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Great Plains
The federal government had passed as act that designated the entire Great Plains as on enormous reservation, or land set aide for Native American tribes. -
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Governement Policy Changes
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 mines-with tragic results. -
Massacre at Sand Creek
Most of the Cheyenne, assuming they were under the protection of the U.S. government, had peacefully returned to Colorado's Sand Creek Reserve for the winter. Yet General S.R. Curtis, U.S. Army commander in the West, sent a telegram to militia colonel John Chivington. In response, 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. -
The Ambush
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 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, wa forced on leaders of the Sioux in 1868. Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotanka), leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux, had never signed it. Although the Ogala and Brule Sioux did sign the treaty, they expected to continue using their traditional hunting grounds. -
Gold Rush
Within 4 years of the Treaty of Fort Laramie, miners began searching the Black Hills for gold. The Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho protested to no avail. In 1874, 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 in Washington. -
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Red River War
In late 1868, war broke out yet again as the Kiowa and Comanche engaged in six years of raiding that finally led to the Red River War. The U.S. Army responded by herding the people of friendly tribes onto the reservation while opening fire on all the 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 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 Little Bighorn River, the Native Americans were ready for them. Led by Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, the warriors- with raised spears and rifles- outflanked and crushed Custer’s troops. Within an hour, Custer and all of the men of the 7th Cavalry were dead. -
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 remainder of the reservation to settlers, and the resulting income would be used by the Native Americans to buy farm implements. -
Wounded Knee
On December 28, 1890, the 7th Cavalry- Custer’s old regiment-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 their weapons. A shot was fired; from which side, it not clear. The soldiers opened fire with deadly cannon.
