1865-1896

“Without the buffalo they would be helpless, and yet the whole nation did not own one.”

John McDougall

Bison reduced from tens of millions to 15 million at the end of the Civil War – fewer than a couple thousand remained by 1900!

An “eco-myth” concerning the Indians and bison:Western travelers reported seeing the rotting

carcasses“A tribal department store…”

Horns for arrowsIntestines for containersSkins for tepees and shieldsMuscle for rope

Indians slaughtered them by the hundredsReligious view of the bisonIf one escaped…Used fire and ran them off cliffs

The Indians: Estimates from the 1850s suggest Indians killed 450,000

annually Indians also destroyed entire herds of white tail deer Not only overhunted, but drove herds further away Thought bison were limitless, originating from a lake in

Canada

The white man: Armed with long-range and high-powered rifles, took down

hundreds daily – “Buffalo Bill” Demand from commercialization of hides and buffalo meat

– bones used for fertilizers and pigment Leather industry in the U.S. in the 1890s was a $8.6

million business Union Pacific alone shipped 1.3 million hides from 1872-

1874

Two conflicting federal agencies: Bureau of Indian Affairs - Congress passed a bill

outlawing the non-Indian killing of buffalo The U.S. Army - continued to kill food resource in order

to fight Indians 1872 – Yellowstone National Park provides public refuge 1905 – American Bison Society formed mostly by

northeastern speculators J.P. Morgan established 20,000 acre tract in Colorado ,

stocked with bison “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show” toured America raising

money for the American Bison Society Charles Goodnight, western rancher, began private herd

In 1865 , the frontier was still expanding rapidly The Great West was a “thousand mile square” Habitat of Native Americans as well as wild game By 1890, states and territories had been carved out of this

region 1/5 of all U.S. Army soldiers were “Buffalo Soldiers” Migration and conflict was not new to the Great Plains in

the 1860s Sioux had preyed on the Crow, Kiowa, and Pawnees Comanche had driven the Apaches off the Plains Mandan and Chippewa had run off the Cheyenne from the

upper reaches of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Series of treaties with the federal government

Fort Laramie and Fort Atkinson Treaties Reservations established – Great Sioux Reservation (north)

and the Indian Territory (south) White diseases complicated things greatly on the Plains:

Corrupt agents gave Indians defective provisions purposely

The Sand Creek Massacre (1864): Colonel Chivington 400 Indians killed in Colorado Unspeakable slaughter – Document Set 1 from Enduring

VisionThe Fetterman Massacre (1866):

Sioux war party attempting to block Bozeman Trail Eighty-one killed and mutilated in Wyoming “awakened a bitter feeling…” Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) Gold discovered in Black Hills of South Dakota (1874) The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) – Custer killed

The “Battle” of Wounded Knee (1890): Put an end to armed resistance on the Plains See document 16:3 for more on this massacre

Preservation:Helen Hunt Jackson

Extermination:General Sheridan

Assimilation:The Carlisle Indian School

National conscience begins to stir in the 1880s:Helen Hunt Jackson A Century of Dishonor (1881)Dee Brown Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970)

What to do with the Indians?Christian school demanded assimilationRenunciation of native name/ accept a Christian

nameFederal government outlawed the Ghost DanceDawes Severalty Act of 1887

Promised citizenship in twenty years150 acres of land w/ individual family headsReservation land sold to federal government at pennies on

the dollar to the IndiansCarlisle Indian School – “Kill the Indian and save the

man.”Struck at the heart of the IndianIndians had lost 50% of 156 million acres they possessed

for less than two decadesPopulation dwindled to 243,00 by 1887