American West - Individuals Flashcards
Who coined the term ‘Manifest Destiny’?
John L. O’Sullivan
Who first found gold in California?
James Marshall
Who started the Mormon movement?
Joseph Smith
What were Joseph Smith’s key successes?
Convincing people to join him
Founding an organisation
What were Joseph Smith’s failures?
Dictator
Provoked non-believers in East
Didn’t see his vision completed
Who took over the Mormons when Joseph Smith died in 1844?
Brigham Young
What were Brigham Young’s key successes?
Organised and executed move to Salt Lake
Planned and built Salt Lake City
Minimalised casualties in voyage
What were Brigham Young’s failures?
Lack of industry in Salt Lake City
Allowed Mountain Meadow Massacre to happen
Who led the James Younger Gang?
Jesse James
What did the James Younger Gang do?
Stole from corrupt corperate organisations - banks, railway companies and wagon trains
What did Charles Goodnight do?
Expanded the cattle industry by showing how beef was a good food source for the army, the natives and the people
Who discovered that cattle could survive a winter on the Plains?
John Iliff
What did Joseph McCoy do?
Created cowtowns, which improved profits
Which engineer did the calculations the Western railroad company needed to navigate the Sierra Nevada mountains?
Theodore Juda
What did James Strobridge do?
Lead the Western railroad company
Supported the Asian migrant workers
What did Grenville Dodge do?
Lead the Eastern railroad company
Brought in the army to exterminate the natives, who were slowing progress
Who was in charge of law and order for the eastern railroad company?
Jack Casement (he was a big user of lynch-law)
What problems did the Donner party face?
Couldn’t move - deep snow
Starvation
Hyperthermia
Name 3 gunfighters
Wild Bill Hickok
John Wesley Hardin
Billy the Kid
How many people did the gunfighters kill?
About 5-10 people each
Who are famous train robbers that created an impression of a ‘wild’ west?
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Why did Little Crow lead an attack on an Indian agency?
The natives on his reservation were not being given good enough land to farm or food to survive
Why did Red Cloud attack the US Army?
The government negotiated in bad faith by setting up army camps on Red Cloud’s route
Which army general lead troops to a crushing defeat at Little Bighorn?
George Custer
Why did Custer refuse extra soldiers and Gatling guns?
He wanted glory for himself and his own cavalry
How did Custer fail tactically?
He split his troops up into three groups, which were all outnumbered
Who blamed Custer for defeat, to save embarrassment for the whole army?
General Sheridan
Which native chiefs masterminded the victory at Little Bighorn?
Sitting Bull (organisational skills) Crazy Horse (tactics)
