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?