the culture of the plains indians was not well known to easterners the osaga and the iowa had hunted...
TRANSCRIPT
• The culture of the Plains Indians was not well known to Easterners
• The Osaga and the Iowa had hunted and planted in the Great plains for over 100 years
• Tribes such as the Lakota and Cheyenne hunted buffalo
THE PLAINS
The introduction of horses by the Spanish (1598) and later guns, meant natives were able to travel and hunt
While the horse provided speed and mobility, it was the buffalo that provided for basic needsBUFFALO WERE USED
FOR FOOD, SHELTER AND CLOTHING
Small extended families were the norm
Men were hunters, while women helped butcher the game and prepare it
Tribes were very spiritual and land was communal OSAGE TRIBE
The white settlers who pushed westward had a different idea about land ownership
Concluding that the plains were “unsettled, “ thousands advanced to claim land
Gold being discovered in Colorado only intensified the rush for land
A COVERED WAGON HEADS WEST
• As more and more settlers headed west, the U.S. government increasingly protected their interests
• Railroad Companies also influenced government decisions
RAILROADS GREATLY IMPACTED
NATIVE LIFE
• 1834 – Government set aside all of the Great Plains as “Indian lands”
• 1850s- Government shifts policy, giving natives much smaller lands
• Conflict ensues• 1864 - Massacre at
Sand Creek; US Army attack killing 150 native women and children
Conflicts continued including; Fetterman Massacre and Red River War
Custer’s Last Stand occurred in early 1876 when Colonel Custer reached Little Big Horn
Led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, the natives outflanked and crushed Custer’s troops ONE OF THE FEW
NATIVE VICTORIES WAS LITTLE BIG HORN
GOLD had been discovered in Black Hills, South Dakota. So many Americans had rushed to the area killing buffalo so rapidly they were disappearing.Professional hunters hunted the buffalo to sell the hides. Many hunters killed buffalo by the hundreds just for sport leaving their bodies to rot. The Railroad companies hired sharp shooters to kill large numbers of buffalo who were blocking the railways’ traffic.
The Lakota Sioux & Cheyenne Indians were not supposed to leave the reservation, but left to hunt for food near the Bighorn Mountains in Montana.
Lt. Colonel George A. Custer underestimated the 2,500Native Americans & attacked them in daylight as they camped by theLittle Bighorn River.
The Lakota Sioux & Cheyenne Indians killed all of Custer’s men. Newspapersreported Custer as the victim. Lakota Sioux Chief, Sitting Bull tried to flee with his people to Canada, but the Americans forced him & his peopleback onto the reservation in the Black Hills.
The Battle of Little Big The Battle of Little Big HornHorn18761876
The Battle of Little Big The Battle of Little Big HornHorn18761876
Chief Sitting BullChief Sitting Bull
Gen. GeorgeGen. GeorgeArmstrong Armstrong
CusterCuster
The Dawes Act of 1887 attempted to assimilate natives
The Act called for the break up of reservations and the introduction of natives into American life
By 1932, 2/3rds of the land committed to Natives had been taken
FAMOUS DEPICTION OF NATIVE STRUGGLE
THE DARK AREAS DEPICT NATIVE LANDS BY 1894
The most significant blow to tribal life on the plains was the destruction of the buffalo
Tourist and fur traders shot buffalo for sport
1800: 65 million buffalo roamed the plains
1890: less than 1000 remained SHIRTLESS HUNTER
WITH HIS KILL
Colonel John ChivingtonColonel John ChivingtonColonel John ChivingtonColonel John ChivingtonKill and scalp all, big Kill and scalp all, big
and little!and little!
Sandy Creek, COSandy Creek, CO
Sand Creek MassacreSand Creek Massacre
November 29, 1864November 29, 1864The Cheyenne were waiting at a fortTo negotiate a peace treaty with the Americans. Because they had been Attacking women & children, ChivingtonKilled them.
The Cheyenne were waiting at a fortTo negotiate a peace treaty with the Americans. Because they had been Attacking women & children, ChivingtonKilled them.
