Red Cloud's War

Despite that, the United States government told the Indians that they would not invade their lands. They soon heard that the Indians had fertile land and decided to allow settlers to move west. “After hearing tales of fertile land and a great mineral wealth in the West, the government soon broke their promises established in the Treaty of Fort Laramie by allowing thousands of non-Indians to flood into the area.”. (Victoriana) To make more land available to the settlers the government had to make reservations that would separate the Indians from the whites. In exchange for the Indians moving to

In order for the plan to go into action, on October 31, 1862, the establishment of the Fort Sumner was declared and war was made against the Mescalero Apache and Navajo Indian tribes (Robert 2004). As shown in figure 1, a 300 miles route was walked by children, women, and men for about two months. Once they reached the destination, an estimation of 200 people had died from starvation. A couple years later had gone by when the United States decided to introduce a treaty in1868 that allowed the Navajos to return to their homes also now called the reservations.

Another cause for poor relations between Native Americans and European Settlers was the constant push for acquiring new land by the Colonists. The Native Americans did not just want to give up their land and this resulted in war between the Indians and the Colonists. During this time Native Americans were sold into slavery belittled and removed from their land, due to the fact that the Colonists had more advanced technology and weapons. One of the major wars was the French and Indian War which resulted in the removal of Native Americans from their land and many casualties on both sides. Over time many battles were fought over land, even after America was an established country with presidents, laws, and court systems. Native Americans were continually pushed out of their land for hundreds of years while they were forced to move west. The constant push of Native Americans out of their land would cause an event known as the Trail of Tears where thousands of Indians were removed from their land by the Indian Removal Act. “In 1830 the Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act." Although many Americans were against the act, most notably Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett, it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly signed the bill into law. The Cherokees attempted to fight removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an

In the south of central Montana during 1876 on June 25th and 26th, a battle happened known as the Battle of Little Bighorn or also known as “Custer’s Last Stand”. The Native American Tribes that were involved was the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. They were battling against the 7th regiment of the US Cavalry which was led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. In the year of 1868 Lakota leaders agreed to a treaty known as Fort Laramie Treaty which was suppose to give the Lakota leaders a large reservation for their tribes. But in accepting the treaty they also accepted giving up their nomadic lifestyles and agreed to a more stationary livelihood in the reservation. Some leaders like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse did not agree

After the Sioux signed the peace treaty the soldiers wanted to take more of their land, they had forced the Sioux out f their own land, the Sioux had to move to the reservations instead. Sitting Bull once again joined with the other Sioux chiefs in 1876, to fight back and get their land back from the government. Together the tribes fought back against the government to take back

There is a lot of history behind the Blackfoot tribe that I am sure a lot of people are unaware of. The Blackfoot tribe first learned about and got their first horses and riles in 1700, also during that time they traveled along the Rocky Mountains. In 1851 there was a treaty that was called the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. The Blackfoot tribe was not one of the tribes that attended the negotiation of this treaty, but it still greatly affected their tribe. Article 5 of the Treaty defined the territory of this tribe and used the Musselshell, Missouri, Yellowstone Rivers, and the Rocky Mountain Range as markers of this territory. In 1873 and 1874, President Grant made Executive Orders shrinking reservation lands. The 1873 Order diminished the 1851 and 1855 treaty lands and created an entire reservation for the Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and Sioux. This territory went from north of the Missouri and Sun River east to the Dakota border. The 1874 Executive Order moved the southern boundary north from the Sun

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson addressed Congress stating two Native tribes had accepted the terms of the Indian Removal Act. Jackson said he hoped the two tribes consent would set an example for the other tribes to leave because he thought leaving was an advantage for them. He explained, “It puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the General and State governments on account of the Indians.” The two different civilizations didn’t agree, which lead to violent conflicts that lasted centuries. For thirty years, the United States had tried to come to find a way to get the two civilizations reach an agreement. The Indian Removal Act became the United States government’s solution that ended the violent encounters. This Act removed the Natives from northern Tennessee, southern Louisiana, western Alabama and the state of Mississippi, which helped the United

