Session 10

• A new policy towards the Indians was needed

  1867
• New policy towards the Indians

  1. Peace commission set up

  2. Agreed treaties since 1851 had not worked

  3. Policy of "concentration" should end

  4. Indians should be put in smaller reservations

  5. Indians to be taught to be farmers and live a white man's life
• Reservations for southern Plains tribes

  • Kiowa and Comanche on 3 million acres between the Red and Washita Rivers
  • Cheyenne and Arapahoe between the Cimarron and Arkansas Rivers
• Reservation for Northern Plains Indians

  • Great Sioux reservation which included the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills of Dakota
• Life on reservations


  • Indians were virtually prisoners forced to adopt a white man's way of life
  • Land was of poor quality, unable to farm and feed themselves
  • Unable to hunt buffalo, dependent on government agents for handouts
  • Demoralising for a warrior society, no way to gain or maintain status
• Many agents were dishonest - monies were stolen, rations inadequate and lack of medical treatment
• People were punished without trail and sometimes murdered
• Some Indians gained importance by cooperating with the agents and other joined the Indian police
• Government used reservation policy to destroy Indian culture

  • Territorial - reducing size of reservations split tribes
  • Political - power of chiefs reduced
  • Economic - Sioux could not leave reservations to hunt or make war
  • Religious - Feasts, dances and ceremonies banned, power of medicine man undermined
  • Educational - Children taken from parents and sent to boarding school
• Destruction of the buffalo herd

  1. Hunted for sport and hides

  2. New tanning process in East in 1871

  3. Railroads reached Plains

  4. Hunters flooded southern plains

  5. Efficient "the stand" hunting method using long-range rifle
• By 1885 the Buffalo were almost extinct
• Why US army was stronger

  • Before 1860s army in West was weak, mainly infantry useless against Plains Indians
  • During Civil War, regular troops withdrawn, replaced by undisciplined volunteers
  • Use of Indian Scouts
  • Waging Total War - destroying food, shelter, clothing, possessions and animals to force surrender
  • Winter campaigns when Indians were vulnerable
• The Winter Campaign 1868 (Battle of Washita)


  1. Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche and Arapahoe had agreed to settle on small reservations

  2. Some Cheyenne renewed attacks on settlers

  3. Sherman decided to mount winter campaign

  4. Sheridan and Custer attacked Black Kettle's camp by surprise

  5. Cheyenne had to return to reservations and could not leave to hunt
• The Great Sioux War


  1. Second Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 created Great Sioux Reservation

  2. Treaty said Bighorn Mountains and Black Hills were sacred to Sioux

  3. 1874 Custer expedition discovered gold in Hills

  4. Miners flooded area, army unable to stop

  5. Government offered $6 million to buy land, Sioux rejected

  6. In 1875 Sioux ordered to return to reservation, impossible in winter

  7. By 1876 around 7000 Indians including 2000 warriors gathered in Little Bighorn valley

  8. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in village, shows strength of anger over Black Hills
• Before the battle Sitting Bull had a vision that he had seen soldiers falling head first into their camp
• Events of the Battle of Little Bighorn

  1. Three-pronged attack planned by Sheridan, involving Crook, Gibbon and Terry/Custer

  2. Crook's men attacked by Crazy Horse at Rosebud Creek, had to retreat

  3. Indians moved camp to Little Bighorn River valley, over 10,000 women, children and braves

  4. Custer disobeyed orders, rode straight through Wolf Mountains, arrived a day early

  5. Custer's forces wiped out by Indians
• 28 men killed and 63 wounded and had to retreat to Fort Fetterman
• The Sioux also had high casualty figures at this battle - 36 killed and 63 wounded at this Battle of Rosebud or "Where girl saved her brother" as it became known
• At this point the Indians moved their camp west to the valley of the Little Big Horn River. There were more than 10 000 women children and braves. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse had brought their warriors. Red Cloud had also brought his warriors. There were Cheyenne and Arapahoe as well as Sioux.
• Custer made the decision to attack the camp of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse on the 25 June, despite being told that it was too risky by his scouts "if we go in there, we will never come out" and only having 600 men
• Custer wanted a glorious victory – "the largest Indian Camp on the North America n continent is ahead and I am going to attack it"- and he made a further mistake by splitting his forces Major Reno with 125 men to attack the southern end of the camp, Capt. Benteen with 125 men sent south, Capt. McDougall took charge of B company and the pack train and Custer and 260 men went further north to cross the river and attack the camp
• It is not known exactly what happened to Custer as there were no survivors. It seems he failed to cross the river and tried to aim for higher ground but was overwhelmed by Crazy horse's attack. Some tried to run away but others fought to the end. Only a Crow Indian scout, Curley, survived disguising himself as a Sioux Warrior. When Terry arrived on the 27 June with the main army he found the dead bodies of all Custer's men. Most had been stripped mutilated and scalped but Custer's body was untouched.
• Indians


