How the West was Won

Reasons Settlers Moved West

God

Gold

Land

Railroads and the Growth of American Industry Railroads linked the nation and increased the size of markets. The railroad

industry stimulated the economy by spending large amounts of money on

steel, coal, and timber.

Railroads allowed farmers, ranchers, and other settlers’ access to eastern

markets and resources.

Trans-Continental Railroad Approved

In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, which

provided for the construction of a transcontinental railroad by the Union

Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies.

To encourage rapid construction, the government offered each company land

along its right of way. Railroad companies like the Union Pacific and Central

Pacific were able to cover all their building costs by selling the land to settlers,

real estate agencies, and other businesses.

Railroad formed by an eastern railway company and a western railway

company which linked the nation from east to west. A transcontinental railroad

would make travel to the West Coast quicker and it would increase the growth

of territories on its route.

Trans-Continental Railroad

In 1865 the Union Pacific

pushed westward from

Omaha, Nebraska. The

workers included Civil

War veterans, Irish

immigrants, farmers,

miners, cooks, and ex-

convicts. Camp life was

dangerous.

Weather, labor, money,

and engineering problems

hampered the project.

Started from Omaha, Nebraska and went west.

Union Pacific Railroad Company

In 1865 the Union Pacific pushed westward from Omaha, Nebraska. The

workers included Civil War veterans, Irish immigrants, farmers, miners,

cooks, and ex-convicts. Camp life was dangerous.

Weather, labor, money, and engineering problems hampered the project.

Started from Omaha, Nebraska and went west.

Central Pacific Railroad Company

Railroad Company involved with the transcontinental railroad

that started from Sacramento, Ca. and went east.

Role of Chinese Immigrants and the Railroads Working conditions for railroad laborers were very harsh. Because of a labor

shortage, the Central Pacific Railroad hired about 10,000 workers from China

who provided much of the labor that built the nation's western railroads.

Did You Know? In 1866 about 5,000 Chinese railroad workers went on strike. They demanded higher wages

and a shorter workday. The railroad company surrounded the Chinese workers on strike with strikebreakers

and starved them, forcing most of them to return to work.

Promontory, Utah “Wedding of the Rails”

Place where railroads met to complete the Transcontinental railroad.

The final spike was made

of solid gold and was

driven into the rails

during a ceremonial

event by the presidents of

both railroad companies.

The golden spike was

removed afterward to

prevent theft.

http://safeshare.tv/w/OOeQhewyMT

Homestead Act of 1862

Law stated that a 21 year-old person (male) could get 160 acres of land as a

homestead.

• $ 10.00 registration fee.

• Person had to improve the land by farming it or building on it and had

to live on the land for five years.

Oklahoma Land Rush

In 1889, Congress finally agreed and central Oklahoma was declared open.

Roughly 50,000 people gathered. Some "jumped the gun" to get a head start

and get there sooner. Hence, Oklahoma achieved the nickname the "sooner"

state.

Soddies Since the prairies of the Midwest lacked wood and other traditional building

materials, settlers learned to build and live in sod houses.

Sod from the thick prairie grass was abundant and proved to be very strong

and durable.

Windmills Windmills proved crucial because they allowed farmers to harness the

wind's power to pump water to the surface.

Farmers often had to dig more than 100 feet to reach water.

Homesteader Diagram

Vaqueros Mexican cowboys that taught white settlers cattle ranching techniques in

Texas.

Vaqueros taught white settlers how to herd, raise, and drive cattle to market.

Cowboys Those who moved the cattle on long drives to cow towns for shipment to eastern

slaughter houses.

The average trail crew consisted of a trail boss, cook, horse wrangler, and

eight to eighteen cowboys depending on the size of the herd.

• Confederate army veterans, blacks, and Mexicans all rode as cowboys.

• Cowboys were paid roughly $100 for three months work.

Black Exodus When large numbers of African Americans made their way west following

the Civil War.

In reference to the Exodus of the Israelites recorded in the Bible after they

were freed from slavery in Egypt.

