Indians on the Warpath
Part 2 – The Last Frontier
(1860 – 1890)
The Beginning of the End
• 1851 – Fort Laramie treaty opens the Oregon trail and
allows the US to build forts in the West.
• 1858 – 1861 – Colorado gold rush.
• April 3, 1860 – First postal connection between St.
Joseph Missouri and Sacramento, California
• June 1860 – US census reports population of
31,443,000 people (slaves not counted)
• Oct. 1861 – St. Louis, Mo and St. Francisco, Ca are
connected by telegraph.
• 1862 – US Congress passed the Homestead Act and the
Pacific Railway Act – land grants.
• July 10, 1862 – Beginning of Central Pacific Rail line.
Pony Express
John Gast, “American
Progress”, 1872
The Long Walk of the Navaho
• 1860 – Battles of Fort Defiance – two attacks of the Navaho led by
chiefs Manuelito and Barboncito over dispute about pastures.
• Feb. 1861 – Treaty of Ft. Wingate. Peace re-established.
• Sep. 12, 1861 – Massacre of Ft. Wingate.
• Sep. 1862 – Gen. Carleton orders troops to “kill all men on the spot
and take prisoner only women and children”. Dec. 1862 he meets
with Navaho chiefs in Santa Fe and orders them to move to a
reservation. They refuse. He gives them an ultimatum to surrender
by July 20, 1863.
• July 25, 1863 – Kit Carson attacks the livestock of the Navaho and
burns their fields. ”Scorched Earth”.
• Jan. 1864 – Carson traps most Navaho at Canyon de Chelly. They
surrender. He burns village, destroys 5000 peach trees. Tribe
marched to internment camp at Bosque Redondo, NM. 400 Apache
are also there. Annual cost of camp – $1.5 mil. For 10,000 people
• 1866 – Manuelito surrenders with the rest of the tribe.
• June 1,1868 – Treaty of Bosque Redondo. Navaho return on a
reservation in their homeland in AZ. 3.5 mil acres, 10 years annuity
and education commitment.
The End of the Santee
• 1858 – Minnesota becomes a state. Treaty with the Dakota Santee
provides a reservation of 3000 sq miles + pay + annuity. US Senate
deleted Article 3 (pay) but never informed the Santee.
• Aug. 1862 – Annuity payments are delayed due to the Civil War.
Andrew Myrick, leader of the traders refuse to sell to Santee on
credit. “Let them eat shit”. Little Crow attacks with 500 man and
takes food. Andrew Myrick is killed first. Little Crow wins several
battles and attacks forts and settlements.
• Sep. 1862 – Lincoln sends gen. Pope against Little Crow. Battle of
Wood Lake – Little Crow to Fort Garry, Canada. 2000 Santee
surrender at Camp Release. 1700 spent winter at Fort Snelling.
• Dec. 1862 – 303 Santee sentenced to death by military tribunals.
Lincoln commuted 264 sentences, 39 were executed on Dec. 26.
• July 3, 1863 – Little Crow killed by a farmer for $500 bounty in MN.
US Congress declared treaties null and void.
• 1863-64 – USA wins 6 battles. Relocates remaining 1300 Santee to
Crow Creek, SD. By spring of 1864 less than 1000 remain alive.
War Comes to the Cheyenne
• 1851 – Fort Laramie treaty guaranteed the Cheyenne the land in
Colorado, parts of Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas.
• 1858-59 – Colorado Gold Rush begins.
• 1861 – Fort Wise treaty reduced the area of Cheyenne to 1/30 of its
size. Many refused to comply.
• Nov. 29, 1864 – Sand Creek Massacre – Col. Chivington attacked
the reserve of Black Kettle with 700 men. Killed almost 200 women
and children while men were hunting.
• Jan. 7, 1865 – 1000 Cheyenne, Arapaho and Dakota retaliate at
Julesburg, defeat the army and burn the town
• Oct. 1865 – Treaty of Lower Arkansas - Black Kettle moved to
Washita River. Northern Cheyenne moved with the Dakota.
• Oct. 21, 1867 - Medicine Lodge Treaty – Southern Cheyenne,
Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa, and Kiowa-Apache move to Oklahoma
• Nov. 27, 1868 - Massacre at Washita River. Col. Custer attacks the
camp of Black Kettle killing over 100, including Black Kettle.
1867
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Nebraska becomes the 37th state.
Union Pacific Railway enters Wyoming.
