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Great Plains as a Reservation
In 1834 the federal government passed an act that states the entire Great Plains as an enormous reservation. -
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Government Changed Policy
The government changed its policy and created treaties that defined specific boundaries for each tribe. -
Massacre at Sand Creek
The Cheyenne assumed they were under the protection of the U.S. government so they had peacefully returned to Colorado's Sand Creek Reserve for the winter. Yet General S. R. Curtis, U.S. Army commander in the west, sent a telegram to colonel John Chivington that said, he wants no peace till the Indians suffer more. In response Chivington descended on the Cheyenne and Arapaho camped at Sand Creek. The attack killed over 150 out of the total 700 inhabitants, mostly women and children. -
Battle of the Hundred Slain or Fetterman Massacre
The Sioux chief had unsucessfully appealed to the government to end white settlement on the trail. The warrior Crayu Horse ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman and his company at Lodge Trail Ridge. Over 80 soldiers were killed. Skirmishes continued until the government agreed to close th Bozeman Trail. -
Leading to Red River War
Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotanka, leader of the Junkpapa Sioux) never signed th Treaty of Fort Laramie and expected to continue using their traditional hunting grounds.
War broke out again as the Kiowa and Comanche engaged in six years of raiding. -
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Red River War
The U.S. Army herded the people of friendly tribes onto reservations while opening fire on all others. General P. Sheridan, a Union Army veteran, gave orders "to destroy their villages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children." With such tactics, the army crushed resistance on the the southern plains. -
Custer's Last Stand
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 Navtive Americans were ready for them. The Native Americans, led by Crazy Horse, Gall and Sitting Bull, outflanked Custer's troops . Within an hour Custer and all of his men were dead. However in late 1876 the Sioux were beaten. Sitting Bull and a few followers took refuge in Canada. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act aimed to "americanize" the Native Americans. The Act broke up the reservations and offered land to individual Native Americans. If they didn't want it the land was sold to settlers and the money the government got was used to buy farm equipment for the Native Americans. -
Wounded Knee
About 350 hungry and freezing Sioux were taken to Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota by soldiers. The next day the soldiers asked the Natives to give away their weapons. Afer a shot was fired, unclear from which side, the soldiers opened the fire with deadly cannon. Within minutes, the soldiers murdered as many as 300, the major part of them, unarmed, Natives, including several children. The soldiers left the bodys to freeze on the ground.
The battle of Wounded Knee ended the Indian Battles.
