Assignment 7

The Way West
Mark Twain –envied his brother- the appeal was irresistible to head west
Feeling of freedom for Americans
What about the other people already there? American Triumph and American Tragedy
Fewer than 20,000 white Americans lived west of Mississippi in 1845
Western third of continent was wilderness
100s of thousands of Native Americans made their homes in the Great Plains
1845 All changed- Millions marched west seeking their fortunes
Manifest Destiny to spread and populate the rest of the continent
Between 1845 and 1893 American West was lost and won
Thomas Jefferson thought it would take over 1,000 years, but it only took a few years for Americans to move in and inevitably wipe out the Native Americans
The west was a battle ground. The handy work of man met the handy work of nature.
The struggle between Native Americans and whites came to a climax on the Great Plains.
Incompatible ideas of the land between natives and whites.
There were 10 million Native Americans on the continent when the first whites arrived.
Next 3 centuries 90% of population wiped out by disease, famine, and warfare.
1840 Eastern tribes were all gone because of disease, warfare, or being removed westward
Andrew Jackson believed Indians must yield
Most made their homes in Great Plains-permanent Indian domain
Great American dessert was the Great Plains, was suppose to remain forever Indian territory
Few besides traders and trappers would risk going into Indian country
Great migration through the west fueled by fantasies about fulfillment and manifest destiny.
By 1848 war was over between Mexico and America and new land declared for America
No one was prepared for what was about to happen with new land.
Jan 24 1848 James Marshall was inspecting a saw mill when he saw gold in a spring in Salt Lake area
Excitement fueled western movement for gold.
Thousands of men headed west for gold in California. Said that men made up to $1,000 a day. Gold Rush of 1849 changed the destiny of the American west. Catalyst for all change of the American west
California gold rush changed destiny of continent
Less than a year, population in San Francisco jumped from 429 to more than 25,0000
Just two years after gold discovery, California entered Union as 31st state
Native Americans contemplated moving eastward because they believed all the whites had moved west and there couldn’t be any more whites left east.
Native Americans moved with the seasons and with the game. Seven divisions of the Sioux were the most powerful. Their allies were the Cheyennes and the Arapahos.]
Many tribes spoke different languages and had different customs and thought different things, but what united them was the way they viewed the land.
By 1850 the whites moving west had created a crisis for the Native Americans in the Great Plains. They brought diseases, scared buffalo, brought down timber, and tensions rose.
1851 Govt called tribes to Fort along Oregon Trail for treaty. $50,000 and guns for staying away from immigrant trails.
To give up their land meant they would have to break balance between themselves and the Great Spirit
No Indian chief could speak for all of his people and enforce the laws of the treaty
Some leaders signed the treaty, but most knew it would be impossible to uphold it.
Numbers grew, attacks grew, and more soldiers were sent west to deal with Indians.
The whites were willing to use whatever methods in order to drive the Indians out.
A dispute over a cow, an Indian warrior stole a lame cow from a Mormon wagon group. High forehead (warrior). 1854. Conquering Bear offered to replace animal with two of his own. Officers demanded High Foreheads surrender. They sent soldiers into Conquering Bear’s camp, he refused to surrender High Forehead, and commander ordered soldiers to fire into the tribe’s camp. They killed conquering bear and Indians then swarmed them and killed all the soldiers.
One year later, the US army headed west to punish the Sioux.
Sept 1855 600 soldiers stormed into Nebraska. Killed 86 men and captured 70 women and children and burned the village to the ground. The Lacota’s were stunned by complete annihilation of village.
A boy named Curly watched the massacre take place from a nearby hill top. He went to the Sand Hills of Nebraska to fast and dream. His dream was later to be interpreted by his father that he would never die in battle. He received a new name Crazy Horse.
Lacota people own their name while they live.
Late 1850s Native Americans across the west could see a great change was coming upon them. They knew whites would soon be coming to settle on their lands.
Men and women who settled the west went for many different reasons. Mainly for bettering their conditions. Utopian dreams. Ordinary people looking to make something extraordinary.
1860s spiked a gold rush to Colorado Mountains. Denver was born. Started a metropolis through fortune seekers.
April 3, 1860 Pony express rider. 19 months later Pony Express was rendered obsolete by telegraph messages.
10 years after the gold rush, half a million Americans flooded the west.
Debate over slavery erupted in bloodshed. By 1861 expanding nation had torn itself apart. Civil war had broken out.
More soldiers due to volunteers for the war. Ever since the collapse of the permanent Indian frontier whites had wondered what to do about Indians. In exchange for their land, Indians would be a reservation and give them a stipend of money to make them dependent on the US government. In theory, reservations were supposed to keep the Indians safe and in a controlled environment as opposed to extermination. However, it ended up bringing rancid food and inhumane conditions. Freedom was taken from them.
Across the west, thousands were bullied into giving up their land. The Apaches, the Navahos, the Arapahos, the Cheyennes, the Crows, the Sioux, the Commanches.
Civil war in the east, 1862 relations between Indians and whites got worse.
August 1862, 12,000 people crowded onto Santi Sioux had enough. 1861 cutworms devastated their corn crops and no annual allotments. By Aug Santi’s were starving to death. Little Crow tried to warn the whites what was coming. Asked to make some arrangement for food with the whites. 1862 four Santi men went on a rampage killing several white men and women. Little Crow (72 year old leader) led a later party to kill all the whites.
6 weeks for Army to arrive, and 6 more weeks to eradicate tribe or for the rest to surrender.
38 men were condemned to death because of raid. 3 innocent men were accidently put to death because their names were confused with others. Pres Lincoln pardoned many others because not enough against them. Little Crow had escaped, only to be shot and killed by a farmer. His scalp was displayed in the town.
In the year of the uprising, the Santi Indians were herded to a different reservation. First winter 400 ppl died of hunger and disease.
Sitting Bull drew a large following in coming against the whites. Whites debated his origins because he was fearless in battle and so intelligent. He had myths surrounding him because the whites had never been defeated so many times by an Indian
Sitting Bull rallied his people to strike down against the whites. Gov. John Evans took the refusal of the Cheyenne’s to give up their hunting grounds as an enactment of war. Raged war against the Indians. Sept 28 Black Kettle rode into Denver and asked for the end of the war. Wanted peace with the whites. He ordered the Cheyenne to surrender to Sand Creek. 1864 raided Black Kettle’s camp with Cheyenne’s and Arapahos. Troops opened fire and shot them all. Some soldiers refused to join in because the others wanted peace. The camp displayed a white flag or peace as well as an American flag.
28 men and 105 women and children lay dead at Sand Creek. The papers said as many as 400 or 500 people were killed while many escaped.
1865 Lacotas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos launched a rampage against whites among the immigrant trails. Despite everything Black Kettle continued to strive for peace with the whites until all of his people were destroyed.
People in the east were enraged by all the violence against the Indians and pushed for the Indian reform act. While those in the west thought extermination was the only way to help the Indian problem.
1862 Homestead act. Free land to anyone willing to go out and work it. More Americans branched out to the Midwest.
Pacific Railroad also started. The engine that changed the west forever. In a decade and a half, hundreds of miles had been carved out of the Indian domain. Railroad drove through plains and buffalo ranges. Branching east to west.