American West
GCSE
History Revision
All notes taken from BBC Bitesize website which
you can download directly from the BBC website.
BBC Bitesize Notes
The development of cattle
ranching
Cowboys and cattle ranchers were the first group of
European settlers to move permanently onto the Great
Plains. They did so, to a degree, by adopting or
copying many of the ways of the Native Americans.
So … why and how did cattle ranching develop on the
Great Plains?
BBC Bitesize Notes
Cattle ranching - a brief history
1820-1865: Origins in Texas
•
•
•
Ranching first started in Texas,
with ranches mostly manned by
Mexican cowboys called
vaqueros.
In 1836 Texan ranchers drove
many Mexicans out, and
claimed the cattle left behind.
The Civil War started in 1861,
and Texans went off to fight.
The cattle roamed free as huge
herds grew up. On returning
home, the Texans started
rounding them up and driving
them to sell in places such as
New Orleans and California.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1865-1870: The 'long drives' &
first 'open range' ranch
•
•
•
•
Great demand for beef in the north of the USA,
the Texans drove their cattle north on a long drive
to Sedalia in Missouri, where they were loaded
onto trains for Chicago.
Two Texas ranchers, Charles Goodnight and
Oliver Loving, pioneered a second trail, to
Denver in Colorado, where they sold their cattle to
gold miners.
In 1868, a rancher named John Iliff (the 'cattleking of the northern plains') won the contract to
supply beef to the Sioux, who had been forced
onto a reservation in the Black Hills.
A safer drive (the Chisholm Trail) was established
to Abilene. This was set up by Joseph McCoy as
a 'cow-town', with railroad stockyards (and
numerous saloons where the cowboys could
spend their wages). John Iliff was the first
rancher to set up an 'open range' ranch - in
Wyoming in 1867.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1870-1885: The 'open range'
•
•
•
•
There were huge areas of 'open
range' - unfenced land which
was free for anyone to use.
Charles Goodnight is reputed to
have invented the crazy quilt
(by buying small patches of land
here and there over an area, he
could effectively control all of it).
Refrigeration cars on trains
opened a world-wide market for
beef.
By 1885, just 35 cattle-barons
owned 8 million hectares of
range, and owned perhaps 1.5
million cattle.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1885-1890: The end of the
'open range'
•
•
•
Ranchers had over-grazed the plains.
Overstocking had also led to a fall in
prices.
In spring 1886 there was a drought,
followed by a scorching hot summer
(up to 43°C). This was followed by a
winter storm in January 1887, in which
the temperature dropped to -43°C. Half
the cattle on the plains died in a single
year.
More and more homesteaders were
coming onto the plains, and fencing off
their farms with barbed wire
(patented in 1874).
BBC Bitesize Notes
Practice Question - 'The railroads were the critical factor in
the development of cattle ranching.‘ Discuss
List all the ways the railroads affected the development of cattle
ranching.
Think about the arguments and facts you would use to describe:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Why cattle ranching developed in Texas?
How and why cattle ranching spread from Texas further into the
Great Plains?
Who the cattle pioneers were?
Why cattle trails and 'cow towns' were set up in the 1860s?
How cattle ranching was affected by the railroads?
Why the 'open range' had come to an end by the 1890s?
BBC Bitesize Notes
Suggested answers
The railroads affect the development of cattle ranching …
•
•
•
•
•
In 1865-1870 beef was transported north on the railroad
from Sedalia, causing the opening up of Chicago and
the other northern markets.
The long drives were developed solely to get the cattle
to the railroads.
The development of 'cow-towns' such as Abilene were
to allow the safe loading of cattle onto the railroads.
In 1870-1885, refrigeration cars on trains opened a
world-wide market for beef.
After 1885 many homesteaders, who eventually
destroyed ranching, were brought to the West on the
railroads.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Why cattle ranching developed
on the Great Plains?
Vast fortunes were made for a while out of
cattle ranching on the Great Plains.
The industry was based on a combination of
factors that made it highly profitable, though
unfortunately for the cattle barons the
bonanza did not last for ever.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Key factors in the development
of the cattle industry
The underlying factor in the development
of cattle ranching was the free availability
of three crucial natural products:
• wild cattle
• wild horses
• grass
BBC Bitesize Notes
• These factors, together with a huge and growing
market for beef in the north, meant that ranching
became a good way to make a living.
• For ranching to work, several things had to be in
place. The railroads were a critical factor in the
development of cattle ranching - without them the
cattle would not have reached the marketplace. The
long drives (which took the cattle to the railroads),
cow-towns and stockyards (where the cattle were
loaded onto the trains) were also all vital in getting
the product to market.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Cowboys
The cowboys were another
essential ingredient - without
their skills nothing,
particularly the long drives,
would have been
possible.
