The Western Frontier

U. S. HISTORYCHAPTER 5

• Great Plains – Grassland through the west U.S.• Indians – Horse/Guns changed their way of life1. “Counting Coup” – Touch a live enemy with a stick and escape undetected.

2. Buffalo – they used every part for food, blankets, teepees, etc.

3. Men – warriors/hunters

4. Women – butchered small game and prepared hides could chose their own husbands.

• Medicine men or women – spiritual leaders

• Land - owned by the whole – common land

SECTION 1, THE GREAT PLAINS

• Settlers wanted to claim land that the Indians didn’t claim or settle. Gold was discovered in Colorado and immigrants from all over the world came for a better life.

• Government – created boundaries with Indians. But Indians saw the land as and “open range” and often strayed from their boundaries.

SETTLERS

• Colonel John Chivington, “I want no peace till the Indians suffer more.”

• His troops attacked the Indians camped at Sand Creek.• Killed 150 women and children from Cheyenne and

Araphaho.

SAND CREEK MASSACRE

• The U.S. Government trail ran directly through Sioux hunting grounds.

• The Sioux chief asked the government to end the white settlement on the trail, to no avail.

• Crazy Horse (Sioux chief) attacked Fettermen’s company and killed 80 soldiers. (Fetterman Massacre or Battle of 100 Slain)

• Treaty of Fort Laramie - Government finally closed the Bozeman Trail if the Sioux agreed to live on a reservation along the Missouri River. (Sitting Bull never signed the Treaty, and the other Sioux leaders expected to still use the hunting grounds.)

BOZEMAN TRAIL

• Red River War – U.S. Army gathered all friendly tribes and placed them on a reservation. All other tribes were attacked and destroyed.

• Gold Rush to Colorado – Cheyenne and Arapaho appealed to the Government to keep the white settlers off their land, but refused.

• Custer’s Last Stand – Custer attempted to attack 2,000 Indians (Including Sitting Bull) at the Little Bighorn River – the Indians outflanked him, killing Custer and all of this regiment. “Custer rode to his death.”

RED RIVER WAR AND CUSTER’S LAST STAND

• “Americanize” Native Americans – give each family 160 acres and each individual 80 acres.

• White settlers took most of the land and the Native Americans were never paid for their land.

• Assimilation – Native Americans were expected to give up their beliefs and way of life in order to become part of the white culture.

• Buffalo – 1800 – 65 million buffalo roamed the Great Plains

• By 1890, fewer than 1,000 remained• 1900- Yellowstone National Park became a refuge for the

last single herd of buffalo.

DAWES ACT

• Ghost Dance – Sioux ritual dance to bring back the way of life the Native Americans enjoyed before the settlers came. (Sitting Bull was killed during an attempted arrest.)

• The Battle of Wounded Knee – 350 starving and freezing Sioux were rounded up disarmed, and taken to a camp. Someone fired a shot, and the soldiers opened fire. 300 Sioux, mostly women and children were slaughtered.

GHOST DANCE AND THE BATTLE OF WOUNDED KNEE

• Mexican influences on the American cowboy:1. Round-up, brand, care – vaquero

2. Texas Longhorn – sturdy, hardy cattle to survive harsh, dry climate

3. Caballo (rough horse) riata (rope)

• Chisholm Trail – From San Antonio to Abilene, KS – Cattle were pushed north to railroad stations where they were transferred across the West and northern U.S. to meet the growing demand for beef.

CATTLE BUSINESS

• Spring Round-up• Long Drive – 3 months – 1 cowboy per 250 head• 14 hour days, as young as 15 years old.

• Wild West Show – 1880’s William Cody, Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane – performances of the West came to life.

• End of Long Drive – Barbed Wire – Joseph Glidden – Cheap and easy to fence off property.

ROUND UP/LONG DRIVE

• 1870-1900 – 400 million acres were settled – Government support of railroads made this settlement possible.

• 5 total transcontinental railroads were built.• Union Pacific – moved west from Nebraska and Central

Pacific moved eastward from California and they met in Promontory Point, Utah.

• Homestead Act – 1862-1900 160 acres per family to encourage settlement in the west.

• Exodusters - African Americans who moved from the south to Kansas.

• Railroads and for Profit speculators – Acquired much of the land.

CHAPTER 5, SECTION 2SETTLING THE GREAT

PLAINS

Oklahoma Sooners – Gov. strengthened the Homestead Act to help more settlers and not businesses 1. Huge land giveaway in OK.2. Settlers to OK to claim land in a massive rush.3. Some claimed land “sooner” than the government

opened and declared it available.

Land in Wyoming was unique and beautiful and shouldn’t be settled – Yellowstone National Park was created.

CLOSING OF THE FRONTIER

• Difficult life: drought, floods, fires, blizzards• Soddy: dugout, sod home• Women – sheared sheep, made soap, canned food.

• Farmers – John Deere, McCormick, tractors, plows,

• Morrill Act – Federal land to states for Agricultural Education programs to help Farmers learn farming methods in arid soil.

LIFE ON THE FRONTIER

• Farmers were in debt and when crop prices fell, they would borrow more money and plant more crops to repay the debt.

• Enormous single crop farms that would sometimes fail due to drought and dropping prices.

• Railroads also charged framers high prices for shipping grain.

• Farmers joined together for a common cause to protect their farms from corruption and big business/government practices.

BONANZA FARMS

• Farmer’s Alliance Movement – Mary E. Lease – helped to shed light on the issues of concern to farmers.

• Farmers turned the “Great American Desert” into the “breadbasket of the nation.” but were being taken advantage of by practices of the government and the railroad.

• Civil War Greenbacks were being taken out of circulation, and Farmer’s prices went down.

• Oliver Hudson Kelley – Patrons of Husbandry – provided social and learning opportunities for farmers, but began to focus on fighting the Railroads.

• Farmer’s cooperatives.

POPULIST MOVEMENT

• Populism – the movement of the people – they favored:1. Graduated income tax2. Popular election of Senators3. Single terms for Pres and VP4. Secret ballot.

• These changes attracted struggling farmers who elected a Democratic president, William Mckinley

• Government responsible for reforming social injustices.

POPULISM

• Gold Standard – Government gives only Gold in exchange for paper currency

• Bimetallism – Government will exchange silver or gold for paper currency.

• Republicans (McKinley) favored Gold Standard and Democrats (Williams Jennings Bryan) favored both gold and silver.

• When McKinley won the election, Populism ended.• Legacy of Populism – the underdog can organize against

business/government injustice. A list of reforms began, which would be enacted later during the Progressive Era.

SILVER OR GOLD?