History - Chapter 2 (Wild West)

Boomtown

A community that grew suddenly when a mine opened

Transcontinental Railroad

A railroad that crossed the continent, connecting east and west.

Treaty of Fort Laramie

The US government gave Fort Laramie to the plains Indians to make peace.

Reservations

Areas of federal land set aside/forced for Native Americans.

Crazy Horse

Leader in a Sioux tribe.

George Custer

General in the U.S. Army, dies at the battle of Little Bighorn.

Sitting Bull

A leader in the Lakota Sioux.

Battle of Little Bighorn

Sioux forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull surrounded and defeated Custer and his Troops.

Massacre at Wounded Knee

A retaliation attack where the U.S. army killed over 150 Sioux men, women, and children at Wounded Knee creek in South Dakota.

Sand Creek Massacre

General Chivington gave orders to kill many Cheyenne and Arapaho people.

Carlisle School

School designed to “Americanize” and assimilate native Americans.

Assimilation

The “americanization” of Native Americans.

Dawes Act

1887 Act that tried to lessen traditional influences on Indian Society by making land ownership private rather than shared.

Land Grants

The federal government gave central and union railroad companies millions of acres to expand tracks.

Open Range

Property was not fenced in - cattle farmers would brand their cattle with a specific mark so they could be distinguished.

Homestead Act

Gave government-owned land to small farmers.

Morrill Act

Gave over 17 million acres of federal land to the states.

Exodusters

Southerners who made a mass exodus, or departure from the south.

Soddies

Dirt houses built with poor materials by those who could not afford lumber.

Chinese Exclusion Act

Act that prohibited the entry of Chinese Immigrants in America.