Engraving by GH Delorme, 1892,
showing Abilene cattle trail from
Texas, on the way to markets in
the north
BBC Bitesize Notes
Other factors added weight to
the basic elements
• Range rights and the invention of crazy quilt
allowed ranchers to acquire huge areas of land very
cheaply.
• Skilful breeding (the development of heavier cattle,
which were still tough enough to survive on the
plains) increased the ranchers' profits.
• Also important for profits was the defeat of the
rustlers and the Indians (which allowed ranchers to
trade unhindered).
• Finally there was publicity - which encouraged
people to take up cattle ranching.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight had a huge effect on the history of cattle ranching:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
He was one of the original Texas ranchers, starting as a rancher in 1856.
He was the first to recognise and exploit the huge and growing market for
beef in the mining towns of Wyoming.
He pioneered the 'long drive' (the Goodnight-Loving Trail).
He helped to develop the cowboys' skills on the long drives.
Range rights: Goodnight is reputed to have invented the technique he called
the crazy quilt.
By crossing the Texas Longhorn with British Herefords, Goodnight was able to
breed heavier cattle, which were still tough enough to survive on the plains.
He made a truce with a famous local rustler, 'Dutch Henry', then helped to form
the Panhandle Stock Association, which drove out rustlers (especially Billy
the Kid, who was killed in 1881).
James Brisbin's book about Goodnight - 'How to Get Rich on the Plains' encouraged many other people to take up cattle ranching.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Revision preparation
Identify eight factors that helped cattle ranching develop on
the plains.
Think about the arguments and facts you would use to
explain:
1.
2.
3.
Why cattle ranching developed in Texas.
How cattle ranching was affected by the railroads.
Whether the railroads or Charles Goodnight had the
greater impact on the development of cattle ranching.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Suggested answers
Eight factors that helped cattle ranching develop include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
three essential natural products for the task
a growing market
'long drives' and 'cow-towns'
cowboys
range rights
skilful cattle breeding
the defeat of rustlers
Charles Goodnight
BBC Bitesize Notes
Who were the cowboys?
When cattle ranching declined in importance,
many cowboys ended up working as extras on
cowboy films! Hollywood films, cowboy novels and,
later, TV programmes such as 'Bonanza',
glamorised the cowboys, and made them seem like
heroes.
Was this a true reflection of genuine cowboys?
BBC Bitesize Notes
The real cowboys
• The Hollywood image of cowboys was
not realistic. Many real cowboys were
black ex-slaves, whereas the
Hollywood heroes were always white.
Also, after the hardships of the long
drive, it seems unlikely that many
genuine cowboys were specially goodlooking!
• They were, however, highly skilled.
They could ride, shoot, lasso, wrangle,
round up, herd, cross rivers, 'turn'
stampedes, scout, keep watch and
drive off rustlers - all in rain, hail and
burning sun.
Nat Love, African American cowboy, c.1876
BBC Bitesize Notes
Life as a cowboy
• The life of a cowboy followed the seasons:
• In winter they hung round the ranch, or lived
in 'line camps', taking daily rides to stop the
cattle 'drifting' onto the open plain.
• In spring, they went 'bog-riding' to haul out
'mired' cows, and then went on the 'round-up'.
• In summer, they went on the trail drives to
market.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Cowboys' lives were similar in many ways to the
lives of Native Americans:
• They were entirely dependent on the natural products of the
Great Plains.
• They moved around (though the cowboys were herding cattle,
whereas the Native Americans were following the buffalo).
• They cared for the cattle (eg by bog-riding and from line-camps)
in a way similar to the way Native American dog-soldiers cared
for the buffalo.
• Their food and clothing was derived from cattle (beef and
leather).
• The round-up was a collective, community event similar in
many ways to a buffalo hunt.
• Cowboys developed a system of long-range signals, such as
waving a hat, in much the same way as the Native Americans
used smoke signals.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Real life cowboys had to
endure numerous hardships:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
freezing winter cold in the line camps
danger of being trampled (especially in a
stampede)
danger of drowning (crossing rivers)
rain, hail and burning sun on the long drive
having to stay awake all night on guard duty on
the long drive
having to ride 'drag' on the long drive (dust from
the herd)
attacks from Native American warriors on the long
drive
attacks from rustlers
BBC Bitesize Notes
The Homesteaders - Moving to
the Great Plains
Setting up home on the Plains was not an easy
option for those considering a new start in life
in the middle of the 19th century. But there
were many desperate (or adventurous) people
prepared to overlook the difficulties.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Who settled the Great Plains?
