1. Looking to the West ( )
The Indian Wars

2. The Life of the Plains Indians
Eastern settlers changed the lives of N. A. on the Great Plains
Indians & French traded buffalo hides for guns, making hunting easier
Horses made N. A. warfare much more intense and violent
Many N. A. became nomads b/c of the horse. Became more mobile to follow food sources
Warrior societies led to much more violence and instability

4. Indian Wars and Government Policy
N.A. lived on traditional lands W. of Mississippi
N. A. viewed settlers as invaders, Settlers took land from N. A.
(Settlers vs. N.A. = invaders vs. owners)
Gov’t treaties forced N. A. onto reservations
Settlers ignored treaties
Acts of violence led to cycles of revenge. Both sides guilty.

5. Brutality, Unfulfilled Promises, and Butchery
Treaties:
Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867
Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)
Most Indians angered by the treaties
By 1868, war parties were raiding cities in Kansas and Colorado
In response, army troops killed any Indians who refused to stay on reservations

6. Key Events in the Indian Wars, 1861-1890
Native American
Nations/Homelands
Key Players
Description/Outcome
Apache and Navajo Wars ( )
Apache in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado territories; Navajo in New Mexico, Colorado territories
Geronimo
Col. Christopher “Kit” Carson
Carson kills or relocates many Apache to reservations in Clashes drag on until Geronmino’s surrender in Navajo told to surrender in 1863, but before they can, Carson attacks, killing hundreds, destroying homelands. Navajos moved to New Mexico reservation in 1865.
Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
Southern Cheyeene, Arapaho, in central plains
Black Kettle
Col. John Chivington
Cheyenne massacres prompt Chivington to kill up to 500 surrendered Cheyenne and Arapaho led by Black Kettle.
Red River War ( )
Comanche and southern branches of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho, in southern plains
Comanche war parties
Gen. William T. Sherman
Lt. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan
Southern plains Indians relocated to Oklahoma Indian Territory under 1867 Treaty of Medicin Lodge. After buffalo hunters destroy the Indians food supply, Comanche warriors race to buffalo grazing areas in Texas panhandle to kill hunters. Sherman and Sheridan defeat warriors and open panhandle to cattle ranching.
Wars/Battles

7. Key Events in the Indian Wars, 1861-1890
Wars/Battles
Native American
Nations/Homelands
Key Players
Description/Outcome
Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
Northern plains Sioux in Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana territorries
Sitting Bull
Crazy Horse
Red Cloud
Lt. Col. George
A. Custer
U.S. tries to buy gold-rich Black Hills from Sioux. Talks fail. Custer’s 7th Cavalry is sent to round up Sioux, but meets huge enemy force. Custer and some 200 men perish in “Custer’s Last Stand.”
Nez Perce War (1877)
Largest branch of Nez Perce, in Wallowa Valley of Idaho and Washington territories and Oregon
Chief Joseph
Gen. Oliver O. Howard
Col. Nelson Miles
Howard orders Nez Perce to Idaho reservation; violence erupts. Joseph leads some 700 men, women, and children on 1,400-mile flight. His 200 warriors hold off Miles’s 2,000 soldiers until halted 40 miles short of Canada. Sent to Indian Territory, many die of disease. In 1885, survivors moved to reservation in Washington Territory.
Battle of Wounded Knee (1890)
Sioux at Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota
U.S. 7th
Cavalry
Ghost Dance raises fears of Sioux uprising; Sitting Bull killed in attempted arrest. His followers surrender and camp at Wounded Knee. Shots are fired; some 200 Sioux die.

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Map: Indian Wars,

9. Warring Sioux
Several Sioux tribes fought to stay on their land and protect their hunting grounds
Raided settlements and harassed miners
Sitting Bull
Leader of non-treaty Sioux
Strong fighting expertise
Non-treaty: had not signed any treaty with the u.s. gov to stay on reservations

10. Rising Tensions in the West
Sand Creek Massacre
Cheyenne and Arapaho Camps attacked by Local Militia…natives retaliate
Governor urges settlers to kill hostile natives
Brings in Colonel John M. Chivington
“remember the murdered women and children”
Nov. 29: Chivington massacred natives at Sand Creek (including women and children)

11. Sand Creek (1864) •US army massacred Cheyenne, Arapahoe
Older men, women,
And children.
•Eastern Colorado

12. William Tecumseh Sherman
“War is hell…”
March through Georgia in Civil War
Commanding General of U.S. Army after 1869
Colonel who sent Custer on his expedition into the Black Hills

