1. Changes on the Western Frontier Chapter 5
Follow this link for interesting info on Native Americans:
Changes on the Western Frontier Chapter 5
Section 1: Cultures Clash on the Prairie
Section 2: Settling on the Great Plains
Section 3: Farmers and the Populist Movement

2. Cultures Clash on the Prairie Section 1
Great Plains = “Great American Desert”
Whites viewed plains as having no value for farming
Whites view people who lived there as primitive savages who were uncivilized
Wrong on both counts
Plains some of the best farm land in the world
Two highly developed Native American lifestyles
East-Side: Planted crops and lived in established villages
West-Side: Nomadic and gathered food and hunted buffalo

3. The Importance of the Horse and Buffalo
Click Link Below to read about the history of the Paint Horse
and its importance to the American Indian

4. IMPACT OF THE HORSE Brought by the Spanish
How did it change the Native American’s way of life?
*Increased the mobility of the Indians
1. They could travel farther in search of buffalo.
2. They could hunt more efficiently on horseback.

5. IMPACT OF THE HORSE What did the increased mobility lead to?
*Tribal Wars because of competition for buffalo.
What was important about warfare for the Plains Indian?
*Gaining prestige and honor for the warrior.

6. Warfare What is “Counting Coup”?
*Practice in which a warrior touches a live enemy and escapes unharmed, rather than killing.
How does this gain honor for the warrior?
*Very brave to confront an enemy without bloodshed.
Why use counting coup instead of killing an enemy?
*Killing enemies might have wiped out the population of the warring tribes.
*Very practical adaptation for survival

7. IMPORTANCE OF THE BUFFALO
Provided basic needs (See page 207)
Food, Clothing, and Shelter
1. Hides for tepees, clothing, shoes, blankets
2. Meat – jerky
3. Sinew – thread, bowstring
4. Bones – hide scrapers, tool handles, etc.
5. Hoofs – ground to make glue
6. Skull – rituals
7. Horns – bowls and spoons
8. Everything was used

8. Depletion of the Buffalo
Native Americans were hostile toward the white settlers because between 1860 – 1900, white hunters reduced the number of buffalo from 15 million to only a few hundred.

9. Plains Indians Family Life
Communal life style – lived in small extended families with close ties to other bands speaking the same language
Men were hunters
Women gathered and butchered and prepared the hides
Valued Individualism
Men trained to be hunters / warriors
Women sometimes allowed to choose their own husband
Children Trained in proper behavior and culture by the members of the tribe
Leadership done with a counsel – no one person was in charge
Land was held in common. NO Private ownership. Land was used for the good of the group.

10. The Government Restricts Native Americans
Before 1850 the American Policy was to set aside the Great Plains as a huge Indian reservation.
Scarcity of land caused people to take another look at the “Great American Desert”.
When increasing # of settlers moved in they started opening the land for settlement and signed treaties with the tribes and set boundaries.
Most tribes continued to hunt on traditional lands with disastrous results as whites and Indians clashed.
See Native

11. Sand Creek Massacre Cheyenne Tribe
Made to move to a desolate reservation in eastern Colorado
Not able to survive on the land and some warriors began to leave and raid nearby trails and settlements for supplies
Non-hostile Indians ordered to Fort Lyon
Chief Black Kettle
Told to fly American Flag and they would be safe
Colonel John J. Chivington
Attacked the camp at Dawn in Nov. 1864

12. Sand Creek Massacre
Black Kettle raised the flag of truce but it didn’t do any good.
Chivington and his men killed an estimated 150 Indians, mostly women and children along the Sand Creek encampment.
Chivington’s men paraded through the streets of Denver after their “great victory”.
Read excerpt from Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

13. Death on the Bozeman Trail Chief Red Cloud’s War
Government built trail through the Sioux hunting ground.
Red Cloud appealed to government to stop settlers and miners from trespassing on their land and building forts.
The Sioux, under Chief Red Cloud, launch a guerrilla war against the government from