Before 1860, few people moved west to try to
settle on the Great Plains. The poor soil and
harsh climate discouraged them (along with the
fact that the Plains were officially 'Indian
territory'), land was expensive to buy, and
anybody wanting to go west faced a long,
dangerous and uncomfortable journey.
After 1865, thousands of settlers moved onto
the Plains.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Who settled on the Plains? continued
• Freed slaves went there to start a new life as
freemen, or to escape economic problems after the
Civil War.
• European immigrants flooded onto the Great
Plains, seeking political or religious freedom, or
simply to escape poverty in their own country.
• Younger sons from the eastern seaboard - where
the population was growing and land was becoming
more expensive - went because it was a chance to
own their own land.
• They were followed by other Americans - such as
tradesmen and government officials - who hoped to
make their living from the farmers who had moved
onto the Plains.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Factors encouraging people to
go West
1.
2.



The Homestead Act, 1862
This allowed homesteaders to claim 160 acres of land free if they
lived and worked on it for five years. The prospect of free land was
very attractive to people who could never have afforded a farm back
home.
Railroads
In order to encourage the railroad companies to build the
transcontinental railways, the government gave them a two-mile
stretch of land either side of the railroad - part of the companies' profit
came from selling this land. Therefore they launched a massive sales
campaign, offering a 'settlement package', which included:
a safe, cheap and speedy journey west
temporary accommodation in 'hotels' until the families had built their
own home
other attractions such as schools, churches and no taxes for five
years
BBC Bitesize Notes
Factors continued ..
3.
Manifest destiny
The idea grew up that white Americans were superior, and
that it was America's manifest destiny (obvious fate) to
expand and encourage 'the American way of life' on the Great
Plains. The writer Horace Greeley, who popularised this idea,
advised Americans: 'Go West, young man'.
4.
Tall tales
Once the population of an area reached 60,000, it could apply
to become a state of the USA. Local governments therefore
encouraged publicity campaigns which claimed (for example)
that farmers in the west could grow pumpkins as big as barns
and maize as tall as telegraph poles. Many people moved
west thinking they would make a fortune
BBC Bitesize Notes
Myth of the Great Plains
• Henry Worrall was a Kansas
vine-grower and artist, who
painted this picture to
contradict claims that
Kansas was a place of
drought.
• This painting shows farmers
harvesting huge grapes,
melons, maize, pumpkins
and parsnips. It was used in
railroad company pamphlets
and became 'the biggest
single advertisement Kansas
had ever had.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Revision preparation
Make spidergrams to show the four reasons people did not settle
on the Plains before 1865, four kinds of person who went to live
on the Plains after 1865 and four factors encouraging people onto
the Plains
As part of your revision, think about the arguments and facts you would
use to explain:
1. Why people settled and stayed in the West.
2. Why people moved west to become homesteaders in the late 1860s
and 1870s.
3. Which of the following was the most important factor in opening up the
West:
 the railroad and the railroad companies,
 federal and state government actions,
 the belief in 'manifest destiny' and the hopes and aspirations of the
settlers,
 the Homestead Act of 1862.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Homesteaders' problems
Life was very tough for early settlers and
homesteaders on the Great Plains - how did
they cope with the harsh conditions?
BBC Bitesize Notes
Problems and solutions
Early settlers and
homesteader on the Plains
faced huge problems. The
burden of many of these fell
on the women, whose lives
were burdensome and
Unpleasant.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions
Building a house
There was little wood
to build log cabins.
Settlers built 'sod
houses', while they
lived out of doors –
people did their
cooking on an open
fire.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions
Dirt and disease
Outdoor toilets and
open wells.
The sod houses leaked,
and fleas and bedbugs
lived in them 'by the
million'.
It was impossible to
disinfect the floor.
As a result the death rate,
especially from diphtheria,
was high.
A 'good thick coat of
whitewash' killed
bedbugs.
'A layer of clay'
stopped leaks.
Homesteaders
eventually built more
modern houses.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions
Housework
There was no wood for
fuel, and no shops to
buy items such as
candles and soap.
A typical household had
only two buckets, some
crockery and one cracked
cup. There was no water
and little food.
A travelling shoe-maker or
tinker might pass through who
would provide or mend
household items, but usually
families just had to make do.
The women collected 'buffalo
chips' for fuel, stoked the stove,
and made their own candles
and soap.
'I have often wondered how my
mother stood it', wrote an early
settler.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions
Isolation
No doctors or
midwives.
No social life
'because of the
distances between
farmhouses'. In the
winter families were
shut in 'and longed
for spring'.
People had to make
the most of any trip to
their nearest town,
where the women
talked of the harvest
and the men smoked
corncob pipes and
talked politics.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions
Law and order
Local government
was non-existent,
and some early
lawmen (such as
Henry Plummer)
were worse than the
bandits.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Law courts and
sheriffs such as
Wyatt Earp slowly
established law
and order.