13. General George Armstrong Custer
General in the Civil War
Infamous Indian fighter during the Sioux Wars
Wanted to find gold in Black Hills
Defeated in the Battle at Little Bighorn (1876)
Black Hills expedition: pushed by the Northern Pacific Railroad

14. Sitting Bull
Lakota Sioux Chief

15. Little Bighorn Army moved to assault roaming Sioux in 1876
600 troops marched on Little Bighorn River
Custer separated his men and sent half of his forces straight into battle
This group and the rest were wiped out by Cheyenne and Sioux
Defeat angered the army who became even more ruthless
Army moved to assault roaming Sioux: after negotiations to buy the Black Hills broke down

16. Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand)

17. The Little Bighorn today

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Scene of Custer's last stand

19. Wounded Knee Creek The Ghost Dance December 29, 1890
In honor of Wovoka
December 29, 1890
Seventh cavalry was sent to round up a group of Indians at Wounded Knee when an ‘excited’ Indian fired a shot
The soldiers then open fired
More than 300 Indians killed in minutes
Show movie clip

20. Wounded Knee, SD (1890)

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Return from Wounded Knee

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Issue Day: Native Americans Waiting for Government Supplies

23. “Saving” the Indians
More and more Americans disagreed with Government Indian policies
The Women’s National Indian Rights Association
Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson
They thought breaking up the reservations and assimilating the Indians into society was the best thing
Dawes Severalty Act
Gave individuals acreages
of land and made them
citizens of the U.S.
Assimilating: they wanted to get rid of Indian culture to get rid of the “Indian Problem”
Picture: the phoenix indian school

24. Attempts to Change Native American Culture
Many people believed that Native Americans needed to give up their traditions and culture, learn English, become Christians, adopt white dress and customs, and support themselves by farming and trades.
This policy is called assimilation, the process by which one society becomes a part of another, more dominant society by adopting its culture.
In 1887 the Dawes Act divided reservation land into individual plots. Each family headed by a man received 160 acres.
Many Native Americans did not believe in the concept of individual property, nor did they want to farm the land. For some, the practices of farming went against their notion of ecology. Some had no experience in agriculture.
Between 1887 and 1932, some two thirds of this land became white owned.

25. Assimilation and the Indian Schools
Carlisle, PA, other sites around the U.S.
Genoa, Nebraska
Attempted to ‘save the Indian’ by making them assimilate into American culture, manners and customs
Formed by people who empathized with the plight of the Indians and wanted a “humanitarian” solution
“Kill the Indian and save the man”
—Richard Pratt, founder of Carlisle

26. Genoa, NE Indian School

27. Before and After

28. Dawes Act Indian Homestead Act - 1887
Another attempt to assimilate Indians

29. The Opening of Indian Territory
Fifty five Indian nations were forced into Indian Territory, the largest unsettled farmland in the United States.
During the 1880s, squatters overran the land, and Congress agreed to buy out the Indian claims to the region.
On April 22, 1889, tens of thousands of homesteaders lined up at the territory’s borders to stake claims on the land.
By sundown, settlers called boomers had staked claims on almost 2 million acres.
Many boomers discovered that some of the best lands had been grabbed by sooners, people who had sneaked past the government officials earlier to mark their claims.
Under continued pressure from settlers, Congress created Oklahoma Territory in In the following years, the remainder of Indian Territory was open to settlement.

30. Oklahoma Land Rush (1889)
Oklahoma was “Indian Territory” given to the five civilized tribes
They sided with the Confederacy, the government took land as punishment
2 million acres free for settlement
Free land was considered instant prosperity, but droughts would make many farms fail

31. Oklahoma City, 1889

32. By 1900 Most Indians had been driven onto reservations
Reduced from 1/4 million to 1 hundred thousand
The culture still survives

33. Land Lost:

34. Reservations Today:

35. End of the Buffalo Wounded Knee Sioux Wars Broken Promises
Hides popular as blankets
Buffalo threatened by the Railroad
Hunted for Sport
End of the Buffalo
Native Americans surrender End of Sioux Wars
Gold found on Lakota reservation
300 Native Americans killed
Wounded Knee
Nat. Amer. Win Battle of Little Bighorn
Sioux Wars
Started by death of Sitting Bull
Battle of Little Bighorn—Sitting Bull vs. General Custer
Broken Promises
Established reservation
Attempts at Peace
Clashes
Govt. went back on treaties
Native Americans attempted to protect culture and land
Attempt to teach Nat. Amer. White farming
Reforms
Dawes Act: attempt to “Americanize” Nat. Amer