The Cheyenne were flying a White flag & an America flag, butChivington ignored the symbolsOf peace.
The United States Senate investigated Chivington’s attack & broughtno charges against him. This outraged many Americans who saw whathe did to the Cheyenne as unjustifiable.
Capt. William J. FettermanCapt. William J. FettermanCapt. William J. FettermanCapt. William J. Fetterman80 soldiers 80 soldiers massacredmassacred
December 21, 1866December 21, 1866
Fetterman’s Massacre
Lakota Sioux leader, Crazy Horse led Captain Fetterman into a trap.
Crazy Horse tricked him into following a small band of Lakota, & lured him into an ambush where hundreds of Lakota Indians waited to kill him & his men.
Crazy Horse Monument:Crazy Horse Monument:Black Hills, SDBlack Hills, SD
Crazy Horse Monument:Crazy Horse Monument:Black Hills, SDBlack Hills, SD
Lakota ChiefLakota ChiefLakota ChiefLakota Chief
Mt. Rushmore: Black Hills, SDMt. Rushmore: Black Hills, SDMt. Rushmore: Black Hills, SDMt. Rushmore: Black Hills, SD
Chief JosephChief Joseph!!Chief JosephChief Joseph!!Nez Percé Nez Percé
“Our Chiefs are killed…The littleChildren are freezing to death. MyPeople…have no blankets, no foodHear me, my chiefs; I am tired; myHeart is sick and sad. From whereThe sun now stands I will fight noMore forever.”
“Our Chiefs are killed…The littleChildren are freezing to death. MyPeople…have no blankets, no foodHear me, my chiefs; I am tired; myHeart is sick and sad. From whereThe sun now stands I will fight noMore forever.”
When Americans tried to force Chief Joseph’s tribe onto a smaller Reservation in Idaho, he fled running for than 1300 miles before being captured.
When Americans tried to force Chief Joseph’s tribe onto a smaller Reservation in Idaho, he fled running for than 1300 miles before being captured.
““Ghost Dance”, 1890Ghost Dance”, 1890““Ghost Dance”, 1890Ghost Dance”, 1890
The Native Americans were notSupposed to practice this type of ritualWhich would cause the settlers to disappear& bring back the buffalo.
A terrible battle took place atWounded Knee Creek as theParticipants of the Ghost dance Were attacked.Chief Sitting
Bull Was Blamed
On December 29, 1890, the Seventh Cavalry (Custer’s old regiment) rounded up 350 Sioux and took them to Wounded Knee, S.D.
A shot was fired – within minutes the Seventh Cavalry slaughtered 300 unarmed Natives
This event brought the “Indian Wars”– and an entire era to a bitter end
HUNDREDS OF CORPSES WERE LEFT TO FREEZE
ON THE GROUND
“I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream...The nation’s hope is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.”
BLACK ELK SPEAKING ABOUT WOUNDED KNEE
BLACK ELK
Dawes Act (1887):Dawes Act (1887):Assimilation PolicyAssimilation PolicyDawes Act (1887):Dawes Act (1887):Assimilation PolicyAssimilation Policy
Carlisle Indian School, PACarlisle Indian School, PA
Assimilation wasThe process of Forcing NativeAmericansTo abandonTheir culture &Become American.
William “Buffalo Bill” William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Cody’s Wild West
ShowShow
William “Buffalo Bill” William “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Cody’s Wild West
ShowShow
Indian Reservations TodayIndian Reservations TodayIndian Reservations TodayIndian Reservations Today
Placer Mining was used to extract gold & minerals from the ground, but only the shallow level of ground was penetrated with this method.
Equipment like picks, shovels & pans were used in Placer Mining.
• After Placer Mining, corporations would move in to begin Quartz Mining.
• Quartz Mining dug deep beneath the surface.• When there were no more deposits to dig, the corporations that
mined disappeared.
The blue-gray mud there turned
out to be pure silver!
News of this strike caused a boom of 30,000 people to crowd into Virginia City, Nevada almost overnight!
