Session 4

• Most White Settlers thought the Plains was an uninhabitable desert and they would never be able to settle there


  Before 1840
• As a result, they regarded this area as one big Indian reservation where the Indians could live
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs was set up to manage the relationship between the White settlers and the Indians


  1824
• The Indian Removal Act was passed


  1830
• Indian Removal Act


  Established the Permanent Indian Frontier across the Mississippi and allowed the removal of the SE Indian nations to lands beyond the permanent Indian Frontier so that their lands could be settled
• Indian Territory


  The land beyond the permanent Indians frontier
• Thousands died during this forced removal which became known as the Trail of Tears even though the authorities said they were doing it for their own protection
• The removal of the SE Indian nations was completed


  1838
• White settlers such as Pioneer farmers, Miners and Mormons began to travel across the Plains to get to the West bringing them into Indian Territory
• There were about 11 500 people who travelled to Oregon and 2500 to California between 1840 and 1848 which led to a few violent incidents with the Indians but a change in attitude was happening
• By the 1850s more travellers were crossing the Plains and settling beyond the Permanent Indian Frontier encouraged by the Government
• These travellers invaded Indian land, shot the buffalo and brought diseases like cholera to the Plains
• This meant there was a need to protect the Indians
• Policy of the government

  To try to "civilise" the Indians by sending them to reservations and setting up schools
• The Indian Appropriations Act was passed which set up legally recognised reservations


  1851
• This made conflict inevitable due to the different attitude of Indians and white settlers to the ownership of land
• The Government wanted to create territories for the white settlers and this meant persuading the Indians to agree to live in smaller areas – a policy of "concentration" - and accept compensation in the form of food and supplies as they would not be able to hunt buffalo
• White settlers had to agree not to enter these "reservations"
• The Fort Laramie Treaty was signed


  1851
• Fort Laramie Treaty 1851


  The chiefs of the main Plains Indians tribes agreed to the terms which gave them land along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains between the North Platte and Arkansas Rivers, the government promised to protect them and pay the tribes $50 000 a year for ten years, and the Indians agreed to stop attacking travellers on the Oregon Trail and to allow the government to build roads and military posts
• The policy of concentration seemed to please the Humanitarians/ Negotiators, who wanted a negotiated solution, but not the Exterminators who wanted the Indians destroyed
• Between 1840-60 250 000 traveller followed the Oregon and California Trails and fewer than 400 were killed and 90% not on the Plains themselves
• The policy of concentration failed for several reasons: Discovery of Gold in Rocky Mts., Settlers moving to Kansas and Nebraska, Organised Transport on the Plains – mail coach and railroad, Cattle trails were being developed across the Plains, Not all warriors felt bound by the terms of the treaty
• Little Crow's War


  1862
• Little Crow's War


  The Santee Sioux had agreed to live on a reservation in southern Minnesota. Life was tough and when their crop failed, and their annual payment did not arrive, they were refused credit at the government store and were unable to buy food. The Indians (about 12 000) were starving and violence erupted on 17 August 1862 when 4 Santee Sioux killed five settlers. The next day the Sioux attacked the Indian agency, which was set up to run the reservation- 20 people were killed and 10 women and children captured and 47 escaped. They also ambushed a party of soldiers coming to the agency – only 24 escaped alive. Fighting continued until September during which time over 700 settlers were killed, By October the war was over, and 38 Sioux were hanged. The Santee Sioux were punished by being moved to a smaller reservation where their problems were made even worse by a lack of clean water
• The Sand Creek Reservation was set up in Colorado for the Cheyenne. It was poor quality land.
• Cheyenne Uprising


  1863
• Cheyenne Uprising

  The Cheyenne, led by Black Kettle, had moved his tribes onto the Sand Creek Reservation in Colorado but the land was dry and infertile, and it was impossible to live there, so faced with starvation the Indians began attacking wagon trains for food. There was no sympathy for the starving Indians. Instead a whole village was wiped out in Cedar Canyon for supposedly stealing cattle.
• The Sand Creek Massacre


  1864
• Sand Creek Massacre

  Black Kettle, chief of a band of around 800 Cheyenne Indians, plus some Arapaho, camped at Sand Creek near Fort Lyon. This, had been agreed at peace talks at Fort Lyon and Black Kettle believed he would be protected by US troops. Some warriors had left the camp to hunt buffalo, leaving mostly Women, Children and the old in camp. Black Kettle had left an American flag flying over his tipi to show that his was a friendly village. Meanwhile Colonel Chivington with 1000 volunteers had arrived at Fort Lyon where he was told that Black Kettle had not been promised any protection. Chivington and his men set off for Sand creek and on the morning of 29th November Colonel Chivington and 700 soldiers attacked the village, even though Black Kettle also raised the white flag of surrender. A few Indians escaped. However, 450 men, women and children were killed were killed. Some of Chivington men took scalps as trophies. Black Kettle managed to escape and alert other tribes so the attacks on the ranches, wagon trains and mail coaches continued. There was an enquiry into the event, with survivors and some officers who had refused to take part giving evidence. It concluded that Chivington had planned and carried out a "foul and dastardly massacre". He was never brought to justice.
• Red Clouds War


  1865-68
• Red Clouds War


  In 1862 Gold was discovered in the Rocky Mountains Montana and miners rushed to this area along the Bozeman trail which cut through the hunting grounds of the Sioux, land which had been guaranteed by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. The Sioux attacked travellers along this trail. The government tried to stop this by holding peace talks but at the same time they built a line of forts to protect travellers Red Cloud was furious –he broke off talks along with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. The troops who were building the forts were under constant Indian attack and the situation reached breaking point in Dec 1866. Yet Colonel Carrington who was in charge refused an all-out attack on the Sioux. In November Captain Fetterman arrived with reinforcements. Fetterman had fought in the Civil War and was ambitious and arrogant and despised Carrington's cautious policy – "A single company of regulars could whip a thousand Indians"
• Fetterman's Trap


  Fetterman had no intention of following orders. Instead of supporting the wood train, he and his men galloped after Indian horseman away from the fort. This is what the Indians had planned. Every time the soldiers got within firing distance of the Indians they fell back, drawing the soldiers away from the fort and into a trap Fetterman found himself at the centre of a ring of Indians who were hidden behind tall grass and rocks. The Indians attacked, and the only survivors were Indians including a young warrior named Crazy Horse. All 82 of Fetterman's men were killed and Fetterman and another officer shot each other to avoid capture and disgrace
• The Sioux adapted their tactics and fought through the winter. They stopped people using the Bozeman Trail and laid siege to the forts, trapping the army. Eventually the US government had to negotiate a new settlement.