MOVING WESTWARD: 1850-1890

Libertyville HS

Westward Movement

By 1850s frontier had moved to 100th Meridian

Area beyond = “Great American Desert” North = Canada West = Great Plains &

Rocky Mountains South = Texas

Barriers to settlement Extremes of weather Lack of trees (fuel,

construction, food) Native Americans

The Indian Barrier

N.A. were masters of their environment

Indian advantages Horsemanship Weapons Knowledge of their

terrain White disadvantages

Unknown environment Slow loading weapons

Changing Circumstances

Use of the revolver Telegraph (“singing

wires”) Introduction of

alcohol Diseases Disappearance of

buffalo Introduction of the

railroad Ex – Union & Central

Pacific “Plenty wagon, no

horse”

The Transcontinental Railroad

Transcontinental Railroad – why? Quick transport across country

for goods, people Congress: land grants to RR

companies, as incentive to build

Trunk line + subsidiary lines Effects

Open up interior to settlement Hastened defeat of Indians Buffalo slaughter Political development of W

states

“America’s Second Civil War”1865-1886

Combat between encroaching whites, Plains Indians

Dilemma: what to do with defeated Indians? Americanize them!

Highlights of “Second Civil War”

1876 Little Big Horn (Custer’s “Last Stand”) 1877 Crazy Horse

surrendered 1877 Chief Joseph & Nez

Perce fled to Canada 1882 Oklahoma becomes

“Indian Territory” 1883 Sundance

prohibited by the Secretary of Interior

1886 Geronimo surrendered Chief Joseph Geronimo

Custer Crazy Horse

Assimilation of Native Americans

Bureau of Indian Affairs Manage assimilation of

Native Americans into mainstream culture

Confined Indians to reservations Teach white culture Christianize Break up tribes Disperse family units Force individual property

ownership

Political Timeline of Assimilation

1887 Dawes Act (Indian Homestead Act) 160 acres from government

Late 1880s, 90s Return of Sitting Bull Popularity of Ghost Dance

1889 Ghost Dance reached Pine Ridge Res

1890 Wounded Knee (massacre of Indians)

1904 Burke Act (Indian homesteads) 640 acres & potential citizenship

Sitting Bull

The Cattle Kingdom (1865-85)

“Open Range” Cattle business –

McCoy linked to Chicago meat packing business

Texas ‘longhorns’ “Long drive” to

railheads Railheads & “cattle

towns” Trails = Goodnight-

loving, Western Chisholm, Shawnee

Cattle towns = Wichita, Dodge City, Abilene

Joseph McCoy

Cattle Kingdom

Advances of Cattle Kingdom Joseph Glidden

Barbed wire (“devil’s hat band”)

Ned BuntlineDime novels

(paperbacks) John Deere

Steel edged plow

John Deere

Joseph Glidden

Cattle Kingdom: End of an Era

Over production Drought (1886) &

blizzards (1886-87) ended Cattle Kingdom

Sod busters & “range wars”

Result Ranches and fences Big business

Miner’s Frontier

There were approximately two dozen major “mining rushes” (mining rush = discovery of gold or silver) 1849 – Sacramento, CA 1859 – Colorado @ Pike’s

Peak 1859 – Nevada (Comstock

Lode - silver) 1874 – Black Hills, SD (Sioux

Res, sacred land – Army sent in to protect miners) (Homestake Mine – gold) Silver mine

Pike’sPeakMining

Miner’s Frontier: Black Hills War

George Custer & the 7th Cavalry

Crazy Horse and the Sioux

“Custer’s Last Stand” Custer, 200 troopers

march 30+ miles Attack 2-3000 Sioux

warriors! Cavalry killed, to the

man Only survivor…

Mining Town Life

Mining towns in territories = little law / justice

New vocabulary “vigilantes” “posse” “suspended sentence” “necktie parties” “Winchester litigation”

End of Boom times Mining becomes just another

big business

End of the Frontier: Farmers

Initial settlement of West Oregon Fever, 1840s CA Gold Rush, 1849

Post CW settlement of “American Desert” Dislocation due to Civil War Homestead Act of 1862

160 acres free, if developed (later increased to 640 acres)

1.6 million “freeholds” est.270 million acres, or @ 10%

of all US land Free RR transport to W

Barriers to Farmers in West

Housing Fuel Plowing Fencing Water

“Sod busting” “Buffalo chips” Deere plow Barbed wire Windmills to

pump well water to irrigate

Barrier Solution

Settlement of West

Last Land Rush: Oklahoma, 1889 (“89ers”)“Sooners” = those who

entered earlyBoomers = those who

legally entered – cannon boom

1890 census: officially ended the “frontier” as a part of USA