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Struggle Over Culture. Native Americans Fight to Survive. CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRAIRIE. The culture of the Plains Indians was not well known to Easterners The Osaga and the Iowa had hunted and planted in the Great plains for over 100 years
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CULTURES CLASH ON THE PRAIRIE • The culture of the Plains Indians was not well known to Easterners • The Osaga and the Iowahad hunted and planted in the Great plains for over 100 years • Tribes such as the Sioux and Cheyenne hunted buffalo THE PLAINS
THE HORSE AND THE BUFFALO • The introduction of horses by the Spanish (1598) and later guns, meant natives were able to travel and hunt • While the horse provided speed and mobility, it was the buffalo that provided for basic needs BUFFALO WERE USED FOR FOOD, SHELTER AND CLOTHING
Plains Indians relied heavily on the buffalo. Nothing on the animal was wasted. Buffalo Jump-Episode 1 15:15
FAMILY LIFE ON THE PLAINS • Before the arrival of Europeans, Plains tribes lived in villages along rivers and streams • Small extended families were the norm • Men were hunters, hunting deer, elk, and buffalo,while women helped butcher the game and prepare it • Women tended beans, corn, and squash • Spanish brought horses in the 1500’s • Tribes were very spiritual and land was communal OSAGE TRIBE Medicine Man Ep. 1 58:52
A Clash of Cultures • U.S. Government first moved Native Americans west of the Mississippi in 1830’s • Promised that land was theirs “as long as the grass grows or water runs” • Gov't policy was determined by belief that white settlers were not interested in the Plains • Wagon trains crossed plains in the 1850's • Promises broken repeatedly • Pioneers saw possibilities for farming and ranching on grasslands • Pressured Government for more land and protection
The Trail of Tears was a forced movement of Cherokee tribe to Indian territory of Oklahoma during the winter of 1838-39. (P) One-fourth died along the march. The government forced them to move to Oklahoma. (O)
SETTLERS PUSH WESTWARD • The white settlers who pushed westward had a different idea about land ownership • Concluding that the plains were “unsettled, “ thousands advanced to claim land • Gold being discovered in Colorado only intensified the rush for land A COVERED WAGON HEADS WEST
NATIVES AND SETTLERS CLASH • 1834 – Government set aside all of the Great Plains as “Indian lands” • 1850s- Government shifts policy, giving natives much smaller lands • Conflict ensues • 1864 - Massacre at Sand Creek; US Army attack killing 150 native women and children
THE GOVERNMENT RESTRICTS NATIVES • As more and more settlers headed west, the U.S. government increasingly protected their interests • Railroad Companies also influenced government decisions RAILROADS GREATLY IMPACTED NATIVE LIFE
1851-The First Treaty of Fort Laramie • Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and other Plains tribes met near Fort Laramie in Wyoming • Government officials offered $50,000 for 50 years to tribes • Set boundaries for tribal lands (P) • Indians offered safe passage across plains, giving peace for awhile • Indians felt they had no other choice than to sign the treaty • Gov’t never paid money to Indians • Peace lasted for awhile (O)
1864 -The Sand Creek Massacre • Cheyenne and Sioux resisted Fort Laramie Treaty • Rather would have conflict with settlers and government than live on reservations • Cheyenne warriors attacked miners and soldiers in southeastern Colorado • 1200 Colorado militia opened fire on a peaceful Cheyenne village, killing 150 Cheyenne men, women, and children
In one of the most sordid affairs between whites and American Indians, more than 200 Cheyennes, mainly women and children, lay dead following Col. John M. Chivington’s destruction of Black Kettle’s Southern Cheyenne village nestled along Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado, on November 29, 1864. The Chivington massacre included the mutilation of Indians, including severed genitals. Black Kettle’s village had camped near Fort Lyon with the understanding that they were friendly, an American flag flew from the village. Black Kettle is second from the left in the front.
