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Native Americans' Struggle for Survival on the Great Plains

This chapter explores the challenges faced by Native Americans living on the Great Plains, such as the impact of European arrival, broken treaties, and the decline of the buffalo population. It also delves into specific events like the Sand Creek Massacre and the Battle of Little Bighorn.

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Native Americans' Struggle for Survival on the Great Plains

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  1. Chapter 13 Section 2 – pg 458 Native Americans Struggle to Survive

  2. Pg 458 People of the Plains • At the end of the Civil War, about 360,000 Native Americans lived in the west • Most lived in the Great Plains and had been there for centuries

  3. Pg 458 Life in Transition • People in the Plains lived by gathering wild foods, hunting, and fishing • Some raised crops • Hunted buffalo and other animals on foot • Arrival of the Europeans transformed their lives • Learned to tame herds of horses (decedents of tough breeds brought by the Spanish) • Traded with the French and British for guns

  4. Pg 458 • With guns and horses, NAs could kill more game and travel farther and faster • Some groups became wanderers • Carried belongings on travois (small sleds) • Lived in tepees (cone-shaped tents made of buffalo skins) • Many nations followed the buffalo herds • Ate the meat, used horns and bones for tools, used tendons to make thread

  5. Pg 459 Division of Labors • In many Plain nations, women managed village life • Cared for children, prepared food, carved tools, made cloth and tepees • Some rode to war • Some ruled their nation • Men were hunters and warriors • Led religious life • Sun Dance: 4-day ceremony that brought together thousands of NAs from many nations • Men would make pledges to the Great Spirit, ruler of the universe

  6. Pg 459 Broken Treaties • US treaties promised to safeguard NA lands • Miners and railroad crews broke those treaties as they pushed west

  7. Pg 459 Fort Laramie Treaty • In 1851, 10,000 people from many Plains nations gathered near Fort Laramie in Wyoming to talk with US officials • Officials wanted the nations to stop following the buffalo and settle permanently • The US promised to protect their lands • As soon as the NAs signed the Fort Laramie Treaty, settlers began to move onto their lands • 1859, a gold strike at Pikes Peak in Colorado sent miners swarming to the region

  8. Pg 460 Sand Creek Massacre • In the early 1860s, new treaties forced NAs to give up land around Pikes Peak • Many warriors resisted by attacking supply trains and homes • In response, Colonel John Chivington and 700 volunteers attacked a band of Cheyennes at Sand Creek in eastern Colorado in 1864 • Raised a white flag of peace then attacked killing more than 100 men, women, and children

  9. Pg 460 Buffalo Soldiers • The Sand Creek Massacre ignited an era of war • The most feared soldiers in the Plains were the African American veterans of the Civil War • NAs called them Buffalo Soldiers • Fought on the Plains for 20 years • Captured bandits from Texas to the Dakotas

  10. Pg 460 End of the Buffalo • The giant herds of buffalo began to shrink in the 1870s • Railroads had hunters kill buffalos to feed the crews • Others killed buffalos b/c buffalo robes were in high demand in the east • One hunter might kill 2,000 buffalo in a month

  11. Pg 460 Last Stand for Custer and the Sioux • New treaties in the late 1860s sought to end the wars on the Plains • Federal officials urged Plains nations to settle down and farm

  12. Pg 460 Reservations • Southern Plain nations (Kiowas, Comanches, Arapahos) moved to reservations in Oklahoma • Reservation: land set aside for Native Americans to live on • Poor soil in Oklahoma made farming difficult • Many Sioux and Cheyennes gathered on reservations in the Black Hills of the Dakotas • 1874 gold strike brought a flood of miners • Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse led attacks to keep whites out

  13. Pg 460 Little Bighorn • In June 1876, Colonel George Armstrong Custer was ordered to force the NAs onto reservations • Entered Little Bighorn Valley in Montana Territory and engaged a large band of Sioux and Cheyennes in battle • Custer and all of his men died there • Soon after more US troops arrived and forced the NAs to move

  14. Pg 461 Other Efforts at Resistance • Other NAs in the west were under pressure to move • Nez Percés in the north • Manajos and Apaches in the South

  15. Pg 461 The Nez Percés • The Nez Percés lived where Idaho, Oregon, and Washington meet • Bred horses and cattle in the Snake River valley • Many agreed to go to a reservation • Chief Joseph fled toward Canada with a large band in 1877 • The US Army followed them and caught them near the Canada border where Chief Joseph surrendered

  16. Pg 461 The Navajos • Navajos raised sheep, horses, and cattle • Raided settlements for livestock • To stop raids, white settlers called the army • After a series of wars, the Navajos were defeated in 1864 in Arizona • Forced them to move to a spot near Pecos River where they suffered years of disease and hunger

  17. Pg 462 The Apaches • Fierce resistance came from Apaches like Geronimo • Refused to go to a reservation • From Mexico, Geronimo and his men attacked settlers in Arizona and New Mexico for 10 years • When he was captured in 1886, he was sent to a reservation in Oklahoma

  18. Pg 462 The Ghost Dance • In the late 1880s, NAs started performing a unique swaying dance called the Ghost Dance • Dancers fell into a trance and they believed they were talking to the ghosts of their ancestors • Dancers believed their ancestors and the buffalo would return and the white people would leave • Soldiers guarding the reservations saw the dance as an uprising • In Dec 1890, NA police went to a Sioux village to stop the dances and in a struggle to arrest Sitting Bull, he was killed

  19. Fearing further violence, a band of Sioux tried to flee to safety • Army troops surrounded them at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota • As the Sioux were giving up their guns a shot was fired • Troops opened fire with machine guns and rifles • Nearly 200 Sioux men, women, and children were killed • 30 soldiers died • The Battle of Wounded Knee marked the end of the era of Indian Wars Pg 462

  20. Pg 463 The Failure of Reform • Reformers criticized the gov’t for its harsh treatment of NA nations • Criticism grew as more groups were forced onto reservations in the late 1800s

  21. Pg 463 Calls for Reform • Susette La Flesche was the daughter of a Omaha chief • Gave lectures and wrote articles about the destruction of native culture • In 1881 the poet Helen Hunt Jackson felt inspired by La Flesche and wrote A Century of Dishonor • The book recorded the many treaties violated by the gov’t • Alice Fletcher became an agent for the US Bureau of Indian Affairs

  22. Pg 463 The Dawes Act • Hoping to improve NA life, Congress passed the Dawes Act in 1887 • It tried to end NA wandering and turn the into farmers • NA males each received 160 acres to farm • The act set up schools for NA children • The Dawes Act failed • Few NAs took to farming • Many sold their land cheaply to dishonest whites • Federal agents replaced native leaders • NAs had to give up many traditions like buffalo hunting • Many grew dependent on the gov’t for food and supplies

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