1. Different cowboy jobs… CowboyJob Trail bossIs in charge of the drive Chuck wagonActs as the cook PointKeeps lookout and turns the herd SwingWatches the flanks of the herd DragChases up stragglers WranglerLooks after the horses

2. What dangers did the cowboys face?

3. Real life cowboys had to endure numerous hardships: freezing winter cold in the line camps danger of being trampled (especially in a stampede) danger of drowning (crossing rivers) 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 Native American warriors on the long drive attacks from rustlers

4. Why did the ‘open range’ come to an end?

5. Overgrazing 1886 drought & hot summer 1887 harsh winter People got bored of beef Saturated market Homesteaders fencing off land and water

6. Final conflict on the Plains… Bad behaviour on both sides added to the confrontation. The US government regularly broke its treaty promises - as the Sioux Chief Gall said: "If we make peace, you will not keep it". Meanwhile, some Native Americans wanted war. Early travellers on the Plains were robbed and murdered. And when some Native Americans made peace with the US government, others would stay out on the warpath - white Americans could not understand that the chiefs had no power to make their warriors obey.

7. Final conflict on the Plains… There a number of ways you can look at the conflict on the Plains. It is possible to see the conflict as a clash of cultures. White Americans did not understand the Native Americans' way of life. Consequently, they distrusted and feared them, and could believe anything (including torture and deceit) of a people they did not understand. Conversely, the Native Americans felt that white Americans were devils who ruined the earth. Differences of culture caused them to hate and despise each other, and led to war. The wars might be seen as the result of racism. The white settlers believed that the Native Americans were inferior. They felt justified in saying that 'complete extermination is our motto', and in slaughtering the buffalo to starve the Native Americans to death. In 1864, Colonel Chivington justified the massacre at Sand Creek by saying: "Kill them all, big and little: nits make lice". Faced by an attitude of genocide, Native Americans had nothing to lose - as the Sioux Chief Gall said: "You fought me and I had to fight back". It could be argued that war broke out simply because the white men wanted the Great Plains - firstly to cross, then for gold, then for cattle and then for farming. Many white Americans believed that it was their Manifest Destiny to take over the Plains. They took the land that Native Americans believed belonged to everyone. Taken from BBC bitesize

8. Clash of cultures… Taken from BBC bitesize Native American way of life White Americans' attitude Adapted to the Plains Nomadic Tipis Leisure crafts Acceptance White Americans demanded a settled, farming way of life. They thought that tipis were: "...too full of smoke... inconceivably filthy". Horace Greeley despised the Native Americans for: "...sitting around the doors of their lodges at the height of the planting season", and said they were "...squalid and conceited, proud and worthless, lazy and lousy. These people must die out,... God has given this earth to those who will subdue and cultivate it." Loved the land Land cannot be owned or sold White Americans believed that God had given them the right to "subdue the earth", and they wanted to make money from it. They thought land ownership, fences and cultivation were natural. White Americans thought only they could make full use of the land. They gave the Plains to the Native Americans when they thought they were "wholly unfit for cultivation", but when they found this not to be true, they took the land for themselves.

9. Native American way of life White Americans' attitude Government and laws Influence of chief Community spirit Horse stealing White Americans could not understand why chiefs could not make their warriors obey them. Government based on 'community spirit' was incomprehensible to white Americans, whose government was based on laws and compulsion. They particularly hated horse stealing, because "depriving a man of his horse could mean life itself on the Plains." White observers declared that the Native Americans were 'without government'. Religion and morality Animistic (spirits) Medicine men Young marriage Easy divorce Polygamy Exposure of old people to the elements, to die Christian preachers thought "...the Indians have no religion, only ignorant superstition". Native American customs of marriage, divorce and exposure of old people to the elements offended white Americans' religion and morality.