“What you are proposing is murder,” Lt. Joseph Cramer told his commanding officer, Colonel John Chivington of the Third Colorado Cavalry, shortly before daybreak on the morning of the planned assault. Cramer and several other members of Chivington’s command staff had severe misgivings about the prospect of a sneak attack against a band of defenseless Cheyenne Indians who had been promised protection. Chief Black Kettle had distinguished himself through repeated efforts to secure the peace – on one occasion riding weaponless between opposing skirmish lines to prevent a battle from breaking out. In witness of his non-belligerency he had been provided with a United States flag by military officers who promised to protect the Cheyenne and Arapahos who lived in his encampment. Episode 4 22:16 from http://beforeitsnews.com/strange/2012/10/what-to-remember-on-memorial-day-2444284.html
Some of the Army officers who came to Fort Phil Kearny were "fire-eaters," who hoped to prove their courage and win recognition by battling the Indians. Foremost among these was Captain William Fetterman, who boasted that if he were given 80 soldiers he could "ride through the entire Sioux nation." One day, Fetterman was sent out with 80 mounted troopers to protect a column of soldiers that were bringing wood to the fort. A party of Indians led by Crazy Horse appeared on a ridge near the fort and, contrary to orders, Fetterman led his troops in pursuit of the Indians, over the ridge and out of site of the fort. On the other side of the ridge, Fetterman found himself in the midst of a thousand hostile Indian warriors. Fetterman had been lured into a trap, and he and his entire command were quickly and totally wiped out. Fetterman Massacre 1866 Episode 4 47:48
1868 - The Second Treaty of Fort Laramie • Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho signed treaty • Gave these tribes a large reservation in the Black Hills of South Dakota • In 1874, white prospectors discovered gold in the Black Hills • 1000’s of miners rushed onto Sioux land • No attention was paid to the treaty • Tribal leaders rejected offer to buy back land • United under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
Indians were promised that the Black Hills would be theirs as long as "the grass grows and the water flows" (P) according to the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie. In this case that was all of 8 years.
Gold discovered in Black Hills caused a flood of Prospectors who refused to honor treaty. Indians resisted. (O)
Tatanka-Iyotanka (1831-1890), also known as Sitting Bull was the chief of the Lakota Sioux tribe who fought against American expansion into the Great Plains region of the Dakotas. Sitting Bull was killed by a Lakota policemen who put a bullet through his head.
Battle of the Washita River • The Battle of Washita River (or Battle of the Washita), occurred on November 27, 1868, when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle’s Cheyenne camp on the Washita River near present day Cheyenne, Oklahoma • Custer had been suspended from command and rank for 1 year for desertion and mistreatment of soldiers in a military court • Custer attacked the sleeping village and within 15 minutes scores of Cheyenne were killed (103) • Black Kettle had met with the U.S. military the day before the attack in a show of peace • Black Kettle was killed in the attack and 53 women and children were captured
1876 – The Battle of Little Bighorn • Seventh Calvary under the command of Lt. Col. George A. Custer set out to return the Sioux to the reservations • June 25, 1876, Custer’s forces met several thousand Sioux and Cheyenne near the Little Bighorn River in Montana • In less than 2 hours, Custer and his men, 211 in all- were wiped out
Resistance in the Northwest and Southwest • Nez Perce were a peaceful tribe in the Northwest (eastern Oregon and Idaho) • Land guaranteed by 1855 treaty • Government forced them to sell land as settlement increased in 1860’s (P) • Chief Joseph led group that refused to sell land and move to a narrow strip of land in Idaho
In 1877, a group of Nez Perce Indians, led by Chief Joseph, refused to move to new lands in Idaho and fled, seeking refuge in Canada. For 3 months the Nez Perce traveled across 1,700 miles of rugged terrain in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana with army troops in pursuit. The U.S. army caught up with them just 40 miles from the Canadian border. Chief Joseph said, “I will fight no more, forever.” Chief Joseph resisted and led his band on a 1700 mile, 3 month march through rugged terrain. He was finally captured and forced to surrender. (O)
In the Southwest, both the Navajos and the Apaches fought against being removed to reservations • U.S. troops ended Navajo resistance in Arizona in 1863 by burning Navajo homes and crops • 8,000 Navajos were forced on a brutal 300 mile journey to a reservation in eastern New Mexico (P) • Called “the Long Walk” • Hundreds died on the way • Allowed to return to Arizona after 4 years (O)
Most of the Navajos were forced to walk more than 300 miles to captivity; many did not survive the journey.
