Native American Experience
Chapter 8
Westward Expansion and the
American Indians

More than 250,000 Natives lived west of the
Mississippi
◦ very distinct cultures of Natives

Geography was a significant influence
◦ In the northwest, tribes were larger as food
supply was plentiful
◦ In the southwest tribes were smaller due to lack
of food
 In NM/AZ the Natives were able to grow corn, beans,
and squash
 There you will find cliff dwellings
◦ Many tribes were nomadic, following herds
Westward Expansion and the
American Indians

The tribes had a common thread—they
viewed nature as sacred not a resource
◦ This led to many conflicts with the white people

Under Andrew Jackson the Natives had been
sent to the “Great American Desert”
(Oklahoma)
◦ They were moved again when the Americans
decided they wanted to build a transcontinental
railroad
◦ The Natives were put onto much smaller pieces
of land called reservations
 poverty and suppression
Westward Expansion and the
American Indians

The Natives were “attacked” by the white
people in two other ways
◦ Diseases killed off a large portion of the
population
◦ The buffalo they depended on were killed off,
typically for sport, with the meat and hides
left to waste
New Settlers and Native Americans
Clash


With increased communication and
transportation technology the collision
between Americans and Natives became
inevitable
“If you strike into the broad, free West, and
make yourself a farm from Uncle Sam’s
generous domain, you will crowd nobody,
starve nobody, and neither you nor your
children need evermore bet…”
◦ What is this snippet from the New York Tribune
forgetting about?
New Settlers and Native Americans
Clash

During the Civil War, the Natives attempted to resist white
encroachment by attacking settlements in MN
◦ American response was to fight back and push the Sioux all the
way to the Dakotas

In 1864, after a series of Sioux attacks that led to hefty
distrust between the two groups, a group of CO militia
opened fire on an unarmed camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho
◦ The camp had been ordered under protection by the U.S. Army
◦ The Natives tried to signal friendship by holding up the
American flag
◦ In the end many were left dead

After the Civil War, white and black soldiers were sent to
subdue the Natives
◦ Anything you could plunder you were allowed to simply take
◦ Government said it was necessary to maintain order
New Settlers and Native Americans
Clash

In 1866 Red Cloud (Plains) lured Cpt.
William Fetterman’s troops into an ambush
◦ All troops were killed

This led many to question the U.S.’s Native
policies
◦ Reformers called for education of Natives
◦ The Indian Peace Commission was created to
determine how to peacefully resolve the issue
with Natives
 They concluded that lasting peace would only come if
the Natives assimilated
New Settlers and Native Americans
Clash

The Fort Laramie Treaty was signed in 1866
◦ U.S. agreed not to build RR through Sioux territory
and they abandoned three forts
◦ The Sioux agreed to live on reservations
 The U.S. government would provide the land and adequate
supplied through the use of an agent

The Bureau of Indian Affairs was in charge of
overseeing the reservations
◦ The agents who were supposed to disburse
payments/supplies often stole it
 That led to battles with horrible outcomes
◦ Honest agents often didn’t have the necessary
supplied to help the Natives
The End of the Indian Wars

Natives were kept in impoverished areas
◦ Failed promises led to frustration
◦ Frustration led to young warriors turning violent
 Americans crushed these uprisings

The U.S. government failed to uphold the
Treaty of Medicine Lodge
◦ The Red River War was fought in response to
white buffalo hunters on Native lands, white
lawlessness, and supplies not being delivered
◦ The Comanche lost this war
The End of the Indian Wars

White people rushed to the Black Hills (SD) to
find gold
◦ This and the eastern part of MT were Sioux hunting
lands

Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull led a group to
drive out the white people
◦ U.S. responded by sending in troops led by George
Custer
◦ Custer’s 250 came across 2000 Natives
 Crazy Horse led a charge at the Battle of Little Big Horn
 All of Custer’s men were killed
◦ Sitting Bull escaped to Canada by the time
reinforcements showed up, but Crazy Horse and his
men surrendered
The End of the Indian Wars

In Idaho the government wanted to move
the Nez Percés
◦ Most had become Christians as well as
successful horse/cattle breeders
◦ They ran for 1,300 miles before Chief Joseph
surrendered
 “I will fight no more forever”
 They were banished to Washington, D.C.
The End of the Indian Wars

Natives in Wounded Knee, SD held a
religious revival based on the Ghost
Dance
◦ A spiritual dance that declared that peace
would come after the white man—referring
to the afterlife but Americans took it to be
more of a threat
◦ Governmental officials, fearing this attitude
order the arrest of Sitting Bull
◦ Hostilities broke out killing about 100 people
The Government Promotes
Assimilation
“There is not among these three hundred bands
of Indians one which has not suffered cruelly at
the hands either of the Government or of white
settlers. The poorer, the more insignificant, the
more helpless the band, the more certain the
cruelty and outrage to which they have been
subjected…It makes little difference where one
opens the record of the history of the Indians;
every page and every year has its dark stain…”
Helen Hunt Jackson
A Century of Dishonor
 Is this someone who supports assimilation?

The Government Promotes
Assimilation

Congress passed the Dawes General
Allotment Act (a.k.a. Dawes Severalty
Act)
◦ Replaced reservations by giving each Native
family 160 acre farm
 What about their tribal life and communal
property?
◦ They hoped that the younger Natives would
embrace farming culture and integrate with
the rest of American society
 Didn’t work…