  • Superior numbers - 2000 as opposed to 600
  • Able to use some to defend the camp and some to surround Custer
  • Had Winchester repeating riffles whereas the cavalry men had Springfield single shot rifles
• Crazy Horse


  • Showed leadership qualities
  • New tactic of fighting a pitched battle
• The Battle of the Little Big Horn was a victory for the Indians and a serious defeat for the army. However, the public reaction was one of such great shock that it made the army more determined than ever to eradicate the Indians. Two new forts were built, and 2500 reinforcements sent west. After the battle the Indians split into their bands which were followed and attacked throughout the autumn and winter of 1876. There were too many soldiers for the Indians who also had to protect the women and children. They were short of food and ammunition and one by one they were forced back to their reservations where the government followed a policy of destroying their culture and the buffalo (see earlier notes on reservations and destruction of buffalo). Crazy Horse surrendered on 5 May 1877 and Sitting Bull escaped to Canada. The Great Sioux War was over.
• Reasons for Custer's mistakes

  • He was told to approach the Little Big Horn form the south, but he refused to take extra men and Gatling Guns
  • He marched through the Wolf Mountains all night which meant the men were exhausted and he arrived early
  • He disobeyed orders by attacking early and did not listen to the advice of the Indian who warned him they would be destroyed because he wanted a glorious victory
  • He split his forces
  • Tactics did not work/ Quicksand
  • Only had Springfield single shot rifles
• Indian leadership, tactics and weapons

  • Led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
  • Superior numbers
  • Winchester repeating rifles
  • Indians fought a pitched battle which was new tactics due to Crazy Horse
• Part played by Reno and Benteen during the battle

  1. Reno's attack was stopped by the Sioux and he was forced to retreat

  2. He and Benteen had to defend their position, suffered any casualties and either could or did not follow the order to support Custer
• Part played by Terry Crook and Sheridan before the battle


  No liaison between Crook and Sheridan; no attempt to find out how many Indians they might be facing; Crook forced to retreat to Fort Fetterman after defeat at Rosebud Creek; When Gibbon and Terry met Terry divided his forces and sent Custer to the little big Horn
• In 1889 a Paiute holy man called Wovoka claimed to have seen a vision. He claimed an Indian Messiah was coming. If the Indians remained peaceful and performed the Ghost Dance, then a new world would appear. The White man would disappear. The buffalo wold return and all the dead Indians would come back. This craze spread across the reservation and by the summer of 1890 it had reached the Sioux reservations at a time when the Sioux were struggling due to poor rations and a drought. The authorities were worried and tried to ban it. Sitting Bull who was living on a reservation but not a supporter of the Ghost Dance was arrested, and, in the struggle, he was shot by one of the Indian police.
• On 28 December the 7th Cavalry caught up with Big Foot, another Sioux leader who was making his way to another camp. They were taken to another camp at Wounded Knee. The next morning the soldiers tried to disarm the Sioux and, in the confusion, firing started. Some believe the 7th Cavalry were looking for an excuse for revenge on the Little Big Horn. They had a cannon and repeating rifles 146 Indians including 102 adult men and women, 31 old men and women, 6 boys between 5 and 8 and 7 babies under the age of 2 were killed along with 25 soldiers. Many injured were taken to the agency church. This horrible massacre marked the end of the Plains Wars
• With the end of the Indian Wars, the western territories were settled. By 1890 Colorado, North and South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming had all become states – Utah was not permitted because of polygamy.
• In 1889 the government also opened Oklahoma for settlement. This was land previously occupied by the Creek and Seminole Indians. This became known as the Oklahoma Land rush - see notes on the Homesteaders.
• Reasons why the Indians lost and the settlers gained control

  • Manifest destiny - the belief they had the right to occupy the continent and get anyone out of the way
  • Government Policy always supported the settlers against the Indians
  • The End of the American Civil War enabled the US government to turn its attention to the West
  • The development of Homesteading meant they wanted land previously used by the buffalo
  • The spread of cattle ranching (as above), this meant destroying the buffalo and moving the Indians onto reservations
  • Gold brought thousands of miners onto Indian lands
  • The railroad forced the Indians out and split buffalo grazing land in two
  • Reservations took away the Indians power to resist
  • The destruction of the buffalo destroyed the traditional way of life
  • The US army was too powerful
  • Indian organisation – they could never mount a long campaign
  • Tactics and weapons and division between the Indians tribes – Indians fought in a different way and were less well armed and rarely combined to fight the US army
• The Ghost Dance was the final attempt by the Indians to win back their land, but it culminated in their slaughter at the Battle of Wounded knee