The Indian Wars 1862-68 Flashcards
Which tribe was Little Crow chief of?
The Dakota Sioux
What did Little Crow’s band agree to do in 1851?
Move to two reservations
How much land did the Dakota Sioux give up in 1851, and what were they to receive in return?
24 million acres in return for a $1.4 million one-off payment and an annuity of $80,000
What did the Dakota Sioux have to do before they received any of their money for moving onto reservations? Did they do this?
Pay back a debt of $200,000 to traders
No - so the government didn’t pay the $1.4 million
Why did the Dakota Sioux struggle on the reservations?
The land was poor and they were not receiving the promised annuity
What did Dakota Sioux bands do because their land was so poor? How did the government respond?
They left the reservation to hunt
The government withheld supplies
What did the Dakota Sioux do in 1858 to receive money to pay their debts?
Gave up half of the reservations
Why were the Dakota Sioux desperate by August 1862?
Crops had failed and late payments from the government meant that they had no money to buy food
What did one trader at the Sioux Agency say in response to the desperation of the Dakota Sioux in August 1862?
“If they are hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung”
What did four Dakota Sioux men do on 17 August 1862?
Killed five settlers
What did Little Crow and other chiefs decide to do on 18 August 1862?
Take food and provisions from the Indian Agency warehouses and share it among their starving people - then burn down the Agency buildings and attack the settlers’ towns
How many white settlers were killed in Little Crow’s attack on the warehouses and towns?
20
What did Little Crow do to a US army force sent to help the Agency?
Attacked it - killed 21 soldiers
All in all, how many settlers and US soldiers were killed during Little Crow’s War?
600
What did Little Crow think about who should be killed and who should not? Did the warriors follow him on this?
He believed it was wrong to kill those who were no threat
No - warrior brotherhoods did not have to listen to the chiefs
How many Dakota Sioux had been captured by October 1862?
2,000
After Little Crow’s War, how many Dakota Sioux were:
Put on trial
Sentenced to death
Actually executed
400 on trial
303 sentenced to death
38 executed
Why were only 38 of the 303 Dakota Sioux warriors sentenced to death actually executed?
President Lincoln said only those proven to be guilty of murder or rape should be executed
What happened to the surviving Dakota Sioux after Little Crow’s War?
They were moved to Crow Creek Reservation: isolated, dry land where nearly 400 starved to death the next winter
Which tribes were involved in the Sand Creek Massacre?
The Cheyenne and Arapaho
What happened to Cheyenne and Arapaho land when gold was discovered in Colorado in 1858?
Prospectors crossed over it, using up the grass and scaring away the buffalo
What did some prospectors do to Cheyenne and Arapaho land, breaking the Fort Laramie Treaty?
Began to settle
What did Arapaho and Cheyenne chiefs agree to do in the 1861 Treaty of Fort Wise?
Move to a reservation in east Colorado, without hunting territory - giving up 90% of their land
How did the Dog Soldiers (warrior brotherhood) respond to the 1861 Treaty of Fort Wise?
They rejected it - they remained on their old lands
Who set up camp at Sand Creek to try to reach an agreement over the land in Colorado Territory, three years after the Treaty of Fort Wise?
Black Kettle, government officials and army commanders
What did Black Kettle do to prove his loyalty to the US at Sand Creek?
Flew an American flag over his tipi
What did Colorado’s governor, John Evans, want to do to the Plains Indians at Sand Creek? Who did he appoint to do this?
“Kill and destroy” them
He appointed Colonel Chivington
How many troops did Colonel Chivington lead on a dawn raid on Black Kettle’s camp on 29 November 1864?
700
What did Colonel Chivington claim about the Sand Creek Massacre?
He claimed his troops fought a tremendous battle against 1,000 warriors
What was the reality of the Sand Creek Massacre which countered Chivington’s claims?
The camp had surrendered, yet Chivington and his men massacred 130 Plains Indians (2/3 were women and children)
What did the Sand Creek Massacre demonstrate to the Dog Soldiers?
They were right all along - the white Americans could not be trusted and had to be fought
How many cattle did the Cheyenne and Arapaho take in raids in 1864 after the Sand Creek Massacre?
Over 1,500
Why could the government not send lots of troops to fight the Plains Indians after the Sand Creek Massacre?
They were still fighting the Civil War
What treaty was signed by the government and Cheyenne/Arapaho in 1865?
The Treaty of Little Arkansas
What were the terms of the Treaty of Little Arkansas (1865)?
The Cheyenne and Arapaho would move to a large reservation with good land
Generous payments would be made to the survivors of the Sand Creek Massacre
What did the US government do with the Treaty of Little Arkansas once the Civil War was over?
Went back on the deal - moved thousands of soldiers onto the Plains
Which treaty replaced the Treaty of Little Arkansas in 1867?
The Medicine Lodge Treaty
What were the terms of the Medicine Lodge Treaty (1867)?
The Cheyenne and Arapaho would be moved to a reservation half the size of what was promised in 1865, with poorer land
They had to keep 10 miles away from white settlers
They could use their hunting lands so long as the buffalo remained
How much compensation was eventually paid to the survivors of the Sand Creek Massacre?
Nothing
Where was gold discovered in 1862?
Montana
What route did prospectors and settlers use to get to the gold in Montana?
The Bozeman Trail
What did the US Government do when the Sioux complained that the Bozeman Trail cut across their lands?
Nothing
Why did Red Cloud break off talks with the government in 1866?
The government was building forts along the Bozeman Trail while negotiating with him
Which chiefs joined Red Cloud on an attack against the US army following the end of negotiations?
Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull
How many warriors had Red Cloud managed to gather by the end of 1866?
3,000
Describe the events of Fetterman’s Trap in December 1866
Captain William Fetterman led 80 soldiers to protect troops who were trying to cut wood
The soldiers saw a couple of scouts and followed them into an ambush, with all 80 soldiers killed and their bodies mutilated
What treaty was signed as a consequence of Red Cloud’s War?
The Second Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)
What reservation was opened in the Second Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)?
The Great Sioux Reservation
What was closed in the Second Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)?
The Bozeman Trail
Who did not accept the terms of the Second Fort Laramie Treaty (1868)?
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
What were the three main features of President Grant’s Peace Policy (1868)?
1) $2 million allocated to ensure the Plains Indians were properly cared for on reservations
2) US army forces stationed around the borders of reservations to stop Plains war parties and trespassing white Americans
3) Corrupt Indian agents replaced by Quakers
In what ways did President Grant’s Peace Policy (1868) continue previous policies?
The process of trying to change Plains Indian culture to make them more like white Americans continued
Who was appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs by President Grant? What was interesting about this person?
Ely Parker
He was a Plains Indian (of the Seneca Indian nation)
What act was brought in in 1871?
The Indian Appropriations Act
What did the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act state about the Plains Indian nations?
They were no longer accepted as independent nations, but were now wards under the protection of the government
What impact did the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act have on the Plains Indians?
It was now easier to take their lands and make them available to white American settlers, since treaties would no longer need to be made
