The Conquest of the Wild West: 'The Only Good Indian Is a Dead Indian'

“The only good Indian is a dead Indian”—this cannibalistic aphorism by General Sheridan became the slogan of the American army, which “liberated” the Wild West from its indigenous inhabitants. Merciless genocide and the violation of all peace treaties, mass killings and the scalping of women and children—there is no crime the American “civilizers” did not commit. Refusing to meekly march to slaughter, the Sioux, Comanche, Cheyenne, and other Indigenous tribes answered with ruthless guerrilla warfare—across the whole century, the land burned under the invaders’ feet. “Primitive savages” repeatedly beat the regular army, and even today the Yankees shudder when they recall the defeat of General Custer’s detachment at Little Bighorn—but there were also “Fetterman’s massacre,” the battle of Rosebud, and many other episodes…