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First European Contact
The first European contact of significance was the colony established at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. It is considered the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.The Jamestown settlement was located within the Tsenacommacah region, which belonged to the Paspahegh tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy. The colony struggled but survived with the assistance of the natives. Relations between the natives and colonists ended in the colonists annihilating the Paspahegh in warfare. -
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (1675-1676) also know as Metacom's War, was led by Wampanoag Chief Metacom (King Philip) along with his band of warriors, who were frustrated with the English' intrusion of their land and way of life. Chief Metacom was the second son of Massasoit, who initiated the very first treaty between a Native American tribe and American colonists. As tensions rose between the English and the Wampanoag, the English betrayed Chief Metacom, which resulted in King Philip's War. -
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) also known as the Third Indian War was fought between French colonists along with their Indian allies against English colonists with their Indian allies for control over the American continent.This war was fought on several fronts which included Spanish Florida, New England, Newfoundland, and Acadia. The end of the war produced the Treaty of Utrecht, which resulted in the exclusion of the Indians from peace negotiations and the loss of their land. -
Tuscarora War
In 1710 a group of Germans and Swiss established a settlement on the Neuse River, which was the ancestral grounds of the Tuscarora people. The Natives became angered by this encroachment upon their lands and recurring unfair trading practices. In September 22, 2011, the Tuscarora led by Chief Hancock attacked New Bern and other settlements in northern Carolina. The Natives killed hundreds of settlers and destroyed their homes and crops. -
Cherokee Wars
In 1773, the Cherokee and Creek Indians under the Treaty of Augusta, yielded more than 2,000,000 tribal acres in Georgia to alleviate their indebtedness to white traders. In 1775, the Overhill Cherokee agreed to the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, which included selling a significant amount of land in central Kentucky. In response to colonial encroachment upon their hunting grounds, in July 1776 a force of 700 Cherokee under Chief Dragging-canoe attacked two U.S.-held forts in North Carolina. -
Battle of the Bluffs
The Battle of the Bluffs occurred on April 2, 1781. A group of bands that consisted of about 400 Chickamaugan warriors led by Cherokee Chief Dragging Canoe, made an attempt to obliterate Fort Nashborough and its surrounding settlements.The Chickamungans belonged to the Cherokee tribe, however they broke away. They didn't believe the Cherokees took an aggressive enough approach when up against the settlers who took their land. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought on November 7, 1811 along the banks of the Keth-tip-pe-can-nunk, a river in the heart of central Indiana. Shawnee Chief Tecumseh formed a coalition to prevent an increased influx of white settlers into Illinois and Indiana. Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison led a group of soldiers and militia to annihilate the Shawnee's village but instead he agreed to a temporary cease-fire.Tecumseh's brother ignored the cease-fire and attacked. -
Seminole Wars
During the First Seminole War (1816-1818), the Seminoles with the assistance of runaway slaves defended Spanish Florida against the U.S. Army. In the Second Seminole War, the Seminoles fought to keep possession of their land in the Florida Everglades but they were almost annihilated. The Third Seminole War was the final stand of the Seminoles. As a result of being outgunned and outnumbered the majority agreed to move to Indian reservations in Oklahoma. -
Red Cloud's War
Red Cloud's War was provoked by the U.S. government's development of the Bozeman Trail which allowed miners and settlers to access gold in Montana Territory. The problem was the trail went through Indian Territory. So an Indian coalition led by Lakota Chief Red Cloud attacked workers, settlers and soldiers to preserve their native lands. The Indians were victorious, the U.S. Army left and signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868. -
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn took place near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory on June 25, 1876. General George Armstrong Custer led 600 men into the Little Bighorn Valley, where they were overpowered by approximately 3,000 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Crazy Horse. Custer and all his men were killed in battle. Despite the inevitable victory of the Sioux, they were forced by the U.S. government to sell the Black Hills and leave the land. -
Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973
On February 27, 1973, about 250 Sioux Indians, led by members of the American Indian Movement, seized Wounded Knee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation and occupied it for 71 days. The Oglala Lakota were protesting against its tribal council president Richard Wilson, unsafe living conditions, and generations of mistreatment from federal and local agencies.
