1. U.S. History Goal 4 Objective 4.02
Native American Wars
U.S. History Goal 4
Objective 4.02

2. Objective 4.02
Evaluate the impact that settlement in the West had upon different groups of people and upon the environment

3. Plains Indians Plains Indians’ culture revolved around the buffalo
Source of food, shelter, clothing
Nomadic lifestyle
Traveled grasslands on horseback following buffalo herds

5. John Mix Stanley – Buffalo Hunt on the Southwestern Prairies (1845)

6. Government Policy
Mid 1800s policy changed from relocating tribes farther west to seizing land and sending them to reservations

7. Disappearance of the Buffalo
~60 million buffalo on the Plains
1894 – as few as 25 remained
Why?

8. Destruction of herds
White settlement reduced grazing lands and cut migration routes
Settler’s livestock carried diseases that destroyed herds
US Army encouraged destruction of herds to wipe out Plains Indians’ food supply
Demand for hides in east
Sport hunting – railroad “hunting specials”

10. Sand Creek Massacre Col. John Chivington (Methodist preacher)
700 troops attacked Cheyenne settlement at Sand Creek – ignored flag of peace
Killed ~150 men, women, children

11. Sand Creek (continued)
Returned to Denver and showed scalps and mutilated body parts to cheering crowds
Chivington seen as a hero to many in Denver
Congress condemned his actions but did not punish

12. Sand Creek Massacre

13. Battle of Little Bighorn
For years Lakota Sioux conducted raids on white settlers who moved onto Sioux lands
Situation turned over to military
Sitting Bull led a gathering of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho near Little Bighorn River

14. June 25, 1876
US Army Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer led his troops to attack superior numbers
Custer and his men encircled and wiped out

15. “Custer’s Last Stand”

16. Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce
Land taken over by settlers and gold miners; forced to flee
Fought as they fled
Surrendered less than 40 miles from Canadian border

17. “From where the Sun now stands, I will fight no more forever
“From where the Sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” - Chief Joseph

19. Ghost Dance Movement
Belief that Native American lands and way of life would be restored
Return of Indian dead and the buffalo
Led by Wovoka (Paiute shaman)
Newspapers suggested coming uprising

20. Arrest of Sitting Bull Arrested because he joined Ghost Dance movement
Skirmish broke out and he was killed

21. Wounded Knee Massacre - 1890
7th Cavalry ordered Sioux to give up their guns
One gun went off – accidental?????
Soldiers began shooting
300 Sioux men, women, and children killed – some bodies 3 miles form camp

22. Wounded Knee Massacre marked the end of the “Indian Wars” – bloody conflict between US Army and Plains Indians

23. Americanization of Native Americans
Assimilation - process of making Native Americans adopt a way of life similar to white Americans
Overseen by Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)

24. Schools
Carlisle Indian School (Pennsylvania)

25. Dawes Severalty Act (Dawes Act)
1887
Significant step from Congress towards assimilation
Broke up Native American reservation lands and turned them over to individual Native Americans
Could be bought by settlers
Forced a white method of land ownership

26. Crazy Horse Monument – South Dakota

27. Projected completion??? – begun in 1948