Changes on the Western Frontier

 Native American life existed on the Great Plains  Eastern Tribes (near the lower Missouri River): Osage & Iowa. 1. Planted crops & lived in small villages  Western Tribes (Nebraska & North Dakota): Sioux & Cheyenne 1. nomadic 2. gathered wild food & hunted buffalo

 Acquired horses & guns which allowed them to travel further  Started leaving their villages to roam the plains and hunt buffalo  Increased mobility led to war: trespassing on other tribes’ land & hunting grounds.  Used buffalos for food, clothing, shoes, blankets, thread, bowstrings, tools & toys.  The buffalo became central to the Native American way of life

 Lived in small extended family groups  Had ties to other tribes that spoke the same language  Men hunted together & women prepared the food.  Valued individualism: trained to become hunters & warriors  Believed in powerful spirits that controlled nature & events  Culture passed down to children by stories & myths  Leaders ruled by counsel, not force

 Native Americans believed land could not be owned  White settlers believed in personal property & improving the land  Owning land & a house would make the country better – you had a stake in it.  White settlers said the Native Americans had forfeited the right to the land because they “did not improve it” therefore the land was still unsettled or unclaimed.

 White settlers thought they could strike it rich by finding gold!!!  California Gold Rush in 1849  Colorado in 1858  Mining camps were filthy, dirty, with rows of tents and shacks.  They used to have streams & beautiful landscapes. Indians did not destroy nature.

 For land!  Homestead Act of 1862 offered 100 acres of land for free for anyone willing to live on it & cultivate it for 5 years.  From about 500,000 people took advantage of the governments offer  Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 – lets build a railroad system that can ship these western goods to other places in the nation  In 1869 the railroad was finished. Not only goods shipped but people could travel coast to coast.  Trains were expensive but luxurious

 In 1834 the government passed an act that set aside the entire Great Plains as one enormous reservation for the Native Americans  In the 1850’s the government started to change this policy and started to sign treaties to create defined boundaries.  Most native Americans refused to sign these treaties so the government forged their names.  Native Americans still considered the land theirs and continued to hunt on it.  Started to clash with the White Settlers!

 Education: assimilation of the mind & spirits 1. off reservation boarding schools: “kill the Indian, save the man” 2. Teachers promoted “white civilization” 3. Generations of Native Americans caught between their own culture and the white world.

 Dawes Act of 1877: Americanize the Indian by letting them own land and farming it. - broke up reservations acres for farming or 320 acres for grazing - sell remaining reservation land to settlers  Native Americans received nothing for the sale of the land  By 1934 whites owned 65% of the territory that was set aside for the Native Americans  Speculators (those who bought land to sell at a profit) grabbed most of the best land

 Destruction of the buffalo  Biggest blow to Native Americans – this was their way of life  Buffalo being killed by the white man to feed those that worked on the railroad – “Buffalo Bill”  Tourists shot buffalo for sport  Fur traders shot buffalo for income & profits  In million buffalo roamed the plains, by 1886 fewer than 600 remained

 In 1864 the Cheyenne tribe was forced into a very small territory called the Sand Creek Reserve.  They started to raid the nearby trails & settlements for food and supplies.  Governor John Evans asked them to stop & they did. Put up both the American Flag and a white flag as a symbol for peace.  U.S Army Commander General G.R. Curtis sent a telegraph to the militia commander that said, “I want no peace till the Indians suffer more.”

 Militia commander John Chivington attacked the 500 member Cheyenne tribe at dawn  The Cheyenne tribe never had a chance.  The militia killed over 200 tribe members – mostly women and children and then mutilated their bodies.  Chivington was treated as a hero.  Chivington claimed the Cheyenne tribe killed his family – he wanted revenge!

 Part of the Sioux hunting grounds  Chief Red Cloud asked the U.S. government to end white settlement on the trail  In 1866, warrior Crazy Horse ambushed Captain Fetterman & his company on the trail – 80 soldiers were killed  Government agreed to close the trail to white settlers in exchange for their signature on the Treaty of Fort Loramie  Forced Native Americans to live on a reservation along the Missouri River  Black Hills Gold Rush: again white settlers on their land

 Custer & his troops raided Little Bighorn, but…  Sitting Bull had a vision & he, Crazy Horse & other Indian Chiefs were ready for Custer  Custer was ill prepared * thought he would be facing 1500 Indians * horses & men were exhausted * he split his troops up-only 200 prepared to fight  In 20 minutes, Custer & all of his men were DEAD!  Nation wanted REVENGE  Sitting Bull took refuge in Canada

 Ghost Dance: movement spread among 25,000 Sioux  Spiritual dance in the hopes of regaining land, buffalo & their lives back  This alarmed military leaders – blamed Sitting Bull & went to arrest him.  Sitting Bull’s bodyguard, Catch the Bear shot & killed one of the officers  The falling policeman aimed, shot & killed Sitting Bull

 On December 28, 1890, Custer’s old regiment rounded up 350 starving & freezing Sioux  Asked for them to give up all their weapons  Not sure who fired first, but the soldiers opened fire & slaughtered all of the unarmed Native Americans in minutes  Soldiers left the corpses to freeze on the ground  Brought the Indian wars to an end

All over Texas the impact of the Civil War was to lead to a massive increase in the number of cattle; by 1866 there were an estimated cattle in Texas Yet in this time it increased from around 180 to head The economy of the East went into boom and the demand for meat grew after the end of the war. Texan Cattlemen looked for a way to meet this demand and make a profit. It was now possible to drive the cattle to a rail depot, sell them to a dealer, who could then transport them in refrigerated wagons to the growing cities of the East such as New York and Chicago.

 25 million buffalo killed ( )  Long drive:  Herding of thousands of cattle from one cattle ranch to another 1867: 35,000 cattle driven 1881: 250,000 cattle driven