Native American Cultures in Crisis

1. Native American Cultures in Crisis Chapter 13 Section 1

2. I The Culture of the Plains IndiansA. The importance of the Horse and the Buffallo • Easterners and Native Americans knew very little about eacother • 2 distinct cultures existed in Great Plains = grassland estending through west-central part of US • Settled planter tribes who lived in small villages • Nomadic tribes who gathered wild foods and hunted buffalo

3. Spanish introduce horses & guns to New Mexico (1598) Nat. Amer way of life changing • Can travel farther and hunt more effeiciently • By 1700s most tribes of GP abandon villages and roam plains to hunt Buffalo • Increaasedmobilitywars as one tribe trespassed on anothers hunting grounds • Buffalo provide basic needs (tepees, clothing, food, weapons, etc)

4. B. Family Life • Small extended fam groups w/ ties to other bands who spoke same lang. • Men hunting or raiding parties to get supplies & shared w/ group • Women helped butcher game and prepared what was brought back by men • Communal way of life DID NOT take away individualism • Children learn proper behavior & culture from tribe • Stories/myths/games • None was allowed to dominate group  leadewrs ruled by counsel • Land was for common use

5. II Settlers Push Westward • White settler culture diff from nat. Amer • Dinied prosperity in terms of personal property • Justify taking land by claiming Nat Amer gave up rights to land when they did not improve land • Prospoect of striking it rich in west w/ gold  settlers moving west • Homsteadt Act also attracted settlers to west • Free land to anyone who would live on and cultivate it for 5 yrs.

6. Exodusters= African Americans who moverd from post reconstruction south to Kansas in mass exodus • Pacific Railroad Act= government loans and land to Union and Central Pacific RR lines • Used Chinese immigrants to build bridges and lay track • Before RR ppltravele don horsevulnerable to attack from Nat Amer & outlaws

7. III Government Restricts Native Americans • 1864 Fed gov’t passes law designated entire GP as one large reservation • Change policy to open up more land to white settlers treaties setting up boundaries between tribes • “chiefs” signed treaties that tribe did not agree with • Cheyenne forced to Sand Creek Reserve raid nearby settlements  militia ordered to attack Cheyenne • Agree to returen to land and stop raiding • US army commander orders attack on Cheyenne reservationChivington attacks • Kill hundreds of men women children & mutilate bodies known as Sand Creek Masacre

8. Bozeman Trail • Siouz angered by increase white settlement on Bozeman Trail • Trail ran throughtSouix hunting grounds • Chief Red Cloud tried to make de`al w/ gov’t but continue to build forts • Sioux & Cheyenne begin guerilla war (surprise raids) to harass troops • Lured soldiers to Lodge Trail Ridge, surrounded, and killed them (Battle of Hundred Slain / Fetterman Massacre) • War ends w/ Treaty of 1868  Sioux agree to live on res. Along Mizzou R. in return for protection & supplied

9. Conflicts between Nat. Amer. & whites continue because • Promised supploies arrive late and were poor wuality and/or not enough • Sitting Bull leader of Hunkpapa Sioux never signed treaty • Expected to continue using land since he didn’t sign it

10. III Bloody Battles ContinueA. Raids by the Kiowa and Comanche • Kiowa and Comanche refuse to go to reservation in Texas  Red River War • US army herd friendly tribespeople onto res. While opening fire on others • Gen Sheridan orders “kill & hang all warriors, destroy villages, & bring back all women & children” • These tactics ended the resistence quickly

11. B. Custer’s Last Stand • Siouz & Cheyenne hold Sun Dance  Sitting Bull has vision of soldiers & nat. Amer. Faling off horses • Interprets as sign that victory will come for his ppl • Soon after Sioux victorious at Rosebud Creek • Col. Custer reached Little Big Horn & Nat. Amer. Were ready • Under estimated # of Nat Ameri warriors • Men & hordses were esxausted • Split up regiment • Custer and all his men died w/in 20 min

12. American’s criticize Custer for the defeat  Nation demands revenge • Army constinue to raid Nat Amer camps  Sitting Bull & his followers take refuge in Canada • Eventually surrenders  becomes mainstay at Buffalo Bills Wild West Show

13. IV Government Supports Assimilation • Question on what to do w/ the native Americans continued • Even sympathizers supported assimilation  give up beliefs and way of life & become part of white culture • Nat. Amer. Already lost their indep. & did not want to loose their culture as well

14. A. Failure of the Dawes Act • Dawes Act = attempt to make assimilation the official government policy • “Americanized” by by trying to make them desire their oewn property & farm • Broke up reservations & redistributed some of that land to each adult head of fam • Sell remainder to settlers & give profit for farm supplies • Most of land given to nat Amer. Was useless • Never saw any profits from selling land

15. B. Educating Native Americans • Dawes act assimilated physically while the EDU assimilated their minds • Off reservation boarding schools skyrocketed • Carlisle school teaches their was are backwards & superstitious • Promote values of white civilization  leaving them w/ no skills when they return to reservation • Didn’t fit in reservation & were discriminated against out in the world

16. C. Destruction of the Buffalo • Most significant blow to the plains Indians was the destruction of the Buffalo • RR co. hunted to provide food for its workers (broke treaties) • Buffalo turned to for a source of income by white settlers  Nat. Amer. Starvation on the Plains • Destroyed main source of food, clothing, shelter, & fuel

17. V Battle of Wounded Knee • Sioux continued to see destruction and look to a prophet who promises them that if they do the Shost Dance ritual they would be sdaved • Ghost Dance spread rapidly  sitting Bulls arrest Cath-the-Bear shoots Sitting Bull dead  free for all • Sitting Bull’s horse begins to preform tricks it learned in Wild West show  looks like he is preforming the outlawed Ghost Dance

18. Custer’s old reg. rounds up Sioux and takes them to Wounded Knee Creek • Order to give upo all their weapons  resisted & killed • Soliders left corpses to freeze on ground • This battle known as Battle of Wounded Knee  ends Indian Wars