History of the West

Unit 5End of the Indians in the Great Plains1868-1900

Force vs. Peace

Background Jeffersonian▪ Indians should be removed to distance them

from worst of American fur traders▪ Cheated them or traded them whiskey

Jacksonian▪ Indians were inferior and should be removed

to make way for American expansion▪ Condescending perspective, much like that of slave

owners toward their slaves

Indian Sovereignty

Early Years Europeans had to recognize Indian sovereignty because they could overwhelm colonials Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia▪ Domestic, dependent nations▪ By 1871 congressional legislation sought to eliminate all

Indian sovereignty Transfer issues

political battle over whether Indian policy should be held by the Department of War or Department of Interior

Peace Policy Some Easterners who saw what was

happening on the plains as genocide Wanted Indian policy in the Bureau of Indian Affairs

(BIA) Senator James Doolittle

Wisconsin Senator Chair of the Indians Affairs Committee▪ Pushed a bill through Congress to setup an ad hoc

committee of 3 senators and 4 house members▪ Convinced President Johnson to give committee a

commission to negotiate treaties▪ A few Indian nations signed, but most were too angry and not yet

pacified

Senator James Doolittle

Wars of peace policy

For over a decade policy vacillated between peace and force Peace advocates tried to implement

Concentration▪ Negotiated by Doolittle’s committee▪ Whenever Indians left reservations force

policy kicked into action

Red Cloud’s War

June 1866 a peace commission under Doolittle met with Dakota and allied leaders The Bozeman road had been laid out to

connect the mine fields of Montana with the Oregon Trail▪ Cut through some of the best remaining

hunting grounds for Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho▪ While negotiating, Indians see Colonel Henry

Carrington come through with construction equipment and men setup three forts to protect travelers

Red Cloud’s War(Con’t) Indians stormed out and lay siege to the forts

Brought construction to a near halt Fetterman’s Massacre (Battle of a hundred

Slain) Indians win▪ In late 1868, Army vacated the forts, and the Indians

burned them to the ground The military blamed it on the BIA’s failure to stop

the arms trade▪ BIA blamed it on military blunders

Indians then come back to negotiate

The Bozeman Road

Taylor Peace Commission Doolittle lost his Senate seat in the 1866

term elections Replaced by Senator John Henderson of Missouri

as Chair of the Indian Affairs Committee▪ Tried to appease all by selecting equal number of

“force” and “peace advocates “Peace”

Henderson, Nathaniel Taylor, Samuel Tappan “Force”

General William S. Harney, Alfred Terry, William T. Sherman

New Reservation treaties Peace Commission renegotiates treaties

Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek (1867) Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)

Similarities in treaties Reservations with outlets No unwelcome whites on reservations Thirty years of annuities Some in the South on “Reconstruction

Treaties” lands Promises of “assimilation” tools

Division of Great Plains

September 1867, the plains were divided into a northern division and southern division General Philip Sheridan appointed to

lead the Northern▪ Known as the division of the Missouri

His aggressive, Civil War, tactics played a big role in turning the tide

Dog Soldiers

Battle of the Washita

Black Kettle and his band were one of the few that moved to the place mandated He couldn’t control the Dog Soldiers that

moved into and out of his encampment▪ General Sherman called it all out war

November 27, 1868 George Armstrong Custer and his 7th U.S. Calvary attacked Black Kettle’s Southern Cheyenne camp on the Washita’s River

Battle of the Washita (Con’t)Hazen tried to contact Sherman at

nearby Fort Cobb to tell him that Black Kettle’s band had surrenered But it was too late

Custer led one column in another “zeroing operation” He attacked first, killing 875 horses, and

then 102 men▪ A few women and children

Battle Plan

Battle of Beecher’s Island Angry over Sand Creek Massacre and

opposed to Treaty of Medicine Lodge Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho hit farms

and travel routes killing 79 September 16, 1868 Major George A.

