Native American Cultures in Crisis

Chapter 13 Section 1

I The Culture of the Plains IndiansA. The importance of the Horse and the Buffallo

• Easterners and Native Americans knew very little about eacother•2 distinct cultures existed in

Great Plains = grassland estending through west-central part of US• Settled planter tribes who

lived in small villages• Nomadic tribes who gathered

wild foods and hunted buffalo

• Spanish introduce horses & guns to New Mexico (1598) Nat. Amer way of life changing• Can travel farther and hunt more

effeiciently• By 1700s most tribes of GP

abandon villages and roam plains to hunt Buffalo• Increaased mobilitywars as one

tribe trespassed on anothers hunting grounds

• Buffalo provide basic needs (tepees, clothing, food, weapons, etc)

B. Family Life• Small extended fam groups w/ ties to other bands

who spoke same lang.• Men hunting or raiding parties to get supplies &

shared w/ group• Women helped butcher game and prepared what

was brought back by men• Communal way of life DID NOT take away

individualism• Children learn proper behavior & culture from

tribe• Stories/myths/games

• None was allowed to dominate group leadewrs ruled by counsel• Land was for common use

II Settlers Push Westward•White settler culture diff from nat.

Amer• Dinied prosperity in terms of personal

property• Justify taking land by claiming Nat

Amer gave up rights to land when they did not improve land

• Prospoect of striking it rich in west w/ gold settlers moving west• Homsteadt Act also attracted settlers

to west• Free land to anyone who would live on

and cultivate it for 5 yrs.

• Exodusters= African Americans who moverd from post reconstruction south to Kansas in mass exodus•Pacific Railroad Act= government

loans and land to Union and Central Pacific RR lines• Used Chinese immigrants to build

bridges and lay track•Before RR ppl travele don

horsevulnerable to attack from Nat Amer & outlaws

III Government Restricts Native Americans • 1864 Fed gov’t passes law designated entire

GP as one large reservation• Change policy to open up more land to white

settlers treaties setting up boundaries between tribes• “chiefs” signed treaties that tribe did not agree

with

• Cheyenne forced to Sand Creek Reserve raid nearby settlements militia ordered to attack Cheyenne• Agree to returen to land and stop raiding

• US army commander orders attack on Cheyenne reservationChivington attacks• Kill hundreds of men women children & mutilate

bodies known as Sand Creek Masacre

Bozeman Trail• Siouz angered by increase white

settlement on Bozeman Trail• Trail ran throught Souix hunting grounds

• Chief Red Cloud tried to make de`al w/ gov’t but continue to build forts• Sioux & Cheyenne begin guerilla war

(surprise raids) to harass troops• Lured soldiers to Lodge Trail Ridge,

surrounded, and killed them (Battle of Hundred Slain / Fetterman Massacre)•War ends w/ Treaty of 1868 Sioux agree

to live on res. Along Mizzou R. in return for protection & supplied

• Conflicts between Nat. Amer. & whites continue because• Promised supploies arrive late and were poor wuality and/or not enough

• Sitting Bull leader of Hunkpapa Sioux never signed treaty• Expected to continue using land since he didn’t sign it

III Bloody Battles ContinueA. Raids by the Kiowa and Comanche

•Kiowa and Comanche refuse to go to reservation in Texas Red River War• US army herd friendly tribespeople

onto res. While opening fire on others• Gen Sheridan orders “kill & hang all

warriors, destroy villages, & bring back all women & children”

• These tactics ended the resistence quickly

B. Custer’s Last Stand• Siouz & Cheyenne hold Sun Dance Sitting

Bull has vision of soldiers & nat. Amer. Faling off horses• Interprets as sign that victory will come for his

ppl

• Soon after Sioux victorious at Rosebud Creek• Col. Custer reached Little Big Horn & Nat.

Amer. Were ready• Under estimated # of Nat Ameri warriors• Men & hordses were esxausted• Split up regiment

• Custer and all his men died w/in 20 min

•American’s criticize Custer for the defeat Nation demands revenge•Army constinue to raid Nat Amer camps Sitting Bull & his followers take refuge in Canada• Eventually surrenders

becomes mainstay at Buffalo Bills Wild West Show

IV Government Supports Assimilation• Question on what to do w/ the native Americans continued• Even sympathizers supported assimilation give up beliefs and way of life &

become part of white culture

• Nat. Amer. Already lost their indep. & did not want to loose their culture as well

A. Failure of the Dawes Act• Dawes Act = attempt to make

assimilation the official government policy• “Americanized” by by trying to make

them desire their oewn property & farm• Broke up reservations &

redistributed some of that land to each adult head of fam• Sell remainder to settlers & give

profit for farm supplies• Most of land given to nat Amer. Was

useless• Never saw any profits from selling land

B. Educating Native Americans• Dawes act assimilated physically

while the EDU assimilated their minds• Off reservation boarding schools

skyrocketed• Carlisle school teaches their was are

backwards & superstitious• Promote values of white

civilization leaving them w/ no skills when they return to reservation• Didn’t fit in reservation & were

discriminated against out in the world

C. Destruction of the Buffalo• Most significant blow to the plains Indians was the destruction of the

Buffalo• RR co. hunted to provide food for its workers (broke treaties)

• Buffalo turned to for a source of income by white settlers Nat. Amer. Starvation on the Plains• Destroyed main source of food, clothing, shelter, & fuel

V Battle of Wounded Knee• Sioux continued to see destruction

and look to a prophet who promises them that if they do the Shost Dance ritual they would be sdaved• Ghost Dance spread rapidly sitting

Bulls arrest Cath-the-Bear shoots Sitting Bull dead free for all

• Sitting Bull’s horse begins to preform tricks it learned in Wild West show looks like he is preforming the outlawed Ghost Dance

• Custer’s old reg. rounds up Sioux and takes them to Wounded Knee Creek• Order to give upo all their weapons resisted & killed

• Soliders left corpses to freeze on ground• This battle known as Battle of Wounded Knee ends Indian Wars