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Great plains
The Federal Government had passed an act that designated the entire great plains as one enormous reservation. -
1850's Great Plains
The government changed it's policy and created treaties that defined boundaries for each tribe. Most Native Americans spurned the government treaties and continued to hunt on their traditional lands, clashing with settlers and miners. -
Massacre at Sand Creek
Most of the Cheyenne, assuming they were under the protection of the U.S. governent, had peacefully returned to Colorado's Sand Creek Reserve for the winter. General S. R. Curtis, U.S. Army commander in the West sent a telegram to Chivington, who then descended on the Cheyenne and Arapaho . It killed over 150 inhabitants mostly women and children -
The Battle of the Hundred Slain
The warrior Crazy Horse ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman and his company at Lodge Trail Ridge. Over 80 soldiers were killed. Native Americans called this fight The Batlle of the hundred Slain. The whites called it the Fetterman Massacre -
Red River War
In late 1868, war broke out again as the Kiowa and Comanche engaged in six years of raiding that finally led to the Red River War. -
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Red River War
The U.S. Army responded by herding the people of friendly tribes onto reservations while opening fire on the others. General Philip Sheridan, a Union Army veteran, gave orders "to destroy their villages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children." With such tactics, the army crushed resistance on the southern plains. -
Custer's Last Stand
The Sioux and Cheyenne held a sundance, during which Sitting Bull had a vision of soldiers and some Native Americans falling from their horses. When Colonel Custer and his troops reached the Little Bighorn River, the Native Americans were ready for them. The warriors outflanked and crushed Custer's troops. Within an hour Custer and all of the men of the Seventh Calvary were dead. -
Sioux
The Sioux were beaten. Sitting Bull and a few followers took refuge in Cananda, where they reamined until 1881. To prevent his peoples starvation Sitting Bull was forced to surrender. -
The Dawes Act
Congress passed the Dawes Acto aiming to "Americanize" the Native Americans. The act broke up the reservations and gave some of the reservation land to an individual Native Americans - 160 acres to each head od the household and 80 acres to each unmarrie adult. The governmant would sell the remainder of the reservation to settlers. The resulting income would be used by Native Americans to buy farm implements -
Wounded Knee
The Seventh Cavalry rounded up about 350 starving and freezing Sioux and took them to a camp at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The next day, the soldiers demanded that the Native Americans give up all their weapons. A shot was fired; from which side, it was not clear. The soldiers opened fire with a deadly cannon. Within minutes, the Seventh Cavalry slaughtered as many as 300 mostly unharmed Native Americans, incluing several children.
