The History of the American West the Facts

8/21/2019 The History of the American West the Facts

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en Taylor

THE HISTORY OF THE

AMERICAN WEST: THE

FACTS


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Copyright © Ken Taylor (2015)

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&knowledgments

, wish to reord my grateful thanks to 4ike 9ames for his helpwith the te:t of my book &lso many thanks to ;on -ygrae and

,an %earson for applying their omputer skills on my behalf, wish to thank the editorial staff at &ustin 4aauley for all the

help# adie and guidane they hae proided


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Introduction

The &merian 6est is a ast landsape of mountain ranges#hills# riers# anyons and plains .ong before the first7uropeans arried the *atie &merians lied off this land#those same naties who would later be inorretly labelledapped peaksand the ma?esti 8rand Canyon where the Colorado ;ier flows uneasingly below They knew the burning heat of mid>day and the iy old of night# the way that the olours of the

roks gleam in the light of both the sun and the moon# thewonders beyond wonder to whih no amera an gie ?ustie

The first 7uropeans belieed that they had reahed a landof dreams# a plae of unlimited gold# and when the natieswere found to hae little of alue they were usually treatedwith e:treme saagery oweer# a greater threat to their wayof life ourred when gold was disoered in loations aross

the ontinent# as it aused a huge influ: of settlers looking to


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*ow# many years later# we hae ities and skysrapersinstead of towns and shaks The train and motorar haereplaed the oered wagon# and the freeways link peopletogether in ountless miles of freedom that pulsate from stateto state

The &merian 6est of yesteryear# the mountains and plains and the life and death in a single moment are still there#the same boiling sun and free+ing old still unhanged# hiddenonly by our own pereption of time and ariane /till# arossthis teeming ountry with millions of iti+ens we look bakAwe look bak and see the real Bld 6est# the true ountry of

hard and rugged people# and we see beyond ollywood andinto the real lies of the men and women who lied and diedthere


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Native Americans

The indigenous people of *orth &meria# *atie &meriansare omposed of numerous tribes# nations and ethnigroupings They were originally known as modern era there has been a great dealof onflit between naties and settlers# strething right up tillthe end of the nineteenth entury &s a result# these battles andskirmishes hae a key plae in any desription of the Bld6est

-efore 7uropean enroahment many *aties lied inhunter>gatherer soieties# though in uite a number of groupsthere was ultiation of rops most often mai+e# beans andsuash This was a ery different way of life than that whihthe white settlers brought with them# being a totallyagriultural and# in later years# industrial based soiety Thesedifferenes helped to fuel onflits and made it more diffiult

for the opposing sides to see eye to eyeThe first ontat with natie tribes was often established

by fur traders who would push into une:plored lands Thesetended to hae friendly relations with the ,ndians# as they presented no threat to their way of life &s the @nited /tates began to e:pand its borders and moe further west# settlersand miners ame into inreasing onflit with the tribes of the8reat %lains These were largely nomadi ultures# usinghorses and traelling to hunt bison ,n the years following theCiil 6ar# whih was also the golden age of the Bld 6est#these groups fought fierely against inursions into their landsand the result of this was a series of ,ndian wars whih lasted


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until around 1"'0 The deelopment of transontinentalrailways inreased the pressure on the western tribes andmeant that their days as independent nations were numberedAsuddenly the ease of ross ountry transport meant that eenformerly isolated areas were opened up to white e:pansionThe @/ goernment began foring treaties and land essionson the ,ndians# freuently breaking agreements and graduallymoing them onto speially reated reserations The ma?or idea was that they would try and human and therefore were treated ery badly This led to terrible rimes being ommitted by bothsides as ,ndians and whites arried out attaks and reprisalstrikes against one another The @/ had always made it an aimto eentually e:pand all the way to the west oast# and this

naturally brought about onflit with all the groups who liedwithin this area

,n films and literature# ,ndians are normally portrayed inan e:tremely polarised manner# as being either eil saageswho lie only to kill# or as saintly beings that e:isted inomplete harmony with nature before the oming of thewhites ,n fat# the truth is somewhere in the middle# for ?ustlike any other human being they were apable of both goodand eil -efore the arrial of the 7uropeans there were wars between different tribes and nations# and atroities wereommitted Bn the other hand# the lassi image of the redskinsaage is not orret either *atie ulture was e:tremelyomple:# ertainly as muh so as that of the 7uropeans# with awide ariety of soial# religious and politial institutions Theywere not uniilised# but rather iilised in a different way

