CHAPTER 13

Section 3

Culture of the Plains

Indians Nomadic

Hunted buffalo

Politics: divided into bands of approximately 500

Had a tribal council who ruled each band

Roles divided along traditional gender lines Religion based on the spiritual power of the natural

world

Cultures Under

Pressure Increasing population headed west Railroad Mining & Ranching Treaties were violated Homelands were considered sacred Some tribes such as the Dakota Sioux had agreed

to live on reservations in exchange for annuity payments from the federal government

Often weren’t paid on time or were kept by unscrupulous white traders

Dakota Sioux Uprising

• Minnesota

• U.S. government made a deal with the tribe Dakota Sioux agree to live

on reservation U.S. agrees to pay an

annuity

− annuity – fixed sum of money paid to a person each year

Dakota Sioux

Uprising (1862) Chief Little Crow asks traders to

do business on credit with the tribe since the federal government was over a month late with the annuity payments.

Andrew Myrick refuses: “If they are hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung.”

Found dead later with grass stuffed in his mouth

Little Crow leads an uprising focusing on soldiers, but some civilians were also killed

Hundreds killed and 300+ Dakota were arrested and charged.

President Lincoln commuted the sentences of all but 38, who were executed.

Dakota Sioux Uprising• Turned down and desperate,

Sioux start a rebellion which becomes indiscriminate slaughter

• Takes approximately two weeks for troops from St. Paul to arrive

• Dakota are reluctantly led by Little Crow

Cheyenne and the Colorado Territory

• Colorado is a major center of mining

• In retaliation for coming into their territory, the Cheyenne raid farms and travelers, take property Travel in the territory comes

to a standstill

Cheyenne and the Colorado Territory

• John Evans, territorial governor, demands Cheyenne surrender at Fort Lyon

• Black Kettle – Cheyenne Chief• Doesn’t want to surrender,

but will negotiate

• Fort commander asks the Cheyenne to wait at Sand Creek

Cheyenne and the Colorado Territory

• Sand Creek Massacre – November, 1862

• Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington

• Events are disputed. Unclear if U.S. troops simply massacred the Cheyenne, including women and children, or if there was an actual battle

Lakota Sioux vs. U.S. Army

• Nomadic tribe of the Sioux

• Invited Dakota Sioux to live with them after the uprising

• In addition, railroad companies had discovered gold in the Black Hills, so troops are sent to “negotiate” rights to the land

Lakota Sioux vs. U.S. Army

• Powder River Expedition

U.S. cavalry under Colonel Henry B. Carrington assigned to open up a trail and build a system of forts along the Bozeman Trail

Lakota Sioux vs. U.S. Army

• Leaders Red Cloud Crazy Horse Sitting Bull

• Lakota want to defend their hunting grounds

• Red Cloud and other leaders actually meet with the Army officers, but reject their terms

Lakota Sioux vs. U.S. Army

• U.S. troops march into the territory, construct Fort Phil Kearny

• Guerilla warfare is constant

• Many of the soldiers are frustrated that the Sioux refuse to stand and fight

Lakota Sioux vs. U.S. Army

• Fetterman’s Massacre – December 26, 1866

• Approximately 100 soldiers massacred when they fall for a diversion

• Shocks public opinion back east, forces government to consider peace terms

Lakota Sioux vs. U.S. Army

• Battle at Fort C.F. Smith – “Hayfield Fight” – August 1, 1867

• Sioux plan is to use the same tactic as at Fetterman’s Massacre, but warriors are too eager

• U.S. troops have new, quick firing weapons

In Colorado, mining had increased settlement

and increased tensions with Native groups living there

By summer 1864, travel was no longer safe 200+ settlers had been killed John Evans orders the Indians to surrender at

Fort Lyon and said they would be given food and protection. All others would be subject to attack.

Several hundred went to the fort to negotiate, not to surrender. Led by Chief Black Kettle

Sand Creek

Sand Creek

Black Kettle told to take his group and camp at Sand Creek

Massacred by Col. John Chivington Conflicting reports of what

actually happened; were the Cheyenne really there to negotiate or surrender?

Did Chivington ignore their signs of a truce?

“the foulest and most unjustifiable crime in the annals of America”

A Senate committee investigated, but declined to charge Chivington with a crime.

Battle of Washita River

• George Armstrong Custer leads U.S. cavalry in attacking the Cheyenne village that morning

• Kill or capture almost the entire population of the settlement, including Black Kettle

• Custer and U.S. cavalry spend 1867-68 attacking Cheyenne and Kiowa settlements along the river

Indian Peace Commission• Approved by Congress in July, 1867

• Members first met August 6, 1867

• Idea was to create large new reservations

• Allow the Army to “deal with” any tribes that refused to remain on the reservations

• Red Cloud signed on November 6, 1868

• “Medicine Lodge Treaty”

Comanche Wars

• Comanche and Kiowa were led by:• Quanah• Ten Bears• White Bear

• White Bear led war parties into Texas to attempt to destroy the railroad

Comanche Wars• May, 1871

• White Bear leads a group which kills seven railroad workers

• Being a violation of the Medicine Lodge Treaty, General Sherman calls White Bear and other leaders to a meeting

• White Bear is arrested

• Sporadic and constant Comanche raids occur throughout the following years

Lakota Sioux vs. George Custer White settlers were moving onto the Lakota

Reservation to pan for gold If the whites can violate the treaty, why not the Native

Americans? So they go hunting off the reservation near the Bighorn Mountains in South Dakota

Lt. Col. George Custer, commander of the Seventh Cavalry decides to attack a group of about 2,500 Native Americans

All the troops and Custer were killed Portrayed as a massacre of Custer and his men

Battle of the Little Big Horn

Lakota had continued to perform the Ghost

Dance Was viewed as defiance by the Native

Americans Sitting Bull viewed as the leader and troops

sent to arrest him Dies during a skirmish with police 25 soldiers and 200+ Lakota men, women and

children were killed

Battle at Wounded Knee

Not all Americans were happy with the government’s

treatment of Native Americans over the years Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor Many people favored a policy of assimilation Break up reservations into individual allotments Dawes Act

160 acres of reservation land Remaining land sold to settlers & money put in a trust for Native

Americans What could possibly go wrong with this plan?

What do Plains Indians know about farming? Have to share the land with settlers What would happen to Native culture without the buffalo?

Assimilation