Native American Battles/Encounters with the Army

By Kbrock41

  • Indian Removal Act

    Indian Removal Act
    The US Government decreed that the Indian tribes could freely inhabit the Great Plains. A Permanent Indian Frontier was established on the eastern edge of the Great Plains.

  • Manifest Destiny

    Manifest Destiny
    John O’Sullivan, editor of the New York newspaper ‘The Morning Post’, first used this phrase to express the long held belief that white Americans had a God-given right to occupy the entire North American continent.

  • Gold discovered in California

    Gold discovered in California
    James Marshall, a carpenter employed by John Sutter to build a mill at Sutter’s Fort, discovered gold. Initially news of the discovery was kept secret but once it became known people from the East flocked to California hoping to find gold and make their fortune. Those who arrived in 1849 became known as the ‘Forty-niners’.

  • Fort Laramie Treaty

    Fort Laramie Treaty
    This treaty between the US Government and the Indian tribes redefined the Indian homelands. The treaty stated that these lands would belong to the Indians and that they would not be entered by white settlers. The Indians were to be given provisions for a period of ten years as compensation for the loss of land.

  • The Homestead Act

    The Homestead Act
    This Act offered anyone prepared to settle in the West 160 acres of land for free provided they built a home and farmed the land for five years.

  • Red Cloud’s War

    Red Cloud’s War
    The Sioux chief, Red Cloud, was furious when white settlers began using the Bozeman Trail which passed through the Sioux hunting grounds and began attacking travellers. Red Cloud was further angered when a line of forts was constructed to protect the travellers and increased the attacks. By spring of 1868 the government were forced to withdraw the army and abandon the forts.

  • Timber Culture Act

    Timber Culture Act
    This Act was an extension to the Homestead Act offering 160 acres of land for free provided that at least 40 acres was planted with trees.

  • Battle of the Little Bighorn

    Battle of the Little Bighorn
    The army decided to attack the Indians camped in the valley of the Little Bighorn. The attack was to be made from three sides. General George Armstrong Custer who led one of the attacking forces decided to attack without waiting for the other two forces to arrive. Custer split his force into three and advanced on the Indians. At some point Custer’s group were attacked. Custer and all his men were killed.

  • Wounded Knee Massacre

    Wounded Knee Massacre
    A group of soldiers opened fire on a group of Sioux at the Pine Ridge reservation in Wounded Knee Creek killing 153 Indian men, women and children.