Black Hills Expedition Of 1874 Essay

Of course, as soon as rumors that the Black Hills contained gold began to circulate, this promise became as empty as any others made by the 'Great White Father' to native peoples. And on May 17th 1876, the breaking of this treaty precipitated the crushing defeat of the 7th Calvary at the hands of the Sioux nation led by the defiant, "You need not bring any guides; you can find me easily. I will not run away" , Sitting Bull (Cooke 136) in the Battle of Little Bighorn (Cooke 133-151). But this battle, though a victory over the Anglo invaders, was temporary and short-lived. By September 5, 1877 Crazy Horse was dead, Sitting Bull was in exile in Canada and "…in all the Great Plains, from Canada south, there was no longer a free tribe or a "wild" Indian. It had not taken long; in 1840 the boundary of the permanent Indian Country had been completed and the Great Plains were to belong forever to Indians. A mere thirty-seven years later every solemn promise had been broken and no bit of ground large enough to be buried in remained to any Indian that could not--and probably would--be arbitrarily taken from him without warning" (Andrist 300). The Westward expansion was on, and the push to break up and the sell the Great Sioux Reservation was supported by a "westward-pushing railroad [and] promoters eager for cheap land to be sold at high profits to immigrants"

On June 25, 1876, The Battle of Little Bighorn took place near the Black Hills in Montana. This was one of the most controversial battles of the 20th century and the line between good guys and bad guys was grey at best. Gen. George Armstrong Custer (reduced to LTC after the civil war) had 366 men of the 7thU.S. Cavalry under his command that day. Sitting Bull (A Medicine Man) led 2000 braves of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes (Klos, 2013). At the conclusion of the battle, the stories of the Indians savagery were used to demonize their culture and there were no survivors from the 7thcavalry to tell what really happened.

“The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which occurred on June 25 and 26, 1876 near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was the most famous action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.”i Was this battle led by a courageous General or a desperate man is search of being seen as an American hero by the eyes of America?

The conflict that occurred between the U.S. Government and the Native American Indian tribes, known as the Great Sioux War. It was a lengthy, disjointed struggle between the U.S. Army and the allied tribes of the Teton Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians that occurred in the span of fifteen months between, March 1876 and May 18771. Hostilities between the U.S. Government and the Native American Indian tribes grew due to the movement of settlers on the land promised to them. The Northern Plains, which consist of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana, is where the majority of the war took place. The most prominent battle of this war was the Battle of Little Big Horn, due to the amount of casualties taken by the U.S. 7TH Cavalry led

were also motivated by greed and ambition. A small group of radicals led by John Ridge

Coal became the fuel that fired the furnaces of the nation, transforming the Appalachian region socially and economically. Unfortunately mountain people didn't realize the implications of their mineral wealth. Many sold their land and mineral rights for pennies an acre to outlanders. Appalachians became laborers rather than entrepreneurs. Coal became a major industry which was extremely sensitive to outside fluctuations in the economy, leading to boom and bust cycles. The industry was controlled by interests outside the region, so that little of the profit remained or was reinvested.

Exploration has always been a central theme in the development of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, made the government more eager to expand west. The newly acquired lands were in need of exploration. A team needed to be established to survey and document the new territory. The Lewis and Clark expedition would answer the unknown questions of the west. The expedition would not have been successful without the leadership, determination, discipline of the Corps of Discovery, and the cooperation of the Native Americans. President Jefferson wanted the leader to have the same passion and intensity toward the discovery of the west as he possessed. Jefferson hand-

In an attempt to answer these questions, Horwitz embarks on a voyage. As he retraces the footsteps of the early European explorers and settlers, he was surprised to disclose how much history Americans have forgotten, bowdlerized, and commercialized. In Part II of Horwitz’s book, he focuses on the European explorers as they travelled through the Gulf Coast, the Southwest, the South, and the Mississippi regions of the United States. I found Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca’s personal story quite interesting, “Between 1528 and 1536, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca took a cross-country trek that made Lewis and Clark’s expedition, three centuries later, look like a Cub Scout outing by comparison.” He, like many of the other early European explorers, ventured to the New World in search of gold and glory. His efforts proved to be unsuccessful, as numerous obstacles stood in his way. Threats for survival, including the warm climate, the landscape, and shortage of food greatly

