Chapter 13
Buffalo Bill
bison hunter, american scout, and showman
Chisholm Trail
the major long drive route north from Texas to Ablilene, Kansas, where cowboys drove herds of cattle to the railroads to be shipped back East for huge profits Significance: lifted texas out of post civil war poverty and provided much needed affordable beef to the NE
Dawes Act
1887 law that attempted to Americanize Native Americans; broke up land settlements given to Native Americans and separated them into smaller, separate pieces of land (required Native Americans to live apart from their nations and assimilate to European culture) Significance: Gave Native Americans Land cheaply and made them assimilate by moving apart
Battle of Wounded Knee
1890- the US Army slaughtered 300 unarmed Sioux women, children, and elders on the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota; the last of the so-called "Indian Wars." It was subsequently described as a "massacre" by General Nelson A. Miles in a letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Significance: a strategy for violence against the Native Americans and an effort to seize their land.
Treaty of 1868
An agreement between the United States and the Lakota; the Lakota agreed to settle within the "Black Hills" reservation in Dakota; was used to bring peace Significance: brought peace to the Lakota and Sioux
Bozeman Trail
An overland route connecting the gold rush territory of Montana to the Oregon Trail
Homestead Act
Law that gave 160 acres of free land to citizens to encourage settlement Significance: Gave White Men of household land cheaply
Sand Creek Massacre
An attack on Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian villages led by John Chivington. 2/3 of the Indians killed were women and children. Significance: many Native American women and children were killed
Black Hills
Mountain Range rising from the Great Plains into South Dakota and extending into Wyoming
Fetterman Massacre
Battle during Red Cloud's War in 1866 between the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians and the US Army
George A. Custer
During the time of wars between the Indians and whites, Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his Seventh Cavalry attacked Indians at Washita, killing 103. Also, during the Battle of Little Bighorn, Custer's army sighted a camp of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne where he and most of his troops were killed. This Battle ended Grant's Peace Policy and Custer became a hero when he died. Significance: He killed Sitting Bull and many innocent Native Americans
Assimilation
Government plan for Native Americans to give up their culture and adopt white culture Significance: it stripped the native american children who went to the boarding schools, and other native Americans, of their traditions and native identity. their old customs would soon be forgotten
Great Plains
Grassland region extending through the west-central US; home to Native Americans Significance: the place where the native Americans called home
Pacific Railroad Act
Series of acts of congress that promoted construction of a transcontinental railroad in the US Significance: ensured safe and efficient travel
Crazy Horse
Sioux Indian Chief
Battle of Little Big Horn
Sioux leader Sitting Bull led the fight against general George Custer and the 7th cavalry. The Sioux wanted miners out of the black hills, and had appealed to government officials in Washington to stop the miners. Washington doesn't listen. When Custer came to Little Bighorn rivers Sitting Bull and his warriors were ready and killed them all!
Sitting Bull
Sioux leader who wanted settlers to leave the Sioux territory
Exodusters
The African Americans who moved from the post- Reconstruction South to Kansas Significance: first general migration of blacks following the Civil War.
Ghost Dance
a religious movement; Indians tried to scare with the theatrical dance; it was banned Significance: Gave people hope that one day the "invaders" would be gone and the ancestors would return