NCSCOS Goal 4 Page 27

Plains Indians -Great Plains or Great American Desert -Nomadic lifestyle Move around to hunt -importance of the horse and buffalo Increased mobility and provided food Increased warfare among tribes -communal living Do not believe in individual land ownership

The buffalo provided the Plains Indians with more than just a high-protein food source: 1.The skull of the buffalo was considered sacred and was used in many Native American rituals. 2.The horns were carved into bowls and spoons. 3.The bones of the buffalo were made into hide scrappers, tool handles, sled runners, and hoe blades. The hoofs were ground up and used as glue. 4.The hide was by far the most precious part of the buffalo. Native American clothing, tepees, and even arrow shields were made from buffalo hide.

American Interests -Lands given by treaty to Indian groups -California Gold Rush, Homestead Act, 1862 Government allowed settlers to get 160 acres of land if farmed it for 5 consecutive years -transcontinental railroad building Massacre of the buffalo herds RR goes across the continent Central and Union Pacific Railroads

Posters such as these would promote free or reasonably cheap land in the West, attracting more and more white settlers.

In their race to build railroads, the Central and Union Pacific Railroad Companies would recruit immigrants, most notably the Chinese, to work on the rails. The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad by the Union and Pacific Railroad companies marked a major accomplishment in U.S. transportation. For the first time in American history, East and West coasts were linked by the railroad, making transportation of people and goods from East to West much easier and faster.

Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869

Indian Restrictions - Treaties were broken -Indians forced onto reservations -Government payment and supplies were not delivered as promised -Dakota Uprising, 1862 Indians angry because did not receive promised land Raid villages Many treaties that the U.S. government made with the Native Americans were broken, such as the treaty between the U.S. and the Dakota Indians. When the U.S. did not pay the money promised to the Dakota, they reacted violently in 1862, killing many.

Indian Restrictions -Massacre at Sand Creek, 1864 John Chivington leads Army unit in massacre of Cheyenne Surprise attack kills over 400 natives Fetterman ’ s Massacre, soldiers killed -Fetterman ’ s small army band crushed by Sitting Bull

Indian Wars -Sioux try to defend area promised to them In Laramie Treaty -Army sends George Armstrong Custer to move Sioux off the land -Little Bighorn, 1876 Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull lead warriors as Custer and all his men were killed “ Custer ’ s Last Stand ”

Battle of Little Bighorn

Indian Wars -Nez Perce Indians, Led by Chief Joseph, they refused to go to reservation Fled into Canada with the Army chasing them down -chased by the Army for over 1000 miles until captured - ” I will fight no more forever ” “ Hear me, my chiefs, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more against the white man. ” ~Chief Joseph

The Nez Perce

Assimilation - ” Century of Dishonor ” Helen Hunt Jackson Believed US treated Indians terribly and should try to live in peace with them -Some people supported assimilation of Indians Natives give up beliefs and way of life for white culture -Dawes Act passed, acres to each family (to farm) Goes against land ownership beliefs most of land was eventually taken

“ The history of the Government connections with the Indians is a shameful record of broken treaties and unfulfilled promises. ” “ There is not among these three hundred bands of Indians one which has not suffered cruelly at the hands either of the Government or of white settlers ” “ It makes little difference…where one opens the record of the history of the Indians; every page and every year has its dark stains. ” ~Helen Hunt Jackson, A Century of Dishonor

End of the Indian Lifestyle -Assimilation education of Indians to be more like whites -Destruction of the buffalo Shot for sport, railroads Ended Native way of life Less than 1,000 remained on plains in 1900 “We have been taught to hunt and live on the game. You tell us that we must learn to farm, live in one house, and take on your ways. Suppose the people living beyond the great sea should come and tell you that you must stop farming, and kill your cattle, and take your houses and land, what would you do? Would you not fight them?” ~Sioux Warrior Gall “ Wherever the whites are established, the buffalo is gone, and the red hunter must die of hunger. ” ~Sioux Chief

End of the Indian Lifestyle -Ghost Dance Movement Dance to renew and save Native way of life from destruction Sioux spiritual dance Dance was outlawed Scared white people Sitting Bull performs dance, is arrested, and eventually shot -Wounded Knee, 1890 massacre of Sioux (300) U.S. troops round up and unarm Sioux group Massacre entire group -Indian era comes to an end

“ I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people ’ s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. ” ~Black Elk