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The Government Restricts Native Americans
In 1834, the federal government has passed an act that designed the entire Great Plains as one enomourous reservation. -
The Governement Changes their policy.
In the 1850's the governemnt changed its policy and created treaties that defined specific boundaries for each tribe. -
Massacre at Sand Creek.
Milita colonel John Chivington and his troops descended on the Cheyenne and Arapaho--about 200 warriors and 500 women and children--camped at Sand Creek. The attack at dawn on November 29, 1864, killed over 150 inhabitants, mostly women and children. -
Battle of the Hundred Slain/Fetterman Massacre.
The Bozeman Trail ran directly through Sioux hunting ground in the Bighorn Mountains. In December 1866, the warrior Crazy Horse ambushed Captain Wiliam J. Fetterman and his company at Lodge Trail Ridge. Over 80 soldiers were killed. -
Treaty of Fort Laramie
The Sioux agreed to live on a reservation along the Missouri River, was forced onto the leaders in 1868. -
Red River War of 1874-75
The U.S. army began hearding the people of friendly tribes onto reservations while opening fire on all others. The orders were to destroy their vilaages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children. This all began by six years of raiding by the Kiowa and Comanche tribes. -
Custer's Last Stand/ The Battle of Little Bighorn.
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 from the Seventh Cavalry were killed. -
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 remaining land to settlers. -
The Battle of Wounded Knee
On 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 their weapons. A shot was fired, and the soldiers opened fire with a deadly cannon. Within minutes, the Seventh Cavalry slaughtered as many as 300 mostly umarmed Native Americans, including several children. This event brought the Indian Wars to a bitter end.
