Assignment 12

The Way West: Episode 3
Completion of Transcontinental Railroad marked the end and beginning of an era.
Theoretically possible to go around the world in 88 days.
Cargnegie returned from England with ideas of steel
Thomas Edison began work on electricity in New York
Countless people were speaking out against violence and army dealings with Indians
Red Cloud visited New York and brought huge crowds, spoke on the same platform President Lincoln had spoke on
All happened so quickly, 25 years Manifest Destiny to overspread continent. By 1869 destiny almost fulfilled by railroad.
Homelands and buffalo ranges were overrun by farmers, homesteaders, cattlemen, and prospectors.
By 1869 the battle for the land had been won and lost. Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and a hand full of other natives would rise up and try to hold on to their way of life.
1867, climax in southern Montana.
1869 principal area of conflict was in the Black Hills of Dakota. Most sacred of areas to the Cheyennes, Arapahos, and Lakota Sioux
Of all the promises made and broken. Treaty of 1868, Red Cloud had struggled so valiantly to ensure. Unceded territory and old hunting grounds were supposed to be Sioux territory.
June 1870 Red Cloud and 20 others travelled to Washington to talk over specifications in the treaty. After 2 weeks the delegation returned to the Great Plains. In 1871 he put away his war times forever, and agreed to move to Nebraska and abandoned the old way of life. Many refused to leave the Powder River country and the old ways.
Ogala warrior, Crazy Horse, would become new Lakota leader
George Armstrong Custer and Crazy Horse two of the most respected and legendary figures of American History. Great leaders in combat
Vain, impulsive, and brave to a fault. Graduated 34th out of a class of 34 at Westpoint. Custer
All of these things worked for him when he was killing women and children in areas like Kansas, but he met his match with the Sioux.
Introverted and shy Crazy Horse had earned himself a reputation with his Ogala Sioux. He brought them victories despite his eccentricities. Rode naked into battle besides a loin cloth and through dust on his body before battle.
He didn’t trust anything to do with the white man. He was never photographed by whites for that reason. Resisted a huge cultural attack
Both were great riders and loved the hunt. So different. Crazy Horse was in a state of being. Didn’t want change. Custer had American quality of being in a state of becoming.
People of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull lived in Powder River country.
By 1872 the slaughter of the American buffalo had been well under way. Continued for the next 13 years. So many were taken to the east that the price plummeted. Determined hunter could kill up to 60 buffalo a day for their hides.
The Plains turned into a slaughter yard for buffalo. When the buffalo were gone, the bones were collected as souvenirs or ground up for fertilizer.
Sheridan wrote to exterminate all the buffalo and you will exterminate all the Indians too.
By 1873, the buffalo had all but disappeared. Many Indians were forced to live on reservations.
In Montana and Dakota, there was one great buffalo herd left.
The arrival of the railroads in Montana and Wyoming meant conflict for the Lakota Sioux.
For 3 weeks Lakotas and soldiers scaled the banks of the Yellowstone River until the whites suddenly deserted the area. Disaster struck the white man’s world.
National banking had collapsed. Yellow fever swept through the Mississippi valley, along with droughts thru the plains, and Locusts invaded. More than a million Americans were out of work.
Era of railroad building was brought to an end by depression.
Rumors of great mineral wealth circulated around Black Hills. As depression wore on, whites were more determined than ever to go into Sioux territory for gold.
July 2, 1874 Custer’s caravan of 600 soldiers, 110 wagons, 3 grappling guns, a marching band, and more marched out of Bismarck, ND to find gold.
July 27, expedition camped at French Creek. Prospectors found gold in the Black Hills of Dakota. He sent scout to inform others at Fort Laramie.
By spring of 1875, millions of white prospectors were pouring into Sioux reservation lands
Red Cloud and other Sioux angered by white intruders on their lands. Whites called for rebuke of the 1868 treaty.
To give the invasion legality, government sent negotiators to Black Hills to bargain with Red Cloud for Black Hills for 6 million dollars. Red Cloud and others said you couldn’t put a price on the land.
