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CK_5_TH_HG_P231_324.QXD 2/13/06 1:56 PM Page 308

III. Native Americans: Cultures and Conflicts

At the Carlisle School Native American children as young as seven years of Teaching Idea age were sent to become Christians and English speakers. They were to forget Pictures of students at the Carlisle their traditional ways and embrace the values of mainstream society. The school School, as well as documents describ- taught both academic subjects and preprofessional skills. Students learned read- ing the school, are available on the ing, writing, and arithmetic. Boys studied carpentry, tinsmithing, and black- web. Student may also be interested in smithing. Girls studied cooking, sewing, and baking. The boys wore uniforms learning about Jim Thorpe, a champi- and the girls wore Victorian-style dresses. Long hair was cut short. Shoes were onship runner educated at the Carlisle required and no moccasins were allowed. Students were not allowed to speak School. their native languages. All of this was well intentioned, but in the attempt to assimilate children to a new culture, the educators at Carlisle were also systemat- ically destroying the culture into which their students had been born. C. Conflicts The Plains Wars The period from the 1850s to the on the narrowing frontier saw a num- ber of conflicts between settlers and soldiers and the increasingly desperate and dwindling Native American population. These conflicts are sometimes called the Plains Wars. It was not surprising that some Indians resisted westward expansion. As United States General said: We took away their country and their means of support, broke up their mode of living, their habits of life, introduced disease and decay among them, and it was for this and against this that they made war. Could any- one expect less? In the 1850s, the and in Colorado had been forced to accept a small area of land near Sand Creek for their reservation. Within ten years, gold had been found on the reservation and settlers and miners wanted Sand Creek. A conflict began and scattered fighting continued for three years until Chief and his band camped near Fort Lyon asking to negotiate for peace. In November 1864, militia under the command of “Colonel” John Chivington, a Methodist minister, led an attack against Black Kettle’s camp. Chivington and his men claimed to be seeking revenge on the Native Americans for an earlier attack on white miners. They attacked Black Kettle and his camp even though it was flying both a U. S. flag and the white flag of truce. Chivington and his force carried out their attack on a camp of sleeping men, women, chil- dren, and elderly. It is estimated that up to 500 Native Americans were killed (and in some cases mutilated) by Chivington’s men. Some Americans applauded Chivington’s actions, but many others were dis- gusted. A Congressional committee investigated the attack and ultimately con- demned Chivington’s massacre. Crazy Horse (Ta-sunko-witko), a chief of the , was one of the strongest leaders of the Native American resistance on the . During the 1850s, he acquired a reputation as a great warrior, based on the bravery he displayed in conflicts with other groups of Native Americans. Later, Crazy Horse would turn these skills against the white men. 308 Grade 5 Handbook CK_5_TH_HG_P231_324.QXD 2/13/06 1:56 PM Page 309

In the 1860s, Crazy Horse refused to remain on the reservation assigned to his people, insisting instead on venturing out to hunt buffalo. He also led attacks on the army and white settlers. In 1866 he led a party of roughly 1,000 warriors in an attack on soldiers near Fort Kearny in the Territory. Crazy Horse led a decoy party that drew the commander and some soldiers out of the fort. The soldiers were then ambushed by a large Native American force and 80 soldiers were killed. The defeat, known as the Fetterman Massacre, was the worst defeat the army had suffered at the hands of the Native Americans up to that point. In the , Crazy Horse led additional attacks on railroad workers and the army. He and his followers helped destroy the troops of George A. Custer at the famous battle of the Little Bighorn. After Little Bighorn, the army pursued Crazy Horse more intensively. He was forced to surrender in May 1877. Later that year, he was killed during a tussle with a guard. A memorial to Crazy Horse is current- ly under construction in . Sitting Bull (Tatanka Iyotake) was the Dakota Native American chief who led the Sioux tribes in their efforts to resist American expansion. As a young man he gained a reputation for bravery and skill in battles against the and other tribes, which gave the Dakota more land on which to hunt. Sitting Bull began a long career of resistance to the U.S. Army and the white man in 1863. Along with Crazy Horse, he became a chief leader of Native American resistance. In 1868 the Sioux made a peace treaty with the U.S. government that gave the Sioux a reservation in the (current-day South Dakota). In 1876, the government ordered the Sioux onto reservations when gold was discovered in the area and white miners wanted to prospect for gold. Sitting Bull and others did not comply. The noncomplying Native American chiefs camped in the valley of the Little Bighorn River. Sitting Bull performed a ritual known as the and entered into a trancelike state. He reported that he saw the defeat of army soldiers, which foretold the defeat of General Custer and his men at the Battle of Little Bighorn. After Little Bighorn, the Army applied additional pressure. By this point the buffalo population, on which the Sioux depended, was rapidly waning. Many of the Sioux suffered from hunger, and growing numbers began to surrender. Sitting Bull and other Sioux who continued to resist the government went to and lived there from 1877 to 1881. He continued to lose followers to starvation and finally was forced to surrender. For some time Sitting Bull was confined to a reservation. Then, in 1885 he was allowed to join ’s Wild West show. He was paid $50 a week for rid- ing around the arena and he gained a popular following; however, Sitting Bull remained with the show for only four months. The Ghost Dance was a ceremony associated with a movement that began among the Paiute [PIE-oot] in Nevada in the 1880s. It was led by Wovoka [woh-VOH-ka], a Paiute mystic. He claimed that if the Ghost Dance was performed often enough, in time the settlers would disappear, the buffalo would reappear, dead Native Americans would be reborn, and land would be restored to the Native Americans. History and Geography: American 309 CK_5_TH_HG_P231_324.QXD 2/13/06 1:56 PM Page 310

