Native Americans in the West

Living in what was known as the “Great American Desert”…not really a desert at allWere promised that land would be

theirs forever…not reallyMost numerous were the Plains

IndiansNomadic, followed the buffaloDid not think of land as property…

different from American concept of land

Native Americans

DiseaseGold was discovered in

CaliforniaRailroad was being built

that needed to go through Indian TerritoryThis need led to the

government setting up reservations that would put Indians on smaller specific areas…but many are nomadic

Threats to Indian Life

Migrants killed off thousands

Hunters invaded, trading fur in the East

Some killed for sport leaving the carcasses to rotIndians see their way of

life rottingRR companies hired

sharpshooters to kill those obstructing traffic (Buffalo Riders)

Encouraged by US army…would keep the Indians from being nomadic

Buffalo

http://bp3.blogger.com/_1ATKWgCMz50/R6IXeADLzXI/AAAAAAAAAAM/PS6xU7w43qA/s1600-h/buff.jpg

Indians had been attacking settlers to keep a hold on their lands…raised the distrust among settlers

Unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho are attacked by Colorado militia for no reasonKilled men, women and childrenIndians tried to signal that they were of

no threatCreated even more Indian resistance and

military occupation

Sand Creek Massacre

Sand Creek Massacre

Gold miners encroach on Sioux territorySioux send out their troops and so does the

US Army under Colonel Custer250 soldiers vs. 2,000 IndiansIndians charged killing Custer and all of his

men

Battle of Little Big Horn

Living on reservations and doing well but land was needed for white settlers

Chief Joseph tried to escape US troops by heading into Canada

Troops caught up with them and Chief Joseph surrendered“I will fight no more

forever”Were sent to a

unfertile lands in Oklahoma

Nez Perce

With so many threats to their way of life Indians start to practice the Ghost Dance, thought that it wouldBanish white settlersBring back the buffalo

Frightened the government…they order the arrest of Sitting Bull who was leading the Ghost Dance

When the troops come to arrest Sitting Bull, they disarm the Indians…fire is shot?…troops react by killing over 300 Sioux

Buried in a mass grave18 Congressional Medals of Honor awarded to the

troops

Wounded Knee

Blizzard hits

and the bodies are left there to freeze

Reservation life was not working so government suggested assimilation (adopting the culture and civilization of whites)

Helen Hunt Jackson criticized the government’s treatment of Indians in her book A Century of DishonorTalked of broken

treaties and the plight of Indians

Assimilation

Replaced the reservation system with an allotment system

Each Indian family was given 160 acresNot enough for farming in the West, only in the

EastLand could not be sold for 25 yearsAttempt to assimilate Indians by giving them

land but they don’t even know how to farm

Dawes Severalty Act