-
Railroad
Railroad workers started coming through the Native American's lands. The tensions grew and the Native Americans started to attack the workers. The US government ended up purchasing Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie to protect travelers. -
Laramie Treaty of 1851
Tensions between the Native Americans and white men grew high. A meeting was called for, around 10,000 Native Americans and interpretters including Jim Bridger were there. The Native Americans agreed to stop attacking people on the trails. In return the government would pay with annuities. (Yearly trade of supplies and food.) The travelers would also stay off the land North of the North Platte River. This land was the favorite hunting grounds of the Native Americans. Powder River Country. -
Grattan Massacre
1,500 to 2,000 Native Americans were waiting on the annuity of food. A cow ended up their camp and one of the Native Americans killed it and they ate it. A young Lieutenant, John L. Grattan came to the Indians with 29 other soldiers. He demanded the Indian to turn himself in, but the Indians refused. Grattan started a fight with the Indians, and he ended up getting killed with all of his soldiers. -
Bloody Bozeman
John Bozeman discovered a quicker path to get to gold. The problem was that it went through Powder River Country. (Indians Lands) It went right through Chief Red Cloud's favorite hunting grounds, the white men began to break their treaty they had by going through the land. Chief Red Cloud wouldn't stand for this. Every traveler that tried to follow this path would be attacked by Native Americans, it became known as the Bloody Bozeman. -
Bloody Year on the Plains
The Native Americans were attacking all travelers because the treaty had beed broken. One man that died was Lt. Caspar Collings, who took 20 men to save a government wagon. They ended up getting killed, and the fort he came from ended up getting named after him. The town of Casper was named after him, but somehow got mispelled. -
New Forts
The government tried to enter the Native American lands to build two new forts to protect travelers, but they failed. They later came back and succeeded and built Fort Reno, and Fort Kearny. The Native Americans still killed any small group of travelers, or small groups of soldiers. -
Wagon Box Fight
26 soldiers were gaurding some equipment. They were ambushed by many Native Americans. The soldiers were surrounded but they had their wagons set up in a box formation, that allowed them to stand their ground. The soldiers also had new guns that allowed them to shoot rapidly, instead of having to shoot and reload. The Indians ended up retreating, and the soldiers only had 3 deaths. The Indians would only attack small groups of travelers or soldiers after that. -
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
Another meeting was held between the government and the Native Americans. The government agreed to give all of the land north of the North Platte River, and continue giving the annuities. The Native Americans would stop attacking people on the Bozeman Trail. Red Cloud first refused, until the three forts along the Bozeman were abandoned. Once they were the Native Americans burned down Fort Kearny. -
Black Hills Gold
Gold had been disocvred in the Native Americans lands in the Black Hills. At first the government tried to stop miners from going, but no matter how many they stopped, more came in their place. The Native Americans were tired of fighting, and had no use for gold. They let some of the mining go on. The government then said that the Native Americans broke the treaty, and the government stopped following it. The Native Americans began their attacks on whites agian. -
Dull Knife Battle
The army had a large advantage over the Native Americans. About 200 teepees were spotted by Kaycee, the army went and chased off the Native Americans. It wasn't a fight, it was the soldiers destroying all of the food and shelter of the Nativer Americans, they had to try and survive the harsh cold. Many died, but Chief Dull Knife survived and joined another tribe. All of the tribe people were starving and sick, so they gave in to the reservations. This marked the end of the Indian Wars in Wy -
Battle of Little Big Horn
This occured North of Wyoming, in what is not Montana. Three large groups of soldiers had surrounded and planned to attack 10,000 Native Americans gathered together. On June 17th the soldiers from Wyoming battled the Native Americans, but the troops had to withdraw. The Indians moved closer to Little Big Horn for water. One General George Armstrong Custer led his 261 troops against the Native Americnas, the Indians won with out breaking a sweat. -
Battle Won, War Lost
After the Battle of Little Big Horn people became very angered. It was the US's 100th birthday, and people started to hear about the brutal battle. Everyone was sick of the fighting, even those who protected the Native Americans had grown tired of the fighting. Thousands of young men joined the army to stop them. The government stopped paying annuities, and the soldiers killed off thousands of Buffalo, the Indians food. They governemnt wanted all of the Native Americans to give up.