Unit 2: Native American Conflicts
Vocabulary
Land Allotment— federal policy of dividing Indian tribal lands into individually owned private
property, was the culmination of American attempts to destroy tribes and their governments and
to open Indian lands to settlement by whites and to development by railroads.
White Encroachment—gradually stealing away the Native American lands or trespassing on
someone’s rights or land.
Dawes Act of 1887— A federal law intended to turn Native Americans into farmers and
landowners by providing cooperating families with 160 acres of reservation land for farming or
320 acres for grazing.
Civilizing— the idea of making Native Americans into farmers like the whites. Destroying the
tribal and communal (community) ways of the Native American tribes.
Bureau of Indian Affairs—1836 in charge of relocating Native Americans and was under the
leadership of the Department of War whose goal was to prevent Native Americans from attacking
white settlers. Often the agents of the BIA were corrupt and took bribes as white settlers took
land and game that was supposed to belong to the tribes.
Buffalo Soldiers— a group of African American soldiers whose purpose was to protect settlers
as they moved west and to support the westward expansion by building the infrastructure
needed for new settlements to flourish.
Concentration Policy—strategy that provides the white settlers with the most fertile lands with
Native American tribes pushed to the North or South.
Ghost Dance—religious movement and traditional circle dance embraced by the Plains Native
American tribes, specifically the Lakota or Sioux. Ghost dance prophets foretold the
disappearance of whites, the restoration of traditional lands and ways of life, and the resurrection
of dead ancestors.
Reservation— setting apart land for Native American tribes, most often the reservations were
far from the tribal lands.
Nomadic—roaming vast distances following a food source, in this case the buffalo.
Transcontinental— crossing a continent, in this case with a railroad
Annuities— a fixed sum of money paid to the Native Americans each year, typically for specified
length of time or for life.
Unit 2: Native American Conflicts
People to Identify
Henry Dawes—Senator from Massachusetts who authored or wrote the General Allotment Act of
1877 (aka Dawes Act) with hopes it would change the plains Native Americans culture from
nomadic to agricultural way of life. Unfortunately, his best intentions led to the demise of Plains
Native American Culture.
Alice Fletcher—Ethnologist and leader in the movement to bring Native Americans into the
mainstream of white society. Was tasked with carrying out the Dawes Act and dividing up the Nez
Perce lands.
Chief Joseph—Nez Perce Chief who led his people in the 1870s on a desperate attempt to reach
Canada rather than submit to forcible settlement on a reservation.
William T Sherman— Destroyed the Indians' will to fight by not only killing their soldiers, but
also destroying the resources they needed to survive, the buffalo. Sherman believed that Native
Americans stood in the way of progress and would probably need to be exterminated.
Philip Sheridan—His strategy against Native Americans was to use surprise attacks in the
winter so the tribes wouldn’t be able to feed their people. In addition he had no moral problem
with attacking women and children who may be encamped with the tribes. His techniques were
effective in helping to persuade other bands to give up their traditional way of life and move onto
the reservations.
George Custer—Good friends with Philip Sheridan and helped lead the attack or massacre at
Sand Creek against the Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle and his tribe. He led the attack at Little
Bighorn with only 210 men against the thousands of Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors.
Ultimately Custer and his men were killed and the Battle of Little Bighorn now is known as one of
the greatest fiascos of the United States Army.
John Chivington—He led a regiment of Colorado Volunteers to the Cheyenne's Sand Creek
reservation, where a band led by Black Kettle, a well-known "peace" chief, was encamped or
camp. Federal army officers had promised Black Kettle safety if he would return to the
reservation, and the Cheyenne were in fact flying the American flag and a white flag of truce over
his lodge, but Chivington ordered an attack on the unsuspecting village nonetheless. After hours
of fighting, the Colorado volunteers had lost only 9 men in the process of murdering between 200
and 400 Cheyenne, most of them women and children.
Chief Sitting Bull— Lakota chief and holy man under whom the Lakota tribes united in their
struggle for survival on the northern plains, Sitting Bull remained defiant toward American
military power and contemptuous of American promises to the end. Was allowed to join Buffalo
Bill’s Wild West Show where he worked for four months. He returned to his childhood home and
was killed in 1890 by a fellow Lakota, who was a policeman sent to capture him before he could
join the Ghost Dance movement.
Chief Crazy Horse— Celebrated for his ferocity in battle, Crazy Horse was recognized among his
own people as a visionary leader committed to preserving the traditions and values of the Lakota
way of life.
Unit 2: Native American Conflicts
Important Events
Sand Creek Massacre— In 1864, peaceful Southern Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians are massacred
by a band of Colonel John Chivington's Colorado volunteers at Sand Creek, Colorado.
Battle at Wounded Knee— The battle between U.S. military troops and Lakota Sioux Indians at
Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota on December 29, 1890, resulted in the deaths of perhaps 300
Sioux men, women, and children. The massacre at Wounded Knee was the last major battle of the
Indian Wars of the late 19th century.
Battle of Little Bighorn—Also known as Custer’s Last Stand, it was a battle between Colonel George
Custer and 210 soldiers against the Lakota and the Cheyenne. In 1875, Sioux and Cheyenne Indians
defiantly left their reservations, outraged over the continued intrusions of whites into their sacred
lands in the Black Hills. They gathered in Montana with the great warrior Sitting Bull to fight for their
lands.
Treaty of Fort Laramie— In the spring of 1868 a conference was held at Fort Laramie, in present
day Wyoming, which resulted in a treaty with the Sioux. This treaty was to bring peace between the
whites and the Sioux who agreed to settle within the Black Hills reservation in the Dakota Territory.