,t would take a huge series of books to do ?ustie to theulture and way of life of *atie &merians 3or the purposesof understanding their plae in the Bld 6est it is enough tosay that they were usually iewed with a mi:ture of fear and


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ontempt by the whites# born out of a ompletemisunderstanding and lak of respet between the two sidesThe desire of the @nited /tates to push on to the %aifi Beanmeant that warfare was ineitable# and resulted in a hugeamount of misery and death


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Daniel Boone

Bne of the early frontiersmen# $aniel -oone (1!D>1"20) wasalso an e:plorer and pioneer who beame something of a folk hero both in his own time and after e is best known for e:ploring and settling modern day Kentuky# and for utilisingthe 1!50s -oone sered time in the -ritish armyduring the 3renh and ,ndian 6ar# whih saw -ritain and3rane fighting oer land .ater he sered time as a wagondrier# before returning home to marry ;ebea -ryan withwhom he eentually had ten hildren 3ollowing ,ndian raids#the family reloated to Firginia# and -oone sered more timein the army as well as making long distane hunting trips6ith a growing family to feed# he was able to supplement hisinome by selling game that he shot# hunting deer in theautumn and beaer and otter in the winter

-y 1!0 the tension with the *atie &merians hadalmed down and the family were able to return to their old


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home *onetheless# $aniel felt that the area was beoming toorowded and wanted to strike out for the frontier# where therewould be more land &t this point in his life he was strugglingto pay his way# and was taken to ourt seeral times oer debts e onsidered settling in 3lorida but had to drop theidea# possibly as a result of his wife=s lak of desire to moeso far

aing heard tales of the area known as Kentuky# -oonefirst traelled there in 1!! The loal *atie &merians had ?ust gien up their laim to the land# whih was now under the-ritish Crown /oon after# he returned and went on a two year

hunting trip# an e:iting adenture that saw him aptured by,ndians at one point and told to leae the region $espite this#he arried on hunting and e:ploring and after a brief isithome# returned for another trip

,n 1!!D# -oone and about fifty others set out with theintention of establishing the first permanent settlement inKentuky oweer# the *atie &merians were beoming

restless with so many white hunters around# and they apturedand killed two of the party# inluding $aniel -oone=s ownson &s a result of this hostility the e:pedition was abandonedand before long full sale war had deeloped betweenFirginia and the /hawnee ,ndians -oone took the ?ob of riding around the ountryside# warning others of the fat thatthe olony was now at war# and is estimated to hae oeredeight hundred miles in two months &s a result of this# and of his subseuent defene of settlements and promotion toCaptain in the militia# -oone=s fame began to spread

Firginia won the war# and soon -oone was asked to find agood route that ould be traelled into Kentuky 6ith a partyof thirty or so others# he marked a trail that went through theCumberland 8ap and led to the Kentuky ;ier# founding thetown of -oonesborough ,n 1!!5 he went bak for his family

and brought them to lie in the new settlement$uring the &merian ;eolution (1!!5>1!"2)# loal

*atie &merians began attaks on settlers one again# andmany returned to the east Bn one oasion three teenage girls#


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inluding -oone=s daughter# were abduted by ,ndians andarried off -oone raised a posse and ambushed the ,ndians#saing all three girls in what would be the most elebratedmoment of his long areer oweer# the war with the *atieswas beoming serious# and in 1!!! -oone was in?ured ination when his kneeap was shattered by a bullet

-y 1!!" -oonesborough was in a state of siege# foringthe men inside to make risky hunting trips outside of thewalls# and on one of these trips they enountered a astlysuperior horde of *aties The men were fored to surrender to Chief -lakfish and his warriors oweer# -oone saed

his town by making a false promise to -lakfish that it wouldsurrender as soon as spring arried This meant that the,ndians did not make an immediate attak on the poorlydefended settlement The /hawnees adopted -oone into their family and he lied peaefully with them for a while Thefollowing year howeer he learnt of an imminent attak on-oonesborough# and managed to esape and rae bak to the

town to warn it Ber the ne:t weeks he helped in thesuessful defene of the olony# een though he was iewedwith suspiion by some on aount of his haing lied peaefully with the /hawnees