USA purchased Alaska for $ 7.2 million.
A. Johnson is charged with treason.
Indian Peace Commission established
Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek with the Plains Tribes
Canada becomes a Dominion.
First ship sails through the Suez canal.
France leaves Mexico, emperor executed.
J.S.Mill proposed suffrage for women before British Parliament. He
lost the vote.
• Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.
• Karl Marx published “The Capital” Vol. 1
The War of Red Cloud
• July 1865 – Battle of North Platt river – Lakota and Cheyenne cut off
travel on the Oregon trail and Bozeman trail.
• 1865 – Powder river expedition - $ 1 mil. Gen. Connor built Fort
Connor, later renamed to Fort Reno, Wyoming. Destroyed the
village of Arapaho chief Black Bear on Tongue River. Forced to
retreat to Fort Laramie.
• 1866 – Montana gold rush begins. Gov – t supports it by building
two more forts on the Bozeman trail – Fort Phil Kearney and Fort F.
C. Smith. Negotiations with Red Cloud in Fort Laramie – no result.
Red Cloud siege gen. Carrington at Ft. Phil Kearney and Crazy
Horse trapped and destroyed 81 soldiers under Cap. Fetterman.
• Frostbite and scurvy kill half of soldiers at during winter. Warriors
destroy the rail lines. Wagon Box Fight (1867).
• Treaty of Ft. Laramie, 1868. 3 forts abandoned, created Great
Sioux reservation, incl. Black Hills and all Wyoming and S Montana.
• 1870 – Red Cloud’s trip to Washington, DC.
The Railroads
Promontory Point, Utah, May
10, 1869
Settlement of the West (18701890)
Homesteads from public land
New tanning process 1870 and Destruction of the
Buffalo – 3.7 million killed from 1872 to 1874
The war to save the buffalo
Quanah Parker and the Comanche
• Son of Chief Pete Nocona and Cynthia Ann Parker.
• After 2 outbreaks of small pox and 1 of dysentery Comanche tribe
reduced from over 20 000 to less than 8 000 by 1850.
• Nov. 25,1864 – First Battle of Adobe Walls – Kiowa and Comanche
under Chiefs Tohausan, Santana and Satank repealed attack by Kit
Carson and retained control of Comancheria.
• By the end of 1865 they pushed back Texas settlement by 100 miles
• 1866 – US army reduced to 75 000 after the end of the Civil war,
8000 of them in Texas for Reconstruction, under W. T. Sherman.
• Oct. 21, 1867 – most South plains tribes sign the Medicine Lodge
Treaty and move to reservation near Fort Sill, Indian Territory. They
exchange 200 mil acres for 2.9 mil acres + promise of assistance.
1/3 of the Comanche under Quanah didn’t sign.
• By June 30, 1869 only 916 Comanche remained on the reservation.
Mackenzie takes control
• 1871 – Ranald S. Mackenzie given command of the 4th Cavalry. Oct.
10 – defeated at Blanco Canyon by Quanah.
• 1871 – commercial hunters enter the plains – Tom Nixon killed 3200
in 30 days, “Buffalo” Bill Cody killed 4280 in a year, Brick Bond killed
250 in a day, employed 15 skinners. 1 hide sold for $3.50.
• Sep. 29, 1872 – Mackenzie attacks and destroys by surprise
Comanche camp of Shaking Hand on the North Fork of Red River.
• Winter of 1873/74 – Free Comanche starve without buffalo.
• June 27, 1874 - Second Battle of Adobe Walls – Quanah with 250
warriors battles a camp of professional hunters without success.
• July 26, 1874 – President Grant placed reservations under military.
• Sep 28, 1874 - Battle of Palo Duro Canyon – Mackenzie killed 1400
horses, burned lodges and supplies. Most Comanche surrender.
• 1875 - Mackenzie appointed commander of Fort Sill. Feb., March,
May – Last Kiowa, Cheyenne and Comanche (Quanah) surrender.
The Black Hills War
• Summer of 1871 – Ely Parker forced to resign as Commissioner of
Indian Affairs. USA altered the Treaty of Ft. Laramie.
• 1872 - Yellowstone is designated as a National park.
• 1873 – Panic of 1873 – USA in recession.
• 1874 – G. A. Custer leads an expedition of 1000 to examine Black
Hills. News of gold are confirmed and a rush begins.
