Introduction to Native American History and Westward Expansion

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  Cultural Assimilation and the Goals of European Settlement

  • Objectives for Native Americans: The primary intent of government policy was to Christianize Native American populations and force them to adopt European-style lifestyles. This included a mandate for them to become sedentary farmers and remain on reservations.

  • Tribal Resistance to Civilization Standards: Most Native American tribes rejected these attempts at forced assimilation because it fundamentally contradicted their traditional ways of life, which centered on hunting and living off the land without reliance on agriculture.

  • Escalation of Conflict (1868): Deep-seated dissatisfaction led to a significant increase in resistance. By August 1868, segments of the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Sioux began major raids in Kansas and Colorado, burning homes and killing settlers.

  • Military Response and Logic: Army troops were dispatched to suppress the raids. The military often attacked any Native Americans they encountered, including peaceful groups, under the logic that they could not distinguish between raiders and non-combatants.

  The Board of Indian Commissioners and the Boarding School System

  • Policy Escalation (1869): The government doubled down on reservation and assimilation efforts by founding the Board of Indian Commissioners in 1869. The board focused on Christianization and enforcing white lifestyles.

  • The Boarding School System: As a tool of assimilation, Native American children were forcibly removed from their parents and sent to government-run boarding schools.

    • Instruction: Children were educated in "the white way" and trained to be proper Christian Americans.

    • Cultural Suppression: Students were prohibited from speaking their native languages and were physically beaten if they did so. Their hair was cut short, and they were forced to wear European-style clothing.

    • Duration: This systemic removal and cultural suppression continued for approximately one hundred years and was a practice shared by both the United States and Canada.

  The Black Hills Conflict and the Battle of Little Bighorn

  • The Black Hills Violation: The Sioux had been guaranteed the Black Hills as part of their reservation. However, when gold was discovered in the area, the government demanded the land. The Sioux refused to sell, leading the government to use military force.

  • Deployment of the Seventh Cavalry: In June 1876, the government sent $600$ troops of the Seventh Cavalry to Montana under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The Sioux had used hit-and-run tactics and retreated to a river in Montana known as the Little Bighorn.

  • The Battle of Little Bighorn (June 25, 1876): Custer, who was highly ambitious and harbored plans to run for president, led an advanced scouting party of $209$ men to assess the Native American encampment.

    • Ambush: The Sioux were prepared and ambushed the scouting party.

    • Casualties: Every single man in Custer's party, including Custer himself and all $209$ men, was killed. The only survivor from the site was a single horse.

  • Military and Public Reaction: The defeat stunned the American public. While the army officially attributed the loss to a "fluke" or Custer's recklessness, many citizens demanded that all Native Americans be forced onto reservations immediately. This outcry resulted in the army rounding up various groups and opening the Black Hills for gold mining.

  The Dawes Act of 1887 and Territorial Erosion

  • Introduction of the Dawes Act: The government observed that tribes on large reservations continued traditional nomadic lifestyles rather than settling into farming and individual property ownership. The Dawes Act was passed in 1887 to dismantle the communal tribal ownership of land.

  • Land Allotment: The act divided reservations into individual plots given to adult males:

    • Farming land: Individual males received $160\,acres$.

    • Grazing land: In areas unsuitable for farming, males received $320\,acres$ for livestock (sheep, goats, or cows).

  • Surplus Land Sales: After the individual allotments were made, the vast amounts of "leftover" reservation land were sold to white settlers.

  • Impact on Land Ownership: Because of the Dawes Act, the total amount of reservation land held by Native Americans was reduced by $65\%$.

  • The Dawes Registry: The act required every Native American on a reservation to be recorded in a government record known as the Dawes Registry.

    • Current Significance: This registry is still used today to determine official Native American status. Individuals whose ancestors fled to places like the Ozarks in Northern Arkansas to avoid the reservations and did not sign the registry are not recognized as Native American by the government.

  Corruption and Life on the Reservations

  • Living Conditions: Life on reservations was characterized by poverty, depression, and hopelessness. Tribes were meant to be supplied with cattle and grain by the government, but the system was plagued by corruption.

  • Indian Officer Misconduct: Many government officers in charge of these programs took financial kickbacks. They would use government funds to purchase diseased animals or moldy grain infested with weevils at a low cost, charging the government for high-quality goods and pocketing the difference.