Crazy Horse agreed with Red Cloud’s rebuke not to sell the land.
Washington, Patience for Sioux worn out. Executive order in unceded territory for all Indians to move to reservations by 60 days. Signed by Grant. If they hadn’t moved by then, they were all targets to be hunted down or destroyed
July 4th, 1876. First 100 years celebrated. The tide of the American empire had swept across the entire continent. From 13 to 38 states. Survived a civil war.
Northern Plains bands of Sioux and Cheyennes were still resisting the white men.
General Phil Sheridan had plan of full assault on the Indians. From 3 different directions.
May 17 1876. Custer said goodbye to wife Libby. Seventh cavalry left out of Ft. Abraham Lincoln for permanent Indian country.
Something was happening on the Northern Plains. Cheyennes and Sioux were gathering in the spring along the Powder River. Thousands streamed north to the buffalo ranges. Galvanized by the leadership of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.
By June, more than a thousand lodges in Sitting Bull’s camp. More than 2000 warriors and 7000 people together. Cheyennes, Sioux, and Arapahos gathered together. Unified.
June 4, moved to valley of Rosebud for Sun dance festival. Dance lasted four days.
A great vision came to Sitting Bull of white soldiers coming into their camp. Prophecy was unmistakable.
After Sundance was over, Lakota scouts came warning that soldiers were approaching camp from the south.
June 16, 1876 Soldiers were moving along valley of Rosebud. Crook’s men were having coffee when Crazy Horse and his men came riding in for a full frontal attack.
All day the battle of the Rosebud raged. Dissolved into a battle of individual fights. By nightfall Crook had lost 84 men and 25,000 rounds of ammunition.
Crook retreated to Goose Creek and went fishing for the rest of June.
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull’s groups moved west to the Little Big Horn.
June 22, 611 soldiers moved out. Custer kept up a relentless pace moving deeper into enemy territory.
Two days out, soldiers reached camp where Sitting Bull’s Sundance had been held.
Bloody Knife, Custer’s scout urged caution because lots of signs of Indians. Followed trail of Indians to the Little Big Horn.
Bloody Knife warned Custer there weren’t enough bullets to take down all the Indians in the camp. Custer ignored all warnings. Men were exhausted from strenuous travel. Scouts said it was the biggest Indian village they’d ever come across.
June 25, the seventh cavalry started into the valley of the Little Bighorn. He sent two companies off to the left. He sent another group around the little bighorn to attack from the south. Custer changed battle strategy without letting officers know.
Battle of Little Bighorn. Indians warned by dust rising. Huge village exploded into action. Sitting Bull rallied warriors to defend their families. Told men to brave up. Urging them to restrain themselves till the right moment. Crazy Horse led attack towards Custer’s formation.
Reno’s charge was quickly repelled. Bentines column saved Reno’s battalion from complete annihilation.
George Armstrong Custer and his five companies were struck by Crazy Horse’s 1500 warriors. He went to Custer Hill. The Last Stand Hill. On top of the hill is where they were met with Crazy Horse and the Ogalas and Cheyennes.
The Sioux did not take a single prisoner. None were alive at the end. Some of Custer’s men fought valiantly, while others ran, and others killed themselves to avoid further harm.
It took less than an hour for the battle to begin to subside.
Reno and his men who had retreated waited it out on a hilltop nearby.
The Indians set fire to the prairie and headed towards the Bighorn.
225 men of Custer’s commands were brutally stripped and mutilated. Custer himself had not been mutilated.
It took eight days for the battle/ massacre news to reach Helena, Montana.
Philadelphia, people were stunned to hear of the massacre and outraged.
Just 3 weeks after the battle, all of the lands of the Indians were lost. All of the reservations were not under military control.
August, Congress signed a law for the Sioux to hand over lands and to move onto reservations. Blatant violation of treaty of 1868, but public opinion now marked it as fine.
Battle of Little Bighorn marked the end of resistance of Native Americans.