Answer preparation
As part of your revision, think about the arguments
and facts you would use to explain:
1. What life was like for the early
homesteaders?
2. What problems faced the
homesteaders, and how they
overcame them?
3. What life was like for women in the
early homesteads?
BBC Bitesize Notes
Farmers' problems in the West
Life on the Plains was really tough for the
first European farmers there. But they were
determined to survive, and found ingenious
answers to many of the problems that faced
them.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Farmers - Problems and solutions
Farming
A hard crust on the
soil made it hard to
start farming.
Teams of 'sodbusters'
using steel ploughs did
the first ploughing.
Farmers could not
afford a plough or
machines.
There were not enough
workers.
After 1880, thresher
teams travelled around
following the harvest.
Farmers could hire them
for just a few days.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Farmers – Problems and solutions
Drought
There was only 38cm
of rainfall in a year,
and the hot summers
evaporated dampness
from the land. In the
1860s there were
terrible droughts,
followed by fires.
The well driller and
windpump allowed deep
wells to be dug, which
gave water. New methods
of dry farming were
invented (the 'Turkey Red'
variety of wheat was
imported from Russia, and
farmers put a layer of dust
on the soil after rain,
which stopped evaporation).
BBC Bitesize Notes
Farmers – Problems and solutions
Food
Farmers could not
grow enough on
their farms to feed a
family.
The government
realised that 160 acres
was not enough to
sustain people. The
Timber Culture Act of
1873 gave farmers
another 160 free acres
if they grew some trees.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Farmers - Problems and Solutions
Fences
Lack of wood for
fencing meant farmers
could not keep cattle
off their crops. This led
to trouble with the
cattlemen.
Barbed wire
(patented by Joseph
Glidden in 1874)
solved the problem
of fencing.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Farmers – Problems and Solutions
Insect pests
Settlers tried to harvest
the crops before the
grasshoppers came. They
tried to kill them, but gave
up, 'weary and dispirited'.
In the 1870s,
grasshopper plagues
stripped the cornstalks
‘naked as beanpoles'
and sent pregnant
women insane.
Colorado beetle destroyed
potato crops.
The government raised
relief funds. Modern
insecticides solved this
problem.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Farmers – Problems and Solutions
Law and Order
Rival settlers
- Bandits
- Renegade Native
Americans
Law courts and
sheriffs such as Wyatt
Earp slowly
established law and
order
- Vigilante cattlemen
BBC Bitesize Notes
Source analysis and answer
preparation
• See how many
problems you can
spot facing the
homesteader in
Source A.
• Relate each of the
problems in the source
to the problems.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Answer preparation
Think about the arguments and facts you would use to
explain:
1. Why farmers were able to settle on the
Great Plains.
2. How homesteaders reacted to the many
problems facing them on the Plains.
3. What life was like for the first farmers on the
Plains.
4. How important the Timber Culture Act of
1873 was, in helping homesteaders to settle
on the Plains.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Suggested answers
• farmers struggling to use hoes and pick axes
(problem 1: farming on hard soil)
• sun and sparse vegetation (problem 2: drought)
• no trees (problem 3: food)
• few fences (problem 4: fences)
• Colorado beetle (problem 5: insect pests)
• grasshoppers (problem 5: insect pests)
• Native Americans (problem 6: law and order)
• bandits (problem 6: law and order)
BBC Bitesize Notes
Problems of law and order
The first settlers of the American West had to
be extremely tough to survive, so law and
order was a rough and ready business in the
newly settled territories.
Things started to improve as more people
arrived, and federal territories became fully
fledged American states.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Federal territory
• At first, newly-occupied land on the
Plains was federal territory (it
belonged to the US government) and
was administered by a governor, three
judges and a US marshal.
• When the area reached a population of
5,000, it became a territory, with - in
addition - locally elected sheriffs, who
could deal with local criminals. New
territories were notoriously lawless.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Township of Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881
The gunfight at the OK Corral took place near here on 26
October 1881
• Miners in the mining
towns set up miners'
courts, which settled local
matters such as disputed
claims, but were
powerless to stop gangs
of outlaws or rustlers.
• In many areas, local
citizens set up vigilante
groups, who dished out
summary justice to people
suspected of crimes
BBC Bitesize Notes
Federal territory continued …
• When the population reached 60,000, the territory
became a state, with its own laws, government and
finances, although there was still a US marshal with
responsibility for criminals who broke federal laws.
Slowly, helped by improved communications (for
instance the telegraph), law and order was
established.
