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Sand Creek Massacre
A band of Cheyenne raided nearby ranches in Colorado Territory and army officials offered forgiveness if they returned to their reservation at Sand Creek. Cheyenne chief Black Kettle wanted peace so he led his people back. However, when army colonel John M. Chivington arrived at Sand Creek with several troops he ignored Black Kettle's white peace flag and ordered his troops to open fire on the Cheyenne. About 150 people, mostly women, children, and elderly people were killed. -
Medicine Lodge Treaty
In October 1867, US officials signed three treaties at Medicine Lodge Creek. The treaties were made with the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyene, and other southern nations. The US promised the tribes peace and protection from white intruders in return for friendship and relocation to reservations in western Indian Territory in what is now western Oklahoma. -
2nd Treaty of Fort Laramie
After the Sand Creek Massacre, enraged Cheyenne and Sioux stepped up raids. the Sioux killed a group of 80 soldiers that were passing through on the Bozeman Trail. The government finally agreed to clos the Bozeman Trail in exchange for the Sioux to sign the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie. The Sioux then agreed to live on a reservation along the Missouri River. -
Battle of Palo Duro Canyon
Colonel Ranald McKenzie caught Native Americans from the tribes of the Comanches, Kiowas, and Cheyennes preparing a winter encampment in the Texas Panhandle in 1874. He send in his calvary who slaughtered more than 1000 Indian ponies and destroyed all food stores. Starving Comanches had to move onto the reservation in Indian Territory with no other choice. This event ended the Indian Wars in the southern Plains. -
Battle of the Little Big Horn
When the Lakota Sioux refused to return to their reservations when commanded by the US government, the situation was turned over to the military. About 2000 Native Americans gahtered near the Little Bighorn River and were conducted by Sitting Bull in a ceremonial sun dance. George Custer led his troops into a headlong attak and were quickly encircled and slaughtered. This battle was a tremendous victory for the Sioux. -
Relocation of the Nez Perce (Chief Joseph's Surrender)
In 1877, the Nez Perce were ordered to abandon the last portion of their Oregon homeland and move into a small section of Idaho. Chief Joseph, who was their lieader, agreed but hostilities broke out among settlers and young Nez Perce. The Indians were forced to flee but the army in close pursuit forced them to surrender to the US army when they were less than 40 miles from the Canadian border. The Nez Perce were taken into eastern Kansas and eventually, back into Idaho. -
Capture of Geronimo
The government had moved the Apache peoples to a reservation along the Gila River in Arizona but Geronimo, who was their leader, fled the reservation with dozens of others. Geronimo and his group led raids on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border for several years. Geronimo returned to the reservation but later continued raiding settlements. In 1886, he and his followers were sent to Florida as prisoners of war. This marked the end of armed resistance in the Southwest. -
Ghost Dance Movement Begins
A Paiute shaman, Wovoka, had recieved a powerful vison in 1889. He said that the Indian dead would live again, the settlers would leave, and the buffalo would return. His vision developed into a religious movement know to others as the Ghost Dance, which gave hope to Native Americans. Newspapers even began to suggest that the Ghost Dance was a sign of a coming uprising and began asking the government for help. The US military captured weary Sioux and took them to Wounded Knee Creek to make camp. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
After the Sioux were captured, they were forced to give up their rifles. Black Coyote, a young Native American man, did not want to and in his struggle the gun went off. Both the Sioux and the soldiers began shooting. By the end of the fight, about 300 Sioux lay dead and bodies of women and children who had fled were found as far as three miles from the camp. This event marked the end of the bloody conflict between the army and the Plains Indians.
