Chapter 26

Indian Massacres and Post-Reconstruction Movements Out West

Clash of CulturesAmerican culture:

(1) Stay East(2) Go West

Relationship between Indians and Federal Government:Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) / Sioux Treaty - set up the first “reservations” in America to position various Indian tribes on reserved plots of landPurpose: Get Indians out of the way of Westward expansionIndians receive: “Americanization” through education in carpentry, farming, and engineeringBlack Hills War (1876) or The Great Cheyenne War - gold prospectors (going West) crossed over in reservations and the Cheyenne tribes attacked them (violation of the treaty of Fort Laramie)…the U.S army responded and war ensued.U.S. Army took control of this reservation

Indian Wars / MassacresIndian Wars / Massacres (1864-1890)

Indian Advantage: arrows were quicker than the white man’s rifle White Advantage: Invention of the Colt .45 by Samuel Colt (6-shooter) and the Winchester repeating rifle turned the tide o the white man

Buffalo Soldiers: African American soldiers that were sent by the U.S. Army to “protect” the white man / railroad constructors against Indian attacks

Sand Creek Massacre (1864)

Sand Creek Location: ColoradoJust before the Civil War ended in 1865Col. J.M. Chivington's troops circled then killed 700 Indians who thought they'd been given immunity. Cheyenne (and neighboring allied tribes) were attacked by, mostly drunken, U.S> Army troopsBlack Kettle: Cheyenne tribe at Sand Creek raised a white and an American flag from his tepee to surrenderCheyenne revenge: Fetterman attack (2 years later)Purpose: end the construction of the Bozeman Trail (connected Montana to the Oregon Trail)

Gold on a Federal ReservationIn 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota (on the Sioux reservation) when Col. William Armstrong Custer ( Chief Yellow Hair) led a "geological" expedition into the Black Hills.The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876) ("Custer's Last Stand") followed.Custer's’ problems: Outmatched, outnumbered, and no knowledge of the terrain*Horse WallMain Sioux Leaders:Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull led thousands of Indians “OFF” of their “GIVEN” reservationsLegacy: INDIAN VICTORY! (1) This victory only prolonged the inevitable defeat of the Indians(2) Sparked other tribes to fight off being mandated to go onto federal reservations

Chief Joseph and the Nez PerceGeronimo of the Apache

• Inspired by the events at Little Bighorn…Chief Joseph claimed the federal government could not tell him where to go.

• Solution: Flee to Canada• The U.S. Army caught and defeated the Nez Perce at the Battle of Bear Paw Mountain only 40

miles from the Canadian border. • Finally, giving up, claimed

– “I will fight no more, forever”

Apache (Southwest)- U.S. Army chased the Apache and Geronimo into Mexico Mexican soldiers killed Geronimo’s mother, wife and three kids - Geronimo vowed to fight Mexico and then surrendered to the U.S. army- Later did of pneumonia in 1909

5 elements that dissolved the Indian cultures in the late 1800s

(1) Railroads (Iron fingers of the government)(2) Diseases (3) Lack of Buffalo (deliberately killed by the white man)(4) War(5) Loss of their land to white settlement (sense of imperialism and manifest destiny/ White man’s medicine)

White settlers kill the Buffalo

American Public reactionBy the 1880's, the people were beginning to recognize the plight of the American Indian. A Century of DishonorBy: Helen Hunt Jackson - outlined the injustice done to Indians by the U.S. government. Her novel Ramona had the same effect in fiction form.

GHOST DANCE

Indian religious movement that started in the late 1800s Point: revitalization of “deceased family members”, buffalo will returnWhite settlers will leave them alone….White reaction: Ghost Dance is outlawed…..

(WOUNDED KNEE)

Wounded Knee (1890)

• Location: South Dakota• Led by Custer’s Old regiment (7th Calvary)• Indians were killed for dancingLegacy: ENDS THE INDIAN WARS / MASSACRES

Dawes Severalty Act (1887)• Federal Government’s attempt to erase Indian tribes and “Americanize” them and make them more White

American.Outcome:(1) Indians will be an American citizen after 25 years, only if they act like just like whit people(cultural superiority)(2) Split up reservations and give them to the “head of the family”(repeal the Treaty of Fort Laramie) and offer the rest for purchase form the white man.Remember: European immigrants will get citizenship in 2-3 yearsDawes Act in Action: Carlisle Indian School opened in an attempt to “kill the Indian, save the child!”1890 = Indians had 50% less land than 1870Dawes Act (1887) is overturned in 1934with the Indian Reorganization Act (Indian New Deal) through FDR

Farmer’s FrontierThe Homestead Act (1862) - offered 160 acres of “free” land. Purpose: Develop the West! ($1.25 per acre)Exodusters: African American settlers trying to escape racial discrimination of the Jim Crow Southand to take advantage of the Homestead ActSooners: noting the settlers that went outWest (Oklahoma) “sooner” that they shouldhave (land was not assigned yet)

The “Fading” Frontier• 1890 – The federal Census Bureau claimed the “Frontier did not exist”• American public reaction: Scared the land has been gobbled up• Federal Reaction: Yellowstone was obtained by the federal government as

the First National Park in 1872. Yosemite and Sequoia parks followed in 1890.

** Frederick Jackson Turner writes the “Turner Thesis”- claiming the “Western frontier movement” shaped American culture - Safety-Valve Theory: anybody can just “up and leave” and start over / go West! (back to Second Great Awakening)