• Among the lawmen who helped achieve this were
Pat Garrett (who shot Billy the Kid) and Wyatt
Earp (famous for his shoot-out with the Clanton
gang at the OK Corral).
BBC Bitesize Notes
Nine problems of law and
order in the West
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Distance (difficult to cover the large areas and isolated communities of the
West)
Poverty and harsh conditions (people were prepared to resort to desperate
measures)
More men than women (no calming influence; prostitution)
Different races (differences of language and culture led to there being little
sense of a united community)
Culture of violence (everyone carried guns, and sorted out problems by
using violence)
Land claims and gold (arguments over land ownership; greed, gamblers,
criminals)
Cattle barons (fear of reprisal; 'respectable' citizens were scared to speak
out; juries could be bribed and were often biased)
Poor court system (judges often had poor knowledge of law; courts often
gave unfair verdicts; lack of convictions)
Vigilantes (often as much a problem as the criminals)
BBC Bitesize Notes
Answer preparation
As part of your revision, think about the arguments and
facts you would use to explain:
1. What the structure of government was
on the Plains.
2. Why law and order was a problem on
the Great Plains.
3. What ways were used to try to solve
the problems of law and order.
4. How successfully law and order was
established on the Plains.
BBC Bitesize Notes
The Johnson County War
(Wyoming) 1892
The first farmers on the Plains clashed with
the cattle barons who had their ranches there.
There were many disputes, particularly over
fencing and waterholes, leading to a series of
clashes known as the range wars.
The most famous confrontation was the
Johnson County War.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Events of the Johnson County War Part 1
• Governor Barber of
Wyoming supported
the cattlemen, who said
homesteaders
('nesters') were rustling
(stealing) their cattle.
• The sheriff of Buffalo
(Red Angus) supported
the homesteaders, who
said the cattle barons
were stealing their land.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Events of the Johnson County War Part 2
• The cattlemen regularly
caught and hanged
local homesteaders.
• Among those they
hanged were Ella
Watson and Jim
Averill (a poor local
couple), and nine
trappers who were out
hunting wolves.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Events of the Johnson County War Part 3
• The cattlemen assembled a
list of 70 rustlers they wanted
killed. In spring 1892 they
hired a lynching party of 43
cattlemen (including 20 hired
gunmen).
• The lynching party attacked a
ranch known as the KC
ranch. They killed Nick Ray
and his partner Nate
Chapman, who was roundup
foreman of the local Northern
Wyoming Farmers & Stock
Growers Association.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Events of the Johnson County War Part 4
• In response, Red Angus
raised a posse of 319
men, who rode out and
trapped the cattlemen
at a ranch called the TA.
• The cattlemen were
eventually rescued by
the Army cavalry.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Events of the Johnson County War Part 5
• The cattlemen were
charged with
murder. They bribed
the jury and the
case was dropped.
Nevertheless, the
war marked the end
of the power of the
cattlemen.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Answer preparation
As part of your revision, think about the arguments and
facts you would use to explain:
1. Why cattlemen and homesteaders
clashed on the Great Plains.
2. What the problems were that hindered
the establishment of law and order on
the Plains.
3. Who won the Johnson County War,
and what the main events of that war
were.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Struggle for the Plains
The struggle for the Plains was an unequal
one, with the US government putting great
pressure on Native Americans. They put up a
vigorous resistance, but their way of life was
doomed.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Main events in the struggle for
the Plains
• 1803-1851:
The Permanent
Indian Frontier
BBC Bitesize Notes
Policy
Pressures on
Native Americans
Results
• In 1803, the US government
purchased Louisiana from the
French. The Indian Removal Act
of 1830 forced all Native
Americans in the eastern United
States (eg Cherokee, Seminole) to
go there (the Trail of Tears).
• First settler trails across Plains to
the West - Oregon Trail (1841),
Mormon Trail (1846), California
Trail (to the goldfields, 1849).
• First skirmishes between Native
and white Americans.
BBC Bitesize Notes
• 1851-1867:
Concentration
of Native
American land
BBC Bitesize Notes
• In the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, the US
government agreed that large areas of land should
belong to Native American tribes 'for all time' (eg
the Sioux were given the Black Hills of Dakota).
Pressures on Native• Gold was discovered in Colorado (1859).
The first cattle drives were opened up (eg the
Americans
Goodnight-Loving Trail, 1866).
The Pony Express and a regular stagecoach
service to California started up.
• Indian wars of 1860-1867
Results
• Little Crow's war (1860-61)
• Massacre of Sand Creek by Chivington's 3rd
Colorado Volunteers (1864)
• Red Cloud led the Sioux in a successful war
against the US (1866-7). During this war the
Fetterman massacre (1866) occurred, in which 80
US cavalry troopers died.