14. Fetterman Massacre Crazy Horse Captain William Fetterman
1866 Crazy Horse’s warriors lure Fetterman and his men (80+) into an ambush, surround and kill all of them.
Reaction
Angered many whites
Government closed Bozeman Trail eventually
Treaty of Fort Laramie is signed

15. Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868 Involved Northern Tribes (Sioux) Treaty
Sioux accept lands in the Dakotas
Hunting rights as far as Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming
Government gave up building road
Indians would receive annuities and supplies.
Similar to Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851

16. Medicine Lodge Treaty 1867 Involved Southern Indian Groups
Cheyenne
Arapaho
Tribes accepted land in Indian Territory
Oklahoma

17. Hostilities Continue Corrupt Bureau of Indian Affairs Agents
1. Promised supplies were late
2. Supplies were of poor quality
3. Some supplies were not delivered
Not all tribe representatives signed treaties and didn’t follow the requirements
Indians left reservation land in search of food
Miners invaded the Black Hills in search of gold

18. Bloody Battles Continue
Colonel George A. Custer of the 7th Calvary was sent to investigate rumors of gold and miners and settlers rushed to the Black Hills.
Government offered to buy the land but the Sioux refused.
The battle for the land was on.

19. The Battle of the Little Big Horn June 1876
Little Big Horn River Indian Encampment
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull
Custer and the 7th Calvary
Custer’s Mistakes
Underestimated the number of warriors
Had driven his men and horses to exhaustion
Did not wait for other units in the area
Split his regiment into 3 parts
Custer and all of the men with him were killed in about 20 minutes.
See this webpage for interesting facts:

20. The Battle of the Little Big Horn

21. Aftermath of Custer’s Last Stand
The Army continued it attacks on the Native Americans until the Sioux returned to the reservation.
Sitting Bull and some of his people fled to Canada, but eventually he also returned to the reservation.
Crazy Horse eventually surrendered and was killed by an Indian guard as he resisted begin locked up. He was bayoneted in the back.

22. Government Supports Assimilation
Helen Hunt Jackson – A Century of Dishonor (1881) exposed the gov’ts mistreatment of Native Americans over the years and the many broken treaties.
Well meaning supporters pushed for a plan of ASSIMILATION : Native Americans give up their beliefs and way of life and become part of white culture.

23. Dawes Act
Distribute land from reservations into 160 acre lots for each adult head of the family. 80 acres for single adults. (Most land taken over by white settlers eventually)
$ from the sale of remaining land would go to buy farm implements (Native Am. NEVER saw the money)
Set up schools for the education of Indian children
Boarding schools like the one in the video (A Walk in Two Worlds) tried to take away Indian culture and replace it with the white culture

24. Ghost Dance Movement Created by Paiute Indian Prophet – Wovoka
Addressed Problems of the Native Americans
Reduced Rations
Increase in Restrictions
Loss of Cattle to Disease
Forced Assimilation
Ghost Dance Movement Promised
Destroy the Whites
Bring back the buffalo
Bring back the Indian’s way of life

25. Ghost Dance Spreads
Many whites became very concerned about the movement and thought the Native Americans were planning an uprising.
Sitting Bull supported the movement
Army sent Indian Police to arrest Sitting Bull in Dec. 1890
Sitting Bull’s body guard fired at police and in the fight Sitting Bull was killed.
Many of the fearful Sioux fled which led to the next tragic event.

26. Massacre at Wounded Knee
7th Cavalry rounded up approx. 350 freezing and starving Sioux and took them to Wounded Knee Creek
The 7th Cavalry demanded the Sioux to give up all of their weapons
A shot was fired (not clear who fired), and the soldiers opened up with cannon fire.
Approx mostly unarmed Sioux Native Americans, including many women and children, were killed.
Significance- Marked an end to the Indian Wars
See Indian