• May 1875 – Red Cloud and Spotted Tail lead a delegation to
Washington, meet with Grant, ask for USA to restrain miners. They
are offered $25 000 for the Black Hills + relocation. They refuse.
• Nov. 1875 – Grant orders gen. Sheridan, Crook, Terry and Gibbon
to invade the Grand Sioux reservation from 4 directions after the
deadline for surrender – Jan. 31, 1876.
• Feb. 8, 1876 – Gen. Sheridan starts the largest Indian war in history.
• June 17 – Crazy Horse wins at Rosebud against Crook.
Little Big Horn and beyond
• June 25, 1876 – Col. Custer, the 7th cavalry + auxiliary forces of
Major Reno and Cap. Benteen are annihilated by Sitting Bull, Crazy
Horse and Gall.
• Sep. 1876 – Crook reached Fort Robinson and retired.
• Oct. 1876 – Gen N. Miles and R. Mackenzie join the campaign.
• Nov. 1876 – Mackenzie Defeats Dull Knife, sends Northern
Cheyenne to Fort Sill reservation. Red Cloud arrested.
• Jan. 1877 – Miles fights Crazy Horse at Wolf Mountain.
• May 1877 – Crazy Horse surrenders, Gall and Sitting Bull in Canada
• Sep. 5, 1877 – Crazy Horse killed by a soldier while under arrest.
• Fall of 1878 – Northern Cheyenne Exodus end at Ft. Robinson.
• Jan. 1879 – Ft. Robinson Massacre, few Cheyenne left alive.
• 1880 – Gall returned from Canada and send to reservation.
• July 1881 – Sitting Bull surrendered at Ft. Buford.
Last resistance
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1871 – Camp Grant Massacre restarts the Apache wars.
1871-74 Apache chief Cochise fights Gen. Crook with some success
1872-73 Modoc war in California, tribe sent to Indian territory.
1875 – following the death of Cochise most Apache sent to San
Carlos, NM reservation or cross the border into Mexico.
1877 – Nez Perce War – Chief Joseph 1200 miles trek to Canada.
Surrounded at Bear Paw Mountain, 40 miles from the border they
fight for 5 days and surrender. 400 survivors sent to prison camp in
Ft. Leavenworth, KS. In 1879 relocated to Indian territory.
1879-1880 – Victorio’s war (Apache) in New Mexico.
1880-1881 – Nana continues Victorio’s war after his death.
1881-1886 – Geronimo leads the Apache in a guerilla war.
1890-91 – Ghost dance war. Sitting Bull murdered, Massacre at
Wounded Knee (Dec. 29, 1890, Spotted Elk).
“I shall fight no more, forever” Chief
Joseph Jr. of Nez Perce
Reservation life
Dawes Act 1887, amended 1891,
1898 and 1906
1. Each Indian family head be allotted a 160 acre farm out of
reservation lands. Single adults or orphans will get 80 acres.
• 2. The plots would be held in trust by the Government for 25 years;
• 3. Eligible Indians had four years to select their land; afterwards the
selection would be made for them by the Secretary of the Interior.
• 4. Each new land owner who abandoned tribal practices and
adopted the "habits of civilized life" would be granted American
citizenship. This is a policy of assimilation into American society.
• 5. "Surplus" reservation lands would be made available to sell.
• The Dawes Act, while well intentioned, did not benefit the Indians.
The lands they were assigned were poor and the concept of
"Americanization" led to a destruction of Indian culture and the
destruction of the traditional status of Indian women in tribal life.
Finally, as a result of the "surplus" land provision the Indians lost 90
million out of 140 million acres of reservation land.
• 1924 - Snyder Indian Citizenship Act - Granted American
citizenship to all Indians born in the United States. This applied to
about 1/3 of the Indian populations as the others had already
applied for citizenship.
The aftermath
• 1877 - President Rutherford B. Hayes in a message to
Congress said, "Many, if not most of our Indian wars
have had their origin in broken promises and acts of
injustice on our part."
• In 1881 Helen Hunt Jackson further helped awaken
white Americans to their shameful treatment of the
Indians through her book A Century of Dishonour.
• Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism and the White Man’s
Burden concepts used to attempt to justify the treatment
of native Americans.
• Some chiefs benefited from the new system and became
relatively wealthy ranchers or earned income by
appearances on Wild West Shows, writing memoirs or
posing for photographs with tourists.
• Most Native Americans remained in deep poverty,
several tribes became extinct.