Policy
BBC Bitesize Notes
• 1867-1875:
Native
Americans on
small
reservations
BBC Bitesize Notes
• In the Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867) the southern
plains tribes agreed to move to Oklahoma.
In the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) Red Cloud
realised he could never defeat the US permanently,
and the Sioux agreed to move onto a small reservation.
The US government promised to supply food and
medicine.
Pressures on Native • Railroads.
Cow towns and cattle ranching.
Americans
Gold was discovered in the Black Hills.
Many white Americans wanted to exterminate the
Native Americans.
Slaughter of the buffalo.
The US government broke its promises of 1868, and
supplies were inadequate.
• Indian wars of 1875-85
Results
• Custer and his army were wiped out at the battle of
Little Bighorn (1876). Custer's Avengers swelled the US
Army, and superior US numbers, technology and winter
campaignsBBC
forced
the Sioux to surrender.
Bitesize Notes
Policy
• 1885:
Opening up
Native
American
territory
BBC Bitesize Notes
Policy
Result
• The US government made Native
American territory available to
white settlers (eg the Oklahoma
Land Run, 1889).
Homesteaders arrived.
The Native Americans' own law
courts were abolished. The Native
Americans had to seek justice in
the white man's court.
• End of the Native American way of
life.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Answer preparation
As part of your revision, think about the arguments and
facts you would use to explain:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
How the policy of the American government
towards the Indians changed between 1803 and
1890.
Why the policy of the American government
towards the Indians changed so often between
1803 and 1890.
What the consequences were of the changes in
policy of the American government towards the
Plains Indians.
What the causes of the Plains wars were.
What the consequences of the Plains wars were.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Conflict on the Plains
The harsh conditions of the Great Plains meant that
both the new settlers and the Native Americans had
to struggle to survive, and they fought hard against
anyone who threatened their way of life.
There was certainly little understanding between
the various sides in the conflict, making it hard to
distinguish between 'goodies' and 'baddies'.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Looking at the conflict
There a number of ways you can look at the conflict on the Plains.
• It is possible to see the conflict as a clash of cultures. White Americans did not
understand the Native Americans' way of life. Consequently, they distrusted and feared
them, and could believe anything (including torture and deceit) of a people they did not
understand. Conversely, the Native Americans felt that white Americans were devils
who ruined the earth. Differences of culture caused them to hate and despise each
other, and led to war.
• The wars might be seen as the result of racism.The white settlers believed that the
Native Americans were inferior. They felt justified in saying that 'complete extermination
is our motto', and in slaughtering the buffalo to starve the Native Americans to death. In
1864, Colonel Chivington justified the massacre at Sand Creek by saying: 'Kill them all,
big and little: nits make lice'. Faced by an attitude of genocide, Native Americans had
nothing to lose - as the Sioux Chief Gall said: 'You fought me and I had to fight back'.
• It could be argued that war broke out simply because the white men wanted the Great
Plains - firstly to cross, then for gold, then for cattle and then for farming. Many white
Americans believed that it was their manifest destiny to take over the Plains. They
took the land that Native Americans believed belonged to everyone.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Bad behaviour
However, bad behaviour on both sides added to the
confrontation.
• The US government regularly broke its treaty
promises - as the Sioux Chief Gall said: 'If we make
peace, you will not keep it'.
• Meanwhile, some Native Americans wanted war. Early
travellers on the Plains were robbed and murdered. And
when some Native Americans made peace with the US
government, others would stay out on the warpath - white
Americans could not understand that the chiefs had no
power to make their warriors obey.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Map showing major battles between white and Native Americans
BBC Bitesize Notes
Negotiation to Extermination
In 1866, a group of Native Americans wiped
out a unit of US cavalry (the Fetterman
Massacre), and events like this, and the defeat
at Little Bighorn (1876), made the white
Americans determined to win the war.
BBC Bitesize Notes
White Americans attitudes to ..
Race and Red skin
White Americans regarded Native (and black)
Americans as subhuman. Horace Greeley wrote
that: '...their wars, treaties, habitations, crafts,
comforts, all belong to the very lowest ages of
human existence'. President Jefferson wrote
that they were: '...backward in civilisation like
beasts'.
BBC Bitesize Notes
White Americans Attitudes to ..
Adapted to the Plains
(Nomadic, Tipis, Leisure crafts and Acceptance)
White Americans demanded a settled, farming way of
life. They thought that tipis were: '...too full of smoke ...
inconceivably filthy'.
Horace Greeley despised the Native Americans for:
'…sittingaround the doors of their lodges at the height of
the planting season', and said they were '...squalid and
conceited, proud and worthless, lazy and lousy'. 'These
people must die out,' he wrote, 'God has given this
earth to those who will subdue and cultivate it.'
