Unit 6:Westward Expansion
and the Industrial Age
(1865 – 1900)
Westward Expansion and the
American Indians (1865-1900)
U.S. Government Breaks Many
Promises with Native Americans
1830’s – President Andrew Jackson’s First Great
Removal (The Trail of Tears) forced Indians in East to
land west of the Mississippi.
 By the end of the Civil War, all surviving Native
Americans, about 250,000 total, were living on the
Plains and in the West.
 They were promised this land forever? Manifest
Destiny (1840s) and white expansion in the 1850s-60s
weakened this promise as gold and silver were
discovered on their lands.

Native American Life & Culture Threatened
 In
the 1860s, the US adopted a policy of
reservations – poor tracts of federal lands –
scattered throughout the West. By 1900,
virtually all were forced onto these tracts.
 Many would only go there after they were
convinced they could not win the war against
the U.S.
 Moreover, disease and destruction of the
buffalo add to Indian poverty and misery.
The “Indian Wars” Begin
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1862 – Sioux in E. MN attacked
white settlements & tribe
pushed into Dakotas.
Other Plains tribes stepped up
attacks on stage lines & white
settlements.
Fall 1864 – Col. John
Chivington murdered an
unarmed band of Cheyenne and
Arapaho at Sand Creek
Massacre in Colorado.
After the Civil War, U.S. sends
1000s of soldiers West to
protect white interests.
Attempts at Peace Fail
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1866 – U.S. government
announced plan to build road
through Sioux lands in MN.
Captain William Fetterman
and 100+ U.S. soldiers
murdered by Red Cloud and
Sioux in Fetterman Massacre.
1868 – Ft. Laramie, WY
Treaty said US would not
build road & would leave 3
forts if Sioux would live on
reservation with support from
federal government.
Both sides violated the treaty.
Sitting Bull and the Fall of the Sioux
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Black Hills Gold Rush of 1875 drew
more whites into Dakotas.
U.S. troops sent to help as Sioux chiefs
Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse organized to
drive them out.
June 25-26, 1876 – General George
Armstrong Custer went ahead of the
main force to the Little Bighorn River in
MT. 2000 Sioux killed Custer and 267
troops at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Custer's Last Stand (12 min)
This would be the last victory vs. US
forces for Indians on the Plains.
Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce
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Pacific N.W. tribe of Wallowa
Valley, OR; land wanted by white
farmers
1876-77 Joseph was forced to retreat
on a 1100 mile march for Canada
He was stopped Sept. 1877 only 40
miles from Canada at Big Hole
Basin, MT
Joseph surrendered Oct. 5th, 1877 &
tribe was banished to reservation in
Indian Territory in OK
Sioux Chief Crazy Horse was
murdered 1 month earlier to the day
by US soldier while in captivity.
The Indian Wars Come to an End
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Ghost Dance Movement – Sioux
ritual preached that whites
would disappear & buffalo
would return to the Plains.
Dec. 1890 –Sitting Bull arrested
& murdered as he was held
responsible.
100+ Sioux killed at Massacre
of Wounded Knee (Dec. 1890)
and ended the Ghost Dance
War
This was the last major sad
event in the Indian Wars as
their fate was sealed.
Native American Culture Destroyed
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1860 – 13 million buffalo to 1000 est. in 1900!
Surviving Native Americans force onto reservations
1881 – Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor spawned
the “Indian Rights” movement
Criminal Code of 1884 – Indians prohibited from practicing
tribal religions (Ghost Dance Movement led to Wounded Knee
Massacre (1890)
Dawes Severalty Act (1887) gave plots of land to Native
American families headed by a male, but Indians did not want
to farm. The goal was assimilation.
Carlisle Indian Industrial School (1879) – PA boarding school
for Native Americans that required them to learn English and
abandon their culture and religion. Its goal too was
assimilation.
Exit Slip – The Indian Wars
1.
2.
3.
4.
