U. S. HISTORY – CHAPTER 5

An Industrial Nation

Chapter 5 – Section 1

The American West

Native Americans gradually lost their battle for land in the West

Settlers brought in new enterprises – mining, ranching, farming

CONFLICTS WITH NATIVE AMERICANSTHE GHOST DANCE

By the 1890’s, Native American cultures were dyingMany Indians turned to traditional religionA prophet named Wovoka told them to perform a sacred “Ghost Dance” five nights in a row, and if they did this, a Messiah would save them, the buffalo would return, and white settlers would leave the West

CONFLICTS WITH NATIVE…

Native Americans and White Settlers clashed over the land

The Plains Indians followed the trail of the buffalo, not believing land should be bought or sold

White settlers believed the land was available for taking

GOVERNMENT POLICY

In the mid-1800’s, US government policy underwent a major change: instead of pushing the Indians further West, the government began seizing the land, and relocating Indians to reservations

The aim: to break the power of the Plains Indians

THE INDIAN WARSDefinition: a long period of violence

between the US government and the Plains Indians

SAND CREEK MASSACRE (1864): between the US Army and the Cheyenne – 150 people killed

Sand Creek Massacre

THE INDIAN WARS

BATTLE OF LITTLE BIGHORN (1876): the government ordered all Sioux to leave – instead, thousands of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians, led by Sitting Bull, gathered near Little Bighorn River – there the US Army attacked, led by George Armstrong Custer – Custer and his men were slaughtered

Battle Of Little Bighorn

The Laramie Agreement

In late 1875, Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were angered at the whites travelling into their sacred lands in the Black Hills.

Gold had seen many miners entering the sacred land

Promises Broken

The US Government had promised Red Cloud that white settlers would not be allowed to settle here. This was part of the Fort Laramie Treaty.

The Sioux gathered with Sitting Bull to fight for their lands.

CUSTER

To force the large Indian army back to the reservations, the Army sent Lt. Colonel George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry.

Spotting the Sioux village about fifteen miles away along the Rosebud River on June 25, Custer also found a nearby group of about forty warriors.

Out Numbered

Ignoring orders to wait, he decided to attack before they could alert the main party.

He did not realize that the number of warriors in the village numbered three times his strength.

Crazy Horse

Cheyenne and Hunkpapa Sioux together crossed the river and slammed into the advancing soldiers, forcing them back

Meanwhile, another force, largely Oglala Sioux under Crazy Horse's command, surrounded Custer and his men in a pincer move. They began pouring in gunfire and arrows.

Last Stand

As the Indians closed in, Custer ordered his men to shoot their horses and stack the carcasses to form a wall, but they provided little protection against bullets.

In less than an hour, Custer and his men were killed in the worst American military disaster ever.

REVENGE

Little Bighorn showed the Indians' power. They had achieved their greatest victory

Outraged over the death of a popular Civil War leader the US Government fought back

Massacre or Defence ?

INDIAN WARS

WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE (1890): December 1890 Army troops captured some of Sitting Bull’s followers, taking them to a camp at Wounded Knee Creek – soldiers demanded the Indian’s rifles and fighting broke out – the soldiers had machine guns and quickly killed many Sioux warriors – In the end, some 300 Sioux men, women, and children lay dead in the snow

Wounded Knee

INDIAN WARS: Resistance EndsIn 1877 the government ordered Nez Perce

Indians, led by Chief Joseph, to move to a small reservation in Idaho – they fled instead toward Canada and eventually surrendered to the US Army

The government had ordered Apache’s to a reservation in Arizona – leader Geronimo fled the reservation and led raids – he and his followers captured September 1886 and held as prisoners

INDIAN WARS:Reservation LifePolicy of “Americanization”:

government wanted Indians to abandon traditional culture, identity, and language

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: set up to manage reservations – government schools

DAWES ACT (1877): broke up some reservations

MINING AND RANCHING

California Gold RushOther “new rushes” to the West:

- 1859 silver found in Carson River Valley, Nevada, yielding $500 million in silver over the next 20 years- 1896 gold strike along Klondike Rover in Yukon Territory on Canada-Alaska border

MINING COMMUNITIES

Mining camps were set up – usually just groups of tents of shacks

Some camps grew into towns – eventually these towns turned into communities, with churches, schools, newspapers, businesses

Some grew into major cities (Denver, CO)

MINING AS A BUSINESS

At first, prospectors worked the mines with hand tools

By the 1880’s, mining was dominated by large companies

Miners went to work for companies: dug mine shafts, built tunnels, drilled out ore

RANCHING ON THE PLAINS

Cattle ranching: a new business that came to dominate the plains after the Civil War

First cattle ranchers in West were Spanish (brought cattle from Spain in the 1500’s – they also were sheep farmers)

Spanish and English cattle interbred: TEXAS LONGHORN

CATTLE DRIVES

After the Civil War, the East’s demand for beef grew as city populations expanded – by 1866 a $4 steer in Texas sold for $40 in the East

Ranchers would drive a herd of cattle to a railroad town, where they would be shipped to meat-packing centers, like Chicago

CHISHOLM TRAIL: famous trail from San Antonio to Kansas

RANCHING AS BIG BUSINESS

Cattle Ranchers had trouble managing their herds on the open plains – then barbed wire was invented

Between 1882 and 1886 more than 400 cattle corporations sprang up in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico

FARMERS ON THE GREAT PLAINSHOMESTEAD ACT (1862): allowed any

head of a household over 21 to claim 160 acres of land

PACIFIC RAILROAD ACT (1862): government gave millions of acres to railroad companies to build railroads

MORRILL ACT (1862): gave states land to build colleges

OKLAHOMA LAND RUSH

1889: some 2 million acres of Oklahoma was opened to settlers

Thousands of new settlers came to Oklahoma between 1889 and 1895

NEW SETTLERS

WHITE: came mostly from states in the Mississippi Valley – mostly middle-class farmers or businesspeople

AFRICAN-AMERICANS: 1870’s massive migration West

EUROPEANS: thousands of northern Europeans, especially Scandanavians & Germans

CHINESE: many migrated to California

CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS

Farming on the plains: -harsh, bitter winters, high winds, snow– hot summers– scarcity of water – limited wood for houses – new machinery helped faming – large corporations started giant farms