Nat Love

Major Cattle Trails Shawnee Trail ran from east-central Texas to Kansas City, Missouri

Chisholm Trail ran from east-central Texas to Wichita & Topeka, Kansas

Western Trail ran from central Texas to Dodge City, Kansas & Ogallala, and

Nebraska.

Goodnight Loving Trail ran from central Texas to Denver in Colorado, where

cattle was sold to gold miners.

Hardships Endured on the Open Range

Real life cowboys had to endure numerous hardships:

• Being trampled (especially in a stampede).

• Drowning (crossing rivers).

• Weather: Rain, hail and burning sun on the long drive.

• Having to stay awake all night on guard duty on the long drive.

• Having to ‘ride drag' on the long drive (dust from the herd).

• Attacks from Indians and cattle rustlers along the long drive.

The Life of a Cowboy

Cattle drive cooks were just as cranky in real life as they

were portrayed in Hollywood westerns. Cowpokes knew

better than to tease or mess with "Cookie." They might

wake up with biscuit dough in their hair or find rocks

mixed with their beans. Cattle drive cooks had to serve

three meals a day, seven days a week. They kept alert to

find and pick up wood for the fire as they traveled in the

chuck wagon. They had to constantly go ahead of the

cattle drives and prepare food in all types of weather,

holding a tarp over the fire, if necessary. Cooks were

also "jacks of all trades," often playing the roles of

doctor, barber, and even dentist for the drive hands.

Rattlesnake Stew Cowboy Song [Horrible Histories]

Cow Towns Once paid, many cowboys spent their money drinking, gambling, or with

prostitutes in “Cow Towns.” These were settlements to which ranchers would

drive their cattle so that they could be herded onto trains and shipped east to

market.

End of the Trail Between 1,000 to 5,000 Longhorns made up a herd of cattle.

Once at the railhead, cattle were shipped to the stockyards located in Chicago,

Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri.

Conditions inside of slaughter houses were terrible and it took years before the federal government regulated

laws to have these conditions improved. (See unit on the Progressive movement.)

Joseph Glidden and Barbed Wire

Made it possible for farmers to cheaply and efficiently fence in their land and

livestock.

Led to conflicts between free-roaming cattlemen and farming settlers.

Joseph Glidden of Illinois got the idea to wrap two wires around a pointy piece of wire in a fixed position. He is

credited for being the first to patent barbed wire.

Barbed Wire [Story of US]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwDGgK3Wtf8&index=46

&list=PLnFrDeFoh1ckCFs4IcInaOwXGpbVu7QrX

Cowboys [The Story of US]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqO-

seTh_qc&list=PLnFrDeFoh1ckCFs4IcInaOwXGpbVu7QrX&index=45

Buffalo Soldiers A name given to members of black regiments by Native Americans.

African American troops served with distinction and bravery in battle against

the Native Americans who they had to fight against.

Plains Indians

Posed a serious threat to western settlers because, unlike the Eastern Indians

from early colonial days, the Plains Indians possessed rifles and horses.

How Did the Lives of Indians Change in the Late 1800s

• After the Civil War, miners and settlers moved west with the

protection of U.S. troops. Indians fought unsuccessfully to keep their

lands.

• Between 1860 and 1890, the Western Indians lost 25% of their

population, mostly from diseases brought by white people, but also in

battles with U.S. troops.

• They also lost 90% of their lands, and what was left became

government reservations.

• White hunters killed nearly all 15 million buffalo on the Great Plains,

and the Plains Indians lost their main source of food.

Buffalo: A Source of Native American Livelihood The Plains Indians greatly depended on the buffalo for their livelihood.

• White settlers killed great numbers of buffalo for their hides and to

make way for ranchers and their herds of cattle.

• By 1889, only 1,000 buffalo were left on the continent.

The days of hunting buffalo on the plains were numbered. Thousands of buffalo would be slaughtered by greedy white

hunters for just their hides and tongues.

http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-

cultures/videos/american-buffalo?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false

Why were the Buffalo so Important? Every part of the buffalo was used to supply the needs of the Native Americans.

1. Buffalo provided the people's main food - buffalo liver, brain and nose gristle were a

treat, eaten raw.

