U.S. History IIThe West and the Gilded Age (1865 to 1898)D2.His.4.9-12
Wars on the Plains
As settlers, miners and railroads moved west and the bison herds were destroyed, the U.S. Army fought Plains nations: Sand Creek (1864), the Little Bighorn (1876), and the killing of Lakota people at Wounded Knee (1890); most nations were confined to reservations.
The railroads brought settlers, miners and hunters onto the Great Plains. The Plains were not empty. They were the homelands of nations such as the Lakota (Sioux), Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche and Kiowa, many of whom lived by hunting the bison on horseback.
🔑 Key idea
From the 1860s to 1890 the U.S. Army fought the Plains nations. Key events: the Sand Creek Massacre (1864), the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), a Lakota and Cheyenne victory, and the killing of Lakota people at Wounded Knee (1890). By then most nations had been confined to reservations.
💡 Why it works
Three forces decided the outcome. First, the bison: herds of tens of millions were shot for hides and sport, with railroads carrying the hides east, until fewer than about 1,000 were left by 1889. Without the bison, the Plains nations lost their food, clothing and shelter. Second, disease and numbers: settlers kept coming, and the Army had railroads, supplies and reinforcements. Third, broken treaties: the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) promised the Black Hills to the Lakota, but after gold was found in 1874, miners poured in and the government tried to buy or take the land.
The Little Bighorn (Montana) and Wounded Knee (South Dakota).
At Sand Creek in Colorado, on November 29, 1864, volunteer cavalry under Colonel John Chivington attacked a Cheyenne and Arapaho camp that believed it was under the Army's protection; most of those killed were women, children and older people. At the Little Bighorn in June 1876, Lakota and Cheyenne warriors led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Lieutenant Colonel George Custer's Seventh Cavalry. On December 29, 1890, at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, soldiers killed about 250 or more Lakota men, women and children (counts differ) during an attempt to disarm them, at a time of fear about the Ghost Dance movement.
Work it through
✏️ Worked example: Putting events in order
Order these: Wounded Knee; gold found in the Black Hills; the Treaty of Fort Laramie; the Little Bighorn.
Treaty of Fort Laramie: 1868.
Gold found in the Black Hills: 1874.
Battle of the Little Bighorn: 1876.
Wounded Knee: 1890.
Answer: Fort Laramie, gold in the Black Hills, the Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee. The treaty came first, the gold broke it, and war followed.
⚠️ Common mistake
Some students think the Plains nations simply lost every battle. They won some, the Little Bighorn most famously. What decided the outcome was the loss of the bison, disease, and the Army's numbers and supplies. Another slip: treating "the Indians" as one group. Each nation had its own leaders, alliances and rivalries.
Practice
Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 2 XP.