Indigenous Resistance and Western Expansion: Key Figures and Conflicts

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering notable Indigenous leaders, treaties, battles, and events during the period of Western Expansion.

Sitting Bull

Lakota Sioux leader who was named Supreme Chief in 1869, resisted forced reservation relocation, helped defeat Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, and was killed in 1890 during an arrest attempt over the Ghost Dance.

Battle of Little Bighorn

An 1876 conflict (also known as "Custer's Last Stand") in which an alliance of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his entire 7th Cavalry unit.

Ghost Dance

A religious movement among Native Americans that U.S. government officials feared Sitting Bull was supporting, prompting the dispatch of reservation police to arrest him on December 15, 1890.

Standing Rock Reservation

The government reservation where Sitting Bull and his followers were relocated in 1881 after returning from four years of exile in Canada.

Geronimo

Chiricahua Apache medicine man and strategist who fought Mexican and U.S. forces for decades in the desert Southwest until his final surrender in 1886 as the last major Native American leader to cease formal fighting.

Goyaałé

The original Apache birth name of Geronimo, which translates to "One Who Yawns."

Fort Sill

The military post in Oklahoma where Geronimo spent the remaining 23 years of his life as a prisoner of war until his death from pneumonia in 1909.

Chief Joseph

Leader of the Nez Perce who attempted to protect his people from reservation confinement by leading a 1,400-mile flight across rugged mountains toward Canada in 1877 before being forced to surrender 40 miles from the border.

Nez Perce

An Indigenous nation native to the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) led by Chief Joseph during their forced displacement and military conflict with the U.S. Army.

Nez Perce Retreat Route

The over 1,400-mile mountain journey undertaken by Chief Joseph and his tribe across Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming in an attempt to reach Canada and join Sitting Bull.

"I Will Fight No More Forever"

The historic surrender speech delivered by Chief Joseph on October 5, 1877, conveying the exhaustion, hypothermia, starvation, and grief of the Nez Perce people.

Crazy Horse

Lakota Sioux war chief who fought to defend the Black Hills, led the decisive charge against Custer at Little Bighorn, and strictly refused to ever be photographed.

Cha-O-Ha

The birth name of Crazy Horse, meaning "Among the Trees."

Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)

An agreement that guaranteed the Black Hills would belong to the Lakota Sioux forever, later violated when thousands of white settlers flooded the land following the discovery of gold.

Grattan Massacre

An early conflict sparked when U.S. soldiers shot Chief Conquering Bear during an argument over a lost cow, instigating decades of warfare between the Sioux Nation and the United States.

Battle of Rosebud

An 1876 military engagement where Crazy Horse led warriors to victory against General George Crook, successfully preventing U.S. military columns from uniting.

Fort Robinson

The Nebraska military post where Crazy Horse surrendered in 1877 and where he was fatally wounded by a soldier's bayonet later that year.

Crazy Horse Memorial

A massive mountain carving in the Black Hills of South Dakota honoring the Lakota war chief, designed to stand 563 feet high when finished.