American History II

Douglas c. Face

Mid Term Exam

What methods did the United States government use to remove the Indians from the western land so that non-Indians could use it? In what ways did the various Indian tribes react to these methods?

The United States government made many deceitful attempts to take the land from the American Indians. Treaties were made and broken when a better deal came along or when valuable minerals were found on the Indians new land. As the Indians were pushed off of their land they were forced to travel long distances without supplies. This resulted in horrific conditions for the Indians. Many Indians died without ever getting to the new land.

Many of the different tribes relied on the buffalo for their food, clothing and shelter.Americans were encouraged to shoot buffalo and leave them to rot. While the non-Indians were traveling on trains the trains would slow down and the people were encouraged to shoot all of the buffalo that they could. The theory behind this was that if the buffalo, which were vital to the preservation of the Indians way of life, were gone that the Indians would have to cave in to the government. As the numbers of the buffalo decreased, the Indians lost their way of life and were never the same again and yet there were worse atrocities performed by the American government.

The government went so far as to give blankets to the Indians that had been infected with smallpox. The Indians were especially susceptible to smallpox and many died. There were even more horrors that are almost too unspeakable to mention.

An army officer slaughtered about 150 peaceful Indians at a place called Sand Creek. This was known as the Sand Creek Massacre. Most of the victims were women and children. (Boyer, Clark and Kett)

The American Governments efforts for removing the Indians range from lies and deceit to genocide. Some Indians conformed to the governments demands

Many tribes tried to live the way that the government, they tolerated the government stripping away their culture. They tried to grow crops and live in on the reservations.Some of them did ok but others were moved again and again. Some tribes refused to conform until they were beaten into submission.

General Custer found out the hard way that not all of the Indians would be put down easily. In the battle of Little Bighorn, Custer and his men were killed by a group of Cheyenne and Sioux warriors. (Boyer, Clark and Kett)This angered the army and for several years after that battle the Indians were put through hell by the army destroying their supplies and hunting them down. Eventually the resistance dwindled and died. The Indians spirit had been crushed and their way of life was gone forever.

 (A comment left by Donald L. Vasicek from the web site sandcreekmassacre.net has informed me that the number of victims at the Sand Creek Massacre was over 400  Cheyenne People. Please view his comment and go to his web site for more information relating to the Sand Creek Massacre.)