After signing the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, Chief Red Cloud went to
Washington.  His purpose was to discuss some of the articles of the treaty
with the new President, Ulysses S. Grant.  The Sioux began to notice
certain discrepancies, particularly concerning the location of the Sioux
trading post.  The government had established it on the Missouri, three
hundred miles away from Fort Laramie, a move that the Chief feared was
intended to drive the Sioux Farther south.  In Washington, President Grant
made a point of treating Red Cloud not as an enemy but as a visiting
dignitary, and the chief was invited to many social occasions (one of
which is shown above).  Ely Parker, as commissioner of Indian Affairs,
helped interpret the terms of the treaty to the chief, and Red Cloud
returned to his people and ruled peacefully for the next fifteen years.