After moving 42 miles in three days, Custer realized that “directly west, in his front, are the very Indians the columns [were] searching for.” He massed his forces and deployed scouts to confirm the enemy's position. Before dawn on June 25th, they found “6,000 to 7,000 natives . . . encamped about 15 miles away . . . in the expansive Little Bighorn Valley.” Post-battle analysis confirmed “at least 2,000 warriors” in a settlement that “cover[ed] nearly two miles.” During this reconnaissance, Custer believed the enemy had discovered his column, and hastily began his attack, “fearing the natives might escape.”

With the whites moving in on the Black Hills in search for gold, they wanted to buy it from the Lakota people. Crazy Horse moved and set up camp around the area and led raids on the miners. With these attacks, the whites decided to build more forts in the Lakota area, and force all of the Lakota people into agencies. Crazy Horse and the people who had followed him believed that they had to drive out the whites, and that the buffalo would return.

Custer began exploring careers in railroads and mining. Following the death of his father-in-law in May of 1866, Custer returned to his home in Monroe, Michigan, that is when he had considered running for Congress. He was very involved in the American South in the aftermath of the Civil War such as taking part in public discussion. Later on, Custer was assigned lieutenant of the newly created U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment, headquartered at Fort Riley, Kansas, Custer was also appointed brevet major. He took part in Major General Winfield Scott Hancock’s expedition against the Cheyenne in 1867. Following the Hancock campaign Custer was punished for being AWOL after abandoning his post to see his wife. He was suspended from the service for one year as punishment. It appeared “Custer’s Luck” had finally ran out. But at the request of Major General Philip Sheridan, who wanted Custer for his planned winter campaign against the Cheyenne, Custer was allowed to return to duty in 1868, before his suspension had expired. Custer’s Luck had saved him

In 1952 Howard J. Williams, who was the maternal grandfather of Instructor Dean Brumley, wrote a brief narrative of his trip in to Perkins County in South Dakota from Iowa during the fall of 1907. In this brief narrative Williams recalls his departure from Miller Hand County in Iowa on October 25th, 1907 to Homestead in South Dakota in which he settled after first arriving there on November 5th of 1907 which he notes was an election day. Towards the end of this selection, Williams notes that he was sixty-seven years old at the time of writing this narrative and that he had lived in South Dakota for forty-five years up to this point and thought that he would eventually die there. By looking at the date provided by Howard Williams of his trip to Perkins County, as well as, other factors such as his age at the time of writing the brief narrative along with the length of time he stated as having lived in South Dakota it becomes clear that he was born in 1885 and embarked on this trip at the young age of twenty-two years old. He recollects that he made the trip to Homestead with two other individuals and notes that he had a camping outfit and a ten by twelve sized tent. This journey was made by team and wagon as at the time this was one of the main forms of transportation used. This journey from Iowa’s Miller Hand

The reason why Adam Smith considered the "discovery" of America as one of the most important records was because the conquest allowed the New World and the Old World to have contact, which wasn't present before. When the two worlds connected, there were many changes and some of these changes were beneficial and harmful to different groups of people. The "discovery" of America was considered a beneficial event for the Western Europeans. It was considered an era of glory because trade and population became present across the Atlantic Ocean. Corn, beans, and squash, which were native to the New World, starting

Because of oil a town called Wink was created. There was a lot of oil there so people started to move there. The town was created in 1926, and in 1927 it had a population of 3,500. 2 Years later it had 6,000. The people got a football team together and they won every game they want on a 12-0 season. Almost every game the team won by a lot of points. The team had everything they could’ve ever dreamed of, a huge marching band, after-game suppers. Football came to be very popular

The discovery of the Poorman and Tiger silver lodes in 1884 created a boom in population and wealth. “By the 1890s, Wallace was a prosperous town filled with immigrant miners from all over the world” (“History of Wallace”). The early mining in Wallace helped build fortunes for mine owners and miners.