Henry Comstock claimed someLand in Six-Mile Canyon, Nevada!
Suddenly, the town had1.Opera house2.Shops with European clothes & furniture. 3.Several Newspapers4.A 6 story hotel with the West’s first “rising room”..
•Crime was a serious problemAll those people & no sheriffThey did have Vigilance Committees(volunteers who enforced laws)•They often punished innocent people by accident or on purpose.•Women worked at “hurdy-gurdy” houseswhere they danced for a drink.
•Crime was a serious problemAll those people & no sheriffThey did have Vigilance Committees(volunteers who enforced laws)•They often punished innocent people by accident or on purpose.•Women worked at “hurdy-gurdy” houseswhere they danced for a drink.
In the early 1800s, no one thought building a cattle ranch on the Great Plains would be successful because the cattle from the east couldn’t live on the tough prairie grass.
While some were mining silver and digging for gold, other people headed out west to build ranches on the Great Plains.
A breed of cattle that descended from Mexico had emerged in Texas!
This breed of cow was adapted to the tough grass and climate of the Great Plains. The government offered freeRange to all cattle. The grazing land was owned by the American government. It was free & unrestricted by theownership of private farms.
Mexican cowhands taught the American herders the art of rounding up & driving cattle. They helped to create America’s first Cowboys.
Before the Civil War, there wasNo reason to round up theTexas Longhorns because beef prices were so low!
1.The Civil War2.Construction of the Railroads
Cattle could be driven up North to the Rail lines &Transported to the east at 10 times the price the cowboys could get in Texas for the same cows.
During the Civil War, the Cattle were needed in the east to feed the soldiers.
Between 1867 & 1871 nearly1.5 million head of cattle traveledOn the Chisholm trail.
When Abilene was full of cowboys, it rivaled any mining town in rowdiness!
TheThe
CattleCattle
TrailsTrails
TheThe
CattleCattle
TrailsTrails
With the prosperity of the cattlemen came an era of lawlessness. The famed gunman Wild Bill Hickok served as Abilene 's marshal in 1871 and is reputed to have killed more than 50 alleged lawbreakers during his brief tenure. The appearance of homesteaders and fenced ranges discouraged the Texas cattle trade, much of which was diverted to Wichita. Winter-wheat cultivation was introduced in Abilene in the mid-1870s and remains economically important. Abilene is still a shipping point for livestock, as well as for grain and other agricultural products, and it has some light industry.
Abilene." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 1 Jan. 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9003356>.
In 1876 Hickok married a widow, Mrs. Agnes Lake Thatcher, but he soon left her (in Cincinnati) to visit the goldfields of the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory. It was there, at a poker table in Nuttall & Mann's No. 10 saloon in Deadwood, that Hickok was shot dead by a drunken stranger, Jack McCall. The cards Hickok was holding—a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights plus an unknown fifth card—became known as the dead man's hand. McCall's motive was never learned; he was tried, convicted of murder, and hanged on March 1, 1877.
Hickok, Wild Bill." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica
Online. 1 Jan. 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9040358>.
*Thousands of Cattle were rounded up & gathered from the open ranges.*The brands on the cattle was the only thing that distinguished one from the other.*The ranchers branded their cattle before moving them.*Stray calves with no brand were divided up between the different ownersand branded.
Most of the cowboys on the cattle drives were former Confederate soldiers who after the war were trying to rebuild their lives.Many were Mexican & some were African
Americans who had been freed after the CivilWar.
The open range would end when ranch owners began to build fences toprevent sheep herders from grazing the land meant for cattle.The price of beef fell due to oversupply & many went bankrupt.Then, in the winter of 1886, blizzards covered the ground so deep thatCattle could not graze any grass. Temperatures fell to 40 degrees below zero.
The open range would end when ranch owners began to build fences toprevent sheep herders from grazing the land meant for cattle.The price of beef fell due to oversupply & many went bankrupt.Then, in the winter of 1886, blizzards covered the ground so deep thatCattle could not graze any grass. Temperatures fell to 40 degrees below zero.
