The American West

1840 - 1895

The Plains

• Extreme Weather:• W – windy• I – isolated• T – treeless• C – cold• H - hot• Short Grass• Desert-like• Hard to farm• Not much rain• Not many trees and resources • A lot of storms and tornados• Settlers thought it was inhabitable

The Plains Indians

• Native Americans• Polygamists - everyone looked after• Lived in Tribes, within Tribes • were bands - each had a chief• Counting Coup - Warfare• Laws but not punishments• Buffalo uses: Clothes, • Food, Shelter, Tools, Religion• Horses – Currency• Nomadic• Believed no one could own land

The White Settlers

• Thought that:• Indians were savages • Land should be tamed• Mainly Christian • Arrogant • Closed minded• Humanitarians – People who believed that

Indians should be negotiated with not killed• Exterminators – People who believed that Indians

could not be reasoned with and should be killed• Manifest Destiny - Felt it was there God given

duty to spread across the land and farm it

The Mountain Men

• Originally trapped animals and sold their fur• Over 3,000 Mountain men roamed America• Rendezvous - bought + sold things + drunk• Worked out best routes for white settlers to travel• Brought back stories to the east about the west• Found undiscovered land• Often died young • Led a very Lonely life• Very Dangerous• Guided people west

The Pioneers

• First to head west• Many people died• Bad weather• Very dangerous• Took months by wagon• There was a lot of disease• Some groups even ate each other• They went because they wanted a better life• Many people didn’t have horses (pulled it by hand)

The Mormons

• A Religion hated by many• Practised Polygamy • Called normal people ‘Gentiles‘• 1830 - New York – J.Smith accused of being a fraud • 1837 – Kirtland, Ohio – Mormon bank collapsed• 1838 - Missouri – Accused of stirring up trouble

with Indians and they freed slaves (not liked by people)

• 1842 - Illinois – People scared that they’d take over (J.Smith ran for President + he was like a dictator)

• J.Smith was shot and B.Young took over• Settled successfully in Salt Lake City in Utah

The Miners

• Also called the 49ers (gold rush was in 1849)• People got Gold Fever – Blinded by their greed• Claim Jumping – Saying you found the gold first• The gold was found on sacred Indian land• The journey was also very hard• Everyone came from everywhere• Crime bad in the mining towns • Personalities + cultures clashed • Fights over the gold• Not much gold found

The Homesteaders

• They settled on the plains• 1862 – Homesteader act• Problems and Solutions –• Water shortages = Water Pumps• Weather extremes = No solution• Fuel = Used dried buffalo dung• Supplies = Railways were built• Ploughing = Sod Buster invented• Protecting crops = Barbed wire• Growing crops = Red Turkey Wheat • 1874 – Barbed wire and water pump invented

Cattle Ranching + Cowboys

• Peaked between 1867 – 1880• Open range – Area of land where cattle roam

free• Railhead towns – Towns at the end of the

railroads • Ranchers – People who owned ranches + cattle• Texas longhorns – Cross breed of cattle • Long drive – herding + moving cattle• Cattle Barons – Bigger Ranchers

(pushed out smaller ranchers)• 25% of cowboys where ex-slaves• Life of a cowboy – Lonely + dangerous• Cattle industry fell when the price of beef fell

Conflict

• Johnson County War – 1892 = Between the homesteaders and cattlemen (cattle ate h.s. Crops + h.s. accused of rustling cattle)

• Little Crows War – 1862 = Sioux tribe attacked food supply wagons because they were starving on their reservation

• Sand Creek Massacre – 1864 = Cheyenne tribe had same problems as the Sioux, except 450 Indians were murdered by US army

• Red Cloud’s War – 1865 = A new trail went through Indian land, breaking the Fort Laramie Treaty. A few Indian tribes trapped the army and forced them to sign a new treaty

The Destruction of the Indians

• Battle of Little Bighorn – 1876 = (also called Custer’s last stand) General Custer didn’t listen to orders and so his army was surrounded + killed by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull

• The Battle of Wounded Knee – 1890 = The Indians ghost dance told them that they would win but the US army took disarmed the Indians and opened fire killing over 250 Indians. It was all over.

• Separation – Moved the Indians away from the east• Concentration – Confined them to certain bits of land• Reservation – Keeping them in very small areas• Destruction – Killing the buffalo (Indians couldn’t live)

Key People and Groups

• John L O’Sullivan – Said the words Manifest Destiny• George Catlin – Painted and observed the Indians• Joseph Smith – Invented the Mormon Religion• Brigham Young – Second Mormon Leader• Jim Bridger – Famous mountain man• John Sutter – discovered the gold first• John Iliff- The first rancher• Joseph McCoy – Promoted the railways• The Goulds, Donners and Sagars – Pioneers• Charles Goodnight + Oliver Loving – Cattle ranchers• Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse + Red Cloud – Indian Chiefs