Why did the Indians lose the struggle for the Plains?

1. Treaties and wars

CONFLICT BETWEEN WHITES AND INDIANS WAS PARTLY BECAUSE THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER.

Robert McGee was scalped by a Sioux chief in 1864 – the photo was

taken in 1890. When the incident

happened, McGee was transporting supplies to

a US army fort.

1. Write a headline to accompany this picture in an eastern newspaper.

2. Write a short explanation of the incident by Chief Little Turtle who committed this act.

There were two main views of how to solve ‘the Indian problem’…

• NEGOTIATORS wanted to reach agreement with the Indians. This was the feeling of many politicians in the East.

• EXTERMINATORS believed the Indians were savages and best dealt with by the Army. This was the view of many such as homesteaders, ranchers and soldiers.

Why the difference?

The Permanent Indian Frontier

• By 1840 all Indians had been moved beyond a ‘line’, which was known as The Permanent Indian Frontier. This really meant they had the whole of the Great Plains as a kind of vast ‘reservation’.

• Why did this not last?

INDIANS SIGN PEACE TREATY

SETTLERS, MINERS,

RAILROAD COMPANIES -

BREAK TREATY

INDIANS ATTACK SETTLERS ETC.

ARMY CALLED IN TO PROTECT

SETTLERS ETC.

ARMY DEFEAT INDIANS

Cycle of conflict

Fort Laramie

Treaty 1851

Fort Wise Treaty 1861

Little Crow’s War 1862

Cheyenne Uprising

1863

Sand Creek Massacre

1864Red Cloud’s

War 1865-68

Fetterman’s Trap 1866

Medicine Creek

Treaty 1867

Fort Laramie

Treaty 1868

Battle of Little

Bighorn 1876

Conflict -The

Indian Wars

• Government Aim• Government promise• Indian promise

Fort Laramie

Treaty 1851

• Government Aim• Government Promise• Indian agreement

Fort Wise Treaty 1861

Fort Laramie Treaty 1851

Government wanted to stop

Indians (Cheyenne &

Arapaho) attacking wagon

trains on the Oregon Trail.

Government Promised:Land along foothills of Rocky Mountains would be Indians’ forever.$50,000 a year for 10 years.

Indians promised:Stop attacking wagon trains.Allow building of roads and military posts (forts)

Fort Wise Treaty 1861

Government wanted to stop

Indians attacking rail surveyors &

travellers & give up their land

along the Rockies.

Government Promised:A small reservation between the Arkansas River& Sand Creek.

Indian Chiefs:Agreed terms.BUT could not force their people to do so.

In Rockies

The main clashes 1860-1876

Little Crow’s war – Santee Sioux• 1861-1862• At start of reservation system.• Poor harvest followed by no payment

from govt. led to 12,000 facing starvation.

• Settlers, Indian agency & soldiers attacked August to September 1862.

• Unable to get a large enough force to defeat army.

• Defeated by October.– 38 hung (3 completely innocent).– 2000 of rest put on a reservation of

barren land, unfit water & scarce food.

Sand Creek Massacre

• 29th November 1864• The Cheyenne, under Black Kettle, had

similar problems to Little Crow’s people.• They attacked wagon trains but harmed

no-one and just took food.• After 3 years there was an agreement

and Black Kettle thought he was under Army protection.

• His camp at Sand Creek was attacked by Colonel Chivington at dawn.

• 450 men, women, children and babies were massacred – despite flying white flags of surrender.

Just a little note: This was during Civil War. Chivington and his men were NOT professional soldiers.

Red Cloud’s war – Sioux & allies

• 1865-68• Gold discovered in Dakota in 1862 and

miners crossed Sioux lands – breaking Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851

• Sioux attacked travellers on Bozeman Trail up to 1866.

• Govt. arranged peace talks but also built forts which RC attacked.

• Working with several Sioux bands & some Arapaho & Cheyenne kept soldiers in Fort Kearney and travellers away, BUT better equipped soldiers stopped Fort being captured.

‘Fetterman’s Trap:’ Captain Fetterman left Fort Kearney with 80 soldiers to protect a wagon train of building materials. They were wiped out in a trap.

Fort Laramie Treaty 1868

• 1868 govt agreed to withdraw from forts and created Great Sioux Reservation – an area to be completely free of whites.

• Red Cloud was pleased – he believed he had won.

• The Black Hills of Dakota – sacred to Cheyenne, Arapaho and the Sioux were now protected.

Sitting Bull – The Great Sioux War• 1876• 1874 General George Custer led an

expedition into the Black Hills. He was protecting railroad surveyors and looking for gold. Gold was found.

• Prospectors swarmed in. The Treaty with Red Cloud was broken.

• Govt. offer $ for sacred land which Sioux refused.

• December 1875 Sioux ordered to return to reservation.

• 7,000 Sioux, Arapaho & Cheyenne do not (cannot?).• February 1876 – order given that all Indians outside

reservation to be treated as ‘hostile’.• Indians attack an Army Camp at the Rosebud River

and then move west to set up camp on the Little Bighorn River.

• U.S. Army defeated at Battle of Little Bighorn.• Indians split up into bands after their victory, but then

hunted and attacked through autumn and winter.• Some surrender. Sitting Bull goes to Canada.

Fort Laramie

Treaty 1851

Fort Wise Treaty 1861

Little Crow’s War 1862

Cheyenne Uprising

1863

Sand Creek Massacre

1864Red Cloud’s

War 1865-68

Fetterman’s Trap 1866

Medicine Creek

Treaty 1867

Fort Laramie

Treaty 1868

Battle of Little

Bighorn 1876

Conflict -The

Indian Wars

Make a brief note on each event of (at least 2) key

points