Native Americans - Reservations and Plain Wars Flashcards
What was life like for Indians on the Plains?
Greatest concentration of Indians in Great Plains – Plains Indians. They were nomadic, following buffalo and setting up temporary tepees, alongside worshipping nature, having own languages/culture/ceremony, and worshipping nature. They had their own laws and government, white settlers left alone at first.
What was the Removal Act?
Westward expansion was a threat. 1830 Removal Act sent Native Americans away from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and onto the Great Plains in Oklahoma – Indian territory.
How did gold rush threaten Indians?
In 1840s trails left by mineral prospectors were followed to California and Oregon, encouraged by discovery of gold in the region. Settlers displaced Indians and fishing rights lost.
Where did settlers inhabit between 1862-88?
Settlers breached Appalachian Mountains, the barrier between Natives and settlers, and moved to Great Plains. Natives believed the Great Spirit had made them guardians of the land, land couldn’t be owned.
What were consequences of settlers heading to California?
With white settlers heading to California, buffalo were being killed and cholera was brought to the tribes.
What was the Fort Laramie Treaty and the reservation treaty?
Natives attacked wagons and homesteads leading to the US federal government sending in army units. In 1851 the Fort Laramie Treaty reduced the amount of Indian land, saying white settlers wouldn’t enter it. This was seen as too generous, so in 1868 reservations were introduced to Native Americans. 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty gave Sioux north of Platte river, and tribes were allocated hunting lands to reduce intertribal warfare in return for gifts and annual payment from government.
What were the Fort Laramie Treaty failures?
Laramie failures: Omaha forced to make concessions of territory, by 1860 much of Nebraska cleared of Indians; Bureau of Indian Affairs dealt with tribal affairs and was corrupt.
What did Congress commit to in March 1865?
In March 1865 Congress set joint committee to investigate condition of Indian tribes and accepted treaty commission to Sioux tribes, abolitionists promoted Indian reform movements with reservation policy and education.
What was the Fetterman Massacre?
1865-67 Lakota Sioux chief Red Cloud resisted army’s attempt to build Powder River Road, which would cut Lakota hunting grounds in Montana, Red Cloud’s men prevented road being built and in Dec 1866 killed 82 soldiers under Captain Fetterman near Fort Phil Kearny.
Which agreements between 1867-8 did the Peace Commission establish?
1867 Congress sets Peace Commission against army chiefs’ wishes for vengeance for Fetterman, and blames Plains’ wars on white settlers. October 1867 – conference at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, gives Comanche, Arapaho, and Cheyenne lands in western Oklahoma, and 1868 Fort Laramie treaty gives Sioux reservation at Black Hills of Dakota.
What was Grant’s Peace Policy?
1869 President Grant entered power, Westerners felt only good Indian was a dead one. Policies – favoured reservations, 1869 set the Board of Indian Commissioners to end division between Department of the Interior and War Department, supervising reservations, removed Indian agents with Protestants, Colonel Ely Parker a Seneca Indian head of BIA. ‘PEACE POLICY’
What were limitations of the Peace Policy?
Corrupt officials and Indian Ring in Department of Interior stole funds. Indians struggled to sustain themselves with limited access to wildlife and continued to attack white settlers with savage warfare.
What was cause of Great Sioux War 1876?
Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho alongside disenfranchised Sioux members from the Black Hills of Dakota looked to Sitting Bull’s leadership, a Hunkpapa Sioux chieftain. Angry by poor supplies, advance of North Pacific Railroad, and Colonel Custer’s expedition for gold in Black Hills of 1874, army did little to keep them out.
What happened at Great Sioux War 1876?
Reservation Sioux went to non-treaty tribe camps concentrated in Bighorn River, Montana.
June 1876, Colonel Custer found the camp. Major Reno attacked with troops from south while rest of Seventh Cavalry went with Custer. 2500 Natives led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse attacked, killing Custer and his command. Reno held out until US army units arrived, making Sioux withdraw.
What were consequences of Great Sioux War 1876?
Consequences: Sioux’s last stand, government deprived Natives of food and ammunition forcing Sioux back to reservations, Sitting Bull fled to Canada and Crazy Horse killed.
