The Lakota, also spelled Lakhota, are a Native American tribe. This branch of the Sioux confederacy, often referred to as Teton Sioux, hunted small game along the forested shores of the Mississippi before migrating west in the 1700s. Formidable hunters, the horse-bound Lakota Indians easily adapted to life on the plains. They hunted bison and lived in teepees. Like other Plains Indians the Lakota were a nomadic people. They followed the American Buffalo from once place to another. And while the name Lakota means friends or allies they were feared by other tribes and aggressively defended their land against the advance of prospectors and white settlers. When the U.S. government withdrew from the Fort Laramie Treaty, the Lakota together with the Arapaho and Cheyenne fought against the U.S. Cavalry in a series of struggles including the Battle of the Rosebud and Battle of Little Bighorn. Famous Lakota include Bigfoot, Black Elk, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy horse.