2. Dried buffalo meat, called pemmican, provided food to eat through the winter.

3. Buffalo bones provided marrow to eat.

4. Buffalo bones were also carved to make knives, and boiled to make glue.

5. Buffalo skin could be used to make tipis, clothes, moccasins, bedding, saddle covers

and water-bags.

6. Dried buffalo dung provided fuel for fires.

7. Buffalo horns and hooves were made into

cups.

8. Buffalo sinews were used as bowstrings

and thread.

9. Buffalo fat was used as soap.

10. The rough tongue of a buffalo could be

used as a hairbrush.

11. The tail of a buffalo could be used as a

fly-swat.

Why were the Buffalo so Important?

Bladders

used as

waterpro

of bags &

pouches

Brains were sometimes eaten,

but used mostly to prepare

the hide for tanning.

Bones used for knives, arrowheads,

and everyday tools; the skull was used

for ceremonies.

Hooves can be ground

up for glue or used a

rattles or spoons.

Buffalo chips were used for

fuel or jewelry.

Hair was woven into

ropes, headdresses, and

pillows. The long beard

in particular was

popular for

ornamentation.

Scrotum used to make

rattles or tobacco pouches

Hides were used as bedding,

clothing, and tepee covers

Tails were used as fly

swatters and whips

Stomachs

turned into a

canteen.

Ligaments were

dried and used for

bowstrings

Meat- Anything that can be eaten was.

Tongue was

the tastiest

delicacy

Blood was used to

make paint

White Man & Buffalo Hunting

Buffalo Tongue

Buffalo Hides

Buffalo tongue was a delicacy at

many of the finest restaurants in

the larger cities back east.

Buffalo hunters

decimated the once

mighty buffalo herds by

shooting hundreds daily.

Trains were used to shoot at buffalo

herds as the they rolled past the

herds, leaving the dead buffalo to lie

where they fell and rot.

Most buffalo were shot for only

their hides and tongues

Treaty of Fort Laramie 1851 The federal government wanted peace, so in 1851 the U.S. government and

eight Native American groups negotiated the Treaty of Fort Laramie

or the Indian Appropriations Act (1851). The Native American groups agreed

to live in certain territories. In return, the U.S government promised that

these territories would always belong to the Native Americans.

Reservations Parcels of land set aside by the federal government for the Native Americans.

The poor living conditions and corruption led to bitter and violent wars with

U.S. government troops.

Sand Creek Massacre of December 1864 Colonel Chivington of the Colorado 3rd Volunteer Cavalry attacked peaceful

village of Cheyenne Indians led by Chief Black Kettle.

Several women, children, and elderly Cheyenne massacred.

Sand Creek: Despite flying an American flag from his lodge, Black Kettle’s village came under attack by Colonel

Chivington. Most of those killed were women, children, and old men. A few days after the battle, Chivington’s

men rode through camp with scalps and other items from Sand Creek. Colonel Chivington was openly criticized,

but nothing happened to him.

Colonel Chivington

Native American vs. White View of Warfare

Native American concept of warfare: 1. Warfare was glorious, no better way to die.

2. Fought battles to gain personal recognition. (How one gained status within a tribe.)

a. The aim of war was to capture horses and to show bravery.

3. Warfare was based on ambush, not the White man concept of standing in the open.

4. The bravest act of war was to score a coup (where a warrior tapped his enemy with

a stick and escaped).

5. Looked down on captured opponents, thought it was better to die in battle than

surrender. Treated prisoners very cruelly and often tortured them.

6. Native Americans scalped their enemy to stop him going to an afterworld they called

the Happy Hunting Ground.

Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull

What treaty have the white

man ever made with us that

they have kept? Not one. I

would die for my people

and my country?”

Sitting Bull

“One does not sell the

earth upon which the

people walk.”

Indian leaders during the wars with U.S. troops between 1865-1890

Crazy Horse

"I was born a

Lakota and I

shall die a

Lakota.”

Red Cloud

Sitting Bull

Fetterman Massacre (Dec. 1866)

Dispute was over the Bozeman Trail and military posts in Sioux territory as

whites trespassed onto Sioux hunting grounds.

