The Indians that lived in the West had a peaceful life. They enjoyed roaming the plains, hunting, and living with their families, until the 1800s.

The Plains Indians lived in the area from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada and Mexico. They roamed the Plains hunting buffalo on horseback. The Plains Indians lived on this land first. The “white men” (what the Indians would call American men) were trying to take the Indians land for themselves for mining and for the use of all the buffalo hides. This caused many problems between the Indians and the White Men.

Fort Laramie (also known as Fort William and Fort John) was an amazing 19th century trading post and diplomatic site, located right next to the Laramie River, and that’s how it got its name. This fort is in Goshen County, Wyoming. This fort was founded in the 1830s to service the overland fur trade during the 19th century; it sat at the bottom of a large and long valley called the South Pass. This was a very well-known stopping point on the Oregon Trail. Fort William was a private fur trading post founded by William Sublette in In 1841 it was purchased by the American Fur Trading Company and it was renamed Fort John. In 1849 it was taken over by the United States Army to protect the wagon trails on the Oregon Trail.

Miners and settlers were increasing in numbers and they wanted the Indians land. The U.S. Government tried to avoid arguments by negotiating the Treaty of Fort Laramie, the first major treaty between the U.S. Government and Plains Indians. A couple years later, a group of southern Plains nations signed a treaty at Fort Atkinson in Nebraska. These treaties recognized Indian claims to most of the Great Plains. They also allowed the United States to build forts and roads and to travel across Indian lands. The U.S. government promised to pay for any damages to Indian Lands. The treaties didn’t stay peaceful for long. In 1858 the discovery of gold in what is now is Colorado brought thousands of miners to the West. The miners came with the Cheyenne and the Arapaho. In 1861 the United States government negotiated new treaties with the Plains Indians.

These new treaties created Reservations, which were areas of federal land set aside for Native Americans. The government expected Indians to stay on these Reservations, which made buffalo hunting almost impossible. Miners continued to cross the Plains. Many miners used the Bozeman Trail. To protect them from the Indians, the U.S. Army built forts along the trail, which ran through the favorite hunting grounds of Sioux. The Sioux thought this meant war. In late 1866, Crazy Horse and a group of Sioux ambushed and killed 81 cavalry troops.

In 1868, under the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, the government agrees to close Bozeman Trail, abandon the forts, and provide Reservation lands to the Sioux. The U.S. government also negotiated for southern Plains Indians to move off their land. In 1867, the Treaty of Medicine Lodge, most southern Plains Indians agreed to live on Reservations; however, many Indians didn’t want to give up their hunting grounds. Fighting soon broke out between the Comanche and Texas. The United States Army and the Texas Rangers were not able to defeat the Comanche, so they cut off the Comanche’s access to food and water. In 1875 the last of the Comanche war leaders surrendered.

George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army Officer and a Calvary Commander, until he died in the Battle of Little Big Horn, also known as “Custer’s Last Stand”. The Battle of Little Big Horn lasted two days, June 25-26, in Custer was the Commander for the United States Army. He brought 700 men into the Battle and 268 men died. Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull were the leaders of the Indians. The Indians won this Battle, and they got to keep there land. The white men did this so they could kill the Indians leaders and arrest them. They also wanted to win some of the land that the Indians had.

On December 29, 1890, the U.SArmy was waiting on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek for the Indians. The Army charged and took down all the Indian warriors and the U.S. Army arrested Big Foot, the chief leader of the Indians. This little battle is called the Massacre at Wounded Knee.

The Long Walk (1864 to 1866) happened when the White Men forced the Indians to walk from their reservations in Arizona to New Mexico. The white men did this because they had no other choice. The Indians didn’t cooperate, so the white men took charge and said walk to your reservations…or die. They had to walk 13 miles each day

The Indians lived a peaceful life until the 1800s. After that, the White Men lived the peaceful lives. The Indians got forced to move onto land they didn’t want to live on. The White Men got what they wanted, they always did. The Indians never got what they wanted. That’s why the Indians were so sad.