s. and awaiting custer and others was a native american society undergoing its own profound changes. to understand those changes, let's focus back on lakota. they were powerful residents of the missouri valley, and they had eyed the united states with some degree of suspicion. they saw it as their role to connect trading routes. throughout much of the 18th and early 19th centuries, they had sought to establish and preserve their own authority and their own autonomy. much of their own diplomacy, much of their negotiation and conflict in the 19th century was with their native neighbors. but in the final decades of the 19th century, they faced a new challenge from the united states, from an army led by men like george armstrong custer. one of the leaders was a man named red cloud. his father was probably a brule indian. and later in life, he became a chief. much of this was in conflict with other indian groups on the northern plains. it was part of an elaborate diplomatic situation in the area. but then, the united states army arrived, increasingly attempting to assert its authority. the result is a war between the united states and the lako