The fences were usually made of barbed wirenot wood fences.
Barbed WireBarbed WireBarbed WireBarbed WireJoseph Joseph GliddenGliddenJoseph Joseph GliddenGlidden
The Range WarsThe Range WarsThe Range WarsThe Range Wars
SheepHerders
CattleRanchers
The Cattle Industry survived, but it was changed forever.The days of the open range had ended.Herds were fenced in on ranches and the cowboy became a ranchhand who worked on the farm of the wealthy owner.
In the early 1800s, why was building ranches on the Great Plains considered a bad idea?
What is a stray calf called?
What are 2 developments that made cattle drives worth while?
In the early 1800s, why was building ranches on the Great Plains considered a bad idea?
What is a stray calf called?
What are 2 developments that made cattle drives worth while?
•Extends all the way to the Rocky Mountains to about the center of Abilene ,Texas.•Rainfall is about 20 inches each year on theGreat Plains & trees grow only along the banks ofrivers & streams.•Many people considered the Great Plains to be aDesert unfit for farming or grazing.
The Transcontinental Railroad encouraged the establishment of towns along the railroad.The Government encouraged people to settle the Great Plains by passing the Homestead Act.
•People could claim up to 160 acres of public land & get the title to the landif they lived there for 5 years.
The people who decided to take the offer faced many challenges!
No trees to build a homeNo water to drink
People were forced to build homes fromsod cut from the ground.They had to dig wells 300 feet deep to tapdrinking water.
Summer temperatures soared to over 100 degrees!Prairie fires were a constant threat.Grasshopper swarms swept over farms & destroyed entire crops.Winter brought blizzards and bitter cold!
The Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, SDThe Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, SD The Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, SDThe Realty--A Pioneer’s Sod House, SD
• New Farming Methods
• Dry farming required planting seeds deepinto the ground where there was enough moisture
to help them grow.
New Equipment made dry farming easier: seed drills, steel plows, reapersAnd threshing machines helped to farm wheat.
New AgriculturalNew AgriculturalTechnologyTechnology
New AgriculturalNew AgriculturalTechnologyTechnology
““Prairie Fan”Prairie Fan”Water PumpWater Pump
Steel Plow [“Sod Buster”]Steel Plow [“Sod Buster”]
Farmers weren’t familiar with the prairie soil & when they used dry farming to plant seeds during the dry season, all the soil just blew away with the wind.
These farmers were called sodbusters!Most lost their homesteads because of drought, wind erosion, and overuse of the land.
They had the same problem with the wind, but they were able to
make quick profits by using mechanical reapers to speed harvests.
Wheat became to the Great Plains like cotton was to the south!
Many farmers moved toThe Great Plains Region tofarm wheat. This area become known as the Wheat Belt.
New machines allowed a single family to bring in a huge harvest!Some of these wheat farms were 50,000 acres.They were called Bonanza Farms because they made so much profit!
New machines allowed a single family to bring in a huge harvest!Some of these wheat farms were 50,000 acres.They were called Bonanza Farms because they made so much profit!
The United States became the world’s largest exporter of wheat in the 1880s.
Other Nations trying to competeCaused an oversupply of wheat &Prices crashed!
A terrible drought in the late 1880s also strained the farms.
Most farmers had to borrow moneyOn their lands. When they couldn’t pay, the bank took their ranches.Some were given the chance to stayand work on the farms they once owned, as tenant workers.By 1900, 1/3 of the farms were tenant farms in the Wheat Belt.
Much of the land in the west was still unoccupied by 1890, but the Government reported that it was nearly full when it took a census of People living in the west.It was upsetting to some people who always had the hope of being able to go west and make a new start.Even though news spread that the frontier was closing, many more people traveled west in the 1900s making their new starts, but unlike the stories of “getting rich quick”, the work was hard in their new environment.
Write the question & answer completely for a grade.
Explain the Homestead Act.
Name 5 problems people who took advantage of the Homestead Act faced.
What is dry farming?
List 2 new advances in agricultural technology that helped the farmers.
What were the huge farms called?