Native Americans

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Native Americans

• Culture and Change

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Culture

• Some Native Americans were farmers, most were
  nomads following buffalo herds
• Native Am lived in extended family groups
• Dependent on nature for food and religion
• Lived in bands of 500 headed by governing council
• Gender determined task assignment

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Changes under Pressure

• Ranchers, miners, and farmers move into Plains
  territory
• Result deprived Native Am of hunting grounds and
  forced to relocate
• Railroad building through plains territory
• Disruption of buffalo herds

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Resistance

• 1862 Sioux uprising Sioux moved to reservations
  in Minnesota
• Government promise payments to support themselves
• Traders keep payments to pay off debts
• 1862 Congress delayed payments
• Dakota tribe faced starvation denied credit to
  buy food

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Sioux uprising

• Chief Little Crow wage war against soldiers not
  civilians
• Lost control of warriors- slaughter civilians
• Military tribunal sentenced 307 Dakota Indians to
  death- only 38 executed
• Military troops sent to patrol plains to prevent
  further uprisings

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Lakota Indians

• Chief Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull
• Fight to control their hunting grounds
• 1866 Military defeated by Red Cloud
• Fettermans Massacre- Crazy Horse ambush army
• Sand Creek Massacre- between Cheyenne, Arapaho
  and miners

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Sand Creek cont.

• Native Am attacked wagon trains, stole horses and
  cattle 200 settlers killed
• Native Am orders to surrender at Fort Lyons and
  some complied
• 1864 Remaining Indians under Chief Black Kettle
  seek peace told to wait at Sand Creek
• No one knows what really happened

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Sand Creek cont.

• Some say Chief Black Kettle flew both the
  American flag and white truce flag
• Some say the army brutally murdered the Indians
• Others say they battled for two days and in the
  end 14 soldiers died and anywhere from 60-600
  Native Americans died

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Indian Peace Commission

• Formed in 1867
• Created two large reservation for Sioux and
  Southern Plains Indians
• Bureau of Indian Affairs put in charge
• Native Am were forced to sign treaties
• Did not guarantee compliance with terms
• Result- Indians on reservation faced poverty and
  corruption

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Last Native American Wars

• By 1870s many Native Am leave reservations in
  disgust
• Return to traditional life of hunting
• Buffalo herds depleted
• Buffalo hunters kill for hides and sport
• Railroad hire sharpshooters
• Military encouraged buffalo hunting

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Battle Little Bighorn

• Background- Lakota and Sioux reservations located
  in Black Hills where gold discovered
• Native Am moved to Bighorn Mts. In Montana
• June 25,1876 Lt. Col. George Custer launched a 3
  prong attack in broad daylight on Lakota

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Battle Little Bighorn cont

• 2500 Lakota and Cheyenne resist killed 210
  soldiers
• Newspapers portrayed Custer as victim of massacre
• Fear retaliation, Sitting Bull flees to Canada
• Chief Joseph of Nez Perce tribe refused to return
  to reservation

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Little Bighorn cont.

• Chief Joseph retreat on 1300 mile journey
• 1877 Chief Joseph surrendered
• Native Am resistance ended 1890
• Lakota defied army orders and continued to
  perform the Ghost Dance
• Sitting Bull arrested but in resistance died
• Troops tried to disarm Native Am at Wounded Knee
  Creek

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Last Battle

• Wounded Knee 200 Native Americans died, 25
  soldiers
• In the aftermath- authors such as Helen Hunt
  Jackson bring attention to the plight of the
  Native Americans
• She wrote A Century of Dishonor 1881
• Focus on the need to assimilate Native American

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Dawes Act 1887

• Head of household received 160 acres single men
  80 acres, children 40 acres.
• Rest of reservation land sold to settlers and the
  money put into a trust fund for Native Americans
• Some Native Am succeeded as farmers
• Most lacked the desire or the training
• Private ownership of land went against tradtion

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