A.P. US
Mods 6/7/8
Artem Kholodenko
0109
Notes for pgs. 551 – 557
Introduction
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Native Americans and
the Frontier
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Health Issues
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The Plains Indians
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Optimistic with hope, Americans created the greatest
migration in modern history, exploring ½ of the N.A.
continent
Small towns were set up, like Northfield, founded by John
W. North in 1855
Pre-war migration formed the rugged image of the
American frontier
By the end of the war a new generation was looking to
explore the land, while pushing Indians off their lands
Settlers moved trough the U.S. northwest
People wanted to profit no matter what the exploitation
cost would be, especially thinning that they were superior
to Indians
Success was not always met due to Indians resisting, and
weather conditions which were cold in winter and hot in
summer
By 1900 the fed. government was needed to
economically support development, along with east bank
and foreign investments, but people wanted to be selfreliant and independent
The trans-Mississippi west was occupied by 360,000
Indians when the settlers came
The 2 groups were Hopis and Zunis that had blended
with Hispanic conquerors centuries ago and maintained
their traditional ways of farming a herding
They worked with Mexicans rancheros who traded with
them and both groups were attacked by the Apaches and
Navajos
Armed and mounted warrior tribes were created with the
introduction of horses by the Spanish and guns by the
British
Mostly contact of Indians with others created disputes
and confrontations
Deceases that came with the whites continued to kill off
Indians in large quantities: smallpox, measles, and
diphtheria
By 1840 the Pawnees in NB reduced by 1/3 to 6,000
The CA tribes had the same experience after the 1849
gold rush
By mid-century the settlers’ disruption of Indian life
caught the public eye
The people who came to the Great Plains after 1850 had
no idea of the Indians traditions and lifestyle
Military defeat and massacres forced Indians into
reservations
Most Indians were removed and sent to bad lands by the
1890s
The Great Plain Indians lived in 2 sub-regions: the north
(Dakotas and MT to NB) were full of tribes who spoke
Sioux; in central & south the 5 Civilized Tribes driven
from the southeast in the 1830s lived
Diversity surrounded the tribes of the plains
Some farmed, while others hunted deer and bison
Profit in Buffalo Skins
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The Transformation of
Indian Life
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Department of the
Interior’s Bureau of
Indian Affairs
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Savage Behavior
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For all life revolved around the extended family and tribal
community
Kids were raised without physical punishment and clans
of families joined forces to hunt for food
Their religious traditions created the society and held it
together
Many of the tribes followed the buffalo migration, which
the hunted and utilized every part of from meat to skin
Unlike the Pawnees, who carefully managed their herd
supply, other tribes began to massively hunt the animals
for their fur that was popular for clothing at the time
Polygamy began to appear due to the need of women to
work the furs into products
William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody killed 4,300 buffalo in a
year to feed the crews building the Union Pacific railroad
in 1867-68
Army commanders wanted to kill the herds to
undermined the resisting Indians
Between 1872-75 9mil. buffalo were killed and only for
their skins
Not only was Indian way of life destroyed by mass
hunting, they were being pushed off their lands by the
settlers
From 1837 24mil. acres of land were ceded by the tribes
to the federal government in a series of treaties
Under this department 2 large reservations were
established in Minnesota Territory and annual support
was promised to the tribes
When the Dakota Sioux were not paid and supplied on
time they returned to their hunting grounds
They rose up in Aug. 1862 killing 500 white settlers
The US army helped crush the rebellion, hanging 38
Indians
The Sioux in MN were cut from 7,000 to 374
By 1860s the government abandoned treating the west
as Indian land and decided to make a number of small
reservations
Some just accepted their fate; others uselessly fought
From 1860s – 1880s the remaining tribes making up
100,000 people fought the US army for the west
The Indians began to raid gold rushers in Colorado in
1859, but later sued for peace to be attacked by the
militia, which scalped and killed the surrendering women
and children
Another time 79 whites under Captain William J.
Fetterman were lured and killed by Indians
The issue of Indians was reopened again
In response congress halted the construction of the
Bozerman Trail and sent in a peace commission to end
fighting and set aside 2 districts
Congress also hoped the tribes would convert to
Christianity
The plan began to work as representatives of tribes
More Attacks
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Board of Indian
Commissioners
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Red River War
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signed a treaty at Medicine Lodge Creek, KS and OK
The next year some Sioux agreed to move
Indians still were dissatisfied with the treaties and many
refused to move to the reservations or to stay once there
In Aug. 1868 Indians war parties raided frontier
settlements and soldiers answered without figuring out
who did the attacks and who didn’t
Formed in 1869, it was suppose to mold life on
reservations along lines that the reformers thought
desirable, with the majority being Protestant
The board wanted to break the Indian nomadic tradition
and force them to remain on reservations under agent
supervision
Problems arose as policies were trying to be implemented
The government got tired of the problems and appointed
their own agents for the job
The Indians struck back in 1870s by raiding the Adobe
Walls trading post in TX panhandle in 1874 starting the
Red River War
In the conflict troops slaughtered 100 Cheyenne fugitives
near the Sappa R. in KS and 74 of them sent to a FL
reservation
Apaches fought a guerrilla war until their leader,
Geronimo, surrendered in 1886