What is the difference between a nomadic lifestyle and relocation?

In a nomadic lifestyle Native Americans move with the seasons or to follow the migrations of animals they hunt. With relocation, Native Americans were forced to move, regardless of the season or the location of their source of food—the buffalo.

What type of land do you think U.S. officials set aside as reservation land?

Native Americans were confined to land that had little value to ranchers or farmers and where there were no buffalo herds. The land might also have been far from settlements and rail lines to assure the separation of the two cultures.

Final Clashes

• Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876 Custer’s attack on a large combined force of Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux resulted in one of the worst U.S. defeats of the Native American Wars. All but one of Custer’s 210-man cavalry unit were killed.

• Flight of the Nez Perce, 1877 Planned relocation to a smaller reservation forced Chief Joseph to lead his people on a 1,400-mile flight toward Canada to escape pursuing cavalry. After the eventual surrender, the Nez Perce were forced onto a reservation in Oklahoma far from their homeland.

• Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890 Native American’s final battle took place on the Lakota Sioux reservation in 1890. Lakota refusal to abandon the spiritual Ghost Dance brought U.S. forces to the reservation. Sitting Bull was killed. In the ensuing clash, 25 U.S. soldiers and about 200 Lakota were massacred.

• Which events were direct results of government policies toward Native American on reservations?

The flight of the Nez Perce, the massacre at Wounded Knee

Custer

• Was the defeat of Custer was the only major Native American victory against the U.S. Army.

No.

The defeat of Custer by the Sioux, although the best-known Native American victory of the “Indian Wars,” was not the only one. In fact, there were many others, including the major victory of “Red Cloud’s War.”

Custer

• Was Custer was not a victim of a massacre.

Custer was the aggressor in the Battle of Little Bighorn. After his defeat, he was made into a martyr by the press.

What is the overall tone of Chief Joseph’s message?

His tone suggests resignation and defeat. But there is an underlying feeling of regret that they must give up their fight for their homelands.

What factor seems to be the strongest motive for Chief Joseph’s surrender?

The suffering of his people: “The little children are freezing to death;” “My people . . . have no blankets and no food.” He also specifically mentions wanting to look for his own children, who he fears are dead.

The Dawes Act and Other Policies of Assimilation

• Dawes Act The Dawes Act tried to encourage Native American assimilation by allotting plots of reservation land to Native Americans for farming. Failed as a policy due to cultural differences.

• Citizenship Act The Citizenship Act passed in 1924, granted citizenship to all Native Americans. Arizona, Maine, and New Mexico did not grant Native Americans suffrage until after World War II.

• New Deal Policies of assimilation and allotments finally ended in 1934 during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.

Assimilation

• Why do you think the U.S. government wanted Native Americans to assimilate into the settlers’ culture?

This was their way of eliminating an obstacle to the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny. Some may think that nineteenth-century settlers believed this was their duty—they considered the Native American lifestyle “primitive” and thought it should be changed.

Assimilation

Why did the goal of assimilation of Native Americans have limited success? The two cultures had too many fundamental differences and the Native Americans had to remain on reservations. Why did the U.S. government reverse the policy established by the Dawes Act? It acknowledged the failure of the Dawes Act to assimilate the Native Americans and attempted to make groups as autonomous as possible within reservation lands.

Native American Reflection Question

• Why do you think Native Americans failed to adopt the culture of the settlers?

The culture was too different from the Native Americans’ traditional culture. Native Americans’ experiences with corrupt traders and officials of the Indian Bureau made them cynical about the settlers’ culture.