The American West c1835-c1895 History GCSE Edexcel

• Cowboys were typically young, unmarried men who worked as ranch hands, often living a rugged and transitory existence.
• What were the impacts on the Plains Indians due to the development of railroads: Increased settlement. Disrupted buffalo herds. 

  Led to buffalo extermination. 

  Railroads were funded by land grants that the railroad companies sold to settlers. Railroads encouraged settlement of the Plains. 

  Indians moved off rail road land to reservations. 
• What were the impacts on the Plains Indians due to the development of the Cattle Industry: Cattle and buffalo competed for the same grass, so buffalo herds were put under pressure as cattle numbers increased (the number of cattle in the West increased from 13,000 in 1860 to 4.5million in 1880.) 

  Cattle trails often crossed Indian lands. In Indian Territory, the tribes allowed this in return for a fee, but in the southwest the Comanche did not allow it and attacked cowboys, leading to tensions 

  and US Army retaliation attacks. 
• What were the impacts on the Plains Indians due to the developments in Gold Prospecting: 1849 California Gold Rush – led to white trespass on Indian land on the Oregon Trail. This led to the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) and the Indian Appropriations Act (1851). 

  1859 Rocky Mountains Gold Rush – led to whites trespassing on Cheyenne and Arapaho land. This led to the Fort Wise Treaty (1861) and Sand Creek Massacre (1864). 

  1863 Montana Gold Rush – led to whites trespassing on Sioux lands on the Bozeman Trail. This led to Red Cloud’s War (1866-68) and the 

  Fort Laramie Treaty (1868) 
• The Oregon Trail was 3200km long. It began at Independence, Missouri. Wagon trains set off for the 8-9month trip. Migrants needed to complete their journey before winter, or risk getting stuck in the mountains. Hostile Indians, extreme weather and disease made the trip very dangerous. They needed to take enough food for their entire journey – a lot of salt pork! Early migrants used Indians guides, later they relied on pamphlets. Each trail crossed two mountain ranges (The Rocky Mountains or the Sierra Nevada). They were steep, with little to hunt and bad weather.
• San Francisco Gangs: The city’s population grew rapidly (from 1000 to 25000 people by 1849) and many were unemployed and disappointed. Racial tensions with Chinese immigrants also increased. By 1851, gangs were out of control. The few local policemen were unable to cope. Local citizens set up a vigilance committee (vigilantes - to take the law into their own hands) and this idea spread to mining camps.
• What was the main cause of lawlessness?

  There was a rapid increase in population and existing law enforcement could not cope.
• The Plains Indians were nomadic, following buffalo across the plains. They had great respect for nature and Wakantanka, the Great Spirit.
• Buffalo


  Every part of the buffalo was used for food, clothing and equipment.

  The heart was left behind as the Plains Indians believed that this gave new life to the heard.

  Buffalo skin could be tanned into strong leather for clothing, making tipis and other things.

  Buffalo tongue could be dried and used as a comb and their stomachs, intestines and bladders were cleaned and dried, to be turned into buckets and bottles.

  Plains Indians often left parts of the buffalo behind as an offering to the Great Spirit, Wakantanka
• When was the Indian Appropriations Act?

  1851
• What was the Indian Appropriations Act 1951

  When the government paid Indians to give up lands that whites wanted and move to smaller areas. This act paid for moving Indians in Indian Territory onto reservations.
• Reservations


  As well as keeping whites and Indians apart, the government hoped that reservations would help Indians learn to farm and live like white Americans. On reservations, white people could teach Indians about new ways of living. They became a way of controlling where Indians went and what they did.
• When was the Indian Removal Act

  1830
• What was the Indian Removal Act 1830

  It forced Indians in eastern states to move west of the Mississippi River. The US government forced 46000 eastern Indians to give up their lands in return for new lands west of the Mississippi River.
• What happened in 1848


  The US victory in the Mexican-American War
• What was the Permanent Indian Frontier

  It divided Indian Territory from the eastern states. Forts guarded the frontier to stop whites crossing over to settle in the Indians territory.
• Manifest Destiny


  The belief that is was god's will that white Americans should settle all over America.
• Gold Rush 1849


  In 1848 gold was discovered in California, leading to a huge increase in migration to the West. From 1849, tens of thousands used the trails to get to California in hope of finding gold in the west.
• How did some people get to California due to the gold rush in 1849

