Chapter 5

Chapter 5Thousands of Native Americans were taught the following in schools during the late 1800s: "They told us that Indian ways were bad. They said we must get civilized....It means be like the white man... And the books told how bad the Indians had been to the white men - burning their towns and killing their women and children. But I had seen white men do that to Indians. We all wore white man's clothes and ate white man's food and went to white man's churches and spoke white man's talk. And so after a while we also began to say Indians were bad. We laughed at our own people...

How might this type of education have affected the beliefs of Native American students? Compare the two photos of the same student form the Carlisle Indian Industrial School taken three years apart.

Life on the PlainsGreat Plainsgrasslands in west-central portion of the U.S.

The Horse and the BuffaloHorses, guns lead most Plains tribes to nomadic life by mid-1700s

Buffalo provides many basic needs:- hides used for teepees, clothes, blankets- meat used for jerky, pemmican

Clash of CulturesNative Americans: land cannot be owned; settlers: want to own landSettlers think natives forfeited land because did not improve itSince consider land unsettled, migrants go west to claim it

The Lure of Silver and Gold

Railroads Influence Government Policy

1834, government designates Great Plains as one huge reservation

1850s, treaties define specific boundaries for each tribe

Massacre at Sand CreekTroops kill over 150 Cheyenne, Arapaho at Sand Creek winter camp

Death on the Bozeman TrailBozeman Trail crosses Sioux hunting groundsRed Cloud asks for end of settlements; Crazy Horse ambushes Treaty of Fort LaramieU.S. closes trail; Sioux to reservationSitting Bull, leader of Hunkpapa Sioux, does not sign treaty

The Dawes Act1881, Helen Hunt Jackson exposes problems in A Century of Dishonor

Assimilationnatives to give up way of life, join white culture

Americanize natives, break up reservations- gives land to individual Native Americans- sell remainder of land to settlers- money for farm implements for nativesIn the end, Natives Americans receive only 1/3 of land, no money

The Destruction of the BuffaloDestruction of buffalo most significant blow Tourists, fur traders shoot for sport, destroy buffalo population

Destruction of buffalo most significant blow Wounded KneeGhost Danceritual to regain lost lands spreads among Sioux on Dakota reservationDec. 1890, Sitting Bull is killed when police try to arrest him Seventh Cavalry takes about 350 Sioux to Wounded Knee CreekBattle of Wounded Kneecavalry kill 300 unarmed Native AmericansBattle ends Indian wars

Vaqueros and CowboysAmerican settlers learn to manage large herds from Mexican vaquerosadopt way of life, clothing, vocabulary Texas longhornssturdy, short-tempered breeds brought by SpanishCowboys not in demand until railroads reach Great Plains

Growing Demand for BeefAfter Civil War demand for meat increases in rapidly growing cities

The Cow TownCattlemen establish shipping yards where trails and rail lines meetChisholm Trail becomes major cattle route from San Antonio to Kansas

A Days Work18661885, up to 55,000 cowboys on plains 25% African American, 12% MexicanCowboy works 1014 hours on ranch; 14 or more on trailExpert rider, roper; alert for dangers that may harm, upset cattle

RoundupDuring spring roundup, longhorns found, herded into corralSeparate cattle marked with own ranchs brand; brand calves

The Long DriveHerding of animals or long drive lasts about 3 monthsCowboy in saddle dawn to dusk; sleeps on ground; bathes in rivers

Changes in RanchingOvergrazing, bad weather from 1883 to 1887 destroy whole herdsRanchers keep smaller herds that yield more meat per animalFence land with barbed wire; turn open range into separate ranches