The Wild West I shall not be there. I shall rise and pass. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. Stephen Vincent Benet
The Plains Indian By mid-1800s only 150,000 Many tribes relocated from East Adaptation to environment Horses, weaponry, guns The Buffalo … their destruction would spell the DOOM of the Indians’ way of life.
White Man’s Solution 1851 Ft. Laramie Treaty 1.Reservations 2.Wards of the nation Civil War ends …
Indian Wars Sand Creek Massacre aka Chivington Massacre 1874 Gold in the Black Hills 1876 Little Big Horn 1.Sioux and Cheyenne 2.George Armstrong Custer 3.Crazy Horse 4.Sitting Bull
Nez Perce and Chief Joseph 1877 Northwest OO Howard Failed escape “My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.”
Geronimooooooooooo! Southwest Apache 1886
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee 1889 Ghost Dance Cult Visions and invincibility Dec Sitting Bull killed Panic leads to escape leads to massacre Approx. 300 dead “west is won”
“white man’s road” Assimilation Dawes Severalty Act 1.Divvy ups the reservation lands between families. 2.Can be a citizen if give up tribal ways Failure
Gosh darn they still have too much land… 1862 Homestead Act 1889 Indian Territory Oklahoma Land Rush 1890 Census declares the frontier is closed!