-efore long# -oone headed bak east to ollet his family#who had fled# and he brought more settlers bak with him#forming a new town alled -oone=s /tation & disaster ourred when he had oer G20#000 stolen from him whihwas supposed to be used to purhase land grants for the new pioneers This loss would haunt him for the rest of his life3ollowing this# he was eleted to the Firginia 8eneral&ssembly and played a part in the ation of the latter part of the ;eolutionary 6ar

&fter the ;eolution -oone tried his hand at arioustrades suh as farming and running a hotelA his fame ontinued

to spread# espeially after a book about the settlement of Kentuky was published whih inluded an aount of -oone=s e:peditions -oone County was named after himBer time he enountered finanial problems after attempting


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to earn money through land speulation# and he found itdiffiult to fit in with the new# more iili+ed state of theregion

-y 1!'' he had moed out of the @nited /tates altogether and into present day 4issouri# where he spent the rest of lifee ontinued hunting and trapping and spent more time withhis family# finally dying at the fine age of eighty>fie

-oone was a frontiersman through and through andtended to moe on from an area when it beame too settled for his liking -y the end of his life he was already a figure of the past# but his legend remains to this day and he is rememberedespeially in Kentuky as one of the first 7uropean e:plorersof that region


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James Harrod

& lesser known figure of the Bld 6est# 9ames arrod (1!H>1!'2) spent time as a hunter and a soldier# but is remembered primarily for his work as a pioneer and settler in the area tothe west of the &llegheny 4ountains e e:plored muh of what is now Kentuky and ,llinois# establishing arrod=sTown (present day arrodsburg) as the first permanentsettlement in Kentuky

arrod was born and raised in %ennsylania# to parents9ohn and /arah .ittle is known of his early life# though heertainly learned outdoor skills suh as hunting and trappingand beame a fine shot with a rifle These were dangeroustimes# and indeed his brother=s and father=s first wies were

both killed by *aties# and in 1!5# during the 3renh and,ndian 6ar (where 8reat -ritain fought 3rane)# the familywere fored to flee their home due to ,ndian attaks

,n 1!0 he olunteered to sere under Captain Cohran#giing his age as si:teen ,t has been obsered that hisreorded height at the time was only fie feet two inhes#whereas later in life he was oer si: foot This suggests that he

most probably lied about his age in order to be able to enlist& few years later arrod took part in the fighting during%ontia=s ;ebellion against seeral *atie tribes# later moinginto modern day ,llinois ere he mi:ed with 3renh and,ndian traders and learnt to speak their languages# makingontats with other frontiersmen suh as $aniel -oone

-y 1!! his reputation had grown enough for .ord

$unmore to appoint him head of an e:pedition to e:plore thearea that had been promised to eterans of the 3renh and,ndian 6ar arrod took thirty>seen men and traelled to themouth of the Kentuky ;ier# rossing /alt ;ier into modernday 4erer County# Kentuky arrod=s Town was


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established on the 1th 9une# and the land was diided upamong the party arrod named his own streth of land


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DeWitt Clinton

&n important though largely forgotten figure of &meriandemoray# $e6itt Clinton (1!'>1"2") sered in the @nited/tates /enate and was the si:th goernor of *ew Iork islifelong interest in politis# ulture and soiety made himinfluential during the latter part of the enlightenment# andhelped set some of the standards of iilisation that woulddefine the @nited /tates

&fter reeiing a uniersity eduation# he beameseretary to his unle# 8eorge Clinton# who was sering asgoernor of *ew Iork $uring the late eighteenth and earlynineteenth entury he sat on arious bodies# inluding the *ew Iork /tate &ssembly# the *ew Iork /tate /enate# the

/tate Constitutional Conention and the Counil of &ppointments# the latter of whih had the ?ob of appointing allhigh>ranking offiials in the region ,n 1!' he married 4aria3ranklin# daughter of a wealthy loal Euaker# with whom hehad ten hildren /he died in 1"1" and he soon remarried toCatherine 9ones# who outlied him

