Native Americans in the West Native Americans Living

Native Americans in the West

Native Americans �Living in what was known as the “Great American Desert”…not really a desert at all �Were promised that land would be theirs forever…not really �Most numerous were the Plains Indians �Nomadic, followed the buffalo �Did not think of land as property…different from American concept of land

Threats to Indian Life �Disease �Gold was discovered in California �Railroad was being built that needed to go through Indian Territory � This need led to the government setting up reservations that would put Indians on smaller specific areas…but many are nomadic

Buffalo � Migrants killed off thousands � Hunters invaded, trading fur in the East � Some killed for sport leaving the carcasses to rot � Indians see their way of life rotting � RR companies hired sharpshooters to kill those obstructing traffic (Buffalo Riders) � Encouraged by US army…would keep the Indians from being nomadic

Sand Creek Massacre �Indians had been attacking settlers to keep a hold on their lands…raised the distrust among settlers �Unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho are attacked by Colorado militia for no reason �Killed men, women and children �Indians tried to signal that they were of no threat �Created even more Indian resistance and military occupation

Sand Creek Massacre

Battle of Little Big Horn �Gold miners encroach on Sioux territory �Sioux send out their troops and so does the US Army under Colonel Custer � 250 soldiers vs. 2, 000 Indians �Indians charged killing Custer and all of his men

Nez Perce �Living on reservations and doing well but land was needed for white settlers �Chief Joseph tried to escape US troops by heading into Canada �Troops caught up with them and Chief Joseph surrendered �“I will fight no more forever” �Were sent to a unfertile lands in Oklahoma

Wounded Knee �With so many threats to their way of life Indians start to practice the Ghost Dance, thought that it would � Banish white settlers � Bring back the buffalo �Frightened the government…they order the arrest of Sitting Bull who was leading the Ghost Dance �When the troops come to arrest Sitting Bull, they disarm the Indians…fire is shot? …troops react by killing over 300 Sioux �Buried in a mass grave � 18 Congressional Medals of Honor awarded to the troops

Blizzard hits and the bodies are left there to freeze

Assimilation �Reservation life was not working so government suggested assimilation (adopting the culture and civilization of whites) �Helen Hunt Jackson criticized the government’s treatment of Indians in her book A Century of Dishonor � Talked of broken treaties and the plight of Indians

Dawes Severalty Act �Replaced the reservation system with an allotment system �Each Indian family was given 160 acres � Not enough for farming in the West, only in the East � Land could not be sold for 25 years � Attempt to assimilate Indians by giving them land but they don’t even know how to farm