BBC Bitesize Notes
White Americans attitudes to ..
Loved the land
Land cannot be owned or sold
• White Americans believed that God had given them
the right to 'subdue the earth', and they wanted to
make money from it.
They thought land ownership, fences and cultivation
were natural.
White Americans thought only they could make full
use of the land.
They gave the Plains to the Native Americans when
they thought they were 'wholly unfit for cultivation',
but when they found this not to be true, they took the
land for themselves.
BBC Bitesize Notes
White Americans attitude to ..
Government and laws
Influence of chief, Community spirit and Horse stealing
White Americans could not understand why chiefs could
not make their warriors obey them.
Government based on 'community spirit' was
incomprehensible to white Americans, whose
government was based on laws and compulsion.
They particularly hated horse stealing, because 'depriving a man of
his horse could mean life itself on the Plains'.
White observers declared that the Native Americans were 'without
government'.
BBC Bitesize Notes
White Americans attitude to ..
Religion and morality
(Animistic (spirits) Medicine men young marriage Easy divorce
Polygamy, Exposure of old people to the elements to die)
• Christian preachers thought '...the
Indians have no religion, only ignorant
superstition'.
Native American customs of marriage,
divorce and exposure of old people to
the elements offended white Americans'
religion and morality.
BBC Bitesize Notes
White Americans attitude to ..
War
Preserve life, Ambush and stealth, Coups & Scalping
• White soldiers saw ambush as
treachery, scalping as barbarous and
retreat as 'a total lack of courage'. 'The
first impulse of the Indian,' wrote
Colonel Dodge, '...is to scuttle away as
fast as his legs will carry him ... there is
one example of a fair stand-up fight.'
BBC Bitesize Notes
Answer preparation
As part of your revision, think about the arguments and
facts you would use to explain:
1. What attitudes different white Americans
had towards Native Americans.
2. Why white Americans and Plains Indians
came into conflict on the Plains.
3. Why white Americans and Plains Indians
found it so difficult to reach a peaceful
settlement of their differences.
BBC Bitesize Notes
The Battle of the Little Bighorn
1876
The Battle of the Little Bighorn was
the most decisive defeat for the US
Army during the whole of the Indian
wars.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Events leading up to the Battle of
Little Bighorn
• Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull refused to
accept the peace of 1868.
• Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in
1874.
• The Sioux refused to sell their land in the
Black Hills.
• The government ordered the Sioux onto
small reservations. When the Sioux refused,
they were declared 'hostile'.
BBC Bitesize Notes
The Battle Plan
• General Philip Sheridan was sent to defeat
the Sioux.
• In June 1876 US armies, led by the generals
Alfred Terry and John Gibbon, met at the
Yellowstone river.
• Gibbon was set to march up the Little Bighorn
river, and Lt Colonel George Custer was
ordered to march round the Wolf mountains,
as part of a two-pronged attack on the Sioux
camp.
BBC Bitesize Notes
The Battle
• The Sioux had been joined by the Cheyenne
and Arapaho, making an army of more than
3,000 warriors, armed with Winchester
repeating rifles.
• Custer marched his men through (not round)
the Wolf mountains, to arrive at the Sioux
camp first.
• Custer divided his 600 men into three groups.
BBC Bitesize Notes
The Battle
• Custer sent Captain Frederick Benteen
scouting, and sent Major Marcus Reno to
attack the Sioux village from the south.
• Custer headed north of the village with 215
men.
• The Sioux cut off both Reno and Custer.
Benteen rescued Reno, but Custer and all of
his troops lost their lives.
• The Sioux withdrew when Terry and Gibbon
arrived.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Why was Custer defeated?
Custer was defeated at the Battle of the Little Bighorn because he made a lot of fundamental
errors.
1.
He acted alone - even though Gibbon's last words to him were: 'Custer, don't be
greedy. Wait for us.'
2.
Instead of going round the Wolf mountains, Custer force-marched his men through the
mountains. His troops and horses arrived tired after the long march.
3.
He weakened his forces by dividing them into three (although this was classic US Army
tactics).
4.
He expected the Sioux warriors to scatter and run. Instead they outmanoeuvred and
surrounded him.
5.
He was hugely outnumbered.
6.
He was arrogant and over-confident, and wanted the victory to bolster his political
ambitions. He ignored the advice of his Crow scouts to wait for reinforcements.
7.
The Sioux leaders - especially Crazy Horse - were expert and experienced generals.
8.
The Native Americans regarded the war as their last chance - they fought with
desperation.
9.
The Sioux were determined: 'The whites want a war and we will give it to them', said
Chief Sitting Bull.
10.
