11

Into the WestInto the West

Objectives:

Identify the contributions of mines and railroads to the growth of the United States.

Describe the nature of conflict between the settlers and the Native Americans.

Explore the growth of industries like cattle farming in the West and their impact on the economic structure of the United States following the Civil War.

22

Previous ExplorationPrevious Exploration

• Prior to the Civil War some movement into the Western part of North America had taken place.

• Most notably with the gold rushes of 1823 and 1849.

– These events drew people from all walks of life westward especially young immigrants who wanted to move out of the urban centers of the east (New York, Baltimore, Boston, etc.).

– Many immigrants got jobs with mining and railroad companies with plans to make enough money to strike out on their own.

33

The Comstock LodeThe Comstock Lode• Discovered in 1859, the Comstock Lode turned out to be

one of the most valuable silver mines in the world. – It caused a mass migration of prospectors and business owners

to Nevada.

• When all of the land in the immediate vicinity of the claim was sold, prospectors began to speculate based on the conditions that existed in and around Nevada and California.

• Eventually many miners became discouraged and sold their land to large mining companies who could afford to extract the ore from the earth.

44

BoomtownsBoomtowns

• Business owners would often follow the migration of the miners and railroad workers.

• The small towns that were created, with general stores, restaurants and hotels, became known as boomtowns.

55

BoomtownsBoomtowns

• Many boomtowns were supported by the local mine companies.

• Workers would be employed by the mine company, live in hotels or apartments supplied by the mine and shop only at mine owned businesses.– What is the potential problem with this system?

66

Crime in the Old WestCrime in the Old West• Because these boomtowns

migrated with the workers, most did not have public services like law enforcement or medical care.

• Vigilantes often kept the peace by running off any bandits that would travel into town.

– Territories like Colorado and Nevada quickly responded by offering to deputize former Civil War officers.

– This is where many of the stereotypes of western life come from.

77

Ghost TownsGhost Towns

• When the railroad or mining company moved on…so did the town.

• Many of the buildings would be left standing but most of the inhabitants of the town would pack their belongings and go.

– Leaving what came to be known as ghost towns.

88

Transcontinental RailroadTranscontinental Railroad

• Lincoln had begun plans to complete a railroad that would span the entire length of the United States prior to the beginning of the Civil War.

• The government offered subsidies to railroad companies that would assist in the completion of the plan.– They would be given 10 square miles of land for

every mile of track laid.

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Manual LaborManual Labor• Both railroad and mine companies used a large amount

of immigrant labor.

• Many Irish, Italian and German immigrants left their families on the East Coast because they were promised wealth and promotion in the west.

• The Western half of the transcontinental railroad was built by Chinese immigrants who were brought to the United States by wealthy investors.– Many were promised citizenship and a home in exchange for

three years of service (indentured servitude). – Often immigrants “lowest” in the social order were required to do

the most dangerous work.

1100

Problems with the RailroadProblems with the Railroad

• Up until this point, railroad tracks did not have a standard width or method of construction.

• Each railroad company could choose whatever track width they preferred and could use whatever cheap materials they wanted to, to complete the railroad.– This meant that only certain trains could use their tracks and

that they would eventually not be able to go any further.

• Because the government was subsidizing the project, they set standards for all NEW railroad construction in the west.

1111

Impact on Native AmericansImpact on Native Americans

• Prior to the Civil War the number of settlers moving out west was small.

• After the gold rushes and the government subsidizing the railroad, the number of settlers attempting to “share” space with the Native Americans grew into the millions.

1122

Impact on Native AmericansImpact on Native Americans

• The settlers brought with them guns and horses which had not existed here prior to that period.

• The Plains “Indians” followed the migration of the buffalo and these innovations made hunting and tracking them much easier.

1133

Broken TreatiesBroken Treaties

• Throughout the colonial period of our nation the government made several successful treaties with tribes from east coast and central mountain regions.

• In 1851, the government called a meeting with leadership from the Plains tribes and offered to leave them alone in exchange for a promise to stop following the buffalo. This agreement is known as the Fort Laramie Treaty.– The buffalo migration was holding up the building of the railroad.– When they settled in one spot the buffalo ate all the vegetation

and they started to run out of food.