Poor tracts of land set aside for Native Americans are called
_________.
a. Reservations b. Bad Lands c. Plantations
The last major victory for the Plains Indians against U.S.
military forces was won at __________, Montana in June
1876.
a. Butte b. Little Round Top c. Little Big Horn
The goal of the Dawes Act of 1887 regarding Native
Americans was __________.
a. Assessment b. Accommodation c. Assimilation
The last major conflict between Native Americans and U.S.
forces occurred at _________, South Dakota in 1890.
a. Lake Oahe b. Wounded Knee c. Sand Creek
Railroads Open the West!
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Pacific Railway Act (1862)
The Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
Omaha, NE to Sacramento, CA
Gov’t made loans and gave land grants
for miles of track laid
2-5 miles of track per day
Eur. Immigrants, Chinese, Af.
Americans helped
May 10, 1869 – Promontory Point, UT
By 1900 – 5 Transcontinental RRs
across the West!
The Mining Industry
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CA Gold Rush of 1849, Black
Hills, SD 1864, & Comstock ,
NV 1859
Lone miners or prospectors
panning for Gold
1870s – commercial mining =
big business
“Boomtowns” like Helena, MT,
Denver, CO, & Tombstone, AZ
while others became “Ghost
Towns”
Vigilante Justice often
prevailed!
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
October 26, 1881
Cowboys and Ranching
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Frederic Remington
“Stampede” - 1908
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Texas Longhorns multiplied
under the open range system.
Indian removal and killing of
buffalo opened land for cattle.
Cowboys were hired in the
spring to round up the cattle in
TX, MT, and CO and drive
them to railheads in the North.
1865 – Cattle in TX $3-$5 each
could bring $30+ in the East.
Long Drives covered 100s of
miles and was dirty and
dangerous work. Sometimes 18
hours a day.
Cow Towns and Railheads
Railroads ran East to
West and Cattle Trails
typically ran North to
South.
 “Cow Towns” sprang up
where the two converged
or at stopping points.
 Ft. Worth, TX, Abilene
& Dodge City, KN
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The Homestead Act of 1862
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Offered 160 acres of public
land if:
21 years-old and head of
family
Any U.S. citizen or
immigrant that filed & paid
a $10.00 fee
Build house/ 6 Mo./Yr. a
resident
Farm plot for 5 years
By 1900, 600 K claims for
80 M acres of land
The Exodusters
50,000-plus African
Americans went West
 Led by Benjamin “Pap”
Singleton
 Life was hard, but many
adapted and escaped the
racial hatred and
violence of the South

Life on the Plains Was Difficult
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Open water supplies carried
typhoid or “prairie fever” – helped
by well-digging technology after
1880s
Hard labor for men & women
High infant mortality rate
Extreme heat (drought), cold,
weather
Plagues of grasshoppers & locusts
Loneliness
No money until crops came in
Cooperation among families was
common
Farming on the Plains
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Not a farmers paradise
due to the elements1
New farm machinery
(John Deere’s steel plows,
steam tractors, reapers,
and combines)
Dry weather crops = Dry
farming (wheat, oats, etc.)
Small farmers faced debt
The Closing of the Frontier
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1889 Oklahoma Land Rush
1890 Census = Frontier Settled and Closed
Joseph Glidden (1874) invented “barbed
wire” , oversupply of beef, harsh winters &
droughts killed cattle, hay crops produced
ended era of the cowboy and long drive.
How wild was the West???
Were settlers and cowboys were only white
males?
Outlaw Myths?
Who is this???
Exit Slip – Railroads, Miners,
Ranchers, and Farmers
1.
2.
3.
4.
T or F: Successful mining towns were often called ghost
towns.
T or F: Prior to the 1860s, longhorn cattle roamed wild on
the Western plains.
T or F: Homesteaders often built homes of sod because
wood was scarce and too expensive to transport.
T or F: Since fewer than 1,000 African-Americans
migrated west after the Civil War it is safe to say that the
settlers who did were predominantly white.