Transcript Unit 1 - River Mill Academy

Unit 1
Day 3: Native Americans on the
Plains
Questions of the Day:
1.
How were American Indians pushed to the Great Plains and forced onto
reservations?
2.
How did westward expansion and settlement impact various ethnic groups during
the 19th Century?
3.
What events were key turning points in the relationship between the Plains
Indians and the US government?
4.
Why and how did the federal government adopt a policy of assimilation of
American Indians and what was its impact?
5.
How did the Americanization of the American Indian lead to the break up of the
reservation system and the disintegration of American Indian culture?
6.
How did westward settlement and expansion lead to the Indian Wars of the Great
Plains, culminating in the conflict at Wounded Knee?
7.
How did American Indians view westward migration and its effects on their lives?
Part I
• A few notes and review
What Do You Remember About the
Plains Indians?
• Take a few minutes and write down as much as
you can remember in your notes.
The Second Great Removal & Indian Wars
The United Sates government began to sign treaties &
establish reservations for Indians.
• Problems:
1.
2.
3.
4.
RR companies always wanted more land
Indians many times didn’t really agree to deals.
Reservations were not well supplied
Natives resisted changes to their way of life.
.S. Government Breaks Treaties
A Quick Timeline of the Indian Wars
• 1864-Sand Creek Massacre, Colorado militia attacked 700 Cheyenne.
Over 450 killed, mostly women and children.
• 1876-Battle of Little Bighorn
• 1877-Nez Perce of Idaho led by Chief Joseph were forced to surrender
near Canadian border
• 1870’s-Geronimo led the Apaches in raids against the Government
throughout Arizona and New Mexico. He eventually fled to Mexico.
• 1889-Wovoka, the Ghost Dance-Sioux
• 1890-Wounded Knee, South Dakota-U.S. Army rounded up 350
starving and freezing Sioux. 250 Sioux killed, 25 whites killed
Part II
• Reading Like a Historian
Background
• In the decades following
the Civil War, the United
States engaged in a
number of conflicts with
Native American tribes
living west of the
Mississippi.
• Some historians refer to
these conflicts as “The
Indian Wars.”
• The primary issue of the
Indian Wars was land
• The United States
government made several
treaties with Native
American tribes to define
Indian lands
• As more Americans moved
through and settled on,
Native American territory,
these treaties were ignored
or broken by the
government
• Native Americans fought the
United States for decades.
• They ultimately lost because
of superior numbers and
weapons technology of the
United States Army.
• On several occasions Native
Americans defeated
American troops in
individual battles.
• One of the most famous of
those Native American
victories occurred at the
Battle of Little Bighorn in
Montana.
• On June 25, 1876
Civil War veteran
George Custer
attacked over 2000
Sioux and Cheyenne
warriors with a few
hundred men
• Custer and his men
where overwhelmed
and everyone of
them were killed.
Now look at 3 different documents:
• a textbook version of the
battle
• a letter to the President from
the Secretary of War a
month after the battle
• recollections of a Native
American woman about the
battle from 1922.
Once you read the sources…
• Answer the questions on your handout. Please
use complete sentences and give thoughtful and
sufficient answers.