1144

Broken TreatiesBroken Treaties• Following a gold strike at Pike’s Peak settlers

started inhabiting areas promised to the Plains tribes and the government did nothing to prevent them from taking the land over.

• The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes were now forced into new treaty negotiations with the U.S. government in which they were given a reservation that was only 1/3 of the size of the one that they had been promised in the Fort Laramie Treaty.– The new boundary between the settlers and the

Native American reservation was at Sand Creek.

1155

Sand Creek MassacreSand Creek Massacre• Some bands of Cheyenne including the Dog Soldiers, a

militaristic band of Cheyennes and Lakotas that had evolved beginning in the 1830s, were angry at those chiefs who had signed the treaty, disavowing the treaty and refusing to abide by its constraints.

• Cheyennes opposed to the treaty said that it had been signed by a small minority of the chiefs who did not understand what they signed and that they had been bribed to sign by a large distribution of gifts.

• The government officials, however, claimed that the treaty was a "solemn obligation" and considered that those Indians who refused to abide by it were hostile and planning a war.

1166

Sand Creek MassacreSand Creek Massacre• Black Kettle, the chief of a group of around 800 mostly Southern

Cheyennes, reported to Fort Lyon in an effort to declare peace. After having done so, he and his band, along with some Arapahos under Chief Left Hand, camped out at nearby Sand Creek, less than 40 miles north.

• Black Kettle sent most of his warriors to hunt, leaving only around 60 men in the village, most of them too old or too young to participate in the hunt. Black Kettle flew an American flag over his lodge since previously he had been assured that this practice would keep him and his people safe from U.S. soldiers' aggression.

• Setting out from Fort Lyon, Colonel Chivington and his 800 troops marched to Black Kettle's campsite. On the morning of November 29, 1864, Chivington ordered his troops to attack. Disregarding the American flag, and a white flag that was run up shortly after the soldiers commenced firing, Chivington's soldiers massacred the majority of its mostly unarmed inhabitants.

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Sand Creek MassacreSand Creek Massacre

• Before Chivington and his men left the area, they plundered the teepees and took the horses. After the smoke cleared, Chivington's men came back and killed many of the wounded. They also scalped many of the dead, regardless of whether they were women, children, or babies.

• Fifteen U.S. soldiers were killed and more than 50 wounded. Between 150 and 200 Indians were estimated killed, nearly all elderly men, women and children.

• In testimony before a Congressional committee investigating the massacre, Chivington reported that as many as 500-600 Indian warriors were killed. One source from the Cheyenne said that about 53 men and 110 women and children were killed.

1188

Buffalo SoldiersBuffalo Soldiers

• Although several African American regiments were raised during the Civil War to fight alongside the Union Army, the "Buffalo Soldiers" were established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army.

• From 1866 to the early 1890s these regiments served at a variety of posts in the Southwestern United States and Great Plains regions.

• They participated in most of the military campaigns in these areas and earned a distinguished record. – Thirteen enlisted men and six officers from these four regiments

earned the Medal of Honor during the “Indian Wars”.

1199

Reservation SystemReservation System

• President Grant pursued a stated "Peace Policy" as a possible solution to the conflict. – The policy called for the replacement of government officials by religious

men to oversee the reservations in order to teach Christianity to the native tribes.

– The Quakers were especially active in this policy on reservations. The "civilization" policy was aimed at eventually preparing the tribes for citizenship.

• In many cases, the lands granted to tribes were not ideal for, and in some cases resistant to farming, leaving many tribes who accepted the policy bordering on starvation.

In 1851, Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which authorized the creation of Native American reservations in Oklahoma.

●

2200

Reservation SystemReservation System• Reservation treaties sometimes included agreements in which the

federal government would grant a certain amount of goods to a tribe annually. – In many cases the goods were not delivered.

• The policy required the continuing support of the Army to restrict the movements of various tribes. The pursuit of tribes in order to force them back onto reservations led to a number of Indian Wars.

• By the late 1870s, Grant’s policy was regarded as a failure. By

1877, President Hayes began phasing out the policy, and by 1882 all religious organizations had relinquished their authority to the federal Indian agency.

