Cultures Clash on the Prairie & Settling the Great

PlainsChapter 5, Sec. 1, 2

Indians & Settlers

• Plains Indians rode horses that had gone wild from when the Spanish brought them over

Indians & Settlers

• The U.S. govt. made the land they set aside for Native Americans smaller and smaller

Attacks on the Indians• By 1872, settlers moved into the Black Hills

(Sioux land) looking for gold & silver• 1876 Sitting Bull and Sioux warriors countered

George A. Custer and killed him and most of his men in the Battle of Little Big Horn– But the U.S. sent reinforcements and crushed the

Sioux.

Attacks on the Indians• 1887 Dawes Act forced Indians to

“Americanize,” split up their tribal lands into individual land plots– Children were often taken from their family to a

boarding school, taught English, Christianity, etc.

• White vacationers killed most of the buffalo

Attacks on the Indians

• Sioux became poor and desperate, started performing the “Ghost Dance” ritual– U.S. became scared of this “cult-like” behavior,

killed Sitting Bull in 1890

• In the 1890 “Battle” of Wounded Knee, U.S. troops slaughtered 300 unarmed Indians– This battle ended the era of warfare between

Indians and the U.S. govt.

Cattle and Cowboys• Cattle would be driven (herded) north from

Texas up to the railroads– They would be loaded on trains and shipped to

big cities like Chicago and St. Louis

• Life as a cowboy was extremely difficult– Not the exciting stuff in the movies…

Settling the Great Plains• From 1850s to 1870s govt. gave huge land

grants to railroads– RR companies would get extra free land for

each mile of track they laid

• 1869 First transcontinental RR completed– Linked West Coast to the East Coast

Settling the Great Plains• 1862 Homestead Act: 160 acres of land for

free to anyone who would farm/build on it– Free land doesn’t mean it was good…– RRs and others actually took advantage of this too

• On one day in 1889 most of Oklahoma went up for grabs

Settling the Great Plains

• Life was rough for settlers, many lived in Soddies: homes made from dug out sod– Everyone in the family worked, lots of children

Settling the Great Plains • New tech greatly increase farm productivity• Morril Act of 1862 &1890 helped improve

the science of farming• Building up large bonanza farms also built

up the debt of farmers