1. III.Plains Indians A.Plains Indians in way of Expansion 1. Impediment to progress & Manifest Destiny 2. Southern Tribes removed to Plains in 1830s a. accused of failure to assimilate B. War with Great Plains Indians 1. Congress viewed Indians as concurred defeated Nations 2. Americans moving into plains want land 3. 1867 & 1868 Conferences a. leaders picked for cooperation b. limited size of reservations c. promised provisions in exchange for land 4. Depletion of Game make Indians dependent 5

2. 5. Tried to force Farming but contrary to Indian culture 6. Graft and Incompetence 7. Indians leave reservations or starve 8. U. S. Army initiates policy of annihilation C. 1875 Gold Rush in Black Hills 1. Dakota Sacred land 2. Guaranteed by treaties 3. U.S. cannot keep miners out 4. Dakota leaders declare war 5. Battle of Little Big Horn 1876 a. Gen. George Armstrong Custer 6. Dakota could not win a sustained war D. Nez Perce rebelled in Oregon 1877 6

3. 1. Chief Joseph led people to old territory 2. Army chases Joseph - force back on reservation 3. Caught only 25 miles from Canadian border a. some believe he stayed with the slow b. many may have escaped to Canada E. U.S. tries to force Assimilation 1. Dawes Severalty Act 1887 a. Reservations divided into individual lots b. Tribal government replaced with democratic ones 2. U.S hoped to break culture & tribal connections a. land could be sold (but not at first) b. unallocated sold to raise money for tribal benefit c. churches and schools established on reservations 7

4. d. hoped to make Indians more manageable F. Ghost Dance 1. 1880s Wovoka a Paiute prophet 2. Dance helped promote Heaven on Earth a. whites gone, buffalo & ancestors return 3. Shirts and leather shields become bullet-proof a. designed with visions from dance 4. Religion spreads across tribal boundaries 5.1890 agents on Dakota reservation felt threatened a. arrested Sitting Bull (murdered under arrest) b. 200 left reservation to pray & dance c. army chased to Wounded Knee & killed all 8