• In 1887, Congress revamped the reservation policy by the passing

the Dawes Act.

2211

Little BighornLittle Bighorn• Following tension with settlers over the gold

strike in the Black Hills region, there were several confrontations between settlers and the Sioux/Cheyenne.

• To force the large Indian army back to the reservation, the Army sent Lt. Colonel George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry.

• Custer was unaware that the Native Americans had three times as many men as he had to fight this battle.

• He was also unaware of the land in which he planned to attack; he later discovered that his troops would have to negotiate a maze of bluffs and ravines to attack.

George Armstrong Custer

2222

Little BighornLittle Bighorn

• Custer ordered his men to shoot their horses and stack the carcasses to form a wall, but they provided little protection against bullets.

• In less than an hour, Custer and his men were killed in the worst American military disaster ever.

• After the battle, the Native Americans came through, stripped the bodies and mutilated all the uniformed soldiers, believing that the soul of a mutilated body would be forced to walk the earth for all eternity and could not ascend to heaven.

Sitting Bull (1878)

2233

Little BighornLittle Bighorn

• Inexplicably, they stripped Custer's body and cleaned it, but did not scalp or mutilate it. He had been wearing buckskins instead of a blue uniform, and some believe that the Indians thought he was not a soldier and so, thinking he was an innocent, left him alone.

• Because his hair was cut short for battle, others think that he did not have enough hair to allow for a very good scalping.

2244

The Nez PerceThe Nez Perce

• In 1805 the Nez Perce were the largest tribes on the Columbia River Plateau, with a population of about 6,000.

• They were migratory according to where the most abundant food was to be found at a given time of year. – This migration followed a predictable pattern from

permanent winter villages through several temporary camps, nearly always returning to the same locations year after year.

• Were lead by Chief Joseph who never allowed any violence against members of the U.S. Army for fear of reprisals. He advised his people to cooperate as much as possible to encourage peace between the two groups.

2255

Chief Joseph (1840-1904)Chief Joseph (1840-1904)

• With 2000 U.S. soldiers in pursuit, Joseph and other Nez Perce chiefs led 800 Nez Perce toward freedom at the Canadian border.

• For over three months, the Nez Perce outmaneuvered and battled their pursuers traveling 1,300 miles across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.

• Finally, after a devastating five-day battle during freezing weather conditions with no food or blankets, Chief Joseph formally surrendered. This marked the last great battle between the U.S. government and an Indian nation.

• Although he had negotiated a safe return home for his people, they were instead taken to eastern Kansas and then to a reservation in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) where many of them died of epidemic diseases.

Chief Joseph

2266

The Apache/Navajo ConnectionThe Apache/Navajo Connection

• The Apache and Navajo tribes speak related languages (forms of Athabaskan).

– Other Athabaskan-speaking people reside in an area from Alaska through west-central Canada, and some groups can be found along the Northwest Pacific Coast.

– These similarities indicate the Navajo and Apache were once a single ethnic group.

2277

The NavajosThe Navajos

• Originally occupied areas of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Kansas.

• Had fought the Spanish and Mexicans for their freedom prior to being relocated by the U.S. Army.

• Starting in the spring of 1864, around 9,000 Navajo men, women and children were forced on The Long Walk of over 300 miles to Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

• This was the largest Reservation attempted by the U.S. government. It was a failure for a combination of reasons. – Only enough food to feed half of the people.– No protection from raids by other tribes or settlers.– Crop failure with no relief by the government.

2288

The ApachesThe Apaches• Were considered the most hostile tribe of this

era. They had been at war with both the Spanish and the Mexicans prior to the U.S. taking control of the area.

• They fought hard against the reservation system. Unrelated bands of Apache were forced to live together resulting in several bloody battles on reservations.

• Most historians of this era say that the final defeat of an Apache took place when 5,000 troops forced (Geronimo's) group of 30 to 50 men, women and children to surrender in 1886. – This band was later sent to a

reservation in Oklahoma.

2299

The Ghost DanceThe Ghost Dance

• The Ghost Dance was a religious movement incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since pre-historic times. It was first documented by soldiers in Nevada.

