The Struggle of the Plains Indians

The Struggle of the Plains Indians • 1860 – 360,00 Native Americans in the US • Most scattered about the vast grasslands standing in the path of the advancing white pioneers

The Struggle of the Plains Indians • Conflict with settlers in the East before the Civil War resulted I the removal policy which placed Indians in the transMississippi west, most in Oklahoma territory

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.

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 noninterference • Promised food, clothing, and supplies in exchange for ancestral lands • Received from federal Indian agents motheaten blankets, spoiled beef, and other defective provisions

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. Chivington’s volunteer forces – Little Big Horn – 1876. Gen. Custer and 264 troops killed by Sioux Indians in Montana Territory.

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.

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

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