Chapter 16: Post Civil War Conflicts in the West

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, events, people, and policies related to the post-C Civil War West, westward expansion, and Native American interactions.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that U.S. expansion across North America was justified and inevitable, driving westward settlement and displacement of Native peoples.

Gold Rush

Period of rapid mining and settlement in the West, beginning with Colorado discoveries (1858–1894) and later in the Rockies, Black Hills, and Klondike; created boom towns that often became ghost towns.

Boom towns

Rapidly growing mining towns that flourished during gold rushes and often faded quickly once mines played out.

Ghost towns

Once-bustling towns that were abandoned after the mines or economic activity declined.

Transcontinental Railroad

Rail line completed in 1869 that connected the Eastern and Western United States, cutting travel time from months to about 10 days and spurring westward settlement.

Golden Spike Ceremony

Ceremony on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah, symbolizing the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Promontory Summit

Location in Utah where the Golden Spike ceremony took place, marking the railroad’s completion.

Railroad laborers

Workers, including Chinese, Irish, and African Americans, who built the railroad across the West.

Buffalo

The plains’ keystone wildlife, essential to Native tribes’ way of life and food source.

Buffalo population decline

Buffalo numbers fell from about 30 million in 1750 to only a few hundred by 1900 due to overhunting and railroad expansion.

Refrigerator car

Gustavus Swift’s invention enabling meat to be shipped cold, keeping meat fresh from the West to the East.

Sod homes

Homes built from cut sod blocks in the treeless plains as settlers adapted to the environment.

Longhorn cattle

Hardy cattle breed that roamed the Great Plains after the Civil War, central to the cattle industry.

Vaqueros

Spanish-speaking cowboys who taught Anglo settlers cattle culture.

Chisholm Trail

Main cattle drive route from Texas to railheads in Kansas.

Joseph G. McCoy

Illinois cattle dealer who established Abilene, Kansas as a major cattle hub and revolutionized cattle transport.

Abilene, Kansas

Major cattle-shipping hub by 1871 as part of the Chisholm Trail network.

Cattle towns

Towns along railroad lines that grew with the cattle trade and required law enforcement, like Dodge City.

Barbed wire

invention that fenced open ranges, ending the era of the open cattle drive.

Boot Hill

Name for cemeteries in the American Old West where gunfighters and outlaws were buried.

Wyatt Earp

Famous lawman and gambler known for the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1881) in Tombstone.

Ghost Dance

Spiritual movement (1888) led by Wovoka among the Paiute; dancers wore ghost shirts in belief of protection and renewal.

Wovoka

Paiute spiritual leader who inspired the Ghost Dance movement.

Battle of Little Bighorn

June 1876 engagement where Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated General Custer; a major Native victory before later U.S. campaigns.

Crazy Horse

Lakota Sioux leader who fought at Little Bighorn and resisted U.S. expansion.

Sitting Bull

Hunkpapa Lakota leader who guided resistance against U.S. forces and played a key role at Little Bighorn.

General Sheridan

U.S. Army general who led campaigns to subdue resistance after Little Bighorn; advocated aggressive tactics.

Wounded Knee

December 29, 1890 massacre where U.S. troops killed many Lakota; marked end of major Native armed resistance.

Chief Joseph

Nez Perce leader who surrendered in 1877, famously saying, “I will fight no more forever.”

Nez Perce

N. Pacific Northwest tribe led by Chief Joseph in 1877 during a flight toward Canada.

Fort Laramie Treaty (1851)

Treaty that established Great Plains tribal territories and set terms for peace and settlement along emigrant routes.

Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty (1867)

Agreement moving Comanches, Kiowas, Arapahos, and Cheyenne to western Oklahoma to reduce conflict.

Treaty of Laramie (1868)

Lakotas (Sioux) agreed to Nebraska/Black Hills lands; later violated when gold was found and pressure for white settlement increased.

Black Hills gold rush (1874)

Discovery of gold in the Black Hills spurred renewed encroachment on Lakota lands.

Dawes Act (General Allotment Act) 1887

Law dividing tribal lands into individual parcels (160 acres), ending communal land ownership and granting citizenship after 25 years of farming; led to massive loss of Native land (86 of 130 million acres) by 1934.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School

Indian boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (1879–1918) aimed at assimilating Native American children.

Pony Express

Early mail service delivering messages across the West (before telegraph), terminated by the completion of the transcontinental telegraph and railroad network.