Plains Indians and Government Policy: The Battle for Land

1. Bell Ringer • What was the most important animal to the Plains Indians? • What was a male’s main role in the tribe? • Why did white settlers kill buffalo?

2. The Indian Wars Mr. Turner

3. Government Policy on Native Americans • Early 1800s- the US government moved Indians to lands West • Indian Removal Act of 1830- moved the five civilized tribes to land west of the Mississippi River • Indians were left alone in the West until gold and silver was discovered in 1850s • Then Indians were placed on reservations

4. Government Policy on Native Americans • White settlers began to want Native American Lands in the west after the Civil War • Native Americans desperately wanted to protect their lands • In 1862- the government waged war against a band of Sioux, who then moved into the Dakotas • Plains Indians began to attack settlements and stagecoaches in efforts to protect their lands

5. Sand Creek Massacre • In 1864- Colorado Militia came upon a group of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians at Sand Creek • The Indians were under the protection of the U.S. government but • Colorado militia fired on the camp and ended up killing a lot of men, women, and children • This led to more warfare between Plains Indians and whites • After the Civil War, the government hired troops to maintain peace in the West

6. Peace Plans Fail • The Government wanted to build a road through Sioux Hunting grounds • 1866- Indian Warrior Red Cloud ambushed Captain William Fettermen and his troops and killed them all • This led to two ideas on Native Americans- education or control • The government established the Indian Peace Commission • peace would come if Indians would settle on farms and become educated

7. Peace Plans Fail • The government signed a treaty with Indians in Sioux country • they would not build the road if Indians would settle on a reservation • Indians did not receive the supplies, or money promised through the treaty • The Federal Government would go on to break many treaties with the Native Americans

8. Red River War • A series of major and minor battles that ended with the defeat of Southern Plains Indians, the Kiowas and Comanches • The US did not abide by the treaty of Medicine Lodge of 1867 • White settlers killed buffalo herds in the South West • Food and supplies were not given as promised

9. Red River War • Indians attacked Texans at the Red River in 1874 • The war ended when the final Comanches surrendered in June of 1875 • The results of the War: • it ended the buffalo herds in the South West and • opened the western part of the Texas panhandle to white settlers

10. Battle of Little Bighorn • Gold Rush 1874 - led prospectors to invade Sioux hunting grounds (black hills) • Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull gathered warriors to drive out the prospectors • The US government sent the Cavalry to stop Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull • In June 1876- Gen. George Custer arrived a day ahead of the majority of the troops

11. Battle of Little Bighorn • He and 250 men ran into 2,000 Native Americans led by Crazy Horse; Custer and all of his men were killed • US sent more troops to round up the Indians - Sitting Bull and some of his followers escaped to Canada, while Crazy Horse and his followers surrendered

12. Chief Joseph and the Nez Percés • In Idaho in 1877 - the government wanted to move the Nez Percés to make room for white settles • A lot of the Nez Percés were Christians who had become cattle farmers • Chief Joseph wanted to be left alone so he tried to lead a group of Indians to Canada - a 1,300 mile journey • They were caught just short of the Canadian border and forced to surrender • They were sent to a reservation in Oklahoma

13. Wounded Knee Massacre • The Ghost Dance became a religious movement among many Native Americans • if Indians danced God would banish white people and bring back the buffalo and loved ones • This scared the Federal government and they wanted to stop it

14. Wounded Knee Massacre • In 1890, the government sent troops to arrest Sitting Bull because he was an influential leader • In trying to arrest Sitting Bull gunfire broke out the US Cavalry ended up killing over 100 men, women, and children

16. Government Policy Changes • The Reservation Policy did NOT work - many people were killed, and it was expensive • The government decided it wanted to assimilate Indians - make them part of US culture • Some people criticized the government's treatment of the Native Americans and the destruction of their way of life

17. Government Policy Changes • Helen Hunt Jackson wrote A Century of Dishonor - focused on the injustices the Native Americans had faced • Susette La Flesche fought for Indians in the court system

18. Government Policy Changes • In 1871 Congress passed a law stating Native American tribes were not independent nations and therefore were part of the US population • This led to passage of The Dawes General Allotment Act • Reservations were abolished and each Indian head of household would be given 160 acres of land to farm

19. Dawes Act • The land could not be sold for 25 years so that white settlers would not cheat the indians out of their land • Hoped to make Native Americans embrace the idea of farming • Missionaries and churches began to build boarding schools in the west to speed assimilation and teach Indian children how to act in White Civilization