• As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Native American tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs, often creating change in both the society that integrated it and the ritual itself.

• At the core of the movement was the prophet of peace Jack Wilson, also known as Wovoka, who prophesied a peaceful end to white American expansion while preaching messages of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation.

• The Ghost Dance is most famous for the role it reportedly played in instigating the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890, which resulted in the deaths of at least 153 Lakota Sioux.

3300

Wounded KneeWounded Knee• In February 1890, the United States government broke a Lakota treaty by adjusting

the Great Sioux Reservation of South Dakota (an area that formerly encompassed the majority of the state) into five smaller reservations.

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs was supposed to supplement the Sioux’s food supply.

• The farming plan failed. By the end of the 1890 growing season, a time of intense heat and low rainfall, it was clear that the land was unable to produce substantial food for the people of the reservation.

• On December 15, 1890, Sitting Bull was arrested on the reservation for failing to

stop his people from practicing the Ghost Dance. During the incident, a Sioux witnessing the arrest fired at one of the soldiers prompting an immediate retaliation; this conflict resulted in deaths on both sides, including the loss of Sitting Bull himself.

• Chief Big Foot was prevented from attending a meeting with the remaining Sioux chiefs. U.S. Army officers forced him and his people to relocate to a small camp close to the Pine Ridge.

3311

Wounded KneeWounded Knee• A small band of Sioux erected their tepees on the banks of Wounded Knee Creek.

The following day, during an attempt by the officers to collect any remaining weapons from the band, one young and deaf Sioux warrior refused to relinquish his arms.

• A struggle followed and someone’s weapon fired into the air. An Army officer gave the command to open fire and the Sioux returned fire.

• When the fighting had concluded, 25 U.S. soldiers lay dead, many killed by friendly fire, amongst the 153 dead Sioux, most of whom were women and children.

• Many Americans felt the U.S. Army actions were harsh; some related the massacre at Wounded Knee Creek to the “ungentlemanly act of kicking a man when he is already down.” Public uproar played a role in the reinstatement of the previous treaty’s terms including full rations and more monetary compensation for lands taken away.

• However, twenty of the soldiers involved received Medals of Honor for their part in the slaughter, and these awards have never been revoked.

3322

The Dawes ActThe Dawes Act

• Enacted on February 8, 1887, the act replaced the policy of granting land parcels to tribes as-a-whole with the granting small parcels of land to individuals.

• The purpose of the Dawes Act was purportedly to protect Indian property rights, particularly during the land rushes of the 1890s, but in many instances the results were vastly different. – The land allotted to the Indians included desert or near-desert lands

unsuitable for farming.

– In addition, many Native Americans did not want to take up agriculture, and those who did want to farm could not afford the tools, animals, seed, and other supplies necessary to get started.

– There were also problems with inheritance. Often young children inherited land that they could not farm because they had been sent away to boarding schools.

3333

Rise of the Cattle IndustryRise of the Cattle Industry

• Cattle were initially raised by Spanish farmers in the southeast, but strays were left to roam.– Early settlers would capture the strays and keep them

for personal use but did not have the resources for large scale cattle farming.

3344

Rise of the Cattle IndustryRise of the Cattle Industry

• This changed with the completion of the transcontinental railroad.– Cowhands were hired to drive cattle from the farms to railroad

lines in Kansas, Missouri and Wyoming.– These drives lasted from two to three months.– Approximately 600,000 cattle were moved each year.

3355

Life of a CowhandLife of a Cowhand

• The job was very dangerous and often meant working 18 hour days.

• For all of their trouble they were only paid $1 per day.

• They learned much about the trade from Spanish vaqueros who had perfected the art of moving cattle nearly 100 years before.

3366

The Cowboy UniformThe Cowboy Uniform

• The spurs, chaps and the wide brimmed hats worn by American “cowboys” were all inspired by those worn by the vaqueros in Mexico.

• Roping styles and corralling techniques were also adapted from the successful methods they had perfected.

3377

Cow TownsCow Towns

• In 1867, Joseph McCoy founded Abilene, Kansas as a town where weary cowboys could rest and replenish their supplies after dropping the heard off at the rail station.

