Conflict Between Peoples

1. Conflict Between Peoples Native Americans & The United States Government

2. Broken Promises • In the 1830s the U.S. government forced Native Americans to move onto the Great Plains. • New western settlers pressured the U.S. government to take land away from the Native Americans to be used for farming. • 1851 – Government called tribes – Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and others – together near Fort Laramie in Wyoming. • Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) – government officials set boundaries for tribal lands – many tribes signed because they had no other choice.

3. Native Americans Resist • Some Sioux resisted signing the Laramie Treaty – they chose to fight for their land. • Sand Creek Massacre – 1864, Colorado militia opened fire on peaceful Cheyenne village along Sand Creek. 200 Cheyenne men, women, and children were killed. • Plains tribes responded by attacking settlement and soldiers – 2nd Treaty of Fort Laramie signed giving large reservation in the Black Hills of South Dakota. • Battle of Little Bighorn – 1874 white prospectors found gold in Black Hills – two (2) Native chiefs – Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse – fought to push back intruders. • George A. Custer commanded U.S. Calvary in battle with Natives – Custer and all his men were killed.

5. Conflicts • Nez Perce (Idaho, east Oregon, Washington) – taken from their land and forced onto reservation in Idaho. • Chief Joseph led tribe over 1,000 miles seeking refuge in Canada • U.S. Army caught up with tribe forcing surrender • Navajos and Apaches in Arizona fought removal but were ultimately defeated in 1863 after U.S. Army burned Navajo crops and homes. • Most were then forced to take “Long Walk” – brutal 300 mile journey to reservation in New Mexico – hundreds died.

6. End of the Buffalo • Up to 60 million buffalo once roamed the Plains • Hired hunters killed buffalo to feed railroad crews and supply eastern factories with leather • People travelling West would purposely shoot buffalo from trains – knew it was important to the Native Americans. • Starting in 1870 – 1 million buffalo killed per year: by 1880s the buffalo were dying out

7. Assimilation • Forced assimilation – adopting the dominant culture – was the way many whites believed Native Americans would survive. • U.S. government sent N.A. children to boarding schools in hopes of “Americanizing” them. • Dressed in European clothing, learned English, spent part of day farming or other manual labor • Disease spread quickly, hundreds died • Dawes Act of 1887 – divided tribal lands into plots that Native Americans could farm in cooperation with settlers. • Not all Natives wanted to be farmers – some could not afford it and did not have the right tools