The Struggle of the Plains Indians

1
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• 1860 400,000 Native Americans in the US
• 1890 200,000 Native Americans
• Most scattered about the vast grasslands,
  standing in the path of the advancing white
  pioneers

2
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• Conflict with settlers in the East before the
  Civil War resulted in the removal policy, which
  placed Indians in the trans-Mississippi west,
  most in Oklahoma territory

3
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• Before whites began to arrive, Comanche had
  driven the Apaches off the central plains into
  the Rio Grande valley (18th Century)
• Cheyenne had abandoned their villages along the
  upper reaches of the Mississippi and Missouri
  River before the Civil War
• Sioux emerged on the plains attacking the Crows,
  Kiowas, and Pawnees.

4
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• Peace Commissions (army and Indian agents) sent
  to meet with Plains Indians in 1867 and 1868 and
  promised aid non-interference
• Promised food, clothing, and supplies in exchange
  for ancestral lands
• Received from federal Indian agents moth-eaten
  blankets, spoiled beef, and other defective
  provisions

5
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• Conflicts between Indians and U.S. Army
• Sand Creek Massacre 1864. 450 Arapaho and
  Cheyenne men, women, and children killed in
  Colorado Territory by Col. Chivingtons volunteer
  forces
• Little Big Horn 1876. Gen. George Custer and
  264 troops killed by Sioux Indians in Montana
  Territory.

6
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• Conflicts between Indians and U.S. Army
• Chief Joseph and Nez Perce captured by army after
  1300 mile chase
• Wounded Knee 1890. 200 unarmed Sioux killed
  after Sitting Bull was killed.

7
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• E. Dawes Act (1887) or Dawes Severalty Act
  sought to Americanize Indians
• Reservations divided among families in 160 acre
  segments
• Wiped out tribal ownership of land
• Tribal loyalties had to be renounced to gain
  American citizenship
• Dissolved many tribes as legal entities

8
The Struggle of the Plains Indians

• E. Dawes Act (1887) or Dawes Severalty Act
  sought to Americanize Indians
• Between 1887 and 1934, Indians lost over half of
  their reservation lands to whites
• Native children were sent to boarding school and
  matrons sent to reservations