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Federal Government Passes Act
In 1834, the federal government passed an act that designated the entire Great Plains as one enormous reservation, or land set aside for the Native American tribes. -
Government Changes Act
In the 1850s, the government changed its policy and created treaties that defined specific boundaries for each tribe. Most Native Americans spurned the government treaties and continued to hunt on their traditional lands, clashing with settlers and miners--with tragic results. -
Massacre at Sand Creek
Most of the Cheyenne, assuming they were under protection of the US government, had peacefully returned to Colorado's Sand Creek Reserve for the winter. Yet General S. R. Curtis, US Army commander in the West, sent a telegram to militia colonel John Chivington that said that he wanted no peace until the Native Americans suffer more. Chivington and his troops descended on the Cheyenne and Arapaho camped at Sand Creek. The attack killed 150 inhabitants, mostly women and children. -
Fetterman Massacre
The Bozaman Trail ran directly through Sioux hunting grounds in the Bighorn Mountains. Sioux Chief, Red Cloud had unsuccessfully appealed to the government to end white settlement on the trail. In December 1866, the warrior Crazy Horse ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman and his company at Lodge Trail Ridge. Over 80 soldiers were killed. Native Americans called this fight the Battle of the Hundred Slain. Whites called it the Fetterman Massacre. -
Treaty of Fort Laramie
Skirmishes continued until the government agreed to close the Bozeman Trail. In return, the Treaty of Fort Laramie, in which the Sioux agreed to live on a reservation along the Mississippi River, was forced on the leaders of the Sioux in 1868. Sitting Bull, leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux, never signed it and they expected to continue to use their traditional hunting grounds. The Treaty of Fort Laramie provided only a temporary halt to warfare. The conflict continued as settlers moved westward. -
Red River War
In late 1868, war broke out again as the Kiowa and Comanche engaged in six years of raiding that finally led to the Red River War of 1874-1875. The US Army responded by herding the people of friendly tribes onto reservations while opening fire on all others. General Philip Sheridan, a Union Army veteran, gave orders to destroy their villages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children. With such tactics, the army crushed resistance on the southern plains. -
Custer's Last Stand
In early June of 1876, the Sioux and Cheyenne held a sun dance, during which Sitting Bull had a vision of soldiers and some Native Americans falling from their horses. When Colonel Custer and his troops reached the Little Bighorn River, the Native Americans were ready for them. Led by Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, the warriors outflanked and crushed Custer's troops. Within an hour, Custer and all of the men of the Seventh Calvary were dead. By late 1876, however, the Sioux were beaten. -
The Dawes Act
In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act aiming to Americanize the Native Americans. The act broke up the reservations and gave some of the reservation land to individual Native Americans--160 acres to each head of household and 80 acres to each unmarried adult. The government would sell the reservations to settlers, and the resulting income would be used by Native Americans to buy farm implements. By 1932, whites had taken 2/3 of the territory set aside for Native Americans. -
The Battle of Wounded Knee
December 28, 1890, the Seventh Cavalry rounded up about 350 starving and freezing Sioux and took them to a camp at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The next day, the soldiers demanded that the Native Americans give up all weapons. A shot was fired; no one knows from which side. The soldiers opened fire with deadly cannon. Within minutes, the Seventh Cavalry slaughtered as many as 300 mostly unarmed Native Americans. They left the corpses to freeze on the ground. Brought Indian wars to an end.