Forsyth led 50 frontiersmen out of Fort Hays Camped on Arikaree Fork in Colorado Territory Dog Soldiers under Roman Nose pinned them

down on an island in the middle of the river▪ Armed with Spencer repeating rifles, frontiersmen

withstood many assaults Not conclusive who won

Satanta

Kiowa (Mother was Southern Arapaho) Only reluctantly agreed to the treaty of

Medicine Lodge Creek Moved onto a reservation and ventured

into the west to hunt buffalo▪ Their numbers were dwindling

When reservation agents punished withholding annuity food▪ They started raiding Wichita and Caddo

villages

Satanta (Con’t) Satanta and his friend and fellow headman,

Big Tree, led their men in raids into Texas Especially supply wagon trains, seeing it as not

part of the U.S. and thus outside the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek

He and his men also considered their raiding as pay-back for annuities not delivered Taken prisoner in 1871, with promises of his

release only when his people obeyed the government’s mandate▪ To return to their reservation▪ The Indians complied

Big Tree

Big Tree

Buffalo Hunting

Red River War

Isa-Tai, a Comanche shaman, united Indians the souther plains Called for the first Comanche Sun Dance▪ Took little persuasion by Isa-Tai to convince

Indian leaders they had to strike back Southern Cheyenne, Southern Arapahos,

Kiowas, Kiowa-Apache, and Comanche attacked the new settlement of buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls▪ An old Spanish mission

Red River War (Con’t) In the early-morning hours of June 27, 1874,

300 Indians moved in hoping to surprise the buffalo hunters and overpower them led by Isa-Tai and famed Comanche headman

Quanah Parker Although the 28 hunters were vastly

outnumbered, they were well armed with long range “buffalo rifles” and held off the Indians 70 Indians killed without 3 buffalo hunter

casualties

Red River War

Uprising of 1876

Most Lakota and their allies, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho moved onto the reserve after the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie Gold discovered in the Black Hills in 1873 The government first tried to keep whites

out of the Black Hills but gave up and tried to keep Indians out▪ Then the usual thirty days warning for all

Indians to come into the agencies

Battle of Little Bighorn Sioux and Cheyenne defiantly left their

reservations and gathered with Sitting Bull Army sent three columns against them

including Lt. Colonel George Custer Those under Sioux leader Crazy Horse enveloped

Custer’s men and killed them▪ Indians mutilated the bodies in order to force them to

suffer in the afterlife Battle was the pinnacle of Indians power

Created resentment toward Indians with American officials leading to the push to get retribution

The Second Treaty of Fort Laramie

Battle of Little Bighorn

Battle of Little Bighorn

Reservation Building Conditions

Reservations reduced in size Most located in land not suitable for agriculture▪ Goal of BIA was to turn Indians into self-sustaining

farmers▪ Few jobs or ways of making a living▪ Poverty and starvation rampant

▪ Bad housing/many live in tipis with no buffalo skins to cover them

▪ High death rate▪ Had to live under the dictates of a reservation’s Indian

agent▪ Enforced White man’s laws

Starving Indians

Indian Police

Selected from ranks of Indian men, usually soldier sodalities Enforced White law among Indians▪ No practice of traditional religion▪ No plural marriages▪ No practice of traditional political

structure/agents chose leadership

Crow Policeman

Ute Policeman

Carlisle Lt. Richard Pratt

Worked with imprisoned Indian Soldiers in the 1870’s

Convinced the army to let him use old army barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania to setup a school▪ Sought to assimilate and teach young Indians▪ Major goal of the peace policy advocates

So successful initially that the government took over the school in 1882 and established many more off-reservation boarding schools thereafter

Carlisle (Con’t)

Controversies students were forced to attend and

many of their parents tried to hide them Students had to work half a day to

support the school▪ In the “outing system” students were placed

in the homes of nearby white residents▪ Virtually slaves

▪ Many returned to their reservations▪ Former students didn’t fit in and had a hard time

adjusting

Carlisle Arapaho Before

Carlisle Arapaho After

Off-reservation boarding school students and graduates

Dawes Severalty Act

Pushed through Congress by Henry Dawes in 1887 Goal was to turn Indians away from

communal land tenure to private land ownership

Divided reservations into individual plots▪ usually 160 acres for men and 80 acres for

women and children Promised farm equipment and training▪ No taxation on Indian lands

