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Period: to
The West
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Sand Creek Massacre
675 Colorado Volunteers raided a peaceful Cheyenne village at Sand Creek, killing over 400 Native Americans, most of which were women and children. Chief Black Kettle had made attempts at friendship and peace, but American troops rejected them and violently destroyed the village without thought of peace or the consequences. John Chivington, the general in charge, was said to have told his troops to kill all the Natives, "big or little." -
National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry
A movement of farmers that worked to unite them as political focus seemed to disregard the crucial role they played in the American economy. It held public events to increase their publicity and influence. It was the very small beginnings of the farmer-focused Populist Party that was officially developed over twenty years later. -
Bison
Only about one thousand bison remain in existence on the Great Plains and West of the United States. 17 years earlier, at least 15 million roamed the area, but as corporations made way for railroads and they were killed for food and mercilessly without reason, their population plummeted dramatically.