Native Americans After Reconstruction

Native Americans in the 1800s

• By 1850, nearly all Native Americans had been removed from the eastern part of Texas

• In the western part, Natives fought to keep settlers from moving westward.

• Some soldiers serve as buffer to protect east Texas settlers

• Native American raids on Texas settlers still occur

Strengths of the Native Americans

• Familiar with Texas territory• Skilled fighters with arrows• By the 1880s , most Natives also carry rifles

Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek

• Signed in 1867 between US agents and Natives at Kansas

• Agree that Natives will live on reservations in the Indian Territory (Oklahoma)

• Government will provide food and supplies, but army not allowed on the reservation

• Natives agree to stop making raids• Many of the US agents are Quakers (peaceful

people who want to help the Natives)

Do you think this peace treaty will work????

Peace Policy Fails

• Peace did not come to western Texas• Some Natives refused to sign the treaty,

because they thought they were being used• Refused to live on reservations

Satanta

• Famous Kiowa chief who believed that West Texas belonged to the Comanches and Kiowas

• Known for speeches• Opposed to

reservations

Quanah Parker

• Comanche chief who refused to sign the treaty

• Son of a Comanche chief and an Anglo woman named Cynthia Ann Parker

• Grew up herding buffalo• Spent 10 years trying to stop

the spread of Anglos in Texas

Peace Policy Ends

• Because Anglos still complain of Native American raids, they send General William Tecumseh Sherman to West Texas to investigate

• General Sherman decides that the peace treaty is unsuccessful

General Sherman

“The Media Story”

• May 1871-General Sherman witnesses Satanta lead a Kiowa raid on a wagon train (Warren Wagontrain Raid)

• Several men were wounded or killed• Satanta goes back to the reservation in Indian

Territory and admits his actions to the Quaker agent Lawrie Tatum

• Sherman arrests the Kiowa chiefs and sends them to Jacksboro for a trial

“The Media Story”

• One of the Kiowa chiefs dies on the way to the trial

• Satanta and a third chief are tried, found guilty, and sentenced to hang

• Federal officials think this will start a Native war, so they convince Governor Davis to change their sentence to life in prison.

“The Media Story”

• Satanta and the third chief eventually get paroled

• This outrages Texans who fear for their safety• Satanta is later accused of more raids, so he is

sent to state prison in Huntsville• He could not stand life in prison and is

believed to have killed himself

Who do you think is to blame for the Warren Wagontrail Raid?

Do you think what happened was fair and just, or do you think the entire situation was blown out of

proportion?

Real Significance

• The Warren Wagontrain Raid changes the attitude of many of the military leaders, especially General Sherman

• Peace policy is abandoned• Natives now forced onto reservations• Sherman advises that federal troops be sent to

Texas to destroy Native American camps

Attacks on Natives

• 1871-1873 Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie leads attacks on Comanches, Kickapoos, and Apaches

• This causes Native raids on Anglos to decrease in Texas

Buffalo

• The culture of the nomadic Plains Indians depends on the open land, the horse, and the buffalo– Water bags made from paunch (stomach)– Hoofs, horns, and bones make ornaments, cups,

utensils– Sinew (tendons) and hair yield bowstrings, thread, and

rope– Hide become clothing, saddles, rope, and tepee covers– Food– Dried manure, called buffalo chips, is fuel

“The buffalo is our money…[T]he robes we can prepare and trade. We love them just as the white man does his money. Just as it makes a white man

feel to have his money carried away, so it makes us feel to see others killing and

stealing our buffaloes, which are out cattle given to us by the Great Father

above”-Chief Striking Eagle of the Kiowa

Based on this quote, how do the Kiowa view the buffalo? Explain.

What in your life could be considered “your buffalo”?

Buffalo Herds are Slaughtered

• White Anglos begin to hunt buffalo– Buffalo hides can be used to manufacture leather

• By 1873, herds north of Texas has been wiped out, so the hunters moved onto the Texas plains

• Some Anglos try to pass a law to protect the buffalo, but the law does not get passed

• Buffalo hunters continue to slaughter buffalo, which destroys the Plains Indians way of life

Attack on Adobe Walls

• June 1874 Quanah Parker leads Native American attacks on the buffalo hunters at Adobe Walls in North Texas, but the buffalo hunters defend their settlement

• Natives lead more attacks in West Texas, killing 190 Anglos

Red River Campaign

• President Grant sends an army of 3000 troops to fight the Natives in August 1874

• Battle of Palo Duro Canyon September 28, 1874-most decisive battle– Native settlements set on fire– Anglos seize Native supplies and horses, which destroy

the Natives– June 1875-last remaining Comanches called Kwahadies

surrender (Quanah Parker)

Red River Campaign

• Quanah Parker continued to represent his people and worked to settle disputes among the Natives– Fought for their interests in Washington

• Red River Campaign ends presence of Natives on the Plains and West Texas

• Kickapoo and Apaches continue to exist along the Rio Grande border………………………….

Buffalo Soldiers End the Wars

• Warfare along the Mexican border continues• Colonel Mackenzie returns and subdues the

Kickapoos in 1878• Apaches, led by Chief Victorio, continue raids• African American soldiers are known a “buffalo

soldiers” and are respected by Natives but harassed by Anglos

• 1880 Victorio dies at the hands of Mexican soldiers• End to Apache wars in Texas

Henry O. Flipper

• Born into slavery• First African

American graduate from West Point Military Academy

• Buffalo Soldier

South Texas Renegades

• Renegades are outlaws• They were criminals that led raids from both

sides of the Rio Grande• Texas Rangers sent to establish peace• Many thought Rangers discriminated Mexican

Americans

Sadness for Natives

• Most Natives had died• The few that remained were forced onto

reservations or adopt Anglo way of life• They could not chase the buffalo• Westward migration of Anglos took more land

away from Natives• Diseases, war, and starvation killed many by

the 1890s

Anglos View

• Anglos saw this as an opportunity to move into West Texas

• Railroads, cities, colleges started being developed…………………