• This and other towns like this came to be known as cow towns.

• With the success of Abilene, other soon followed.– And so did businesses like restaurants, saloons and hotels.– Although gunfights and barroom brawls were rare, they helped to

perpetuate the myth that the west was a violent place full of criminals.

3388

Wild West Variety ShowsWild West Variety Shows

• This perception of the west was soon capitalized upon by famous entrepreneurs like Buffalo Bill Cody.– A former buffalo hunter during the construction of the

railroad who created a traveling show out of the “Marvels of the Frontier”.

• It also brought to prominence performers like gunslinger Annie Oakley.

3399

The Boom EndsThe Boom Ends

• Due to the large number of cattle introduced to that region of the country and several years of drought, cattle drives stopped in the West.

– There was not enough grass to feed the large herds and feed was too expensive to keep the drives profitable.

– Many ranchers scaled-back their ranches and made their businesses more local in focus.

4400

Homestead ActHomestead Act

• Allowed the poor an opportunity to own land by offering a 160 acre plot to anyone that resided on the land for 5 years.

• Several bills like this had been passed in the House of Representatives, but the Southern Senators would table the issue when they reached the Senate. After the South seceded, this act was signed.

4411

Problems with HomesteadingProblems with Homesteading

• Many homesteaders did not have enough money to cultivate all 160 acres, but those who did found that they still could not grow enough grain to meet their expenses.

• Fraud was also a MAJOR problem.

For Example: An individual would file for a homestead surrounding a water source and claim that that the land was being used as a farm. Once granted, use of that water source would be denied to other business people effectively closing off the adjacent public land to competition. This technique was often used by

• Cattle ranchers• Logging companies• Oil speculators

4422

Farming ConditionsFarming Conditions

• Early homesteaders were able to claim land near water and trees; thus insuring that the land would be suitable for farming.

• Those who came later ended up on exposed prairies that were filled with nothing but sod and desert like patches.

• Due to the lack of trees, many built homes from the sod and used dried buffalo droppings as fuel and fertilizer. – See pictures on page 597 in your book.

Pictures Taken From

The Library of Congress:

American Memory Exhibit

4433

New Farming MethodsNew Farming Methods

• In 1877, John Deere invented the steel sodbusting plow.

• Seed drills allowed farmers to plant seeds far into the earth were moisture could help them germinate.

• In 1874, Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire to keep the cattle from trampling newly planted grain crops.

4444

Family Life in the WestFamily Life in the West

• All members of plains families were expected to work from sun up until sun down.

• Due to the small population schools and hospitals were rare. This left the jobs of educating children and nursing the sick to frontier women.

4455

ExodustersExodusters• The Kansas Exodus was an unorganized mass

migration which began in 1879. Local relief agencies, such as the Kansas Freedman's Relief Association, did try to provide aid, but they could never do enough to meet the needs of the impoverished migrants.

• Many settled in Kansas because of its fame as the land of the abolitionist John Brown. The state was reported to be more progressive and tolerant than most others.

• Separatist leaders such as Benjamin "Pap" Singleton had promoted it among black Americans.

• The Exodusters continued coming to Kansas through the summer of 1880; then the movement died out.

Exodusters in Nicodemus, Kansas

4466

Land RushesLand Rushes

• The last major land rush occurred when 2 million acres of reclaimed Indian Territory (in Oklahoma) was given away.

• Following this major land grab, newspapers declared that the frontier had officially closed.

4477

Farmers OrganizeFarmers Organize

• Once the land in the west was settled into farms the economy began to suffer from a surplus of agricultural goods on the market.

– Because of the sharp rise in the supply of grain, farmers had to lower their prices in order to stay competitive.

– In order to safeguard themselves against further decline, the farmers formed professional organizations known as granges.

– They formed a national group which helped determine prices for most agricultural products (price controls).

• Some farmers set up cooperatives to control the cost of operating large machinery.

4488

Populist PoliticsPopulist Politics

• Members of the Grange joined with members of the labor unions to form the Populist Party in 1892.– Advocated using silver as well as gold to back

currency.

• In the Election of 1896 the Populists backed William Jennings Bryan, but the country chose McKinley. – The party died off shortly after.