Captain William Fetterman boasted that with 80 men he could ride through the

entire Sioux nation.

Fetterman pursued a decoy of Indians led by Chief Crazy Horse.

Every soldier with Fetterman was killed.

Capt. William Fetterman boasted that with eighty soldiers he could ride through the entire Sioux Nation. After the

battle, there were exactly eighty dead soldiers on the battlefield. Fetterman choose suicide rather than being

captured by Indians.

With 80 men,

I'll ride across

the entire

Sioux nation.

The Campaigns of General Hancock and General Sheridan (1867- 1868) Was

aimed at combating raiding Sioux and Cheyenne hostiles in Kansas.

The campaign was very embarrassing for the U.S. Government as Indians evaded

the U.S. Army and continued raiding.

Sheridan realized a new tactic for combating Indians was needed.

This included attacking Indian encampments during the winter.

Red Cloud's War of 1867-1868

General Phil Sheridan is best known for his “The only good Indian… is a dead Indian” comment. He decided it was

time to end the Indian wars once and for all. To do this he recruited his favorite Civil War subordinate, George

Armstrong Custer.

George Custer

During the Civil War, Custer had distinguished himself as a cavalry officer

and was brevetted* one of the youngest generals in the Union Army.

In a postwar reorganization, Custer became a lieutenant colonel and

commanded the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in 1866. He won fame as he

fought Indians in the Southwest and in the Dakota and Montana territories.

Lt. Col. Custer commanded the famous U.S.

Seventh Cavalry.

Battle of the Washita Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, a Civil War hero turned famous Indian

fighter commanded the famous U.S. 7th Cavalry.

Custer and the 7th Cavalry attacked the peaceful Cheyenne village of Chief

Black Kettle on November 27, 1868.

Custer was victorious as over 103 Indians were killed and several more were

captured. Black Kettle himself was killed.

The battle was the Seventh Cavalry’s most famous victory.

Custer and the Seventh Cavalry destroy Black Kettle’s village along the Washita River on the morning of Nov. 27,

1868. Black Kettle and his wife were among those killed. This battle marked the 7th Cavalry’s most famous victory.

Gold Discovered in the Black Hills (1874) Gold was discovered by Custer's 7th Cavalry in the Black Hills.

Miners violated treaty, which banned white encroachment into the Black Hills.

The army was sent to protect miners and escort them from the region by force if

necessary.

The federal government offered to buy the Black Hills from the Indians, but the

Indians refused to sell the land as it was considered a sacred Indian hunting

grounds.

The U.S. Army was called to place the Indians on reservations.

The Blacks Hills Expedition of 1874:

Lt. Colonel Custer with his favorite

scout, Bloody Knife during the Black

Hills Expedition of 1874.

Custer’s comment that gold could be

found at the roots of the grass in the

Black Hills led to the Great Sioux War

of 1876-1877.

The Sioux War of 1876-1877

General William T. Sherman

Sitting Bull: The Great Medicine chief of

the Hunkpapa Sioux organized the many

separate tribes into one large village for

protection against the white soldiers.

“The more Indians we can kill this

year, the less will have to be killed the

next war, for the more I see of these

Indians, the more convinced I'm that

they have to be killed or be

maintained as a species of paupers."

If we must die,

we die defending

our rights.

Hoka Hey! It is a

good time to die!

Not an original poster, but one that

could be purchased at the gift shop

at the Little Bighorn National

Battlefield.

Lt. Col George Custer

There are not

enough Sioux in

the entire world

that could whip

the 7th Cavalry…

Battle of the Little Bighorn June 25, 1876 The last great victory for Native Americans over U.S. troops.

Indians defeated and killed Lt. Col. George A. Custer and about 250 soldiers.

Known as "Custer's Last Stand"

The Indians were led by chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.

Custer attacked an Indian village thought to have 600-1000 Indians, actually

there were about 10,000. The nation was shocked and vowed revenge.

Famous Last Words:

"Hurray boys!!! We caught them napping."

