When the government first moved Native Americans beyond the Mississippi
River, it settled them in what they called Indian country. This huge
region included almost all the land between the Missouri River and
the Oregon Territory. Treaties guaranteed this land to them "as
long as the rivers shall run and the grass shall grow". Americans
at first considered the area too dry for farming. Bur pioneers who
traveled to the Southwest , California and Oregon soon began to cast
hungry eyes on the land they passed through. Prospectors discovered
gold and silver on Indian Land. The government began buying parts
of the land back from the tribes during the 1850's and settled them
on reservations throughout the West. The Plains people fought to keep
their hunting lands and to avoid being confined to reservations. These
Native Americans, unlike those in the East, owned horses. American
soldiers praised their daring enemies as "the best fighters the
sun ever shone on". But fighting between them and whites was
so bitter that many Westerners claimed that "the only good Indian
is a dead Indian."In this later period of warfare, the U.S. Army
took over from the state militias the job of fighting the tribes.
Also, the Indian Bureau, formerly the War department, became part
of the Department of the Interior.
The Sioux wars (1854-1890)
They began with small clashes at Fort Laramie, Wyo., and nearby posts.
In 1862 Little Crow led an uprising in Minnesota. The Sioux massacred
hundreds of settlers in the New Ulm area before Army troops subdued
them. Many of the surviving Sioux joined other Sioux farther west.
In the 1860's, Ted Cloud and other strong chiefs drove out whites
who entered Sioux territory. In 1868, in the Treaty of Fort Laramie,
some of the Sioux agreed to live on a reservation in what is now South
Dakota. But with the gold rush to the Black Hills of South Dakota
in 1874, miners poured into the area, disregarding Sioux rights. Skirmishes
broke out, and the government ordered all Sioux onto the reservation.
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused to bring their people. Outraged
by attacks against the Sioux by the U.S. Army, Sitting Bull declared:
"We are an island of Indians in a lake of whites…These soldiers
want war. All right, we'll give it to them!"
On June 17, 1876, a force of Sioux surprised Brigadier General George
Crook's troops and defeated them in the Battle of the Rosebud in southeastern
Montana. The Army then sent another force against the Sioux. On June
25, troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer encountered
several thousand Sioux and Cheyenne warriors on the Little Bighorn
River. Not a single soldier in Custer's immediate command of about
210 men survived "Custer's Last Stand." The tribes then
split into bands in order to escape more easily. The Army caught some,
and others gave themselves up. A few, including Sitting Bull's band,
fled to Canada.
A final Sioux uprising occurred in 1890, in connection with the religious
cult of "the Ghost Dance". Major General Nelson A. Miles
feared another war. He ordered the arrest of Sitting Bull, who had
settled on the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota. When Sitting
Bull resisted arrest, Native American policemen killed him. Big Foot
then assumed command of the last band of hostile Sioux. The Army trapped
the Sioux on Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota in December 1890,
and destroyed them.
The Southern Plains (1860-1879)
In Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, other Plains tribes also
fought against being placed on reservations. Hostile tribes, including
the Arapaho, the Comanche, the Cheyenne under Black Kettle and the
Kiowa under Satanta. These tribes were provoked by such incidents
as the Sand Creek massacre of 1864, when a large force of militia
in Colorado ambushed a village of peaceful Arapaho and Cheyenne, and
killed warriors, women and children alike. Native American raids on
settlements in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas came to a climax
in the Red River of 1874-1875. Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan
directed a campaign which resulted in the defeat to the warriors who
surrendered after over 14 battles.
The Ute tribe also rose against the whites at various times. In Utah,
the Walker War of 1853 and the Black Hawk war of 1865-1867 caused
many casualties among Mormon settlers. In 1879, the Meeker Massacre
marked the final Ute outbreak in Colorado. Chief Ouray restrained
his people and stopped the revolt after N. C. Meeker, an unpopular
agent of the government, had been killed.
NATIVE
AMERICAN RHYMES 
