Cultures Clash on the Great Plains

CH 5

• GEOGRAPHY!– Remember from geography! Plains are flat

lands that usually only have grass and no trees.

– The Great Plains is a flat region in the middle of the United States that reaches from Texas to Canada.

Great Plains

Different Cultures

Native American

• Nomadic – moved around the Great Plains following and hunting buffalo

• Did not believe in private property

• Were not Christian

White Settlers

• Wanted to farm & use the land

• Believed in private property

• Most were Christian

Confrontations in the West• 1864 – Sand Creek Massacre: 150 Cheyenne, mostly

women and children, killed by Colorado Militia

Confrontations in the West• 1866 – Bozeman Trail (Wyoming): 80 U.S.

Cavalrymen killed by Crazy Horse

Confrontations in the West• 1874-75 – Red River War: Kiowa & Comanche

began raiding white villages so the U.S. Army came in and defeated the Indians

Confrontations in the West• 1876 – “Custer’s Last Stand”: over 2,000 braves

led by Sitting Bull killed Col. George Custer and his 200 cavalrymen at Little Big Horn in Montana

Confrontations in the West• 1890 – Battle of Wounded Knee: 300

unarmed Sioux were killed by the 7th Cavalry, and the wounded were left to freeze

Wounded Knee Massacre

Confrontations in the West• 1890 – Battle of Wounded Knee: 300

unarmed Sioux were killed by the 7th Cavalry, and the wounded were left to freeze– This led to the end of the Indian Wars. After 1890, the

Indians stopped fighting for their land and were moved to reservations.

Assimilation

• assimilation:

Assimilation

• assimilation: when a minority group (like the Indians) adopts the culture of the majority group (the whites)

Assimilation

• assimilation: when a minority group (like the Indians) adopts the culture of the majority group (the whites)

• the Dawes Act of 1887 was a law that forced assimilation – it gave land to individual Indians, forcing them to own private property and farm it like whites

The Carlisle School

Assimilation

The End of the Era of Buffalo

• 1800 – 65 million buffalo• 1890 – less than 1,000 remained• WHY? tourists and fur traders shot

buffalo for sport• 2000 – 260,000 buffalo

• Cattle becomes big business–a. after Civil War demand for beef rose sharply–b. Texans had tens of thousands of longhorns–c. Cattle drives began from Texas to Kansas/Missouri

–d. most popular trail was Chisholm Trail (San Antonio to Abilene, Kansas)–e. ended in 1890s due to railroads entering Texas, overgrazing, and barbed wire