Today, Taylor presented her powerpoint called Cultures Clash on the Prairie.
Culture of the Plains Indians:
- Lived from Mississippi to Rockies
- Sioux, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Iowa
- Didnt' live in plains until white men brought over horses
- Buffalo provided teepees, clothes, shoes, blankets, food
- Horses increased mobility
- Usually lived in small extended families
- Men became hunters and warriors
- Women prepared meat and hides
- Believed spirits controlled natural events
- Children learned behaviors from myths, games, and good examples
- Leaders ruled in a counsel
Settlers Pushed Westward:
- Discovery of gold in Colorado drew thousands of miners
- Mining camps and frontier towns had bad living conditions
- They had tents, shacks, dirt streets, and wood sidewalks
- Business-minded women tried to work as laundresses, freight haulers, or miners
Government Restricts Native Americans:
- 1834, government passed an act that made the Great Plains one reservation
- Native Americans still hunted their normal territories causing conflict
- Massacre at Sand Creek-General S.R. Curtis sent Chivington to attack Cheyenne and Arapaho killing over 150
- Bozeman trail ran through Sioux hunting ground
- Crazy Horse ambushed William J. Fettermen killing over 80 soldiers
- Fights continued until government agreed to close trail
- Treaty of Fort Laramie was forced on Sioux leaders
Bloody Battles Continue
- Red River War---Kiowa and Comanche raiding six years
- Moving friendly tribes to reservations and opening fire on all the others
- Miners began searching for gold in the Black Hills
- Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapahoe argued
- Red Cloud and Spotted Trail complained to government officials because miners were coming into their land which was promised to them by the federal government
- Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull killed all of Colonel Custer's men in the Seventh Calvary
- In Late 1876, the Sioux were defeated
- They took refuge in Canada but refused to surrender
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