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Reservation
The federal government has passed an act that designated the entire Great Plains as one enormous reservation, or land set aside for Native American tribes. -
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Creating Treaties
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
The Cheyenne assuming they were under the protection of the U.S. government, had peacefully returned to Sand Creek for the winter. General Curtis wasn't happy so he sent a telegram that read, " I want no peace till the Indians suffer more." In response Chivington descended the troops on the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The attack at dawn on November 29, 1864 killed over 150 inhabitants, mostly women and children. -
Death on Bozeman 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
The Sioux agreed to live on a reservation along the Missouri River, was forced on the leaders of the Sioux in 1868. Sitting Bull never signed it. The Ogala and Brule Sioux did sign the treaty, but expected to keep their traditional hunting grounds. The Treaty of Fort Laramie only provided a temporary halt to warfare. The conflict continued as settlers moved westward and Native American nations resisted the restrictions imposed upon them. -
Gold Rush
Within four years of the Treaty of Fort Laramie, miners began searching the Black Hills for gold. The Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho protested the encroachment on their lands to no avail. When Colonel George A. Custer reported that the Black Hills had gold "from the grass roots down," a gold rush was on. Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, another Sioux chief, vainly appealed again to government officials. -
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Red River War
Six years of raiding between the Kiowa and Comanche led to the Red River War. The U.S. 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
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 were beaten. -
The Dawes Act
Congress passes 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 remainder of the reservations to settlers, and the resulting income would be used by Native Americans to buy farm implements. -
The Battle of Wounded Knee
The Seventh Calvary 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 Sioux give up all of their weapons. A shot was fired; from which side it was not clear. The soldiers opened fire with deadly cannon. Within minutes, the Seventh Calvary slaughtered as many as 300 mostly unarmed Sioux, including kids. The soldiers left the bodies to freeze. The war was over with a bitter end.
