Chapter 16: Post Civil War Conflicts in the West - Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and people from the post-Civil War conflicts in the American West.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the United States was destined to expand across North America to the Pacific Ocean.

Gold Rush (Colorado 1858-1894)

A period of rapid gold and later other metal discoveries in Colorado and surrounding areas, fueling mining towns and westward migration.

Boom towns

Rapidly growing towns around mining areas that often became ghost towns once mining ceased.

Ghost towns

Abandoned towns that declined after the resource boom ended.

Transcontinental Railroad

The railroad line completed in 1869 that connected the Eastern and Western United States, greatly shortening travel time and spurring settlement.

Golden Spike Ceremony

The May 10, 1869 ceremony at Promontory Summit marking the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Promontory Summit

Location in Utah where the Golden Spike was driven to join the rails.

Railroad laborers (Chinese, Irish, African Americans)

Workers from diverse backgrounds who built the Transcontinental Railroad.

Refrigerator Car

A refrigerated train car invented by Gustavus Swift to keep meat cold during long shipments.

Buffalo population decline

The drastic reduction of bison numbers from millions in the 18th–19th centuries to near extinction by 1900.

Sod homes

Homes built from cut sod, a common settler adaptation in the tree-less Great Plains.

Cattle Boom

Post–Civil War expansion of cattle ranching and herding in the Great Plains, including longhorn cattle and cattle drives.

Longhorn

A hardy cattle breed of Spanish and Anglo-American origin central to the cattle boom.

Vaqueros

Spanish-speaking cowboys who taught Anglo settlers the cowboy way of life.

Chisholm Trail

Major cattle-driving route from Texas to railroad hubs in Kansas.

Joseph G. McCoy

Illinois cattle dealer who established Abilene, Kansas as a key cattle hub in 1867.

Dodge City

Famous Wild West cattle town in Kansas known for rough law and order and saloons.

Barbed Wire

Invented fencing that ended open-range grazing by creating defined property boundaries.

Boot Hill

Cemeteries in the American West where gunfighters and outlaws were buried.

Wyatt Earp

Famous lawman associated with the O.K. Corral gunfight in Tombstone, AZ (1881).

Cattle Towns

Towns formed along railroad lines serving the cattle trade and cattle drives.

Buffalo Soldiers

African American cavalry units established in 1866; protected railroad construction and frontier interests; many earned Medals of Honor.

Fort Laramie Treaty (1851)

Agreement defining Plains tribal territories and establishing safe passage for settlers and roads.

Medicine Lodge Creek Treaty (1867)

Treaty forcing Comanches, Kiowas, Arapahos, and Cheyenne to relocate to western Oklahoma.

Treaty of Laramie (1868)

Agreement with the Lakota to reside on the Black Hills Reservation; later violated after gold was found.

Great Sioux War

Conflicts (1876-1877) between the U.S. Army and Sioux/Cheyenne following broken treaties, including Little Bighorn.

Sitting Bull

Leading Lakota Sioux chief who resisted U.S. encroachment and played a key role in resisting settlement.

Crazy Horse

Lakota war leader who commanded forces at the Battle of Little Bighorn and surrendered in 1877.

Battle of Little Bighorn

1876 battle in which Sioux/Cheyenne forces defeated Custer and his troops; also known as Custer's Last Stand.

Ghost Dance

1888 spiritual movement led by Wovoka encouraging renewal and protection; followers wore ghost shirts believed to be bulletproof.

Wounded Knee (1890)

Massacre where U.S. troops killed Lakota; symbolic end of major Native armed resistance in the West.

Dawes Act (General Allotment Act, 1887)

Law dividing tribal land into 160-acre parcels to promote individual ownership and citizenship; led to massive loss of tribal land.

Carlisle Indian Industrial School

Indian boarding school in Carlisle, PA (1879-1918) aimed at assimilating Native Americans.

Black Hills

Area in the Dakota Territory rich in gold; discovery in 1874 intensified conflict with Native tribes.

Wovoka

Paiute prophet whose Ghost Dance inspired the movement in the late 1880s.

Lakota

Northern subgroup of the Sioux; central actors in the Plains conflicts.