  Other than from trails, thousands of people came from ship from all over the world to San Francisco. A famine in China led to 20,000 Chinese people migrating to California in 1952. Most migrants did not find gold.
• Consequences of the Gold Rush

  • Migration to California, there were 300,000 people by 1855, allowing California to become a state.
  • Lawlessness in mining camps
  • Racial tensions due to immigration
  • The gold from California boosted US economy which helped fund railroads
  • Increased tension with Plains Indians due to huge increase in migration along Oregon Trail
• What were some federal law and order problems

  • Territories were huge areas with scattered settlements. Response time to crime was slow
  • The federal government did not spend much money on law enforcement, and law officers were poorly paid. Corruption and brides were common
  • Sheriffs had no legal training
  • Settlers often disliked federal government and wanted nothing to do with its laws
• Little Crow's War, 1862

  Little Crow, a chief of the Santee Sioux Indians, lived on their reservation in Minnesota. In 1861, crops failed and food promised by the government didn’t arrive – the Indians faced starvation. In August 1862, Little Crow and others attacked the agency that ran the reservation. They stole food to share, then burned the agency buildings. They also killed several US soldiers. By October most Santee had surrendered or been captured. They were then moved to a smaller reservation, Crow Creek. Its barren landscape 

  caused many deaths that winter. 
• The Sand Creek Massacre, 1864

  The Cheyenne on the Sand Creek reservation were starving after crop failures. Led by their chief, Black Kettle, they attacked wagon trains and stole food but didn’t harm travellers. After three years of attacks, Black Kettle negotiated with government officials and the army.
• The Sand Creek Massacre, 1864

  On the 29th November 1864, Colonel Chivington led a dawn raid on their camp. More than 150 Indians were massacred even though they waved white flags. Some, including Black Kettle, escaped and told other tribes what had happened. A US Senate Committee and Enquiry condemned Chivington. Both white men and Indians were horrified.
• Red Cloud's War, 1866-68

  Minister John Bozeman established the Bozeman Trail, connecting the Oregon Trail to gold in Montana. Bozeman’s trail broke the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 because it crossed the hunting grounds of the Sioux. Red Cloud (a chief of the Lakota Sioux) led attacks on the trail travellers. In 1866, the government talked with him but he stormed out when he learned that two more forts were planned along the trail.
• Red Cloud's War, 1866-68

  In December 1866, Captain William Fetterman and 80 soldiers rode into a trap and were massacred by the Sioux, who blocked the route so no traveller could see it. The US army then negotiated a second Fort Laramie Treaty.
• What was the second Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868 

   

  • US government agrees to abandon 2 forts and the Bozeman Trail 
  • Red Cloud agrees to move his tribe to a reservation stretching from the Black Hills of 

  Dakota to the Missouri River 

  • Both sides are in favour of the treaty. However, the Indians, now split into reservations on separate sites, find it hard to act together 
• What was Abeline

  The first cow town
• Who created the first cow town

  Joseph McCoy
• As the railroad moved further West, it created new railheads outside quarantine zones. Joseph McCoy was first to see the potential of Abilene. He built stockyards and hotels in Abilene, built a new railroad spur for loading cattle onto railroad tracks, he extended the Chisolm Trail up to Abilene, agreeing passage through Indian territory and he promoted the new route in Texas, spending $5000 on marketing.
• Civil War

  Texans went to fight and cattle herds can wild. There were 5 million cows by 1865
• What happened in 1867

  Railroad reaches Abilene

  Joseph McCoy sets up first cow town
• How many cows were driven to Abilene in 1867

  35000
• How much would a head of cattle cost in Texas

  $5
• How much would a head of cattle cost in the industrial cities in the north

  $40
• Who created the Goodnight-Loving Trail

  Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving
• The Goodnight-Loving Trail

  The first trail, in 1866 was to Fort Sumner where the government had failed to get enough supplies for Navajo Indian reservations. 800 cattle sold $12000, which was 4 times the price of cattle in Texas.
• What happened to the Goodnight-Loving trail in 1864?

  It extended up to Colorado because of its booming mining towns and Wyoming, to the Union Pacific Railroad
• What did Goodnight's success mean?

  Other cattlemen started to drive cattle to Wyoming, and Wyoming's cattle ranches began to grow
• What year did Oliver Loving die and why

  In 1867 he was injured in a Comanche attack and died