Objectives Describe the importance of the buffalo to the Native Americans of the Plains. Explain how Native Americans and settlers came into conflict. Summarize how Native American groups struggled to maintain their traditional ways of life. Explain why Congress passed the Dawes Act in 1887.

Terms to Know: assimilation – to become part of another culture reservation – land set aside for Native Americans to live on

What were the consequences of the conflict between Native Americans and white settlers? As settlers rushed into the West, they increasingly came into conflict with the people already living there—Native Americans. Native Americans settlers

By the end of the Civil War, some 360,000 Native Americans lived in the West, many on the Great Plains. European explorers and the flood of settlers who followed had changed their lives. Native Americans now used horses and guns, and traveled faster and farther.

Many Plains people wandered from place to place, following buffalo herds.

Native people had come to depend on the buffalo for survival. meat for food hides for clothing buffalo horns and bones for tools hides for tepees tendons for thread

Government treaties promised Native Americans protection. native people agreed to stop following the buffalo herd and settle permanently the government would protect their land Fort Laramie Treaty, 1851 However, as miners and settlers went West and the treaties were routinely broken.

The massacre started the Indian Wars. When new treaties forced Native people from their lands in Colorado, some Indian warriors resisted, attacking settlers and their homes. Sand Creek Massacre In response, Colonel John Chivington and the US Army attacked on a band of peaceful Cheyennes, killing men, women, and children. The massacre started the Indian Wars.

At the same time, Native Americans faced another devastating crisis—the buffalo were dying out. By the 1870s, the giant herds began to shrink, slaughtered by railroad crews and hunters. Traditional native life was changing forever.

The government urged Native people to move to reservations in Oklahoma, where they could farm the land. Reservation Native Americans Native Americans Life there was a disaster because the soil was poor leading to hunger and disease.

Many Sioux and Cheyennes gathered on land set aside for them in the Black Hills of South Dakota. An 1874 gold strike brought a flood of miners. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse led attacks to keep whites out.

Custer and all of his men were killed in the battle that followed. In 1876, Colonel George Armstrong Custer rode into Montana with orders to force Native Americans onto a reservation. Battle of Little Bighorn Custer and all of his men were killed in the battle that followed. Soldiers soon flooded the area, forcing the Indians from their land.

In the Northwest, the Nez Percés also resisted being moved to a reservation. Chief Joseph led the Nez Perces to Canada. The U.S. Army chased them. In 75 days, the tribe traveled 1,300 miles. They were caught near the Canadian border. Chief Joseph surrendered to the army.

After years of war, the Geronimo and his Apache were defeated in 1864 in Arizona. Despite fierce resistance from Geronimo and others, government troops eventually forced both groups onto reservations. This “Long Walk” led them to a spot near the Pecos River. There, they suffered years of disease and hunger.

In the 1880s, native groups from the Plains began performing the Ghost Dance, dreaming of returning to the old ways. Dancers fell into a trance, or dreamlike state. They believed they were talking to the ghosts of their ancestors in which they asked for them and buffalo to return and for white people to leave. In one Sioux village, police tried to stop the dance in fear it was an uprising. In the battle, Sitting Bull was killed. Troops killed 200 others trying to flee. After the defeat at the Battle of Wounded Knee, the Indian Wars were over.

By 1890 Native Americans were forced off their lands in the west and relocated to reservations.

Confined to reservations, many Native Americans fell into poverty. Reformers outraged at the treatment of Native Americans pushed Congress to act. Dawes Act, 1887 Gave each Native American male 160 acres to farm Set-up schools Resisted by native groups longing for their traditional way of life A law designed to help native people, however, failed. Few Natives adapted to farming. Many sold their land cheaply to dishonest whites. Federal agents replaced native leaders, and they gave up traditions (like the Buffalo Hunt). Confined to reservations, many Native Americans fell into poverty.

Today: 550 recognized tribes 330 reservations in the United States covering 55.7 million acres (2.3% of the area of the US). Twelve Indian reservations are larger than the state of Rhode Island and nine are larger than Delaware. The Navajo Indian Reservation compares to the size of West Virginia.

Because tribes possess tribal sovereignty laws on tribal lands vary from the surrounding area. These laws can permit legal casinos on reservations, for example, which attract tourists. The tribal council, not the local or federal government, generally has jurisdiction over reservations. Different reservations have different systems of government.