Custer had poor information - he did not know how big the Sioux army was, nor that
they were armed with Winchester repeating rifles.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Source analysis
• This painting depicts the traditional
view about the heroism of Custer and
his men at the Battle of the Little
Bighorn - Custer can be seen
brandishing two guns, fighting until
the very end.
• However, this painting illustrates the
problem of reliability of sources. This
depiction is almost certainly wrong. An
archaeological survey in 1983 found
that Custer's men fell in a running
battle, perhaps as they scattered and
fled down the hillside towards the
river. It also found that Custer was not
scalped, which suggests that he shot
himself, because the Sioux did not
scalp a suicide.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Answer preparation
As part of your revision, think about the arguments and
facts you would use to explain:
1. Why war broke out between the US
government and the Sioux in 1876.
2. Why the Sioux won the Battle of the
Little Big Horn.
BBC Bitesize Notes
The end of the Native American
way of life
The Battle of the Little Bighorn only seemed
like a Sioux victory. In fact, it was the start of
the total defeat of the Sioux.
Before long the US government had completely
defeated the Native Americans, and their way of life
was destroyed over the next 15 years.
So what were the key steps?
BBC Bitesize Notes
November 1876
• The US Army began winter campaigns
against the Sioux, starving them into
surrender. Colonel Mackenzie destroyed Dull
Knife's Cheyenne camp - driving the
Cheyenne into the hills to survive the winter
without any food.
BBC Bitesize Notes
January 1877
• Chief Sitting Bull fled to Canada. He joined a
Wild West show, but eventually returned to
join the reservation.
BBC Bitesize Notes
October 1877
• Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé tribe tried to
flee to Canada, but was intercepted. 'I will
fight no more forever', he vowed.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1879
• Richard Pratt opened the first boarding
school for Native American children.
• The Sioux were given cattle and forced to
become cattle-herders.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1881 (-1887)
• Geronimo led a series of rebellions by the
Apache warriors, but eventually had to
surrender and become a vegetable farmer.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1883
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs issued the Code
of Religious Offences, banning Native
American religious customs such as the Sun
Dance.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1887
• The Dawes Act divided the Native American
reservations between the different families.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1889
• The Oklahoma Land Run. The government
split 2 million acres of former 'Indian territory'
into 160 acre plots, and people had to race to
claim a plot. The race began at noon on 22
April 1889 and by next day all the land was
claimed.
BBC Bitesize Notes
1890
• A medicine man called Wovoka started a
Ghost Dance - although it was peaceful, the
Army, fearing a rebellion, tried to arrest Sitting
Bull, who was taking part (he was killed
during the attempt). Then when Sioux Chief
Big Foot, trying to avoid the trouble, led his
people to Wounded Knee Creek, they were
massacred by the US Army.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Why did the white Americans
win the West?
White Americans won
the West because
everything was on their
side. The Native
Americans fought
bravely, but the odds
were completely against
them.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Reasons why the Whiteman won





Little Bighorn - the massacre of Custer's regiment caused
thousands of 'Custer's Avengers' to join up, and it made the
US Army determined to hunt down and destroy the Native
American warriors.
Lies - the US government made promises which it later broke.
Economy - the US government had unlimited men and
money. After the Little Bighorn, the Sioux had to disband their
army because the land could not support so large a group for
long.
Technology - the US Army had access to repeating rifles,
machine guns, cannons and the telegraph. The Native
Americans had to buy rifles, and used smoke signals to
communicate.
Railroads - thousands of white Americans and US soldiers
could travel to the West in hours by railroad.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Reasons why continued …




Slaughter of the buffalo - after the 1870s, white hunters destroyed
the buffalo, not only for their hides, but partly to destroy the Native
Americans, whose way of life depended on these animals. By 1895,
less than a thousand buffalo remained on the Great Plains.
The US Army was too big and strong for the Native American
warriors. It controlled the Plains from a system of forts.
Reservations destroyed the Indian way of life, because people on
them were forced to become farmers. Many warriors became
alcoholics. The influence of the chiefs declined, because the
reservations were run by agents. The Code of Religious Offences
destroyed the Native American religion, and the Dawes Act ended
community ownership.
Education - the Indian boarding schools (which the children were
made to attend) forced Native American children to become 'white'.
They were beaten if they even whispered in their own language - the
motto of one school was 'kill the Indian to save the man'.
BBC Bitesize Notes
Answer preparation
As part of your revision, think about the arguments and
facts you would use to explain:
1. What the purpose and effect was of the
reservations.
2. Why the Native Americans lost the battle for
the Plains.
3. How important the Battle of the Little Big
Horn was in the eventual defeat of the
Plains Indians.
4. How successfully the so-called Indian
problem was resolved.
BBC Bitesize Notes