Dawes Severalty Act (Con’t) After allotting reservation and

assigning plots the remaining lands (Surplus lands) were opened to Whites to claim under homesteading laws Bill was supported by Whites because they

could buy “surplus lands” Reformers thought assimilation was best

for Indians and by the military▪ Money made through land sales was earmarked

for the army

Dawes Severalty Act (Con’t)Problems

Promoters soon realized that without knowledge of individual land ownership Indians would get cheated by Whites in land sales

So included in the bill a 25 year trust restriction on the land▪ Could not sell the land until the trust ended

Little farming equipment or training in farming▪ No help in private land ownership was

forthcoming

Surplus lands promoted

Loss of Allotted Land

Most allotment accomplished by 1900 Indians lost over 87 million acres of

“surplus lands”1894 bill authorized the Secretary of

Interior to grant easements across allotted lands for telephone and telegraphy lines By 1902 the “Dead Indian Act” allowed

adult heirs to sell their deceased relatives land

Ghost Dance Started with Piute Indian Tavibo

In 1870 he had a vision telling him that deliverance was near

Whites would be destroyed in an earthquake▪ Indians would be spared and the world would be restored to

the old order Few initially believed so he had a second

revelation Same as first however Indians would be resurrected on

the third day Still few follow so he had a third vision

Only the Indians that believed in the Ghost Dance would be resurrected

Wovoka (Jack Wilson)

Took over his father’s work on the Ghost Dance Saw himself as the next Christ after the

first one had been killed His version included frequent bathing,

rejecting alcohol and no violence▪ Dancing for five consecutive days

demonstrated ones’ worthiness▪ Gave Indians vision of a restored world once Whites

were eliminated in cataclysm

Wovoka (Jack Wilson)

Massacre at Wounded Knee CreekLakota had become divided

Some had assimilated▪ Role of Shaman had faded▪ Political leadership was changing

Continuing loss of land▪ Allotment Act - 2nd Treaty of Fort Laramie

required 3/4 vote for the government to take anymore land▪ Government won the vote using scare tactics and

bribery

Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek (Con’t) Lakota believed that the “Ghost Shirts” would

protect them from bluecoats’ bullets During the fall of 1890 the Ghost Dance spread

through the Sioux villages of the Dakota Reservations▪ Revitalized the Indians and brought fear to the Whites

A desperate Indian Agent at Pine Ridge wired a message to Washington▪ “Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy... We

need protection and we need it now.” Order went out to arrest Sitting Bull at the Standing

Rock Reservation▪ Sitting Bull was killed in the attempt on December 15 by

Indian Police

Ghost Shirt

Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek (Con’t) On December 15 Sitting Bull had been killed

The reason given for the shooting claimed that he had resisted arrest

Many fled to Spotted Elk’s band due to his reputation as a peaceful leader Yet, after slaying of Sitting Bull Spotted Elk was put on

the list of “fomenters of disturbances” and arrested Lakota had sent representatives to learn

Wovoka’s new religion 7th Calvary commanded by Major Samuel Whiteside

intercepted Spotted Elk’s band of Lakota and took them westward to Wounded Knee Creek to camp

Massacre at Wounded Knee Creek (Con’t) The rest of 7th Cavalry arrived and surrounded

Spotted Elk’s encampment with four Hotchkiss guns Morning of December 29 the troops went into the camp to

disarm the Sioux During the process a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote

would not give up his gun▪ A scuffle ensued where a shot was fired▪ Led to the Cavalry opening fire with the their guns and killing all in

their path▪ Women, children and fellow troopers

All in all, at least 150 men, women and children of Lakota had been killed Only 25 American troops died, most to friendly fire

End of Indian dominance in the Great Plains

Hotchkiss Gun

Battle of Wounded Knee Map

Dead at Wounded Knee

Spotted Elk