Once the Indians had all been "tamed" and Americans no longer saw them as a threat, a fascination with the Old West and Native Americans began in earnest. Wild West Shows such as Buffalo Bill Cody's and Pawnee Bill's at the turn of the century drew hundreds of spectators as the productions staged re-creations of historic battles, "Indian Races," live buffalo, and the biggest attraction of all - famous Indians. Some of these included Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Geronimo, and Rains in the Face (reported to be the man who killed Custer).
1887 - The Policy of assimilation made official by the Dawes Act • Many well-meaning reformers wanted Native Americans to be assimilated into society by “Americanizing” them or making them like whites by making them give up their traditional ways and become farmers • Reservations were divided into plots for each family and sent children to special boarding schools where they were taught white culture (P)
THE DAWES ACT - 1887 • The Dawes Act of 1887 attempted to assimilate natives • The Act called for the break up of reservations and the introduction of natives into American life • By 1932, 2/3rds of the land committed to Natives had been taken (O) FAMOUS DEPICTION OF NATIVE STRUGGLE
1890 – The Spread of the Ghost Dance movement; the Wounded Knee Massacre • Buffalo herds dwindled from 30 million to almost extinction • By 1880’s most Plains tribes were forced on reservations • Paiute prophet, Wavoka, urged Native Americans to perform the “Ghost Dance” because of his vision in which whites were removed and Natives could hunt the buffalo
The Ghost Dance was the last desperate hope of the Plains Indians to regain the old way of life the white man had wrested from them. • It arose from a vision by a Paiute medicine man named Wavoka, who in 1889 was in a high fever at the time of a major eclipse of the sun. • He said that in his vision he was carried to the afterworld, where all those who had died were living a happy life. • The movement spread like wildfire. • Tribes as widely dispersed as the Sioux, Cheyenne, Comanche, Shoshone, and Arapaho began dancing and chanting to make the white man go away and the great buffalo herds return. • In the painting, Arapaho figures wear buckskin garments with long, flowing fringes, ghost shirts supposed to be impervious to bullets. • They cast dust into the wind to signify the burial of the whites beneath the earth. • The movement greatly alarmed the authorities. Trouble came to a head on December 29, 1890. • The Seventh Cavalry, still keen upon vengeance for Custer, massacred almost a hundred and fifty men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek, losing twenty five of their own.
BATTLE OF WOUNDED KNEE • On December 29, 1890, the Seventh Cavalry rounded up 350 Sioux and took them to Wounded Knee, S.D. and tried disarm them (P) • A shot was fired – within minutes the Seventh Cavalry slaughtered 300 unarmed Natives (O) • This event brought the “Indian Wars”– and an entire era to a bitter end • Ghost Dance Episode 6 1:30 HUNDREDS OF CORPSES WERE LEFT TO FREEZE ON THE GROUND
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BUFFALO • The most significant blow to tribal life on the plains was the destruction of the buffalo • Tourist and fur traders shot buffalo for sport • 1800: 65 million buffalo roamed the plains • 1890: less than 1000 remained
Fill in the time line with information pertaining to the conflicts between Native Americans and American settlers. 1850 1851-First Treaty of Fort Laramie 1860 1863-Navajo resistance ended with “The Long Walk” 1864-Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado 1866-Fetterman Massacre 1868-Second Treaty of Fort Laramie; Battle of the Washita River 1870 1876-The Battle of Little Bighorn wipes out Custer and his men 1877-Chief Joseph resists US Army for 3 months and surrenders 1880 1887-The Dawes Act begins government policy of Assimilation 1890 1890-Ghost Dancers create tension leading to Wounded Knee Massacre 1900