III. Native Americans: Cultures and Conflicts

The Ghost Dance conveyed a powerful message, inspiring hope in its believ- Cross-curricular ers. Word of the Ghost Dance was picked up by other bands and found its way Teaching Idea onto the Plains. The government had the army break up the religion, fearing new You may wish to introduce students to outbreaks of violence just as the Plains Native Americans seemed to be subdued. “I will fight no more forever,” by Chief Government officials gave orders to arrest Sitting Bull, one of the most important Joseph as discussed in the Language native leaders on the Plains and a supporter of the Ghost Dance. A scuffle broke Arts section, “Speeches,” on pp. 83–90. out as officials were trying to arrest him, and Sitting Bull was accidentally killed. (1840–1904) was born in Battle of the Little Bighorn the Wallowa Valley in what is now northeastern Oregon. His tribal name The Battle of the Little Bighorn is also known as “Custer’s Last Stand.” The was Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, or Little Bighorn River flows through southeastern . It was on its banks, on Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain. June 25, 1876, that Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and part of his Seventh After succeeding his father as leader of were completely destroyed. Sioux and Cheyenne, led by Chiefs Crazy the Wallowa band of in 1871, Horse and Gall, carried out the attack. Chief Joseph refused to allow the U. S. The stage had been set for the battle when, in 1874, Custer invaded the Black government to force his people from Hills. This land was sacred to the Sioux and had been ceded to them in a treaty their tribal lands. However, Chief by the government. (See p. 309.) Custer already had a bad reputation among Joseph was unable to resist the Native Americans. He had earlier led a raid on a peaceful Cheyenne village at government and later died on the Washita, killing many of the inhabitants. Colville Reservation in Washington. On his expedition in 1874, Custer wanted to find out whether there was gold According to his doctor, he died of a in the Black Hills. When the rumors of gold turned out to be true, word spread broken heart. 32 quickly and miners soon followed. The Native Americans protested the encroach- ment of people into the land, but the army seemed unable to remove the tres- passers. In an effort to keep peace, the federal government offered to buy the Black Hills from the Sioux. The offer was refused because the Sioux felt they Teaching Idea could not sell land that was sacred to them. As you are discussing the various con- The government then ordered the Sioux onto reservations by February 1876. flicts listed in this section, create a Sitting Bull and many others did not comply, and the federal government sent the chart that will help students track army out looking for them. Custer was in charge of an advance party of 600 offi- them. Include the name, date, location, cers and enlisted men. There is debate about whether Custer misunderstood or and key facts. Then, once all the con- ignored his orders, but when his scouts sighted a Native American village, he took flicts have been studied, students can part of his regiment and attacked. Unfortunately for him and his 236 men, they summarize what they learned in para- had located a small part of the major Sioux and Cheyenne encampment that graph form. housed 2,500 warriors. Custer and his men were surrounded and killed within minutes. His remaining troops narrowly escaped to the main army. 65 The army gave chase and by winter 1876–77, most Sioux either had fled into Canada or, seeing no hope of outrunning and outlasting the army, had surren- dered. Those who surrendered were sent to reservations. In 1881, Sitting Bull and his band returned from Canada to reservation life. Wounded Knee After the death of Sitting Bull, a group of Sioux joined Sitting Bull’s half brother, Big Foot, and left the reservation. Like his half brother, Big Foot was a strong supporter of the Ghost Dance. About 500 U.S. Army troops set out after Big Foot’s group, which included 100 warriors and 250 women and children. Big Foot was persuaded to lead his people to Wounded Knee, in what is today the in southwestern South Dakota, where they were to be disarmed and led to a reservation. When the army attempted to disarm the

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