Westward Expansion Flashcards
Reservation
Land where Native Americans were forced to move by the government in hopes that they would give up hunting and become farmers
Coolies
Chinese immigrants who worked on the railroads
Black Hills
Land promised to the Lakota
Colonel George Custer
Defeated by the Lakota at the Battle of Little Big horn
Battle of Little Bighorn
Led by the Crazy Horse, the Lakota had the biggest victory ever one over the United States forces. This led to the end of freedom for Native Americans
Homestead Act
Law signed in eighteen sixty two offering free land (one hundred sixty acres) to pioneers willing to start new farms on the Great Plains
Homesteader
Settlers who claimed land through the homestead act
Sodbuster
Great Plains farmer of the late eighteen hundreds who had to cut through thick sod before planting crops
Exoduster
African American pioneers who moved to the Great Plains after the Civil war
Nicodemus, Kansas
Town founded by African American pioneers
Cattle Drive
Method cowboys used to move large herds of cattle north from ranches in Texas to towns along the railroads in the late 1800’s
Long drive
Trips on which cowhands moved large number of cattle to the railroads
Rancher
A person that raised many cattle
GoldRush
The time when thousands of people went to California to search for gold
Transcontinental Railroad
Railroad that crosses a continent
