Unit 6:Westward Expansion and the Industrial Age

(1865 – 1900)

Westward Expansion and the American Indians (1865-1900)

U.S. Government Breaks Many Promises with Native Americans

1830’s – President Andrew Jackson’s First Great Removal (The Trail of Tears) forced Indians in East to land west of the Mississippi.

By the end of the Civil War, all surviving Native Americans, about 250,000 total, were living on the Plains and in the West.

They were promised this land forever? Manifest Destiny (1840s) and white expansion in the 1850s-60s weakened this promise as gold and silver were discovered on their lands.

Native American Life & Culture Threatened In the 1860s, the US adopted a policy of

reservations – poor tracts of federal lands – scattered throughout the West. By 1900, virtually all were forced onto these tracts.

Many would only go there after they were convinced they could not win the war against the U.S.

Moreover, disease and destruction of the buffalo add to Indian poverty and misery.

The “Indian Wars” Begin 1862 – Sioux in E. MN attacked

white settlements & tribe pushed into Dakotas.

Other Plains tribes stepped up attacks on stage lines & white settlements.

Fall 1864 – Col. John Chivington murdered an unarmed band of Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado.

After the Civil War, U.S. sends 1000s of soldiers West to protect white interests.

Attempts at Peace Fail 1866 – U.S. government

announced plan to build road through Sioux lands in MN.

Captain William Fetterman and 100+ U.S. soldiers murdered by Red Cloud and Sioux in Fetterman Massacre.

1868 – Ft. Laramie, WY Treaty said US would not build road & would leave 3 forts if Sioux would live on reservation with support from federal government.

Both sides violated the treaty.

Sitting Bull and the Fall of the Sioux Black Hills Gold Rush of 1875 drew

more whites into Dakotas. U.S. troops sent to help as Sioux chiefs

Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse organized to drive them out.

June 25-26, 1876 – General George Armstrong Custer went ahead of the main force to the Little Bighorn River in MT. 2000 Sioux killed Custer and 267 troops at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

This would be the last victory vs. US forces for Indians on the Plains.

Custer's Last Stand (12 min)

Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Pacific N.W. tribe of Wallowa

Valley, OR; land wanted by white farmers

1876-77 Joseph was forced to retreat on a 1100 mile march for Canada

He was stopped Sept. 1877 only 40 miles from Canada at Big Hole Basin, MT

Joseph surrendered Oct. 5th, 1877 & tribe was banished to reservation in Indian Territory in OK

Sioux Chief Crazy Horse was murdered 1 month earlier to the day by US soldier while in captivity.

The Indian Wars Come to an End Ghost Dance Movement – Sioux

ritual preached that whites would disappear & buffalo would return to the Plains.

Dec. 1890 –Sitting Bull arrested & murdered as he was held responsible.

100+ Sioux killed at Massacre of Wounded Knee (Dec. 1890) and ended the Ghost Dance War

This was the last major sad event in the Indian Wars as their fate was sealed.

Native American Culture Destroyed 1860 – 13 million buffalo to 1000 est. in 1900! Surviving Native Americans force onto reservations 1881 – Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor spawned the

“Indian Rights” movement Criminal Code of 1884 – Indians prohibited from practicing tribal

religions (Ghost Dance Movement led to Wounded Knee Massacre (1890)

Dawes Severalty Act (1887) gave plots of land to Native American families headed by a male, but Indians did not want to farm. The goal was assimilation.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School (1879) – PA boarding school for Native Americans that required them to learn English and abandon their culture and religion. Its goal too was assimilation.

Exit Slip – The Indian Wars1. Poor tracts of land set aside for Native Americans are called

_________.a. Reservations b. Bad Lands c. Plantations

2. The last major victory for the Plains Indians against U.S. military forces was won at __________, Montana in June 1876.a. Butte b. Little Round Top c. Little Big Horn

3. The goal of the Dawes Act of 1887 regarding Native Americans was __________.a. Assessment b. Accommodation c. Assimilation

4. The last major conflict between Native Americans and U.S. forces occurred at _________, South Dakota in 1890.a. Lake Oahe b. Wounded Knee c. Sand Creek

Railroads Open the West! Pacific Railway Act (1862) The Transcontinental Railroad (1869) Omaha, NE to Sacramento, CA Gov’t made loans and gave land

grants for miles of track laid 2-5 miles of track per day Eur. Immigrants, Chinese, Af.

Americans helped May 10, 1869 – Promontory Point, UT By 1900 – 5 Transcontinental RRs

across the West!

The Mining Industry CA Gold Rush of 1849, Black Hills,

SD 1864, & Comstock , NV 1859 Lone miners or prospectors

panning for Gold 1870s – commercial mining = big

business “Boomtowns” like Helena, MT,

Denver, CO, & Tombstone, AZ while others became “Ghost Towns”

Vigilante Justice often prevailed!

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral October 26, 1881

Cowboys and Ranching Texas Longhorns multiplied

under the open range system. Indian removal and killing of

buffalo opened land for cattle. Cowboys were hired in the spring

to round up the cattle in TX, MT, and CO and drive them to railheads in the North.

1865 – Cattle in TX $3-$5 each could bring $30+ in the East.

Long Drives covered 100s of miles and was dirty and dangerous work. Sometimes 18 hours a day.

Frederic Remington “Stampede” - 1908

Cow Towns and Railheads Railroads ran East to

West and Cattle Trails typically ran North to South.

“Cow Towns” sprang up where the two converged or at stopping points.

Ft. Worth, TX, Abilene & Dodge City, KN

The Homestead Act of 1862 Offered 160 acres of public

land if:1. 21 years-old and head of

family2. Any U.S. citizen or

immigrant that filed & paid a $10.00 fee

3. Build house/ 6 Mo./Yr. a resident

4. Farm plot for 5 years By 1900, 600 K claims for 80

M acres of land

The Exodusters 50,000-plus African

Americans went West Led by Benjamin “Pap”

Singleton Life was hard, but many

adapted and escaped the racial hatred and violence of the South

Life on the Plains Was Difficult Open water supplies carried typhoid

or “prairie fever” – helped by well-digging technology after 1880s

Hard labor for men & women High infant mortality rate Extreme heat (drought), cold, weather Plagues of grasshoppers & locusts Loneliness No money until crops came in Cooperation among families was

common

Farming on the Plains Not a farmers paradise

due to the elements1 New farm machinery

(John Deere’s steel plows, steam tractors, reapers, and combines)

Dry weather crops = Dry farming (wheat, oats, etc.)

Small farmers faced debt

The Closing of the Frontier 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush 1890 Census = Frontier Settled and Closed Joseph Glidden (1874) invented “barbed

wire” , oversupply of beef, harsh winters & droughts killed cattle, hay crops produced ended era of the cowboy and long drive.

How wild was the West??? Were settlers and cowboys were only white

males? Outlaw Myths? Who is this???

Exit Slip – Railroads, Miners, Ranchers, and Farmers

1. T or F: Successful mining towns were often called ghost towns.

2. T or F: Prior to the 1860s, longhorn cattle roamed wild on the Western plains.

3. T or F: Homesteaders often built homes of sod because wood was scarce and too expensive to transport.

4. T or F: Since fewer than 1,000 African-Americans migrated west after the Civil War it is safe to say that the settlers who did were predominantly white.