custer Touch the Clouds attempted to negotiate with the agency authorities, hoping to avoid repercussions directed by angry American troops towards his peaceful Lakota. When it became evident to Touch the Clouds that there would be reprisals against his people he led them off the reservation. They joined forces with those of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, as well as those of other well-known Sioux leaders such as Spotted Elk, and took part in several skirmishes.
Touch the Clouds and others of the Lakota tried to slow the pace of the war and the raids, urging caution and a negotiated peace, but Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, as well as other more war leaning chiefs, realized that the United States Army would demand harsh terms in the wake of the disaster which had befallen Custer and his men. This rift between leaders caused the Sioux band to split up, with Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull leaving with their followers to pursue further raids. Touch the Clouds approached the Americans with the idea of negotiating a peace.
Touch the Clouds and his followers went to the Spotted Tail Agency in Nebraska, remaining there until August 1877 (Crazy Horse was held there at the same time) and he witnessed the death of Crazy Horse. After a trip to Washington Touch the Clouds returned to the Cheyenne River Agency with his band. By the early 1880s all of the remaining Minneconjou bands were gathered at the Cheyenne River Agency, and Touch the Clouds was designated to be chief of all of the remaining Minneconjou, a position which had once been held by his father.
For the rest of his life Touch the Clouds traveled to several cities as an advocate for the people on the reservation. He worked with government officials and churchmen to do whatever he could to ensure that they had adequate provisions, medical care, schools, and all that had been promised them when they agreed to give up their previous way of life and remain on the reservation. He died in 1905, while visiting in South Dakota.