George Armstrong Custer

25 June 1876

Scenes from the Battle of the Little Bighorn

“I heard the alarm, but I did not believe it.

I thought it was a false alarm. I did not

think it was possible that any white men

would attack us, so strong as we were.”

Account of the Custer fight by Low Dog,

Oglala Sioux chief

The Battle of the Little Bighorn,

June 25, 1876 “Custer’s Last

Stand.”

Custer and 265 men of the U.S.

Seventh Cavalry were killed at this

battle. Five members of Custer's

family were killed with him. Killed

with Custer were his two younger

brothers, his brother-in-law, and his

17-year-old nephew.

Scenes After the Battle of the Little Bighorn

A marker at the Little

Bighorn Battlefield marks

where one of Custer’s

soldiers fell that fateful day

at the Little Bighorn.

Several bodies were

unrecognizable because of

their mutilated condition.

“Oh… How white they look…”

Captain Weir, June 27, 1876.

Upon viewing Custer’s mutilated

dead

Scenes After the Battle of the Little Bighorn

A horse named Comanche

is credited as being the sole

survivor of the Battle of the

Little Bighorn. Today, one

can view Comanche’s

stuffed remains at the

University of Kansas.

Crazy Horse Murdered (Sept. 5, 1877)

After the victory at Little Bighorn, U.S. Army forces led by Colonel Nelson

Miles pursued Crazy Horse and his followers. His tribe suffered from cold and

starvation, and on May 6, 1877, Crazy Horse surrendered to General George

Crook at the Red Cloud Indian Agency in Nebraska. He was sent to Fort

Robinson, where he was fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting

confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson.

Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce'

US government attempted to remove them from the Oregon Territory onto

reservations.

Chief Joseph outmaneuvered U.S. troops for several months as the Nez Perce'

attempted to escape to Canada.

Stopped 30 miles from the border and forced to settle on reservations in

Oklahoma.

"The old men are dead. The children are freezing to death. Hear me, my chiefs! My heart is sick and sad. From

where the sun now stands. I will fight no more forever!”

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perez, 1877.

Ghost Dance The Sioux believed that this dance would bring back the buffalo, return the

Native American tribes to their land, and banish the white man from the

earth. The Indians believed that by dancing the

sacred Ghost Dance that the whites would

disappear, the buffalo would return, and

things would return to the old days. Fearing

the Indians were going on the warpath,

fearful reservation agents called troops to put

a stop to the Ghost Dance. Ironically, in an

act of revenge, it was Custer’s former 7th U.S.

Cavalry, now under the command of Gen.

Nelson Miles, who participated in the

Wounded Knee Massacre. When it was all

over, 350 Indians lay dead at Wounded Knee.

Among those killed was Sitting Bull.

Ghost Dance Shirt

“Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. We need

protection and we need it now."

Daniel F. Royer

Reservation Agent at Pine Ridge S.D. (Wounded Knee) November 1890 A Ceremonial

Ghost dance

Shirt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PQj-NHp83A

Wounded Knee The last notable armed conflict between US troops and Native American that

occurred in December 1890.

Before it was over, Sitting Bull and more than 300 Native American men, women

and children, most of whom were unarmed, lay dead.

“I wish it to be

remembered that

I was the last

man of my tribe

to surrender my

rifle.”

Wounded Knee Aftermath

Chief Bigfoot Dead in the Snow

Burying the Dead in a Mass Grave

Surveying the Carnage

Wounded Knee Memorial

Indian Schools

Many Indian children were taken away from their families and sent to

Indian schools in the eastern United States.

This was an attempt to assimilate (civilize) them into White America.

Dawes Act of 1887

Gave Native Americans:

• Right to own property.

• Right to an education.

• Promise of U.S. citizenship.

*All Native Americans finally received American

citizenship in 1924.

Also called the General Allotment Act, it tried to dissolve Indian tribes by

redistributing the land. Designed to forestall growing Indian poverty, it

resulted in many Indians losing their lands to speculators.

Henry L. Dawes

“Great White Father now calls you his brother.”

President Woodrow Wilson,

Address to the American Indians, Summer of 1913.