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Custer's Last Stand
A cavalry regiment led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer approached a camp along the Little Bighorn River, and they found that the Sioux and other allies had swelled the population of the village far beyond Custer’s estimation. Custer was vastly outnumbered, and he and 268 of his men were killed.15 Custer’s fall shocked the nation. Cries for a swift American response filled the public sphere, and military expeditions were sent out to crush Native resistance.
-The American Yawp -
The Great Railroad Strike
Heralded a new era of labor conflict in the United States. Rail lines slashed workers’ wages even though they reaped enormous government subsidies and paid shareholders lucrative stock dividends. Workers went on strike from Baltimore to St. Louis, shutting down railroad traffic—the nation’s economic lifeblood—across the country.
-The American Yawp -
Native American Conflict Ends
After Custer's Last Stand, the Sioux splintered off into the wilderness and began a campaign of intermittent resistance but, outnumbered and suffering after a long, hungry winter, Crazy Horse led a band of Oglala Sioux to surrender in May 1877. Other bands gradually followed until finally, in July 1881, Sitting Bull and his followers at last laid down their weapons and came to the reservation. Indigenous powers had been defeated. The Plains, it seemed, had been pacified.
-The American Yawp -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Congress suspended the immigration of all Chinese laborers with the Chinese Exclusion Act, making the Chinese the first immigrant group subject to admission restrictions on the basis of race. They became the first illegal immigrants.
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Dawes General Allotment Act
Splintered Native American reservations into individual family homesteads. Each head of a Native family was to be allotted 160 acres, the typical size of a claim that any settler could establish on federal lands under the provisions of the Homestead Act.
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The American Frontier Closes
The Census Bureau declared the frontier closed. There was no longer a discernible line running north to south that any longer divided civilization from savagery.
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The Pullman Strike
Workers in George Pullman’s car factories struck when he cut wages by a quarter but kept rents and utilities in his company town constant. The American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, launched a sympathy strike. President Cleveland dispatched thousands of American soldiers to break the strike, and a federal court issued a preemptive injunction against Debs. The strike violated the injunction, and Debs was imprisoned. The strike evaporated without leadership.
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The Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars start
These wars marked a crucial turning point in American interventions abroad. In pursuing war with Spain and engaging in conflict in the Philippines, the United States expanded the scope and strength of its global reach. Over the next two decades, the United States would become increasingly involved in international politics, particularly in Latin America. These new conflicts and ensuing territorial problems forced Americans to confront the ideological elements of imperialism.
-The American Yawp