1. Chapter 8-3 Native Americans

2. Plains Indians nomadic warlike depended on the buffalo
lived in extended
family networks
labor divided
between genders
religion based on power of nature
expert horsemen
could shoot 20 arrows in the time for 1 shot from a soldier

3. Cultures Under Pressure
Native Americans clashed with whites who took land and broke treaties
First major uprising on the Plains by Sioux in Minnesota

4. Dakota Sioux Uprising
Dakota Sioux agreed to live on a reservation in exchange for annuities ($ from gov’t)
1862 – Congress delayed payments
many Indians starved
Chief Little Crow asked for food on credit for his people
“Let them eat grass or their own dung.”-Andrew Myrick
2 weeks later the Dakota attacked
found Myrick dead with grass in his
mouth

5. Troops put down the uprising 307 Dakota sentenced to be executed
Led by Little Crow
wanted to fight the military not civilians, but angry Dakotas slaughtered settlers
Troops put down the uprising
307 Dakota sentenced to be executed
Lincoln lowers to 38
Army sent patrols to Plains to prevent hostilities (made things worse)

6. Fetterman’s Massacre
Army had fort on the Bozemen Trail in Lakota territory
Lakota didn’t want settlers to get their land
Led by chiefs:
Crazy Horse
Red Cloud
Sitting Bull

7. Hundreds of Warriors were waiting in ambush
Dec Crazy Horse tricks Capt. Fetterman and 80 soldiers to chase what they thought was a small raiding party
Hundreds of Warriors were waiting in ambush
wiped out the entire detachment

8. Sand Creek Massacre
In the 1860s, Cheyenne & Arapaho unhappy with miners coming to Colorado for gold & silver
Began to raid wagon trains & steal cattle and horses from ranches
By 1864 – travel was no longer safe
Dozens of ranches burned
~200 settlers killed

9. Indians ordered to surrender at Fort Lyon
would be given food and protection
if not would be subject to attack
November 1864 – Chief Black Kettle brought several hundred Cheyenne to the fort to negotiate
told to camp at Sand Creek
Colonel John Chivington of the Colorado Volunteers
Attacked even though they
wanted to negotiate (believed
there could be no peace) (

10. Several conflicting reports by witnesses: White flag of truce ignored?
Savage massacre while they slept? or
Ferocious battle?
14 soldiers died
death total of Cheyenne varies widely

11. Indian Peace Commission
Formed in 1867 by Congress
Created 2 large reservations
One for the Sioux
Another for southern plains Indians
To be run by Bureau of Indian Affairs
Plan doomed to failure
Chiefs forced to sign
Can’t ensure tribe members will follow agreement
Poor conditions on reservations
Army to deal with groups that don’t report to or stay on reservations

12. By 1870’s many Indians had left the reservations in disgust
Went in search of the buffalo
Buffalo had disappeared
Professional hunters
Railroads
Army
By 1889 very few buffalo remained

13. Battle of Little Bighorn “Custer’s Last Stand”
Lakota Sioux put on reservation in South Dakota
Gold discovered, fortune hunters overrun the reservation
Lakota go to hunt buffalo in Montana
Lt. Col. George A. Custer of the 7th Calvary underestimates the Indians
He attacked 2,500 Lakota & Cheyenne camped along the Little Bighorn River in broad daylight on June 25, 1876

14. All 210 men with Custer are killed
Newspapers claim Custer was “massacred”

15. The Ghost Dance 1888 – started by Paiute Indian named Wovoka
Lakota performed in hopes that
Settlers would disappear
Buffalo would return
They would be reunited with dead ancestors
“Ghost Shirts”

16. Battle of Wounded Knee
Lakota on reservation ordered to stop the Ghost Dance in 1890
Government wants to arrest Sitting Bull
Killed when supporters resist and gunfire exchanged
Dancers flee reservation and are chased by Army to Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota
Troops kill ~200 Lakota men, women & children (soldiers had machine guns)
Final resistance of Native
Americans to federal
authority

17. Assimilation
Most Americans want Indians to assimilate (live like whites)
Dawes Act – 1887
passed by Congress
broke reservations into individual allotments for families to farm
few Native Americans wanted to farm or ranch
most unwilling to adopt the white man’s ways in place of their own
Huge Failure