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Closing of the West
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Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
'Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain', or Chief Joseph, became leader when his father died in 1871. In 1873, the government made a federal order for all white settlers to leave the Wallowa Valley, allowing the Nez Perce to remain on their homeland. The federal government's original request was soon reversed, and General Oliver Otis Howard threatened to attack the Nez Perce if they were not to leave their reservation. Sadly, the Indians could not hold on to their homeland, and headed to Idaho. -
Red River War - General Philip Sheridan
The first battle was on August 30th. Colonel Nelson A. Miles' troops caught up with a group of Southern Cheyenne near the fork of the Red River. The battle lasted a day. Although outnumbered, the Indians were able to hold them off long enough for their loved ones to escape. Sheridan helped deprive Indians of their primary food source. The hunters trespassed on Indian land, killing over 4 million bison. He believed hunters should be celebrated for discouraging the Indians. -
Joseph Glidden - Barbed Wire
On November 24th, 1874, Joseph Glidden was granted a U.S. patent for the improvement of barbed wire fencing. Using a coffee grinder, Glidden created the barbs, placed them equally apart on a smooth wire, then twisted another wire around the original to hold the barbs in place. -
General Custer at Little Big Horn
In the summer of 1876, the US Calvary fought against the Indians to force them back into reservations. General George Armstrong Custard was a leader of the US Army. The fighting began on June 25 around Little Bighorn River in Montana, and ended the next day. The plan was to attack the Indians from both the North and South. However, the plan failed miserably. Everyone in General Custard’s section, including Custard, was killed by the end of the day. -
Black Hills Gold Rush
In 1874, General Custard and his men investigated an area in the Dakota Territory because of reports of gold. Even though the Sioux Indians owned the land, known as Black Hills, General Custard and his men continued to prospect for gold. A little amount of gold was found on the site of the Black Hills, however, it lead to a larger amount found in Deadwood Gulch. For the next four years, prospectors from around the area collected large amounts of gold from the land owned by the Sioux. -
Carlisle Indian School
The Carlisle Indian School was founded by Richard Henry Pratt. It was an off-reservation boarding school located in Pennsylvania. The purpose of the boarding school was to teach Indian children white ways. The appearances of the children were changed. They were taught how to read and write in English, learn trades, and went to church. Their teachers wanted the children to be able to live like white people when they left. On October 6, 1879, the first group of children arrived at Carlisle. -
Dry Farming - Oklahoma/Plain States
Dry Farming started in the 1800’s in the areas where there wasn’t enough rain to sustain farms. The practice was invented by Hardy Cambell, and it was seen as the solution for agricultural problems in the Great Plains. After each rainfall, the farmers would be covered in a layer of dust in order to retain the water. Also, wheat was/is very commonly grown because of its little need of water. Today, this impacts us because these practices are still used. -
Apache War - Geronimo
Chiricahua Apache leader Goyathlay, otherwise known as Geronimo, became a fierce hunter after his wife, mother, and three young children died in 1858. He eluded and bested the U.S. army many times and it required 5,500 troops and 1,645 miles in order to finally capture him. Finally, in 1886, he was caught and was forced to surrender to General Miles at Skeleton Canyon. In 1901, Geronimo died and was buried in the Apache Cemetary.
