American West - [ALL] - Conflicts and Conquests - c1876-c1895

What was Dry farming?

Hardy Webster Campbell
1879
Prepared the soil so it trapped rainwater underneath
Worked well with wheat

What were Wind pumps?

Daniel Halliday
1854
Windmill that would change direction with the wind
Pumps water from underground

What was Barbed Wire?

• Introduced 1874

• Cheap and effective way to fence off land

• Conflict with larger cattle ranchers.

• 1880s developed a coating which made it stronger, and so that it didn’t rust

What was The 'Great Die Up'?

Winter of 1886-87
Harsh temperatures falling as low as -55
At least 15% open range cattle died
Many cattlemen went bankrupt

What does it mean to be overstocked?

Situation in cattle ranching by 1870s
Too many cattle relying on same area of pasture (grassland)

What was the Exoduster Movement?

Ex-slave Benjamin Singleton
Promoted Kansas as migration destination for ex slaves - a 'free state.;
By 1879 40,000 ex slaves had headed to Kansas to settle

What was the Oklahoma Land Rush?

1893
Indian territory that was opened up for white settlers
Land was divided up into 160 acre sections
Gun sounded to start the rush
Thousands of hopefully white settlers waited on the border of Texas then rushed in to grab land

Who was Billy the Kid?

Grew up in mining camps
Early life of crime
Involved Lincoln County War - Swore to kill those responsible for friends death
hunted down and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett.

Who was Pat Garrett?

Hired by local authorities in New Mexico to bring Billy the Kid to justice
Shot him dead at Fort Sumner 1881

Famously said his ‘only choice was to kill the Kid’

Who was Wyatt Earp?

Earp became a lawman in 1874, then became marshal of Dodge City until 1879 when he moved to Tombstone Arizona
Eventually took the law into his own hands and shot two men he said had killed his brother.
Fled Tombstone.

What happened at Tombstone?

A boom town controlled by rich mine owners and businessmen.
Two cowboy families opposed them - the Clantons and the McLaurys.
The rich businessmen hired Wyatt Earp as deputy sheriff to bring order to the town

What happened at the OK Corral?

26th October 1881 the Earps (Wyatt and his 2 brothers) confront the Clantons and McLaurys
The Earps kill 3.

What happened in the Johnson County War 1892?

Big cattle ranchers (WSGA) vs homesteaders and smaller ranchers.
Ella Watson and Jim Averill (Homesteaders) lynched by Albert Bothwell (big rancher)
Small ranchers do early spring roundup.
WSGA organise invasion of the county by Texas gunmen
Shoot out with Nate Champion
Invaders arrested
Acquitted after delayed trial due to WSGA using money to do so.

Who were Ella Watson and Jim Averill?

Two homesteaders lynched in the Johnson County War by rancher Albert Bothwell and his men
Accused of cattle rustling.

Who were the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA)?

Organisation used by the big ranchers during the Johnson County War to hire 22 gunmen to kill suspected rustlers

What happened at the Little Big Horn in 1876?

1876 battle where the Sioux Nation defeated General Custer and 600 cavalrymen of the US army
Mutilated the bodies.
Pyrrhic victory - led to further repression.

Explain the Conflict over the Black Hills

Prospectors headed to the Black Hills in pursuit of Gold
This broke the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty
Led to Battle of the Little Bighorn

Who was Crazy Horse?

Indian chief who led the attack at the Little Bighorn

What happened at Wounded Knee in 1890?

In 1890 250 Sioux were massacred by the US army at Wounded Knee
US cavalry feared rising due to Ghost Dance.

What was the Ghost Dance?

Started by Wovoka
A sacred dance of the Indigenous people It encouraged them to reject white people's ways.
They also believed it would bring back the dead and would lead to the White people being removed from the Plains

What happened to exterminate the buffalo?

By 1883 the buffalo had disappeared from the plains. There had been over 25 million previously
Buffalo hunting was the major reason for this
Helped to control indigenous people as they were now reliant on the US for food.

How the Indigenous people's way of life was destroyed.

Forced onto reservations
1883 special courts took the chief's powers.
Children sent to schools off the reservations.
Henry Pratt "Kill the Indian to save the man".
Could no longer live a nomadic lifestyle or hunt the buffalo
Dependent on the government for food and clothing

What was the Dawes Act of 1887?

Like Homestead Act for Indigenous people
Each family allotted 160 acres
Not given to tribes broke the tribal structure.
Lost huge amounts of land overall.

What happened to close the so-called 'Indian Frontier'?

1890 the Frontier ceased to exist - no difference between white settled land and the 'wilderness