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The government passed this act to desgnate the entire Great Plains as one enormous reservation, or land set aside for Native American Tribes.
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The government changed its policy and created treaties that defined specific boundaries for each tribe.
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Most of the Cheyenne, assuming they were under the protection of the U.S. government, had peacefully returned to Colorado's Sand Creek Reserve for the winter. General S. R. Curtis, U.S. Army commander in the West, sent a telegram to militia colonel John Chivington that read, "I want no peace till the Indians suffer more." In response, Chivington and his troops descended on the Cheyenne and Arapaho. The attack at dawn on Novermber 29, 1864 killed over 150 inhabitants, mostly women and children.
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The warrior Crazy Horse ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman and his company at Lodge Trail Ridge. Over 80 soldiers were killed.
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The agreement that the Sioux would live on a reservation along the Missouri River.
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Within four years of the Treaty of Fort Laramie, miners began searching the Black Hills for gold. The Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho protested to no avail. When Colonel George A. Custer reported that the Black Hills had gold "from the grass roots down," a gold rush was on.
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The Kiowa and Comanche engaged in six years of raiding that finally led to the Red River War of 1874-1875. The U.S. Army responded by herding the people of friendly tribes onto reservations while opening fire on all others. General Philip Sheridan, a Union Army veteran, gave orders "to destroiy their villages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children."
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Sitting Bull had a vision of soldiers and some Native Americans falling from their horses. When Colonel Custer and his troops reached the Little Bighorn River, the Native Americans were ready for them. Led by Crazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, the warriors outflanked and crushed Custer's troops. Later on that year the Sioux were defeated.
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Congress passed this act in order to, "Americanize" the Native Americans. The act broke up the reservations and gave some of the reservation land to individual Native Americans.
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The Seventh Cavalry slaughtered as many as 300 mostly unarmed Native Americans, including several children. The soldiers left the corpses to freeze on the ground.