In the early 19th Century, the Manifest Destiny led many White Americans to conquer new territories and force Native Americans out of their homeland. The growing population caused the need for people to move to have more space for farms and crops. The religious groups were also wanting to sweep God’s word across the nation by going west. The Native Americans were unwilling to give up their land and fought to keep it. Outmatched by the U.S. Military, the Indians were forced to leave and settle in a territory that was not claimed by Whites. Andrew Jackson, the 8th President of the United States, participated in some of the battles with the Natives Americans and the removal of 5 different tribes from their homeland into what is now Oklahoma.1 This research paper is to study about Andrew Jackson, his battles with the Natives, and what led to the Trail of Tears.

In 1851 the Fort Laramie Treaty was formed, over eight thousand men, women and children came together and formed an alliance. Enemies, relatives and families came together to form nearly three hundred of their soldiers. Man was beginning to intrude on the land of the Indians and the Indians knew they had to do something. Many enemies became friends, which would also help their future as tribes.

Black Elk seemed disgusted by the behavior of the United States government. Black Elk had lived through the government’s unlawful slaughter of Chief Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. He had seen the Battle of Little Bighorn where an attempt was made to forcibly take their sacred land. Black Elk had witnessed the massacre of men, women, and children at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Black Elk went as far to say that “I did not know then how much was ended….I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream.” Black Elk experienced the true injustices done by the government, and lived long enough to see their negative impact (“Black Elk”).

Everything was going very well for the settlers in the west, except for disputes and battles with the native Indian tribes. The tribes had signed many treaties with the Americans regarding their land and their safety; however, the treaties were loosely followed and ignored for the most part. In 1868, the Lakota were having conflicts with the US Army. The Lakota were angry that the army kept coming into their territory. This led to Red Cloud's War. Congress passed the Fort

In 1861, Congress creaked the Dakota Territory, which consisted of oresent-day North and South Dakota, and most of Montana and Wyoming. The Indian Wars prevented rapid settlement on the territory in the 1860s. The Red Cloud Wars were the most vital wars that led up to the Massacre of Wounded

Custer’s death and defeat at Little Bighorn, led the Army to change its tactics. The troops surrounded villages of Red Cloud and Red Leaf. There, they arrested and confined the leaders, holding them responsible for failing to turn in those from hostile bands. After, the tribal leaders finally signed a new treaty giving the Black Hills to the United States (Keenan 213).

The Chippewa treaties were a set of three land cession treaties that sold Indian land to the US government in exchange for money, annuities, and the right to hunt and fish on the ceded land. The Ft. Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1868 were peace treaties between various Plains Indians and after Red Cloud’s war between the Lakota and the United States government (Bell 59). The Sioux referred to the 1868 treaty as Putinhinsapa Wolakota, which means peace or friendship (Ostler 49). This is nothing like the purchasing of land from the Chippewa Indians. The Ft. Laramie treaties confined the Plains Indians to the Great Sioux reservation and stated that they would violate the treaty if they did not do this. Violating the treaty would then result in profound penalties (Bell 59). For the Chippewa, the treaties of 1837, 1842, and 1854 were voluntarily, but for the Lakota, the Ft. Laramie treaties were forced and led to their displacement further east on the Great Sioux

The movie, filmed in 2007, depicts the lives of the Sioux Indians as if they were not a people that mattered. In the movie, they say, “the Indians lived like the poorest of whites.” They were pushed around and told repeatedly they could not stay on their own land. This was due to the Westward Expansion in the United States at the time. By 1876, most of the American Indians had already been forcibly relocated to reservation land. Red Cloud, a Sioux leader, settled with some of his tribe on the Sioux Reservation of the Dakota Territory and took the aid of the US government. When this happened, other Sioux leaders, such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, saw it as a surrender. These leaders refused to assimilate and went on to live life in their traditional way. Unfortunately, this all changed when the US found gold on Sioux land in the Black Hills. The movie tells the story of the Sioux Indians fight to try to remain in control of their own lives and stay on their own land. Then when they no longer can, the movie shows their path to surrendering to the whites and assimilating into the American culture.