Cultures Clash on the Prairie & Settling the Great
PlainsChapter 5, Sec. 1, 2
Indians & Settlers• Plains Indians rode horses
that had gone wild from when the Spanish brought them over– Hunted buffalo for food,
tools, clothing, etc.
• White (and Black) Settlers came in to farm, mine gold/silver, raise cattle, etc.
Indians & Settlers• The U.S. govt. made the land they set aside
for Native Americans smaller and smaller
Attacks on the Indians• 1864 Massacre at Sand Creek: U.S. Military
kills 150 of the Cheyenne and Arapaho• The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie forced the
Sioux into a small reservation– Created a temporary peace between Native
Americans and the U.S. govt.– Sioux leader Sitting Bull never actually signed
it…
Attacks on the Indians• By 1872, settlers moved into the Black Hills
(Sioux land) looking for gold & silver• 1876 Sitting Bull and Sioux warriors
countered George A. Custer and killed him and most of his men in battle– But the U.S. sent reinforcements and crushed
the Sioux.
Attacks on the Indians• 1887 Dawes Act forced Indians to
“Americanize,” split up their tribal lands into individual land plots– Children were often taken from their family to a
boarding school, taught English, Christianity, etc.
• White vacationers killed most of the buffalo
Attacks on the Indians• Sioux became poor and desperate, started
performing the “Ghost Dance” ritual– U.S. became scared of this “cult-like” behavior,
killed Sitting Bull in 1890
• In the 1890 Battle of Wounded Knee, U.S. troops slaughtered 300 unarmed Indians– This battle ended the era of warfare between
Indians and the U.S. govt.
Cattle and Cowboys• Cattle would be driven (herded) north from
Texas up to the railroads– They would be loaded on trains and shipped to
big cities like Chicago and St. Louis
• Life as a cowboy was extremely difficult– Not the exciting stuff in the movies…
Settling the Great Plains• From 1850s to 1870s govt. gave huge land
grants to railroads– RR companies would get extra free land for
each mile of track they laid
• 1869 First transcontinental RR completed– Linked West Coast to the East Coast
Settling the Great Plains• 1862 Homestead Act: 160 acres of land for
free to anyone who would farm/build on it– Free land doesn’t mean it was good…– RRs and others actually took advantage of this too
• On one day in 1889 most of Oklahoma went up for grabs
Settling the Great Plains• Life was rough for settlers, many lived in
Soddies: homes made from dug out sod– Everyone in the family worked, lots of children
Settling the Great Plains • New tech greatly increase farm productivity• Morril Act of 1862 &1890 helped improve
the science of farming• Building up large bonanza farms also built
up the debt of farmers