Native American Conflicts

The Battle of Little Bighorn took place in 1876 along the Little Big Horn River in south central Montana. Warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes battled the seventh Regiment of the U.S. Cavalry led by General George Armstrong Custer. The battle has come to symbolize the clash of two vastly different civilizations including a hunting culture of the northern plains and a highly sophisticated, industrial-based culture of the U.S. This battle was not an isolated soldier-warrior confrontation but rather a highly strategic campaign. Essentially, Lakota leaders such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse rejected the newly implemented reservation system which was put into effect by the Fort Laramie Treaty. General Armstrong Custer

“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 Pequot War was the first brutal war on the North American continent, and the first war fought between the Native Americans and the English settlers. The whole war began, because the Englishmen, like always, became greedy and wanted more land and more profitable trade. The homeland of the Pequot tribe, was modern day Connecticut. The tribe had an estimated population of 2,200 members, and they based their everyday lives off of maize, hunting, and even fishing (Pequot, 2012). For a period of time, the English settlers and the Native American tribe lived peacefully with a fair-trading system and they helped each other, but that did not last long. One reason for the Englishmen coming to the North American continent, was to spread the faith of Christianity. Believing that God had given the English settlers the right to settle in the new-found land, they saw great opportunities to convert the “savages” to their Christian ways (Pequot, 2012). The English settlers began invading the Pequot’s territory, and almost completely pushed them off of their land. “There were disputes over property, livestock damaging Indian crops, hunting, the selling of alcohol to Indians, and dishonest traders” (1636- The Pequot War, n.d.). Not only did the Pequot’s have issues with the English settlers, they were always on bad terms with the Narragansett tribe as well. The tribe separated into two parts, the “pro-English and pro-Dutch” (Colonialwarsct.org). This event made the Indians very weak,

During the battle Reno was some 3.5 miles away and failed to march to the sound of gun fire (9112 West Legends The Battle of Little Bighorn Weiser). The fight lasted less than an hour

In 1874 the US Army sent a force under Colonel Custer into South Dakota. When gold was discovered in the area, the federal government declared that all Sioux Indians not in reservations would have to be subjugated by Custer’s troops. Many Sioux refused to cooperate, and Custer began to attack. At the battle of Little Bighorn, in June 1876, Custer split his troops, and a larger force of Indians wiped out all of his men. After this defeat, the army took a different course by harassing the Sioux in attrition. Indians eventually lost the will to resist as these strategies were commonly successful against the Sioux. In the December of 1890, approximately 300 Indians were killed by US troops at Wounded Knee. This massacre was the indication to the end of Indian opposition. The Plains Indians were eventually conquered and forced into reservations.

When Reno and his company crossed the river the lakota and cheyenne was surprised and rushed to defend their village from the oncoming attackers. Reno then held his troops and formed them into a skirmish line, in which they began to fire upon the oncoming attackers. Reno had to retreat two times, the first time was when his left flank was endangered, and the second time he had to retreat to the east side of river. During the retreat Lakota and Cheyenne warriors rode down the troops inducing heavy casualties to Reno’s men. Reno’s company regrouped with the main the group after Benteen confirmed that there was no Indians following. A written message from Custer was sent by a messenger to Benteen stating “ Come on, Big Village. Be Quick. Bring Packs. P.S Bring Packs.” para. 11 (Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument). Captain Weir’s company made an effort to locate and communicate with Custer’s men after heavy gunfire was heard. (Little Bighorn Battlefield National

Gunfire had erupted in a scuffle between Lakota forces and US Cavalry troops. Soon both forts under siege as well as camps nestled along the route from the advancing Indians. Red Cloud and Crazy Horse were determined their warriors to crush the white settlers to returning their land and departing forever.

The Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 was perhaps the greatest victory for the Native Americans against the white European settlers. The Battle of Little Bighorn is also known as Custer's Last Stand and it was a fight between the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The Native Americans were led by "Crazy Horse" and "Sitting Bull," while the 7th Cavalry Regiment was led by General George Armstrong Custer. Custer's orders were to locate the Sioux camp in the Big Horn Mountains in Montana and wait for back up to arrive and help.

Custer divided the 7th Cavalry into three battalions under himself, Major Marcus Reno, and Captain Frederick Benteen. Unsure of the surrounding terrain, Custer sent Benteen south to “scour the country and pitch into anything he might find.” Two hours later and four miles from the valley, Custer’s own scouts spied “a good-sized party of Indians in flight between the troops and the river.” Custer ordered Reno’s battalion to charge the enemy, telling Reno he “will be supported by the entire outfit.” Instead of following, however, Custer advanced onto high ground east of the village.

After the Civil War, thousands of Americans poured into the Great Plains on a collision course with western Indian tribes. Homesteaders, ranchers, and miners encroached on Indian lands and threatened native game and ways of life. They called on the U.S. Army to crush Indian resistance and confine tribes to government controlled reservations.

The American Civil War was fought between the Unions, from the northern region of America, and the Confederacy, from the southern region of America. A war that was started because of slavery and fought between western europeans and incidentally people who live on the land such as Native American. The battles fought were all over the land in America. So, if a territory was on the land, then the people who lived there would inevitably get involved with the war. Battles were fought on indian territory, and as a result many Native Americans got involved in with the Civil War. The reason why Native Americans got involved in the Civil War was

Although white European settlers and the native Indians had existed moderately peaceful for around 40 years pressures rose in the mid-seventh century. Conflict arose due to decline in Indian territories, population, and their cultural integrity. These differences ultimately lead to conflicts in which collectively became known as King Philip’s War. What types of complaints did the Indians have against the settlers? How were the Indians expected to survive if the settlers kept taking their land? The primary sources in this collection of source documents touch upon on what each group (Indian or white settlers) did to survive: an excerpt from a narrative written by John Easton, a second hand account written by Thomas Church, a report written to the English leaders by Edward Randolph, a petition written by an Indian named William Nahton, and an excerpt of an account from a book written by Mary Rowlandson. These documents illustrate the main causes that sparked the war between the Native Indians and the white English settlers, narratives written by both sides to find peaceful solutions, and actual accounts of people who survived the conflict. The second hand account written about Benjamin Church’s meeting with the Indian group known as the Sakonnet Indians displays that the Indians knew their only chance of survival was to fight while the report written to English leaders by Randolph suggest that the settlers who viewed the Indians as uncivilized had ultimately forced the Indians

On August 11, at the battle of Yellowstone, Custer proved to his critics that despite his institutional failings, he could still fight. When Custer realized that they had fallen into an ambush and trapped by Indians, he did not panic. Instead, he used his discretion and experience and survived. “He benefited from his studies and mustered all his old tactical instincts. He correctly read an ambush, kept his troops well in hand, maximized his firepower, and seized just the right moment to break the stalemate” (Stiles, 395). Custer’s performance against the Indians that the army feared most, helped restored his already tarnished reputation with the army. Custer was a man that was cautious about public reputation. He never liked being criticized

To prevent the conflicts between the English settlers and the Native Americans, the English should have befriended the Native Americans by forging social and economical ties upon their arrival, like the French. In contrast to the British, the French managed to exercise a great amount of influence in the New World by engaging in the culture of Native American society and by establishing beneficial trade relations. The French prevented any significant fighting against their Native American allies for a period of time. The English, as humans, had the potential to do the same through respect and by perceiving the Native Americans as more than just barriers. However, the English ignorantly managed to focus only on trading and land negotiations,thus

The audience was not only given an idea of what they were thinking before the battle. The author also makes a point to include a song that the Indians wrote after they had defeated General Custer and his men, “At that time the Indians did not realized they had fought Custer…when they found out, they sang about him. David Humphreys Miller transcribed one such kill-song…” (pg. 54)