  The Ghost Dance Movement and the Wounded Knee Massacre

  • The Ghost Dance: A spiritual movement founded by Wovoka, a Native American from the Great Basin area. Wovoka claimed to have visions from the Great Spirit stating that if tribes performed a specific dance and chant, the following would occur:

    • The dead would return (hence the name "Ghost Dance").

    • White men would disappear.

    • The buffalo would return.

    • The traditional way of life would be restored.

  • Ghost Shirts: Followers wore cotton or linen shirts they believed would make bullets bounce off them.

  • Government Paranoia: The massive spread of the Ghost Dance across different tribes scared military officials, who feared it was the precursor to a new rebellion.

  • The Massacre at Wounded Knee (December 29, 1890): A subtribe of the Sioux known as the Wakoosa, led by a man named Bigfoot (or Blackfoot), left their reservation in the middle of winter.

    • Motive: The group of $340$ people was starving, freezing, and many (including Bigfoot) were suffering from the flu and pneumonia.

    • Encounter at Wounded Knee: Stopped in South Dakota by the Seventh Cavalry, the Sioux raised a white flag of truce.

    • The Massacre: Despite the flag of truce, shots were fired. The soldiers killed $300$ of the $340$ Sioux, including women, infants, and children. Soldiers reportedly called for survivors to stand up only to shoot those who did.

  • Legacy: This event is considered the end of the Indian Wars. It marked the point where collective tribal resistance ceased, leaving populations as a conquered people facing poverty and health crises for decades.

  The Transcontinental Railroad and Westward Settlement

  • Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad: On May 10, 1869, the first railroad connecting the East and West coasts was completed at Promontory Point, Utah.

  • The Two Railroad Companies:

    • Union Pacific Railroad: Built westward from Omaha, Nebraska.

    • Central Pacific Railroad: Built eastward from Sacramento, California.

  • Labor Forces:

    • Central Pacific: Primarily utilized approximately $12,600$ Chinese immigrants. They were favored because they worked for low pay, were disciplined, and provided their own food and tents due to their preference for their own cuisine.

    • Union Pacific: Primarily utilized Irish and Mexican-American laborers, along with some free Black laborers.

  • Pacific Railroad Act of 1862: This act authorized the creation of multiple railroads. The government provided railroad companies with massive tracts of land as an incentive. Companies often made significant profits by selling excess land to settlers and investors.

  Settlement Incentives and the Shift to Cash Crops

  • Recruitment of Settlers: Railroad companies sent agents to Eastern and Southern Europe to recruit immigrants, advertising the American West as a "Garden of Eden." They offered long-term loans and free transportation to help people settle.

  • Immigration Statistics: Between 1870 and 1900, roughly $2,200,000$ immigrants settled west of the Mississippi River. In 1905 alone, the Santa Fe Railroad transported $60,000$ Russian Mennonites to Kansas.

  • The Problem of Loneliness: The Great Plains offered sparse trees and flat grass, leading many male settlers to leave within two years due to isolation. This led to the rise of "mail-order brides," where men would select women from business catalogs (such as Sears or Montgomery Ward) and pay for their travel to the frontier for marriage.

  • The Emergence of Cash Crops: To pay back railroad loans quickly, farmers moved away from self-sufficiency and toward monoculture cash crops:

    • Northern Plains (Kansas, Nebraska, Dakotas): Wheat.

    • Iowa and Illinois: Corn.

    • Texas: Tobacco.

  • Long-term Risks: Reliance on a single crop created susceptibility to economic failure due to seasonal fluctuations, disease, and market crashes

Questions & Discussion

• Question: What were the other native tribes involved besides the Sioux and the Cheyenne?

• Answer: The Arapaho were also involved in the major raids in Kansas and Colorado in 1868.

• Question: Did George Armstrong Custer plan to run for president?

• Answer: Yes, he was very ambitious and that was one of his future plans.

• Question: How do we know the story of what happened at Little Bighorn if Custer and his men died?

• Answer: Information comes from Native American oral histories, reports from the troops who were left behind (not part of the scouting party), and modern archaeological digs that analyze the location of cartridges and weapons.

• Question: Did the Ghost Shirts actually work?

• Answer: No, they did not actually stop bullets, although the practitioners believed they would.

• Question: Was the land stolen from the Native Americans?

• Answer: From a historical perspective, the land was conquered through a process that was morally wrong and gross, reflecting a recurring and unfortunate pattern in human history where stronger groups take land from weaker ones.