Top 10 Most Famous Native Americans

9. Red Cloud


Red Cloud was a chief of the Sioux and an important war leader. After signing a treaty in 1868, Red Cloud agreed to lead his people to an Indian reservation territory and he became an important figure of the Lakota during the transition to life in reservation area.

He opposed the Dawes Act (1887) which allocated 160-acre plots to each head of family for subsistence farming, essentially breaking up communal tribal holdings. When US government declared many communal tribal lands as excess, Red Cloud negotiated strongly to oppose selling more Sioux lands. Red Cloud died at age 87 in 1909, outliving all important Indian Wars leaders.