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Government Passes an Act
The government had passed an act that designated the entire Great Plains as one enormous reservation, or land set aside for Native American tribes. -
Government Changes Policy (1850s)
In the 1850s, the government changed its policy and created treaties that defined specific boundaries for each tribe.Most Native Americans spurned the government treaties and continued to hunt on their traditional lands, clashing with settlers and miners--with tragic results. -
Massacre at Sand Creek
General S. R. Curtis, U.S. Army commmander 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--about 200 warriors and 500 women and children-camped at Sand Creek. The attack at dawn killed over 150inhabitants, mostly women and children. -
Treaty of Fort Laramie
The government closed the Bozeman Trail. In return, the Treaty of Fort Laramie, in which the Sioux agreed to live on a reservation along the Missouri River, was forced on the leaders of the Sioux in 1868. Sitting Bull, leader of the Hunkpapa Sioux. had never signed it Although the Ogala and Brule Sioux did sign the treaty, they expected to continue using their traditional hunting grounds. -
Death on the Bozeman Trail
In December 1866, the warrior Crazy Horse ambushed Captain William J. Fetterman and his company at Lodge Trail Ridge. Over 80 soldiers were killed. Native Americans called the fight the Battle of the Hundred Slain. Whites called it the Fetterman Massacre. -
Red River War
In late 1868, war broke out yet again as the Kiowa and Comanche engaged in six years of raiding that finally led to the Red River War of 1874-75. 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 destroy their villages and ponies, to kill and hang all warriors, and to bring back all women and children. -
Custer's Last Stand
In early June 1876, the Sioux and Cheyenne held a sun dance, during which 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 Craazy Horse, Gall, and Sitting Bull, the warriors outflanked and crushed Custer's troops. By late 1876, the Sioux were beaten. Sitting Bull and a few followers took refuge in Canada, where they remained until 1881. -
The Dawes Act
In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act aiming to "Americanize" the Native Americans. The act broke up the reservations and gave some of the reservation land to individual Native Americans--160 acres to each head of household and 80 acres to each unmarried adult. The government would sell the remainder of the reservations to settlers, and the resulting income would be used by Native Americans to buy farm implementss. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
On December 28, 1890, the Seventh-Calvary--Custer's old regiment--rounded up about 350 starving and freezing Sioux and took them to a camp at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The next day, the soldiers demanded that the Native Americans give up all their weapons. A shot was fired; from which side, it was not clear. The soldiers opened fire with deadly cannon.The Seventh Calvary slaughtered as many as 300 mostly unarmed Native Americans, including several children. Indian wars have ended.