The Wars for the West
Section 1Chapter 18
Focus QuestionsWhat animals did the Plains Indians use, and
why were they important?What caused conflicts between American
Indians and American settlers in the West, and what were the results of these conflicts?
How did the reservation system and the Dawes Act affect American Indians?
The Plains IndiansThe Great Plains are home of several Indian
groupsThe Apache and Comanche lived in what is now
OklahomaPawnee lived in NebraskaThe Sioux lived from Minnesota to Montana
The Plains Indians depended on the horse and the buffalo
The buffalo was used for food shelter and clothing
The Plains Indians By 1850, there were 75,000
American Indians living on the Plains
The U.S. government sent agents out to negotiate treaties with the Plains Indians The first treaty they signed was
the Treaty of Fort Laramie– northern Plains nations in Wyoming in 1851
They also signed a treaty at Fort Atkinson in Nebraska
The U.S. government wanted settlers to be able to cross those land and the government promised to pay for any damages to Indian lands
War on the PlainsGold was discovered in Colorado in 1858 and this lead
to new problems with miners and Cheyenne and the Arapaho
In 1861, the U.S. government negotiated a treaty with them that created reservation– areas of former Indian homeland to which the U.S. government restricted the Indians
Staying on the reservation made hunting the buffalo nearly impossible
Many American Indians refused to live on the reservations
War on the Plains In November 1864, the
Colorado Militia attacked the Sand Creek Indians in southeastern Colorado
The militia killed 200 men, women, and children
War on the Plains The U.S. Army then built
forts from Wyoming to Montana to protect miners as they traveled west
In 1866 Crazy Horse, a Sioux chief, ambushed 81 Calvary troops and killed them all
In 1868 the U.S. Army abandoned all forts along the Bozeman Trail and Sioux moved into the Black Hills Reservation in Dakota Territory
War on the Plains The U.S. government was also
asking southern Plans Indians to move off their lands
The Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867 put most of those people on a reservations
Many still did not want to give up their hunting grounds and fighting broke out between the Comanche and the Texans
The U.S. army and the Texas Rangers cut off supplies to the supplies and in 1875 the last of the Comanche war leaders surrendered
The U.S. War with the Sioux
In 1874, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer’s soldiers found gold in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory
The U.S. government demanded that the Sioux sell their land to the government
The U.S. War with the Sioux
Sitting Bull, Sioux leader, protested this demand
On June 25, 1876 Custer’s 7th Calvary found a Sioux amp along the Little Bighorn River in Montana
Custer did not wait for back-up and attacked the encampment and he along with all 264 of his soldiers were killed (became known as “Custer’s Last Stand”)
The Battle of Little Bighorn was the worst defeat the U.S. army suffered in the west and it was the last major victory for the Sioux
The U.S. War with the Sioux
In late 1877, Crazy Horse was killed in prison after surrendering to the U.S. army
Sitting Bull fled to Canada and after their two strongest leaders were gone the Sioux soon surrendered
The U.S. War with the Sioux
Wovoka, a Paiute Indian, began a religious movement known as the Ghost Dance
American Indians who used this dance believed that it would lead to a new life free from suffering (one in which buffalo herds would return)
The U.S. government felt the dance should not be performed
The U.S. War with the Sioux
In 1890, reservation police were given orders to arrest Sitting Bull and he accidently shot and killed
In response to this many of the Sioux left the reservation
The U.S. army caught up with many Sioux at Wounded Knee, South Dakota
The U.S. army killed 150 Indians there
The Massacre at Wounded Knee would be the last attack (in 1890) of the Great Plains Wars which lasted for more then 25 years
Indians in the Southwest and the Far West
In 1863, the Navajo refused to move to reservations in Arizona and New Mexico
Kit Carson led U.S. troops in raids on the Navajo fields
The Navajo ran out of food and shelter and eventually were moved to reservations in New Mexico and Arizona
Indians in the Southwest and the Far West
The U.S. government had promised that the Nez Perce could keep their homelands in northeastern Oregon
The Nez Perce had agreed to move to reservations in Idaho, but before leaving some settlers were killed by a few Nez Perce Indians
Chief Joseph, their leader, feared the U.S. army would take up violence against his people so he and about 700 Indians fled
Indians in the Southwest and the Far West
Chief Joseph and his people defeated or avoided the army in many instances and were able to move around for several weeks before being cut off at the Canadian border
On October 5, 1877, Chief Joseph and his people surrendered and they were moved to Oklahoma
Indians in the Southwest and the Far West
In the 1880s while many other American Indians had stooped fighting the Apache of the desert southwest continued to fight the U.S. army
When they were put on a reservation in was made for humans to live on
Geronimo an Apache leader lead a small band of raiders left the reservation and avoided capture until 1884
Indians in the Southwest and the Far West
Geronimo again left the reservation and was captured two more times but managed to escape each time
Finally in September of 1886, he surrendered after 5,000 troops were sent after him
He was taken to Florida as a prisoner of war
Policy and ProtestBy the 1870s many American Indian people
were living on reservationsMany Indians on these reservations were
starving because money and food was lost in the process of getting it to the Indians
Sarah Winnemucca was a Paiute Indian that first called for American Indian reform
Policy and Protest Many reformers believed
that American Indians would be better if they adopted the ways of the white people
The Dawes General Allotment Act– made it so that Indian land could be broken up and given to individual Indians (160 acres per family)
The act also promised citizenship to American Indians
Policy and Protest After the land was broken
up the sold the remaining land to settlers
About two-thirds of the land that was Indian reservation land was lost
The Dawes Act also did not lead to citizenship for American Indians
The new policy failed to improve Indians’ lives
Focus QuestionsWhat animals did the Plains Indians use, and
why were they important?What caused conflicts between American
Indians and American settlers in the West, and what were the results of these conflicts?
How did the reservation system and the Dawes Act affect American Indians?