36. Looking to the West ( )
Moving West

37. The West Push Factors Pull Factors Crowding back East
Displaced farmers
Former slaves
Eastern farmland expensive
Ethnic and religious repression in Europe
Haven for outlaws
Pull Factors
Government incentives
Pacific Railway Act
Morrill Land-Grant Act
Homestead Act
Private Property
Miners
Ranchers
Farmers

38. The Lure of the West “Pull” Factors
When geographers study reasons for major migrations, they look at what they call push-pull factors-events and conditions that either force (push) people to move elsewhere or strongly attract (pull) them to do so. Here are some push-pull factors for moving west.
“Push” Factors
The Civil War had displaced thousands of farmers, former slaves, and other workers.
Eastern farmland was too costly.
Failed entrepreneurs sought a second chance in a new locations.
Ethnic and religious repression caused people to seek the freedom of the west.
Outlaws sought refuge.
“Pull” Factors
The Pacific Railway Acts of and 1864
Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862
Land speculators
Homestead Act, 1862
Legally enforceable property rights

39. GO WEST, YOUNG MAN! The Myth of the Frontier “Manifest Destiny”
Civil War over
Adventure
Resources
Wealth (Gold, Cattle, Land)

40. Settlers From Far and Wide
German-speaking immigrants arrived seeking farmland. They brought the Lutheran religion with its emphasis on hard work and education.
Lutherans from Scandinavia settled the northern plains from Iowa to Minnesota to the Dakotas, many pursuing dairy farming.
Irish, Italians, European Jews, and Chinese settled in concentrated communities on the West coast. They took jobs in mining and railroad construction that brought them to the American interior.
After the Civil War, thousands of African Americans rode or walked westward, often fleeing violence and exploitation.
Benjamin “Pap” Singleton led groups of southern blacks on a mass “Exodus,” a trek inspired by the biblical account of the Israelites’ flight from Egypt to a prophesied homeland. Hence, the settlers called themselves Exodusters. Some 50,000 or more Exodusters migrated west.

41. Pacific Railway Acts
1862, 1864
Large land grants to Union Pacific RR and Central Pacific RR
175 million acres

42. Morrill Land Grant Act
1862
State governments received millions of acres of land to:
Sell
Create land grant colleges for agricultural and mechanical arts
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, 1872

43. Homestead Act 1862 Small fee, settlers received 160 acres if:
21 yrs old
Citizens or immigrants filing for citizenship
Minimum sized house
Lived on claim 6 months out of the year
Farm the land for 5 years in a row
372,000 farms
80 million acres

44. Exodusters Free blacks looking for new start after the Civil War
Most headed to Kansas (“pulled” by the Homestead Act and free land.
Exodusters based on the biblical “Exodus” of the Hebrews from Egypt - leaving bondage for freedom in the “Promised Land”

45. Exodusters - Nebraska Connection:

46. Homesteader Homes Built with available materials (sod) Small
Functional as a shelter

47. Sodhouse on American Prairie

61. Homesteader lifestyle
Difficult
Subsistence farmers
Some livestock
Grasshoppers
Storms
Distance
Lack of building materials

62. Miners, Ranchers, Farmers, Cowboys
Looking to the West ( )
Miners, Ranchers, Farmers, Cowboys

63. Mining Young, single men Desire to strike it rich Cherry Creek, CO
Other CO places in the mountains
Helena, MT
Virginia City, NV
Black Hills (South Dakota)

64. CA (1849) started the gold rush, but strikes in Pikes Peak, CO & Carson River Valley, NV (1859) set off wild migrations to the West:
Comstock Lode = $306 million
John Mackay’s Big Bonanza made him richest man in world

65. The Spread of Western Mining
Discoveries of gold & silver led to overnight mining towns: BOOM TOWNS
Created need for local gov’t, law enforcement, sanitation, businesses, prostitutes
¼ to ½ of the mining population was foreign born:
Latin American miners brought experience & new techniques
Chinese brought a tireless ethic
Led to hostility & riots:
Foreign Miners’ Act in charged a monthly mining fee
Chinese Exclusion Act in suspended Chinese immigration

66. The Mining Frontier Some small prospectors made fortunes
Most money made by large mining corporations.
Mining towns had high populations of foreigners.
Environmental destruction due to blasting, chemicals, and water pollution.

