The Last of the Indian Wars AIM: How did the settlement of the Last Frontier end the Native American way of life?

I. Promises Made and Broken 1.As settlers moved west into the Great Plains the U.S. Government promised to protect Indian lands. However, the government soon broke its promises to the Native Americans and wars erupted.

I. Promises Made and Broken 2. In 1851, the federal government set aside land for Native Americans in the Fort Laramie Treaty. Under this treaty the Native Americans were told that the land would be theirs forever.

I. Promises Made and Broken 3. A reservation is a limited area set aside for Native Americans.

I. Promises Made and Broken 4.The Kiowas, Comanches, Lakotas and Arapahos, as well as other Plains Indians, were forced to sign treaties bounding them to reservations with very poor soil. Also, most Plains Indians were hunters, not farmers.

II. War for the West 1. In 1874, gold was found in the Black Hills, South Dakota, which was part of the Sioux Indian Reservation.

II. War for the West 2. The Sioux Indians refused to sell the Black Hills and the U.S. army was sent to attack.

II. War for the West 3.The Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)- Led by their chief, Crazy Horse, the Sioux killed 210 U.S. soldiers including Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. This event is known in history as “Custer’s Last Stand.”

II. War for the West 4.In 1890, U.S. troops took revenge on the Sioux Indians, massacring 300 men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. After this the Sioux surrendered to a reservation in South Dakota and were forced to give up the Black Hills.

II. War for the West Nez Perce

II. War for the West 5. In Oregon, in 1877, a tribe of 500 Nez Perce Indians tried to escape to Canada to avoid being forced onto a reservation. –U.S. troops followed close behind the Nez Perce for 1,000 miles, and caught the tribe just as they approached the Canadian border.

II. War for the West 6. Their leader, Chief Joseph, is quoted as having said, “My heart is sick and sad. I have fought. But from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more, forever!”

II. War for the West 7. The last Native Americans to fight U.S. troops were the Apaches, led by Geronimo. –They surrendered in 1900, and the Indian wars were over.

III. The Aftermath 1.Why did Native Americans lose their wars with the federal government? Native Americans had less advanced weapons. Tribes were small, some numbering in the 100’s. They failed to fight as a united force.

III. The Aftermath 2. In her book, “A Century of Dishonor,” Helen Hunt Jackson described the many times that Indians had been deceived or cheated by the U.S. government.

III. The Aftermath 3. The Dawes Act was passed in 1887, which offered 160 acres of land to the heads of Indian households. –After living and farming this land for 25 years, Indians were to receive full title to their farms, as well as U.S. citizenship. –This was an attempt to Americanize the Indians.

III. The Aftermath 4. Changes in Policy: In 1924 Congress granted all Native Americans born in the U.S. citizenship “Indian Reorganization Act”- permitted Indians to own land in common as tribal property rather than separate farms.

III. The Aftermath Crazy Horse Memorial Crazy Horse Memorial 5. Today a Crazy Horse Memorial stands atop of the Black Hills in South Dakota.Crazy Horse Memorial

“a picture says a thousand words”