-eginning in 3ebruary 1"02 he sat for slightly under two

years in the @/ /enate# but was unhappy with liingonditions in 6ashington and so moed bak to *ew Iork where he sered three terms as 4ayor $uring this time hehelped to found the istorial /oiety of *ew Iork and the&merian &ademy of the 3ine &rts e was also ;egent of the loal uniersity between 1"0" and 1"25

Clinton was heaily inoled with the 7rie Canal pro?et#

whih linked the &tlanti Bean with the 8reat .akes e saton the ommission whih disussed and planned the sheme#soon beoming the driing fore behind it 6hen the analwas finished in 1"25# he had the honour of offiially openingit


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,n 1"12# Clinton ran as a andidate for %resident of the@nited /tates# but was defeated in a lose eletion by 9ames4adison 3ie years later he was eleted as 8oernor of *ewIork# a post whih he held on to in the 1"20 eletions $uringthis period it was deided that eletions for 8oernor should be held eery two years rather than three# and Clinton was notre>nominated by his party for the 1"22 ballot &s a result of this he did not run and so gae up the offie

Clinton=s enemies in the *ew Iork legislature oted toremoe him from the 7rie Canal Commission in 1"2# a moethat was so unpopular with the people that Clinton found

himself lifted up on a wae of popular support# and as a resultof this he was re>eleted 8oernor and spent another twoterms in offie e died suddenly at the age of fifty>eight#while still sering

Clinton represents a different side of &merian history# a politiian who gained mass support in his loal region andwho lied his entire life on the east oast is suessful

ision of the 7rie Canal# along with his soial ahieements#makes him a figure worth remembering


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The Alamo

The most famous eent of the Te:as ;eolution# the -attle of the &lamo (3ebruary 2Drd J 4arh th 1"D) is bestremembered for its final day in whih the &lamo 4ission wasoerrun by 4e:ian fores and the defenders were massared

Throughout the period leading up to this eent# the4e:ian goernment had been growing more and moreditatorial and was pereied as a diret threat to the manyformer @nited /tates iti+ens who had settled in Te:as# then a border region of 4e:io This led to the eentual uprising of the region and later a delaration of independene ,n the earlymonths of the war# the Te:ans defeated the sattered 4e:ianfores# ausing %resident 8eneral /anta &nna to organise a

large fore to put down the rebellion /anta &nna wentfurther# seeking to ease the flow of @nited /tates iti+ens(who were flooding into Te:as to aid in the reolution) bylassifying all foreign ombatants as pirates# meaning thatthey ould be e:euted immediately upon apture

The &lamo 4ission itself was a onerted religiousstation that had been transformed into a small fort in order to

defend against *atie attaks ,t was ertainly neer intendedto fae up to a modern army with artillery The Te:as foresgarrisoned it against the approahing 4e:ian army# but withfewer than one hundred men they had far too little in numbersto hold out against a determined assault /am ouston# one of the ommanders of the Te:an troops# ould not spare the mento defend the fort# but sent Colonel 9ames -owie with thirtymen in order to remoe the artillery and demolish the buildings# to ensure that the enemy ould not make use of them oweer# this plan was soon abandoned and it wasdeided to stand and fight rather than withdraw 6illiamTrais arried with some reinforement# as did $ay Crokett


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Trais and -owie eentually agreed to share ommand of their fores# whih were still woefully inadeuate to mount asuessful defene

Bn 3ebruary 2Drd

4e:ian fores were sighted (/anta&nna had around si: thousand men) and the Te:an troopsuikly rounded up as muh food and supplies as possible andretreated into the fort This began a siege that was to lastalmost two weeks 6ithin a few days 9im -owie had beomeill and ollapsed# leaing Trais in ontrol There were anumber of minor engagements during the siege in whih the4e:ians tended to hae the worst of it# but with suh

numerial supremay that it hardly mattered

-y 4arh 5th /anta &nna was preparing for a final assault#whih took plae the ne:t day The defenders repulsed two4e:ian attaks# but were unable to hold off a third ,nonfused fighting# irtually all the Te:ans were killed# with afew being e:euted after surrendering 9ames -owie# $ayCrokett and 6illiam Trais all perished in ation

