Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California (1868) by Albert Bierstadt Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California (1868) by Albert Bierstadt WHAT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WEST DOES BIERSTADTS PORTRAIT ILLUSTRATE? Albert Bierstadt Images of the West The Western Frontier The New Western Frontier Opening of the Western Frontier Gold strikes in the West Availability of Land Homestead Act of 1862 Transcontinental Railroad & railroad building Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 Granted huge government loans and LAND to railroad companies Given specifically to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads Purpose to complete the transcontinental railroad. Transcontinental Railroad RAILROADS OPEN UP AND CONNECT THE WEST In what ways did the RAILROADS impact the American West? Provided jobs for railroad work in the west Railroads of the West Morrill-Land Grant Act 1862 United States Government gave federal lands to state governments to sell to settlers. Profits from these sales were used to establish colleges. Colleges focused on agricultural or mechanical curriculum. Land-Grant Colleges. Homestead Act of acres of free land to anyone U.S. citizen or immigrant filing for citizenship 21 years old or the head of a household Women African Americans Who live upon the land for 5 years Who improved the land Build a home Farmed the land HOMESTEAD ACT Between 400,000 and 600,000 people took advantage of this bargain. Homesteaders Difficulties of Plains farming Soddy EXODUSTERS Benjamin Singleton, leader of the EXODUSTERS - movement from the South Native Americans & White Settlement The repeated pattern of Native Americans losing their ancestral lands and culture. The Great American Desert The Great Plains 1834, Great Plains Giant Indian Reservation Organized Indian Territory President Grants PEACE POLICY Open lands for white settlement. Allocated lands to the tribes known as RESERVATIONS On reservations, Indians could be instructed on cultural values and habits of white CIVILIZED society. Taught to grow crops and paid subsistence income until able to support themselves. Tribes that refused to go to reservation were driven there by the U.S. Army Reservation System S A N D C R E E K The Massacre at Sand Creek Cheyenne from the Sand Creek Reserve began raiding in Colorado. Governor Evans ordered militia to attack raiders By winter of 1864, most Cheyenne had returned to Sand Creek, where they flew the American flag and white flag of peace. Massacre at Sand Creek General S.R. Curtis, U.S. Army commander of the West ordered Colonel John Chivington I want no peace till the Indians have suffer more. Chivington attacked Cheyenne without warning at dawn, killling more than 200, mostly women and children. Chivington regarded as a hero The Navajos Long Walk Navajos Long Walk Navajo moved from ancestral lands to provide land for white settlers. Moved east to military camps. Famous U.S. Army Scout KIT CARSON was responsible for fulfilling the mission of the U.S. Army. The Long Walk "Cage the badger and he will try to break from his prison and regain his native hole. Chain the eagle to the ground - he will strive to gain his freedom, and though he fails, he will lift his head and look up at the sky which is home - and we want to return to our mountains and plains, where we used to plant corn, wheat and beans." -- Written by a Navajo in 1865 Movement onto the Native American Lands The Plains Indians George Catlin, Plains Indians Buffalo Hunt Life on the Great Plains Horse and Buffalo helped to shape life Horse gave mobility Buffalo source of food and other needs Men were hunters and warriors. Lived in small extended family groups and in bands. Communal life style. Believed that powerful spirits controlled the events of the natural world. Holy men were medicine men or shamans. Buffalo Roamed the plains in the millions at beginning of 19 th century. Central to Native American way of life Meat for food. Meat & berries make jerky called pemmican. Hides for teepee covers, arrow shields, clothes and shoes. Sinews for thread and bowstrings. Bones and horns for tools and toys. Skulls used for ceremonies. Destruction of the Buffalo Buffalo Bill White buffalo hunters strip the hide from dead buffalo. White hunters hunted the buffalo for their hides and tongues. The rest of the buffalo carcass to rot. Destruction of the Buffalo In the early 19 th century, there were an estimated 15 million buffalo roaming the plains, by the end of the century the buffalo were nearly extinct. The Bozeman Trail Opened during Civil War. Ran through the Black Hills of South Dakota, sacred Sioux lands called Paha Sapa. White settled upon and established military forts along the trail. Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho began guerilla warfare against the whites. The First Sioux Wars & the Fetterman Massacre Battle of the Hundred Slain Crazy Horse and other warriors lure Captain Fetterman & his cavalry into an ambush and surround & kill all the soldiers. Fighting lasts for another year. The Treaty of Fort Laramie (the Treaty of 1868) Signed by Chief Red Cloud of the Sioux. Bozeman Trail closed. Sioux move onto great Sioux reservation. U.S. Government would provide protection and supplies. Not signed by Sioux chiefs such as Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Chief Red Cloud meets President Grant Chief Red Cloud, Oglala Sioux Benevolent assimilation A Good Day to Die Lakota Sioux The Sioux Wars of 1870s American promises of the Treaty of 1868 were violated. Bands of Sioux left the reservation and resumed previous way of life. Many Sioux leaders, like Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse of the Lakota had not signed the treaty. Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse Whites began returning to Sioux lands in Black Hills when rumor of Gold had been discovered on the Great Sioux Reservation. General Custer sent to investigate & reported gold indeed had been found. Government tried to buy Sioux lands. Sioux refused to sell their sacred ground. Sioux and Cheyenne held a Sun Dance, Sitting Bull had vision of victory over army. General Custer & the 7 th Cavalry The Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of Little Big Horn CUSTERS LAST STAND Smashing the Sioux Resistance Defeat of Custer at the Little Big Horn, caused the U.S. Government to increase the military effort to defeat the Sioux and others that resisted the reservation system. General Phil Sheridan A P A C H E People of the desert Southwest Hunters and Warriors Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona & Northern Mexico Cochise- Chief who lead Apache resistance in 1870s Geronimo & the Apache Resistance Lead a band of Apache from New Mexico off the reservation in Conducted raids for two years across the Southwest. Surrendered and resumed raiding a few times. Final surrender was in 1886 to General George Crook, and he and his followers were shipped to Florida. General Crook and the end to the Apache Resistance General Crook Geronimo and Apache prisoners being shipped to Florida. Nez Perce resistance in the Pacific Northwest I Will Fight No More, Forever Nez Perce lived in Northwest of United States. Peaceful people who earlier had befriended and helped Lewis and Clark. Lost much of their lands to white settlers by treaty. When gold found on their remaining lands, whites attempted to seize that from them. Young Nez Perce raided and killed white settlers. U.S. Army moved to quell Nez Perce. Chief Joseph, Nez Perce The Pursuit of the Nez Perce Chief Joseph & Nez Perce try to escape to Canada Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Chief Joseph, Nez Perce Tell General Howard I Know his heart. What he told me before, I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohoolhoolzote is dead. The Old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes and no. He who lead the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. The Ghost Dance The Ghost Dance movement Begun by Wovoka, a Paiute prophet who had a vision that Indian dead would return, Buffalo would return and whites would disappear. Spread rapidly. Spread from tribe to tribe. Pan- Indian movement Ritual of the Ghost Dance would bring realization of this vision. Indian lands would be returned The Ghost Dance Movement Whites viewed the Ghost Dance as dangerous and would lead to Indian uprising. Wounded Knee, the last battle Wounded Knee Sioux ordered to camp at Wounded Knee Creek near Pine Ridge. Lead by Big Foot of the Oglala Sioux, the Indians gave up their weapons to the army. Then the army opened fire, the result was Sioux Chief, Big Foot, killed at Wounded Knee Dead Sioux on the field at Wounded Knee Sioux medicine man, Yellow Bird, killed at Wounded Knee The End of Indian Wars & Native American Resistance I Buried My Heart at Wounded Knee The final BATTLE of the Indian Wars. December 29, 1890 The Dawes Severality Act (1887) Ended tribal holdings of land. Lands of Indian Reservations surveyed and divided into 160- acre farms. Individual Native Americans given an allotment. Could not sell or lease it for 25 years. If they adopted habits of civilized life they could become citizens. Excess lands belonged to U.S. Indian lands shrank from 138 million to 47 million acres. Oklahoma Land Runs Oklahoma Land Runs Series of 7 runs between 1889 and 1893 Settlers purchased rights to race to lands in Oklahoma and acquire homesteads. Lands previously had belonged to various Native American tribes as part of the Organized Indian Territory (1828) BOOMERS & SOONERS Indian Schools Indian children taken from their homes and placed in government run schools. Indian children were instructed in the ways of being white. Benevolent Assimilation Native Americans give up their beliefs, customs, culture and way of life and become a part of white culture. A Century of Dishonor Helen Hunt Jackson Documented the mistreatment of Native Americans and outlined the broken promises of the United States. It makes little difference where one opens the record of the history of Indians; every page and every year has a dark stain. Cowboys and Cattle Cowboys Become a romanticized myth of American cowboys. Long days hours, 18 or more while on the trail. Most were young and bow legged. Had to be an expert rider and roper. If carried a gun, probably never shot anyone. More likely to die of disease or an accident or outlaws than Indians. The Golden Era of the Cowboy As many as 55,000 Cowboys worked in the West. Season began with Spring Round-up. Drive cattle from ranches to shipping yards. Wasnt paid until drive was complete. Overgrazing, drought, prairie fires and record heat & cold killed off livestock between Fencing in of the plains. Joseph Gliddens barbed-wire Cattle Trails and Cow towns The Mining Frontier Prospectors What impact had the WEST had upon the United States? The Significance of the Frontier in American History By Frederick Jackson Turner 1890 Census announced the end of the frontier as a clear dividing line between settled and undeveloped areas. Stressed that the availability of free land and influence of the frontier had played a major role in development of democracy in the U.S. Asked what would happen to the nation now that the possibility of free land and a new life in the West was vanishing. Wild West Shows Buffalo Bill & Sitting Bull Closing of the Western Frontier The New West? The New Cowboy?