Unit 6.1

Cowboys and Indians (and miners too)

What is your image of the cowboy?

What was the “real cowboy?” – many “Vaqueros”

Why the image?William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West ShowDime novelsMovies (Great Train Robbery – 1st )

The Cowboy Myth

Cow Trails and Cow TownsChisholm Trail –

one of the most famous from Texas to Kansas.

What was the most dangerous thing for cowboys on the trail?

Boom towns such as Abilene (KS) were short-lived and had much of the “wild west” image as true.

(Wild) Bill Hickok

Why started and why ended?Started due to

increased wealth in northern cities from Civil War.

Other advancements:Canning (steel)Refrigerated

railcars What city emerged as a top

place for slaughterhouses? Why?

The cow trails ended due to a variety of reasons: Joseph Glidden’s

invention of ________Rail routes to

ranches

A series of gold and silver finds would cause boomtowns in the west as people rushed to get the minerals.Comstock Lode (Nevada)Black Hills

What was the effect of the Indians?What was the effect on the backing of money?Other side effects:

VigilantesMiner’s tax on foreign minersChinese Exclusion Act - 1882

Mining out West

In the mid and late 1800s the Florida Cow Hunter (or Cracker Cowboy), herded cattle let wild and drove them to ports to be shipped out. (Why called “crackers?”)

The Florida “Cow Hunter”

Not because of gold or silver, but because of Phosphate.

Discovered in 1889 in Dunnellon, the phosphate industry along the Withlacoochee River thrived until the 1st World War. Dunnellon and Floral City were most populated cities in the area due to mine camps.

Nearby Boomtowns

Most Americans ignored them until after the Civil War.

Great American Desert was unconsidered unlivable and left alone, but then what changed that made it desirable?TrainsSteel PlowsCattle boomGold/Silver finds

Great Plains Indians

Plains Indians, Buffalo, and Horses

Buffalo had been base of life for thousands of years.

After Spanish introduced horse, it became part of life too.

What happened to the buffalo in the 1860s and 70s?

Sioux – most powerful tribe

Other tribes:CrowBlackfeetPawneeCheyenne

The US made Reservations and forced the Native Americans to live in these concentrated areas.

Usually land considered undesirable. But what would happen if something desirable (like gold) was found on the reservation?

Concentration Policy

Many “battles” were more of massacres to Indians.Sand Creek Massacre (1864)Washita River Massacre

Battle of Little Big Horn (1876)Treaty was broken when gold discovered in

Black HillsAmerican leader (7th Calvary) – George Custer

“Custer’s last stand”Indian leaders – Sitting Bull (planner), Crazy

HorseWhat happened after this Indian victory?

Conflict

“Indian Hunting” in CaliforniaChief Joseph and the Nez Pierce (1887)

escape attempt

Last “battle” – Wounded Knee1890Ghost Dance and Sitting Bull (over 300

unarmed killed)

Sad Ending

A Century of Dishonor written by Helen Hunt Jackson

Told of negative actions on Native Americans (1881)

Dawes (Severalty) Act (1887)Idea was Assimilation (become part of

American culture) Stated purpose was to help Indians, but actually did

opposite Gave land to individuals, not tribes (actually took away

land) – usually 160 acres per family (like Homestead Act) Would be the official Indian policy until Indian New Deal

in 1930s

White help?

Because the Dawes Act “helped” the Indians by giving land to individuals, there was leftover land.

It was surveyed and then there was a “race” to claim a section (160 acres).Those who left early and got best land by

cheating were known as Sooners.

Oklahoma Land Rush

After life in the post-Reconstruction South did not improve, many black Americans took advantage of the Homestead Act and moved to lands in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. They were known as Exodusters.

Exodusters

Historian Frederick Jackson Turner stated in his Frontier Thesis that the U.S. had become great because we always had land to expand and the “pioneer spirit” of rugged individualism.

1890 Census declared the frontier basically settled. What is going to happen now that the frontier was

conquered?

Frontier Thesis - 1893

Misc. Western CultureRocky Mountain

SchoolArt Style – naturalFrederic RemingtonHow did this

contribute to “American Spirit?”

Wild West ShowToured in East and

then EuropeWilliam Cody /

“Buffalo BillSitting BullAnnie Oakley

How did the image of the Cowboy become so much of the identity of an American?

How is the demand for beef tied to the urban and industrial advancements of the late 1800s?

What was the over attitude of the U.S. towards Native Americans during the late 1800s and how is it shown?

How would the demise of the Native Americans help other groups such as African Americans, Immigrants, and poor Americans?

Reflection Questions

http://www.crackercountry.org/explorelearn/floridacrackers - Florida cowboys

http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/photo_exhibits/Ranching/ - Florida History – cattle

http://www.floridahistory.com/phosphate.html - Phosphate in Florida

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ycMhMM2UFs – Far and Away Land Rush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU6a7S1YHLQ&feature=fvwrel – Ghost Dance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qd4CfPtuhA&feature=relmfu – Review Video

Links