Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

The West

Culture of Plains Indians• The Horse and the Buffalo

• Spanish explorers in the late 1600’s introduced horses, guns, & buffalo

• Great Plains Indians roamed the vast, open lands to hunt buffalo

• Family Life• Young men—hunters & warriors• Women—butchered game, prepared hides• Children—educated with stories, myths,

games• Spirits of the natural world• Rule by counsel, land was for common use

Settlers Push Westward• Whites wanted to “claim” land—start

businesses, farm, mine• Believed had a right to the land, Native

Americans had failed to “improved”• Search for gold drew settlers to boom

towns—shacks, on dirt roads, wood sidewalks—dotted the landscape of the west

The Government Restricts Native Americans • Massacre at Sand Creek

• In the 1830s, Native American conflicts increased

• By the 1850s, Native Americans were coming into conflict with the building of the railroad

• Cheyenne and Arapaho were camped at Sand Creek in Colorado for the winter when the U.S. Army attacked and killed 150 inhabitants, Nov. 29, 1864

• The U.S. Government tried a peaceful conflict with Treaty of Fort Laramie—trying to separate Sioux and settlers

• The Fort Laramie Treaty lasted less than 4 years

• War broke out between Plains Native Americans when Colonel Custer reported gold in the Black Hills

• Sioux, Cheyenne, & Arapaho tried to protest settlers moving into the Black Hills

• June of 1876, Native Americans lead by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull made their stand and Colonel Custer with his cavalry were attacked at the Little Big Horn River

• Custer and all his troops were killed, but this was a lone victory for the Native Americans

Assimilation • Sioux and Cheyenne were totally defeated

by 1881

• People were divided over the Dawes Act• Plan for Native American assimilation • Passed in 1887• Land was taken from Native Americans,

sold to whites, no compensation was given to Native Americans

• By 1932, two-thirds of the land was originally set aside for Native Americans was settled by whites

Destruction of the Buffalo• The destructive

blow was the slaughter of the buffalo for fur traders and tourists for sport

• Buffalo was main source of food, shelter, clothing, & fuel

• 1800-65 million buffalo

• 1900-1 herd protected in Yellowstone National Park

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Ghost Dance• Attempting to gather a resistance against

whites, hundreds joined the Ghost Dance following

• A prophet said if Native Americans joined in this ghost dance, their deceased ancestors would rise to help the tribes fight off the whites

• Also, they would unaffected by the guns & bullets of the army

The Battle of Wounded Knee• Native Americans were suffering from

disease, poverty, and unfair treatment• Hundreds were rounded up and taken to

Wounded Knee, South Dakota• U.S. Army soldiers demanded the Sioux

give up their weapons—shots were fired—soldiers opened fire with deadly force

• 300 men, women, & children were killed—corpuses were left to freeze on the ground

• Wounded Knee brought an end to the Indian Wars of the West