Chapter 15
The South and West Transformed
Pate 490
Section 1
The New South
• After the Civil War, Southern economy in ruins
• South remained mostly agricultural and poor
• A. New Industry in the South
– Before war, South ships most raw goods overseas
– With Northern support, factories are built in the
South
– Farming also becomes more diversified: Not just
cotton any more. Why is this a good idea
B: Railroads
• Most railroads destroyed in war
• Cheap and prison labor used to rebuild
• Slowly, railroads link Southern cities with
North and West
C: Economic Recovery
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South still lags behind
Many workers leave for northern cities
Education limited
Most Southern banks closed, no capital for
business
D: Agriculture
• Farmers still planting cash crops- cotton and
tobacco- make money but can’t eat
• Still depended on cotton, but prices drop
• 1890’s boll weevil’s ruin cotton crop
• Cotton production drops 50%
• Farmers Alliance: Farmers band together to
fight for cheaper prices of goods and better
crop prices and cheaper railroad rates
E: Black Southerners
• Immediately after civil war, make political
gains- can vote, run for office
• However, Ku Klux Klan arises
• Many southern AA’s disenfranchised through
intimidation and legislation
• Poll Taxes and literacy test
• Southern AA’s do gain access to education
• Civil Rights Act of 1875- right to ride trains and
use public facilities
Westward Expansion
Section 2
• Settlers moving west
• Settling Great Plains
• What should happen with Natives??
• A. Diverse Culture
– Most Natives gone from east and west coast
– Many different tribes in Great Plains
– Put there because “Great American Desert
B: Settlers and Natives Clash
• White settlers begin moving to Midwest
• Destroy Indian Culture
– Disease
– Alcohol
– Take Land
– Force to Assimilate
– Kill Buffalo- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pODHzjpC9k
– Forced onto reservations
C. Sand Creek Massacre
• 1864: Sioux Indians resisting encroachment
• John Chivington- missing Civil War Action
– Attacks peaceful natives at Sand creek Colorado
• Unarmed Cheyenne and Arapaho
– Many killed
• Native raised American flag to show peaceful
• Natives chose to go to war instead of
negotiate
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf7GFZcO-Y8
D. Peace fails
• Reasons for increased tension
– Civil War over
– Gold discovered in Black Hills
– Roads and railroads built on native land
– Buffalo disappearing
– Settlers arriving
E. Tension
• 1. 1866- Red Cloud wipes out Fetterman and
U.S. soldiers in ambush
• 2. Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868- if natives stay
on reservations, whites will stay out of black
hills and Native land
– Also supposed to supply natives with goods
– However, agency agents corrupt
– Don’t get supplies, leave reservations
F. End of Indian Wars
• 1. Red River War- Texas and southwest tribes
fight guerilla warfare
• Finally Comanche's and Kiowa's forced to
surrender and move to Oklahoma
• Last holdouts surrender in 1875
• Geronimo and the Apache hold out as late as
1880’s
• 2. Battle of Little Bighorn- 1876
– 3 U.S. armies sent into Montana and Dakotas to
subdue the Sioux
– Custard gets ahead of himself- challenges 2,000
warriors under Crazy horse and Sitting Bull
– Him and his 200 men slaughtered
– However, Winter would force the Sioux to
surrender
– Put on even smaller Rez’s
• 3. Chief Joseph and Nez Perce
– Tribe in Idaho
– Refuse to leave what was left of sacred land
– Chief Joseph tried to flee 1,300 miles to Canada
– Caught within sight of the border
– Forced to move to Oklahoma
• 4. Wounded knee
– 1890’s- Rez life is terrible
– Natives long for the old way
– Ghost Dance- ritual to bring back dead ancestors,
buffalo, and destroy white man
– Many leave rez to perform dance on plains
– Captured by U.S. cavalry at wounded knee
– Shots fired- over 100 men, women, and children
killed- unarmed
G: Assimilation
• Boarding Schools- take children away from
parents- kill the Indian save the man
• Reservation- forced to farm
• Dawes Act: 1871- no Indian nation or tribe will
be recognized within the U.S.
• Dawes Allotment Act: Give every native 160
acres- cant sell for 25 years
• Extra land could be sold to whites
• Was this successful for natives???
Transforming the West
Section 3
• After Civil War, west is transformed- mining,
ranching, farming, railroads
• A. Mining:
– Mining first great boom to western population
– Gold Rush of 1849 triggered by discovery at
Sutter’s mill California
– Later- Nevada, Black Hills, Pikes Peak Colorado
– Gold Fever spreads
• a. Mining culture
– Settlers flood into areas not prepared for
– Boom towns- towns expanded over night
• Leadville, Nevada City, Denver, Boise, Helena
• Many became ghost towns
– Most cities lawless or run by vigilante justice- get
the boys together and hang the wrongdoers
– Small operations use Place mining- mine tops soil
and stream beds with sluice boxes
– Later large companies come in for deeper
deposits- Quartz mining- use TNT
B: Railroads
• Continental Railroad couldn’t start till Civil war
– Why?
• Two private companies start in 1863
– 1. Union Pacific- start in Omaha- go west
• Relied on Irish laborers
– 2. Central Pacific- start in Sacramento- go east
• Relied on Chinese laborers
• Project supported by loans and land grants
• Met at Promontory Point Utah 1869- 2,000
miles long
Effects:
• Railroad accelerated the settling of west
• United East and West Coast
• Devastating to the Natives
• 10 territories become states 1864-1896
C: Cattle Country
• Cowboy country originated with Mexican
culture- Vaqueros
• Longhorn cattle raised in Texas
• Open Range System- cattle roam open plains
– Cattle branded to identify
– Time to take to market, rounded up and taken on
long drive to cattle towns
• Ex. Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas city
• End of Open Range
– Open range thrived for 10 years after civil war
– Then Died: Reasons
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Barbed Wire
Settlement of great plains
Cattle prices plummet
Cold winters in 1890’s
Railroad comes to Texas
D. Farmers And Homesteaders
• Homestead Act- 1862
– Give settlers 160 acres of land
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Live on land for 5 years
Plant trees
Dig well
Build road
– Life on Plains very difficult: examples???
– Exodusters- African Americans from south heading
west
• Morrill Act: 1862: Land grants to set up Ag
schools
• E. Competition and Conflict
– West was very diverse
• Chinese, Irish, Mexican, Native Americans, Germans,
ext.
– Conflict between different nationalities and
different occupations
F: End of Frontier
• Last open land in Oklahoma
– Open much Indian land because of Dawes Act
– Boomers- waited for official opening April 22,
1889
– Sooners- left early
• 1890- Census declared Frontier “closed”