PLAINS INDIAN WARS

TREATY OF FT. LARAMIE

• Signed on September 17, 1851• United States treaty commissioners and

representatives of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Navajo Crow, Shoshone, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara nations.• Treaty sets forth traditional territorial claims of

the tribes as among themselves• The Indians guaranteed safe passage for settlers

on the Oregon Trail in return for promises of an annuity in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for fifty years.

TREATY CONT.

• The Native American nations also allowed roads and forts to be built in their territories• The treaty produced a brief period of peace• Broken by the failure of the United States to

prevent the mass emigration of settlers and miners

SAND CREEK MASSACRE

• November 29, 1864• Colorado militia led by Colonel John Chivington• 110 Arapaho and Cheyenne women and children

were killed• Initially reported as a great victory over a mighty

opponent• Eventually, an official investigation took place• No charges were brought against those who

participated• Ended Chivington’s shot at a political career

Colonel John Chivington

GEORGE A. CUSTER

• Leader of the 7th Cavalry Division• Assigned to protect surveyors of the Northern

Pacific Railroad• Gained the image back East as a famous Indian

fighter• Generally, his encounters with tribes were

massacres

BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN

• AKA Custer’s Last Stand• June 25-26, 1876 • Near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana

Territory• Most famous battle of the Great Sioux War• Custer and his men were killed• As years have passed, image of Custer has

changed from hero to villain

Sitting Bull

Chief of the Sioux Indians

Arranged alliance with Sioux and Cheyenne

Crazy Horse

Chief of the Lakota Indians

Fatally wounded by a military guard while allegedly resisting imprisonment at Camp Robinson in present-day Nebraska

Geronimo

Apache Chief

After the surrender of Geronimo, he is taken around the country and placed on display

CHIEF JOSEPH

• Leader of the Nez Perce• Attempted to lead his people from being placed

on a reservation by fleeing to Canada• Leads U.S. troops on 1170 mile chase• Joseph surrenders on Oct 5, 1877• “We will fight no more forever”• His people were placed in Indian Territory (OK)• 1879, Chief Joseph meets with President Hayes• 1903, Chief Joseph meets with President T

Roosevelt• Died September 1904

Chief Joseph

DAWES ACT OF 1887

• Authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. • The objective of the Dawes Act was to stimulate

assimilation of Indians into American society• Individual ownership of land was seen as an

essential step.• The act also provided that the government would

purchase Indian land "excess" to that needed for allotment and open it up for settlement by non-Indians.

GHOST DANCE

• Started by Paiute Indian prophet Wovoka• Vision that Jesus Christ had returned to earth as a

Native American• He preached that:• White man would vanish from native lands• Buffalo would return in abundance• Dead ancestors would be returned• Warriors wore “Ghost Shirts” believed to repel

bullets• Caused alarm with U.S. govt that another uprising

was being planned

Wovoka

DECEMBER 15, 1890

• U.S. troops arrest Sitting Bull for not stopping his people from practicing the Ghost Dance• During the arrest Sitting Bull is killed

WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE

• December 29, 1890• U.S. troops were making camp with captured

Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota• Troops were confiscating weapons when shots

were fired• 150 men, women, and children were killed• Historically, considered to be the end of conflict

between the U.S. govt and Native Americans

AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT (AIM)

• Founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota• AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership,

and sovereignty• Nov 1969-Jun 1971 AIM occupies Alcatraz Island • 1972, activists marched across country on the

"Trail of Broken Treaties“:• Took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA),

occupying it for several days • 1973, activists led a 71-day armed standoff with

federal forces at Wounded Knee

Russell Means

AIM Activist