10. Native American way of life White Americans' attitude War Preserve life Ambush and stealth Coups Scalping White soldiers saw ambush as treachery, scalping as barbarous and retreat as "a total lack of courage". "The first impulse of the Indian," wrote Colonel Dodge, "...is to scuttle away as fast as his legs will carry him... there is one example of a fair stand-up fight." White Americans regarded Native (and black) Americans as subhuman. Horace Greeley wrote that: "...their wars, treaties, habitations, crafts, comforts, all belong to the very lowest ages of human existence". President Jefferson wrote that they were: "...backward in civilisation like beasts". Taken from BBC bitesize

11. Why did the Battle of Little Bighorn take place when it did? What happened at the Battle? Who was to blame for the US loss? Was it a real ‘victory’ for the Sioux? Why am I always blamed for this?!

12. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was the most decisive defeat for the US Army during the whole of the Indian wars. The battle Background Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull refused to accept the peace of 1868. Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874. The Sioux refused to sell their land in the Black Hills. The government ordered the Sioux onto small reservations. When the Sioux refused, they were declared 'hostile'. 1876 campaign, battle preparation General Philip Sheridan was sent to defeat the Sioux. In June 1876 US armies, led by the generals Alfred Terry and John Gibbon, met at the Yellowstone river. Gibbon was set to march up the Little Bighorn river, and Lt Colonel George Custer was ordered to march round the Wolf mountains, as part of a two-pronged attack on the Sioux camp. To the Little Bighorn The Sioux had been joined by the Cheyenne and Arapaho, making an army of more than 3,000 warriors, armed with Winchester repeating rifles. Custer marched his men through (not round) the Wolf mountains, to arrive at the Sioux camp first. Custer divided his 600 men into three groups. Custer's last stand Custer sent Captain Frederick Benteen scouting, and sent Major Marcus Reno to attack the Sioux village from the south. Custer headed north of the village with 215 men. The Sioux cut off both Reno and Custer. Benteen rescued Reno, but Custer and all of his troops lost their lives. The Sioux withdrew when Terry and Gibbon arrived.

13. Why was Custer defeated? He acted alone - even though Gibbon's last words to him were: "Custer, don't be greedy. Wait for us. " Instead of going round the Wolf mountains, Custer force-marched his men through the mountains. His troops and horses arrived tired after the long march. He weakened his forces by dividing them into three (although this was classic US Army tactics). He expected the Sioux warriors to scatter and run. Instead they outmanoeuvred and surrounded him. He was hugely outnumbered. He was arrogant and over-confident, and wanted the victory to bolster his political ambitions. He ignored the advice of his Crow scouts to wait for reinforcements. The Sioux leaders - especially Crazy Horse - were expert and experienced generals. The Native Americans regarded the war as their last chance - they fought with desperation. The Sioux were determined: "The whites want a war and we will give it to them", said Chief Sitting Bull. Custer had poor information - he did not know how big the Sioux army was, nor that they were armed with Winchester repeating rifles.

14. The end… Why did the Native American way of life come to an end? Give the three main reasons and justify your opinion…

15. Little Bighorn - the massacre of Custer's regiment caused thousands of 'Custer's Avengers' to join up, and it made the US Army determined to hunt down and destroy the Native American warriors. Lies - the US government made promises which it later broke. Technology - the US Army had access to repeating rifles, machine guns, cannons and the telegraph. The Native Americans had to buy rifles, and used smoke signals to communicate. Railroads - thousands of white Americans and US soldiers could travel to the West in hours by railroad. Slaughter of the buffalo - after the 1870s, white hunters destroyed the buffalo, not only for their hides, but partly to destroy the Native Americans, whose way of life depended on these animals. By 1895, less than a thousand buffalo remained on the Great Plains. The US Army was too big and strong for the Native American warriors. It controlled the Plains from a system of forts. Reservations destroyed the Indian way of life, because people on them were forced to become farmers. Many warriors became alcoholics. The influence of the chiefs declined, because the reservations were run by agents. The Code of Religious Offences destroyed the Native American religion, and the Dawes Act ended community ownership. Education - the Indian boarding schools (which the children were made to attend) forced Native American children to become 'white'. They were beaten if they even whispered in their own language - the motto of one school was "kill the Indian to save the man".

16. And that’s the American West in two hours… Read the questions carefully Spend half an hour on each section Use the sources and your own knowledge Keep to the question DON’T WAFFLE! Make sure your writing is clear