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The Gnadenhutten Massacre
In 1782, a group of militiamen from Pennsylvania killed 96 Christianized Delaware Indians, illustrating the growing contempt for native people. -
Protecting the homelands
Beginning in the late 1800s, Indian children were forbidden to speak their own languages and punished in government-and church-supported boarding schools if they did. Many American Indians were not legally considered citizens of the United States until 1924. Even then, some states refused to let American Indians vote until late as the 1950s. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The decision by Indiana Territorial Governor (and later President) William Henry Harrison in 1811 to attack and burn Prophetstown, the Indian capital on the Tippecanoe River, while Tecumseh was away campaigning the Choctaws for more warriors, incited the Shawnee leader to attack again. -
The Creek War
As inter-tribal conflict among Creek Indian factions, the wat also engaged U.S militias, along with the British and Spanish, who backed the Indians to help keep Americans from encroaching on their interests. -
Trail of Tears
One of the most bitterly debated issues on the floor of Congress was the Indian Removal Bill of 1830. From 1830 to 1840, the U.S army removed 60,000 Indians--Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, and others--from the East in exchange for new territory west of the Mississippi. -
Mankato Executions
After a raid of nearby white farms for food turned into a deadly encounter, Dakotas continued raiding, leading to the Little Crown War of 1862, in which 490 settlers, mostly women and children, were killed. President Lincoln sent soldiers, who defeated the Dakota; and after a series of mass trials, more than 300 Dakota men were sentenced to death. -
The Sand Creek Massacre
A former Methodist minister, John Chivington, led a surprise attack on peaceful Cheyennes and Araphos on their reservation at Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado. He led 700 men and massacred 160 people, mostly children and women. -
Custer's Campaigns
George Custer wanted fame, and killing Indians--especially peaceful ones who weren't expecting to be attacked--represented opportunity. They killed 103 warriors, plus women and children. -
Assimilation Policies
On August 7, 2017, the U.S Army began exhuming the graves of three children from the Northern Arapaho tribe who had died at Pratt's Charlisle Indian Industrial School in the 1880s. The Children's names were Little Chief, Horse and Little Plume--names they were forbidden to use at the school. -
Wounded Knee
Several weeks after the famed Sioux Chief Sitting Bull was killed while being arrested, the U.S Army's Seventh Calvary massacred 150 to 200 ghost dancers at wounded Knee, South Dakota.