Wovoka- Wovoka was a Paiute who created a dance and religious movement know as the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance was designed to bring Indian Ancestors back to life and to Wovoka claimed it could bring back the buffalo herds and restore American Indian life.
Massacre at Wounded Knee- The massacre at Wounded Knee started off with Big Foot, a Sioux leader, moving his tribe to the Pine Ridge Reservation to avoid any conflict with the army troops. On their way up there they stopped and made camp for the night at Wounded Knee Creek. On December 28, 1890 army found Big Foot and his tribe. The next morning Colonel James Forsyth searched the camp for Indian weapons. At first the Big Foot and his tribe did nothing because they feared the guns that the army had but as the Colonel and his troops searched the tribes tepees tensions ran high. The Sioux and U.S soldiers started shooting and in the end 150 Sioux died and only 30 U.S soldiers where killed.
Chief Joseph- Chief Joseph is the chief of the Nez perce tribe. Some of his tribe members killed four white settlers which forced the Nez perce to flee to Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Chief Joseph picked up followers along the way and numbered from about 700-800. His plan was to flee to Canada but was captured and surrendered less than 40 miles from the Canadian border.
Geronimo- Geronimo was an apache leader who fled the reservation he was on to raid settlements with about 75 followers. They raided settlements throughout Arizona and Mexico. In 1884 Geronimo was captured and accepted reservation life. In 1884 Geronimo escaped the reservation again this time with 130 followers and continued to raid settlements. On September 4th, 1886 Geronimo and his followers were captured and sent to Florida as prisoners of war.
Sarah Winnemucca- Sarah Winnemucca was a Paiute who identified the problems and the broken promises of the government. Winnemucca says the government sent money to the Yakima Reservation to build mills but her people have never seen the mills. She asked the President Hayes to allow the Paiute to allow them to move back to their homeland since so many promises have been broken by the government. President Hayes agreed but the BIA never carried out the Presidents orders.
Dawes General Allotment Act- The Dawes General Allotment Act required the Indians land to be surveyed so the American Indians could receive 160 acres of reservation land for farming. Any land that would remain would be sold.
- Categorizing: Copy the chart below use it to describe the conflicts between the United States and various American Indian nations.
- Finding the Main Idea:
- Why did the U.S government attempt to resettle American Indians on reservations?
The government hoped the Indians would abandon traditional ways of life, and become farmers. In return, Indians would receive money and guarantees that the reservation lands would be theirs forever. They did this to make way for settlement by immigrants from other countries.
- Provide a brief history of the relations between the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Plains Indians
The Bureau of Indian affair, BIA, thought that Indians should be in position where they can be controlled and would resort to agricultural labor, or starve. Most Plains Indians fought the BIA and tried to preserve their homeland. In the end, most Indians would eventually move onto reservations and the BIA would make promise that they would not keep.
- How did the American Indians resist attempts to assimilate them into white culture?
By the many battles such as The battle of Little Bighorn and their performance at Rosebud. They also resisted by the creation of the Ghost Dance, a religious movement made by the Wovoka, sought to bring the return of buffalo herds and the traditional Indian ways of life.