The New West: The Wounded Knee Massacre and Indian Displacement

1. Unit #6 Chapter 19 The South & West Transformed

2. II. The New West

3. Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) The Ghost Dance and the death of Sitting Bull inspired nearly 300 Sioux to leave their reservation and head north to Canada. Eventually, they were stopped at a site near Wounded Knee (in the southern Dakota Territory), detained by federal troops, and were killed when troops opened fire on the unarmed group. The result was the end of the Ghost Dance Wars and the final demise of the Great Plains Indians. E. Displacement of the Indians(Cont’d . . .)

4. Wounded Knee Massacre (1890) E. Displacement of the Indians(Cont’d . . .)

5. E. Displacement of the Indians(Cont’d . . .) Demise of the Buffalo • Estimated – 30 million in 1750 • Estimated – 10 million in 1850 • Intensive harvesting by white hunters. • Environmental causes such as drought and competition of grazing by other animals (e.g. horses, cattle, and sheep).

6. E. Displacement of the Indians(Cont’d . . .) Stirrings for Reform in Indian Policy • The policy of the federal government under the presidencies of Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison quickly moved to the assimilation of Native Americans. • Critics such as Helen Hunt Jackson (who wrote A Century of Dishonor, 1881) decried the government’s policy.

7. E. Displacement of the Indians(Cont’d . . .) Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 • The primary concept of new policy was the “Americanize” the Indians through assimilation. • Provisions of Dawes and subsequent acts (e.g. Burke Act of 1906) gave citizenship to Indians who left the tribe. • Impact of new policy was a displacement of families, the encroachment of white settlers and farmers onto allotted land, and the destruction of the American Indian way of life.

8. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 Henry Dawes was a Massachusetts Senator. Federal law which replaced the reservation system with an allotment system of land distribution. Each family would receive a 160-acre farmstead and were taught at boarding schools (generally in the East). E. Displacement of the Indians(Cont’d . . .) Henry L. Dawes

9. F. Cattle Industry of the West Development of the Open Range • Cattle began to roam the areas once occupied by buffalo. The Civil War’s Increased Demand for Beef Renewal of the Long Drives in Post-Civil War • Joseph McCoy (an Illinois livestock dealer) set up the town of Abilene, Kansas. • Features of a cow town included: offices, hotels, banks, and various support industries for cattle life.

10. Ranchers Build the Cattle Kingdom Cattle Industry of the West (Cont’d . . .)

11. E. Cattle Industry of the West (Cont’d . . . ) Trade with the East • Refrigerated train cars (first developed in 1869). • Allowed for farther transport of animals from west to east. Joseph Glidden & the Barbed Wire • Invented by Joseph Glidden (Midwest farmer from Illinois) in 1873. • Led to the “Barbed Wire Wars” by the early 1880s.

12. G. The Farming Frontier Land Policy after the Civil War • Homestead Act of 1862 (stake a claim without cash). • Difficult for farmers, but not cattle or sheep ranchers who acquired land from homesteaders or land-grant railroads. Efforts for Reclamation of Arid Lands • Bureau of Reclamation allowed proceeds to fund irrigation projects (e.g. dams in the West).

13. G. The Farming Frontier (Cont’d . . .) Farm Life on the Great Plains • Difficulties included: extreme weather, climate conditions, lack of timber, dry conditions, etc. • Many lived in sod homes with minimal furnishings. • Women on the prairie gained independence through equal work on the Plains.

14. Homesteaders Settle in the West G. The Farming Frontier (Cont’d . . .)

15. Exodusters Groups of former slaves who fled the South during the Reconstruction Era in an effort to become farmers on the Great Plains. G. The Farming Frontier (Cont’d . . .)

16. H. Violence on the Frontier Functions of Violence • Resolve disputes • Protection • Masculine honor

17. H. Violence on the Frontier Variety of Violent Conflicts • As “boom towns” popped up, so did the need for self-appointed law enforces to protect the peace. • Federal marshals, like Wyatt Earp, punished law-breakers. Wyatt Earp

18. I. The End of the Frontier Census of 1890 • By 1890, the superintendent of the national census noted that the frontier was closed. Frederick Jackson Turner • Historian who wrote “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.” • The paper signaled the end of the “first period of American history.”

19. The problems of southern and western farmers described in this chapter set the stage for the rise of the Populists, as discussed in Topic 22. Making Connections –Topic 19

20. The late nineteenth century was a crucial period in the evolution of race relations in the South, bridging the antebellum period and the twentieth century. Making Connections –Topic 19

21. This chapter closed with observation that as of 1890, according to the superintendent of the census and historian Frederick Jackson Turner, the frontier had disappeared. Where would Americans now look to fulfill their expansionist urges? Making Connections –Topic 19