67. Mining’s Economic Impacts
The added gold (and silver)
Boosted U.S. economy
Increased foreign investment
Stimulated U.S. involvement in global economy

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Judge Roy Bean's Courthouse and Saloon

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Hunters in Arizona Territory

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Panning for gold in Montana Territory

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Cradling for gold in Montana Territory

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Mining camp in Colorado Territory

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Street scene in Utah, 1869

74. Ranching Fences Large tracts of land Huge herds of cattle
Rise of the Cattle Barons

75. The Cattle Trails

76. Texas Longhorn Cattle Durable Tough Ornery
Good sense of smell - could locate sources of groundwater

77. The American Cowboy Romanticized Mythologized Lonely, rugged existence
Necessary for Cattle business
“The Virginian”
A cattle bought for $4 in Texas sold for $40 in Kansas

78. The Cattle Drives Romanticized, difficult Spurred growth of RRs
Food “on the hoof” fed growing demand in Eastern Markets and for Miners
Depended on the Open Range

79. Farming as Business Improved farming technologies:
Mechanical Reaper (Early Combine)
Barbed wire
Dry farming
Steel Plow
Windmills
Hybridization
Seed drills
Led to Bonanza farms:
Specialized in a single cash crop
The rise of ‘agribusiness’.

80. New Technology Eases Farm Labor
Reduced labor force needed for harvest. Allows farmers to maintain larger farms.
Mechanized Reaper
Keeps cattle from trampling crops and uses a minimal amount of lumber, which was scarce on the plains.
Barbed Wire
Allows cultivation of arid land by using drought-resistant crops and various techniques to minimize evaporation.
Dry Farming
Allows farmers to cut through dense, root-choked sod.
Steel Plow
Smoothes and levels ground for planting.
Harrow
Powers irrigation systems and pumps up ground water.
Steel Windmill
Cross-breeding of crop plants, which allows greater yields and uniformity.
Hybridization
Keeps cattle from trampling crops and uses a minimal amount of lumber, which was scarce on the plains.
Improved Communication
Array of multiple drills used to carve small trenches in the ground and feed seed into the soil.
Grain Drill
Farms controlled by large businesses, managed by professionals, raised massive quantities of a single cash crop.
Bonanza Farm

82. Farming Technologies and Innovations

83. Bonanza Farms 10,000 acre farms Wheat boom of the 1880s
Population in Dakotas tripled
Overproduction, high investment costs, droughts, and reliance on one-crop agriculture brought an end to the boom
1890 prices fell, some lost everything

84. The Wild West Gunfights Outlaws (Billy the Kid)
Marshals and Sheriffs (Wyatt Earp)
Mythical
Dodge City, KS
Tombstone, AZ

85. Myth vs. Reality Myth Reality
Cowboys were romantic, self-sufficient, and virtuous
All were white
Ideal, garden of Eden
Could make a fortune in the west
Western towns were lawless
Reality
Cowboys were young, poorly paid, and did hard labor
20% were black or Mexican
Harmonious race relations on the trail
Harsh conditions
Most made little, if any money
There were police forces and order in the West

86. The Western Myth Some (Roosevelt) saw social Darwinism in the west.
Perceived as the last chance to build a truly good society
Novels and accounts glossed over hard labor and ethnic strife.
Reality, western settlement depended more upon companies and railroads than individuals.

87. Frontier Myths
The Wild West: Some elements of the frontier myths were true. Yet, many wild towns of the West calmed down fairly quickly or disappeared.
By the 1880s, the frontier had many churches and a variety of social groups. Major theatrical productions toured growing western cities. The East had come West.
Taming the Frontier
By 1890, the United States Census Bureau announced the official end of the frontier. The population in the West had become dense, and the days of free western land had come to an end.
The End of the Frontier
In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner claimed that the frontier had played a key role in forming the American character. The Turner Thesis, as his view came to be called, stated that frontier life created Americans who were socially mobile, ready for adventure, bent on individual self-improvement, and committed to democracy.
Turner’s Frontier Thesis
The Wild West remains fixed in popular culture and continues to influence how Americans think about themselves. Many stereotypes–exaggerated or oversimplified descriptions of reality, and frontier myths persist today despite our deeper understanding of the history of the American West.
Myths in Literature, Shows, and Song

88. The Frontier Myth Still lives in the American imagination
Depicted in movies
TV shows (Frontier House, Little House on the Prairie, Gunsmoke, etc.)

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Dodge City Peace Commissioners (Wyatt Earp third from left)