Native American Civil War Essay

Army and the forceful action used to confine the natives, the construction on Indian land, and the massive slaughter of the buffalo which the Indians relied on in every aspect of life. The mistreatment of the Native Americans has been going on for hundreds of years, way before the Gold Rush began. The American government has taken land that they are unable to return to this day. They have deprived the plains Indians of their culture and freedom. Immigration from other countries was at its peak, but America still wasn’t able to call people, that had resided in the United States for many years, citizens. Even the Native American’s, that had lived on the continent before it was even discovered, were denied citizenship unless they were Anglo-Saxon Protestant. To this day, many look at the Indians as a joke; The Seminoles as “The Tribe that Purchased A Billion Dollar Business.” Children are being taught about friendship between the American Settlers and the Natives, they are being lied to. The upcoming generations won’t understand the horrors of unnecessary warfare against innocent people, and they will only know to take what they want, even if it isn’t rightfully theirs. America as a nation has to be stopped from draping curtains over the defeat of the plains Indians: their wiping out of an entire people, just as they did to the

The Lakota and Northern Cheyenne Indians along with a few other defiant tribes, joined forces under the Lakota holy man, Sitting Bull, in an active resistance to U.S. expansion (Gregory, 2016). In 1876, federal troops were dispatched to force the noncompliant Indians onto their reservations and to pacify the Great Plains (Powers, 2010).

Native Americans, or Indians, as they were mistakenly called, have been the “pathetic footnotes to the main course of American history” (Axtell 981). But James Axtell, the author of Colonial America without the Indians: Counterfactual Reflections, would beg to differ. He says that instead, Indians played a key role in making America great. James Murray gives another term to describe America’s greatness: America’s “exceptionalism.” Throughout his article Axtell makes many points as to why Indians played a vital role in “American Exceptionalism”. He even says that America wouldn’t have been colonized nearly as soon if the Indians were gone, because Columbus would know he was not in the Indies and move on. So because they simply existed in the first place, Axtell says they were significant in the history of our country. Furthermore, he says Indians specifically played a vital role in the exceptionality of America’s early economy, culture, and historical events and places.

At this time, General William Sherman ordered the capture of the Indians who were responsible. Force was met with force, leading to the start of wars between the United States and the Comanche

During the Battle of the Hundred Slain, the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors ambushed a troop of the U.S. Cavalry in Wyoming, scalping and mutilating the bodies of all eighty-one soldiers and officers (King, 2012). While this act seems rather violent at the time there was ongoing tension between the Plains Indians and the European settlers. According to King (2012), after the Civil war around four-hundred treaties were ratified with the Plains Indians but because of the building of the railroad and the gold rush; most of treaties were broken. There was also some people during this time whom were obsessed with idea of exterminating the Plains Indians. One such person was General William Tecumseh Sherman, who was assigned by President Grant as the General of the Army and responsible for United State engagement in Indian wars (King, 2012). Compared to the Plain Indians, these people were likely much more blood thirsty. They did not really care about who they killed. In most cases the goal was to destroy the Native’s food supply and shelter, kill the warriors, and give the women and children no other option but to surrender. However, there are cases where these armies killed woman and children without any mercy. The building of the railroads allowed the United States to apply these tactics. Supplies and troops could be transported much faster giving them an advantage. Buffalo hunting also became very popular and unlike the Natives who were careful to not overhunt, these people did not care and were doing it for sport and to get rid of a main source of the Plains Indian’s

The Seminole leaders signed a deal with the federal government for removal in 1832, however most of the Seminoles did not want to give up their land . The United States continued to try to remove the Seminoles, but the group refused to give up their land to move west. Theda Purdue writes “When soldiers arrived to begin deportations in Florida, the Seminoles went to war” (Theda Purdue), Indian Removal) This conflict began to escalate and even reached a point that a war called the Second Seminole War broke out. The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842, the Seminoles resistance was at first successful, using guerilla warfare tactics to ambush United States forces.

Although the horrors of the American Civil War and Reconstruction within Indian Territory were fresh. Yet, the presence of Indian Territory changed drastically between 1865 and 1889, because of the “Second Trail of Tears”, the unrest of the Southern Plains tribes of western Indian Territory, and the impact of U.S. Polices on Indian Territory.

the Creek Nation fought in the creek war from 1836, 14,000 were moved to Oklahoma and 2,500 were in chains, the leader of the Creek Nation was john ross he lead The Trails of Tears . These people were sent to go 800 miles. There was not enough food and water. In the winter there were not enough blankets and warm clothes. The more reason Andrew Jackson ordered was on the way to the Indian Territory so a lot of Native American would end up dying.

As time went on war broke loose the first war was the King Philips War from 1675-76. In 1830 Andrew Jackson signed the Indian removal act. This act called Indians “destined to extinction” and “not worth preserving”. Accordingly the act forcibly removed 17,000 Cherokee from the east to Oklahoma.

Native Americans in the American Civil War composed various Native American bands, tribes, and nations. Native Americans fought knowing they might jeopardize their freedom, unique cultures, and ancestral lands if they ended up on the losing side of the Civil War. A few Native American tribes, such as the Creek and the Choctaw, were slaveholders and found a political and economic commonality with the Confederacy.

In 1830, the Jackson administration instated the Indian Removal Act. This act removed the Native Americans from their ancestral lands to make way for an increase of additional American immigrants. This act forced many Native American tribes from their homes including five larger tribes, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creek, and Seminole. These tribes had populations were estimated to be around 65,000 people strong that lived in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. (Foner, 2012) The American Indians fought for their rights and beliefs through the American court system. Their other objective other than fighting for their rights was but in the end, they were forced out of their homes to move

The Native American’s were the first known settlers in North America, ten thousand years before Columbus came to the continent. Their origins completely unclear, anthropologists believe there were three to five million Native Americans in North America in the year 1492 (Hoxie and Iverson, 1997). As early as the Revolutionary War in 1775, European settlers started taking note of the Native Americans. Unfortunately, the Native American population plunged significantly in the first decades after their first contact with Europeans. Native Americans were now unprotected and exposed to deadly diseases like smallpox, influenza, and measles which did not previously exist in their society (North American Natives, 2016).

Native Americans have felt distress from societal and governmental interactions for hundreds of years. American Indian protests against these pressures date back to the colonial period. Broken treaties, removal policies, acculturation, and assimilation have scarred the indigenous societies of the United States. These policies and the continued oppression of the native communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension. Governmental pressure for assimilation and their apparent aim to destroy cultures, communities, and identities through policies gave the native people a reason to fight. The unanticipated consequence was the subsequent creation of a pan-American Indian identity

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

In 1861, the American Civil War commenced after many years of tension building between the Northern and Southern states. The main reason of the tension was said to be the debate of slavery between the North and South, and although some documents support this claim, it is false. The war had been brewing since 1607, before slavery was even introduced to the colonies that would become the United States of America. The debate of slavery did play a major part in the civil war; however it did so in supporting the true cause of the civil war. The main cause of the American Civil War was not the debate of slavery, but rather Europe’s role in the American economy.