2.1 American Indians Under Pressure

Reservations

public lands where Native Americans were required to live by the federal government

Sand Creek Massacre

1864 incident in which Colorado militia killed a camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, some of who were under U.S. army protection

Sitting Bull

A war chief and important spiritual leader who became the first-ever chief of all the Lakota Sioux bands in the 1860s. After surrendering to the Army in 1881, he lived on a reservation where he was killed by Indian police sent to arrest him

Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876

1876 battle in which the Sioux defeated U.S. Army troops

Chief Joseph

succeeded his father as chief of the Nez Percé in 1871. Six years later he led his followers on an unsuccessful flight to escape confinement on a reservation. First sent to Oklahoma, they were eventually returned to a new reservation in Washington state. However, Joseph was unable to secure their return to their tribal homeland.

Wounded Knee

In 1890, after killing Sitting Bull, confrontation between U.S. cavalry and Sioux, marked the end of Indian resistance

Assimilated

absorbed into the main culture of a society

Dawes General Allotment Act

1887 law that divided reservation land into private family plots