The Plains Indians Wars

1
The Plains Indians Wars

• Mr. Bach
• Hudson High School
• Accelerated U.S. History

2
Antebellum Relations

• Natives had been pushed westward to the Great
  American Desert.
• Indian Territory (Oklahoma)

3
So What Changes?
4
Cultural Conflict

• White Culture
• Monotheistic (Christians)
• Stewards of the Earth
• Land as property
• Land can be transformed
• Hunting for sport
• Farming

• Native Culture
• Polytheistic (Natural World)
• One with the Earth
• Communal Land
• Adapt to land
• Hunt to sustain life (Hunter-Gatherers)

5
Sparking the Plains Wars

• Sand Creek Massacre (1864)

Kill and Scalp All, Big and Little!
6
Sparking the Plains Wars

• Fetterman Massacre (1866)

Sioux Chief Red Cloud
7
U.S. Battle Plan

• Indians must
• Confine themselves to reservations
• Take up farming
• Learn white ways

• War Strategy
• Exterminate buffalo as a food source
• Overwhelm Indians with power of U.S. military
• Hidden weapon (disease).

Or . . . .
8
Almost to Extinction
9
Southern Plains Wars

• Red River War (1874-75)
• Kiowas and Comanches

10
Northern Plains War

• Black Hills Gold!
• Sioux Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull unite
  to expel miners.

11
Battle of the Little Big Horn
Last Sioux Victory American People Cry
Revenge!
12
Ghost Dance

• To restore the land and their way of life

13
Wounded Knee Massacre

• Over 100 men, women, and children are buried in a
  mass grave.

14
Assimilation

• Become the white man

15
Helen Hunt Jackson

• A Century of Dishonor

16
Become Like the White Man?

• Ira Hayes

17
Legacy of the Indian Wars