Little Big Horn

Wounded Knee

General Miles' Telegram Nelson A. Miles General Miles sent this telegram from Rapid City to General John Schofield in Washington, D.C. on December 19, 1890: "The difficult Indian problem cannot be solved permanently at this end of the line. It requires the fulfillment of Congress of the treaty obligations that the Indians were entreated and coerced into signing. They signed away a valuable portion of their reservation, and it is now occupied by white people, for which they have received nothing. They understood that ample provision would be made for their support; instead, their supplies have been reduced, and much of the time they have been living on half and two-thirds rations. Their crops, as well as the crops of the white people, for two years have been almost total failures. The dissatisfaction is wide spread, especially among the Sioux, while the Cheyennes have been on the verge of starvation, and were forced to commit depredations to sustain life. These facts are beyond question, and the evidence is positive and sustained by thousands of witnesses."

Black Elk (1863–1950); medicine man, Oglala Lakota: "I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my 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 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 . . . . the nation's hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead." (Source: Black Elk Speaks, c. 1932)

Survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre Survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Brothers White Lance, Joseph Horn Cloud, and Dewey Beard [left to right]. Joseph Horn Cloud was about sixteen years old when he witnessed the Wounded Knee massacre on December 29, 1890, two other brothers, Frank Horn Cloud and Earnest Horn Cloud also survived, his parents, two brothers, and a sister were killed.

How Do We Know What We Know? There are different sides to every story We have been learning about how Westward Expansion affected many groups. Write down how each of the following was changed during this time period. For each group, do costs and benefits: Cowboys Homesteaders/Exodusters Coolies Native Americans Was Westward Expansion the right thing to do?