1. US History Old West Unit (1865-1890)
Knight

2. Presidents During the Old West
Grover Cleveland
Chester A. Arthur
James Garfield 1881
Rutherford B. Hayes

3. Frontier Experience
Following Civil War (1865) land west of Mississippi River was settled mostly by Native Americans
Great Plains- the grassland extending through the west-central portion of the United States
View Settlers Expand the Land Video

4. Family Life on Plains Native Americans
Native Americans and the Frontier Video
Native Americans
Men hunted buffalo, women skinned and prepared hides, cooked food, cared for children
Groups were led by counsels
Exodusters
African Americans who left the South following the Civil War (1865) to come to the West for a better life

5. Family life on Plains White/Black Settlers from Eastern US
View Gold Rush Video
White/Black Settlers from Eastern US
First brought west after discovery of gold and silver
Mining camps and frontier towns sprang up
Land was available, claimed Indians had not “improved” it.
Boomtowns

6. Family Life on the Plains
Homestead Act 1862
160 acres of land. Free if they could cultivate it and make improvements after 5 years
Over 600,000 families took land from 1862 to 1900
Peaked in Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 (Sooners/Boomers)
Many settlers built homes out of sod “soddies”-lack of wood
Women worked as hard as men on Frontier and life was extremely hard
View Land as Opportunity video
View Homestead Act video

7. Family Life on the Plains
Inventions that improved life on plains
Barbed wire -prevented animals from wandering off
Reaper -sped up harvesting
Steel plow -made planting more efficient
Steel windmill -brought up underground water for irrigation
View Agriculture advancements on Plains video
John Deere

8. American Cowboy and Cattle Boom
American Cowboys borrowed many customs from Mexican vaquero
(Chaps, spurs, hat, etc)
Long Drive -moving cattle from distant ranges to busy railroad centers that shipped the cattle to market
Cattle industry helped encourage settlement out west. Cattle boom ended because of barbed wire and eventually the railroads
Cattle Stockyards in Chicago 1876
View Cattleman video

9. Bonanza Farms
Bonanza Farms -large farms in the West and Midwest that were controlled by large businesses and run by hundreds of workers. Specialized in 1 or 2 crops. Drought of 1890’s had devastating impact

10. Railroad’s Impact on the West
Government provided free land and gave money to encourage Railroads (RR) to expand West
Transcontinental RR was built by Union Pacific and Central Pacific RRs, from Nebraska to California. Met at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869.
Impact of RR on West
Settled west
Caused cities to grow
Economy grew
Encouraged the development of new inventions/methods (refrigerated RR cars, mail order catalogs, RR delivered mail)
View RR video

11. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers
Assimilation-a plan in which Native Americans would give up their beliefs and way of life to become a part of the white or American culture
Assimilation Laws
Cut hair, speak English, stop practicing their own religion, etc.
Dawes Act gave Indian families 160 acres of land, encouraged them to become farmers and “Americanize”
Broke up large reservations
Created more land for whites
Boarding house to assimilate Native American girls
View Native American video

12. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers
View Buffalo Soldier video
After Civil War, US government fought war with Indians over Western Lands
Buffalo Soldier-a black soldier in U.S. Army in the West
Destruction of buffalo
was major blow to
Plains Indians
way of life
View Destruction of Buffalo video

13. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers
Battle of Little Bighorn
Battle of Little Bighorn 1876
Large numbers of Plains Indians were off reservations
General Custer and 7th Cavalry
Last major victory for Plains Indians against U.S. Army
Caused outrage in America
Custer
Sitting Bull
Effects of Battle of Little Bighorn
Crazy Horse*

14. Conflicts between Native Americans and Settlers
Battle or Massacre at Wounded Knee
Ghost Dance
Dec. 28, 1890 the 7th Cavalry rounded up 350 starving and freezing Sioux & took them to Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota
A shot was fired and U.S. army unloaded on mostly women and children
Killed 300 Sioux
Left bodies to freeze on ground
Brought an end to Indian Wars and to an era
*Quote on page 208
View Massacre at Wounded Knee Video

15. Closing of the West
Frederick Jackson Turner wrote Frontier Thesis in 1893-all the land out west had been settled, no more unknown land to explore. (Is credited with increasing Imperialism amongst some in the U.S.-TR)
Helen H. Jackson wrote Century of Dishonor- 1881, about broken promises/treaties by American government to Indians
View life at the end of 1800’s.