CHAPTER 13: THE
AMERICAN WEST
Big Picture: In the late 1800s, the federal
government relocated Native Americans
to vastly smaller homelands. Immigrants,
African Americans, and white Americans
eagerly moved into the new frontier to
mine, ranch, and establish farms.
CHAPTER 13 SECTION 1:
THE FIGHT FOR THE
WEST
Main idea: Native Americans fought
the movement of settlers westward,
but the U.S. military and the
persistence of American settlers
proved too strong to resist.
Stage Set for Conflict
Culture of the Plains Indians
• Native American way of life depended
on wild buffalo.
• Main source of food, clothing, shoes,
shelter, and supplies.
• In 1800 there were approximately 60
million buffalo, by 1894 there were as
few as 25.
• Nomadic: moved from place to place,
followed the migrations of the buffalo.
• Early 1800s Native Americans were
forcibly removed, during 1850s Native
Americans were moved to
reservations.
The Indian Wars
The Sand Creek Massacre
Treaties
• Cheyenne raided American
ranches in 1864.
• US Army offered them
forgiveness if they returned to
their reservation.
• Returned to their reservation
where US Army opened fire
upon them killing 150 people.
• Sand Creek Massacre outraged
many Americans, but
Chivington was never punished.
• After Sand Creek enraged
Native Americans increased
raids on American settlers.
• US Government pressured
Native Americans to sign
treaties that would move them
to reservations.
• Sioux: Second Treaty of Fort
Laramie The Comanche; Kiowa,
Cheyenne: Medicine Lodge Treaty.
The Indian Wars
Important Battles
• Battle of Little Bighorn:
• Lakota Sioux conducting raids
against white settlers
• US government ordered them to
stop but they refused
• Military invaded, Sioux killed military
• Big victory for Native Americans.
• Battle of Palo Duro Canyon:
• US Army discovered Indians making
camps in Texas Panhandle
• they sent in troops and slaughtered
the Native Americans
• Ended the Indian Wars in the
Southern Plains.
The Indian Wars
Ghost Dance
• A vision by Wovoka that showed Indian dead
alive, buffalo return, and settlers would leave.
Gave Indians hope.
• US Government attempted to arrest Sitting
Bull in December 1890, fight broke out, Sitting
Bull killed. US Troops took Sioux to Wounded
Knee camp.
Wounded Knee Massacre:
• In a struggle over a gun, the gun fired, and
both Sioux and Americans began shooting
each other. 300 Sioux were killed in total.
• Americans outraged.
• End of conflict between Native Americans and the
US Army.
The Indian Wars
Resistance in the Northwest
• Nez Percé were forced to move onto a
small reservation in Idaho, Chief Joseph
agreed.
• Hostilities between Americans and
Native Americans broke out and Nez
Percé fled.
• Chief Joseph and the Nez Percé were
forced to surrender and return to small
reservations in Kansas and Idaho.
Life on Reservations
Americanization
• Native Americans must adopt
American values, beliefs, and
practices and abandon Native
American identity.
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA):
• Issued wide range orders
attacked Native American
values.
• Native American children forced
to go to school, only allowed to
speak English, and could not
practice Indian culture.
The Dawes Act
• Broke up reservations and
turned Indians into individual
property owners
• Each head of family would receive
160 acres
• each single person over 18 would
receive 80 acres
• each child would receive 40 acres
• Land was not good and Native
Americans could not do anything
with it
CHAPTER 13 SECTION 2:
MINING AND
RANCHING
Main Idea: Many people sought
fortunes during the mining and
cattle booms of the American
West.
Striking Gold and Silver
• Comstock Lode: Mine in Nevada that attracted thousands of
miners for silver.
• Thousands went in search of gold or silver but came away
empty handed.
• Camps that were created near mines became towns.
Mining as Big Business
Different Types of Mining
• Placer Mining: Minerals are found in loose sand or gravel, also known as
“panning for gold.”
• Hydraulic Mining: Used water under high pressure to blast away dirt,
exposing the minerals underneath. Large scale placer mining.
• Hard Rock Mining: Cut deep into the rock to extract the ore.
• As mining progressed mining companies were created instead of
individual prospectors.
The Cattle Boom
• After Civil War the demand for beef increased.
• Texas longhorn a new breed of cattle; hardy, could travel long distances
without much water and live on grass alone
• Cattle Trails: Trails that ranchers followed from Texas to major rail
centers. Drives usually lasted three months.
• Chisholm Trail is the most famous, ran from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene,
Kansas.
• Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire that allowed for enclosed farms
rather than free range cattle, this transformed the cattle business into big
business.
CHAPTER 13 SECTION 3:
FARMING THE PLAINS
Main idea: The government promoted
the settlement of the West, offering
free or cheap land to those willing to
put in the hard work of turning the land
into productive farms.
Incentives for Settlement
New Legislation
• Homestead Act: Allowed any
head of household over the
age of 21 to claim 160 acres
of land.
• Required to build a house and
farm the land for 5 years before
they were granted full ownership.
• Nearly 2 million people applied for
land under this act.
• Pacific Railway Act: Gave
land to railroad companies
to encourage construction of
railroad and telegraph lines.
• Morrill Act: Gave land to
states for colleges for
agriculture and the
mechanic arts.
• Significant because it was the first
time the government provided
assistance for higher education.
Incentives for Settlement
Closing of the Frontier
• By 1890 enough people had moved West that the US Census Bureau
declared the frontier was closed.
• Frederick Jackson Turner wrote an essay “The American Frontier” that
stated that the frontier was vital to American development.
Migrating West
Who Moved West?
• White settlers moved West from the Mississippi Valley.
• Mostly middle class farmers and business people
• African American settlers came West due to violence and
slavery in the South, called Exodusters
• European settlers came West to farm
• Chinese settlers became farm laborers due to laws that barred
them from owning their own land
New Ways of Farming
New Techniques
• James Oliver created a new plow with a sharper edge that
helped farmers plow their fields with less effort
• Large farms developed by companies created bonanza farms
that generated a lot of profit. By the 1890s most bonanza
farms had been broken up.