/hortly after the -attle of the &lamo# the 4e:ian armymurdered oer three hundred apties at 8oliad# adding to thefear and resentment with whih they were iewed oweer#despite being heaily outnumbered the Te:an fores beameeen more determined to win itory Bn &pril 21st 1"D /amouston led a Te:an army in a omplete rout of /anta &nna=stroops at the -attle of /an 9ainto# thus ending the war and

paing the way for nationhood /anta &nna was aptured butwas not e:euted# being eentually allowed to return home as part of a treaty

$espite the deisie engagement of the war being foughtat /an 9ainto# it is the ation of the &lamo that is mostfamous and most often desribed The aliant defene of asmall group of men against a large army# and the saagemanner in whih they died# still makes a iid impression

almost two hundred years later


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Jim Bowie

& pioneer and soldier who played an important part in theTe:as reolution# 9ames 9imL -owie (1!'>1"D) is thesub?et of a great amount of historial researh# and an almostas large amount of mythology -orn in .ogan County#Kentuky# he was the ninth of ten hildren born to parentswho owned both horses and slaes The family moed seeraltimes in his youth before settling in .ouisiana# and the young-owie learnt frontier skills suh as hunting# trapping and planting# from a young age e also learnt to use a pistol# rifleand arious knies and deeloped a reputation as a skilledmarksman

,n 1"1 -owie enlisted in the .ouisiana militia# hoping to

see military ation against the -ritish in the war that was thenreahing its endA indeed# he signed up too late to be inoledin the fighting and ended up working for a spell sawinglumber &fter this he was inoled in the .ong 7:pedition#whih attempted unsuessfully to throw off /panish ontrolof Te:as e was not in?ured in the ampaign and returned to.ouisiana before /panish reinforements arried in number

&round the years 1"1">1"25 -owie# after the death of hisfather# worked with his brother on the family estate# managingthe affairs of the land# whih still inluded slaes ,n fat# theywent into partnership with the pirate 9ean .afitte# smugglingslaes into the ountry and selling them at market in *ewBrleans They made a huge amount of money in this way# andwere able to moe into land speulation with their profitsTeaming up with another brother# they bought and soldseeral estates# always managing to ome out with a profit andgradually building up their apital

-owie=s fame really began in an inident known as the/andbar 3ight e had been inoled in a feud with a loal


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sheriff# *orris 6right# who was also a banker who had turneddown a loan appliation from the brothers There was aninident in whih 6right fired a shot at -owie but missed&fter this -owie swore always to arry his huge huntingknife# almost ten inhes long# with him for self>defene ,n/eptember 1"2!# both -owie and 6right attended a duel on asandbank# in whih they eah supported a different party Thetwo duellists fired two shots at eah other# both missed# and sothe men settled their differenes with a handshake oweer#seeral fights broke out between different obserers and in theonfusion 6right stabbed -owie with his sword $espite

being badly wounded# -owie drew his knife and slashed at hisopponent# killing him instantly 3ollowing this# -owie wasstabbed and shot seeral more times by his other enemies inthe group but somehow aoided being fatally wounded andhad his wounds pathed by a dotor &ll the witnesses agreedthat he had not struk the first blow and so there was nouestion of his being harged with murder The newspapersreported on his huge weapon# and the so>alled -owie Kniferapidly gained popularity

aing reoered from his wounds# -owie moed toTe:as# then a proine of 4e:io# onerted to ;omanCatholiism and eentually beame a 4e:ian iti+en e beame engaged to be married# but his fianMe tragially diedtwo weeks before their wedding ,n 1"D1 he married thedaughter of one of his business partners and ontinued to

speulate in land# with around seen hundred thousand ares passing through his hands e also had a new sheme in mindAstories abounded of a lost /panish siler mine somewhere in,ndian territory that had been long sine abandoned -owiereeied permission from the goernment to mount ane:pedition to try and reoer it &lthough this mission failed#it is best remembered for an inident in whih the group was

attaked by a *atie raiding party -owie organised thedefenders and# despite being outnumbered by something likefifteen to one# managed to drie off the ,ndians# losing onlyone man in the proess is fame ontinued to spread withmany stories in national newspapers# although apparently

Documents

The History of the American West the Facts