Claiming Land, Relocating Landowners

ASU HST 200 (Historical Themes) Westward Expansion, 1840-1900 Claiming Land, Relocating Landowners The common perception of the West among those back east was that of a vast, empty region. Of course, though, this is a false portrayal. Up to 250,000 Native Americans from various tribes lived on the Great Plains on the eve of westward migration. Due to prior treaty failures and conflicts against Eastern tribes in the early nineteenth century, a broad policy of removing these tribes west of the Mississippi was implemented. Many forced relocations followed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, most famously known as the "Trail of Tears," during which around 50,000 Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek people were moved to what is now Oklahoma between 1831 and 1838. Building on this past, the American government was equipped to handle tribes that the settlers saw as impediments to their growth throughout the western settlement era. Negotiating treaties to eject tribes from White settlers' path was the first tactic used to address the perceived "Indian problem" as settlers looked for additional land for farming, mining, and cattle ranching. The First Treaty of Fort Laramie was signed in 1851 by the leaders of the majority of the Great Plains nations. By defining specific tribal borders, this agreement effectively formalized the reserve system. The participating tribes promised to keep off the line of settlement in exchange for yearly payments of $50,000 to them (initially guaranteed for fifty years, but later amended to last for just 10) and the fictitious assurance of noninterference from westward settlers. Numerous annuity payments were never made to the tribes because of government corruption, leaving several reservations near starvation. Furthermore, as the rate and quantity of western settlers rose over the course of a decade, even officially recognized reservations became into sought-after areas for mining and farming. Instead of waiting for further treaties, the settlers just assaulted the tribes to drive them from the land or out of fear, sometimes with the support of state or municipal militia groups. After a few American Indians rebelled, they were massacred. The Dakota people in Minnesota rebelled in what is now known as the Dakota War or the War of 1862, killing the White settlers who had encroached on their tribal lands, because they were fed up with the lack of annuity payments, the growing hunger among their people, and the ongoing encroachment on their reservation lands. Before an armed militia reclaimed power, the raid resulted in the capture or death of over a thousand White settlers. After the United States Army arrested 400 Sioux, 303 of them were given the death penalty. However, President Lincoln stepped in and freed all but 38 of the men. In the greatest mass execution in the history of the nation, the remaining thirty-eight Dakota men were hung by Lincoln's administration. Other Dakota rebels were imprisoned by the government, and their families were expelled from Minnesota. When word of this raid reached other locations, settlers reacted fearfully and violently. After Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes in Colorado retaliated against land encroachment, White militias organized and wiped out even those tribes who were eager to work with them. One of the most brutal instances occurred close to Sand Creek, Colorado, when Colonel John Chivington led a militia attack on a camp where Black Kettle, the head of the Cheyenne tribe, had previously arranged a peaceful resolution. In what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre, Chivington's forces killed about a hundred people—mostly women and children—and disfigured their corpses while the camp was flying both the American flag and the white flag of surrender. Chivington would show off his collection of about a hundred Native American scalps from that day with pride for the rest of his life. Further inquiries conducted by the U.S. Although the Army denounced Chivington's strategies and outcomes, some settlers looked to the expedition as an example when looking for ways to eliminate the perceived threat posed by the Indians. The episode brought to light the widening divide in American opinion over how best to manage Indian matters between those living in the country's east and west. In an effort to avert such revolutions and full-scale conflicts, the U.S. A committee was appointed by Congress to look into the reasons behind these kinds of instances. Two further treaties, the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek and the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, were ratified as a result of the report they later produced. Both accords aimed to relocate the surviving tribes to even more isolated reserves. The surviving Lakota people were relocated to the Black Hills in Dakota Territory by the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie, while the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche people were relocated to Indian Territory, which would eventually become the State of Oklahoma, by the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek. But the accords didn't last long. Following the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, American cavalry men supported settlers who were looking to make their fortune by encroaching on the recently allotted Sioux territories. Thousands of White prospectors were digging and panning illegally in the region by the middle of 1875. The Lakota people objected to the encroachment on their land and the infringement on holy sites. If the Indians agreed to sell the property, the government would pay $6 million or lease the Black Hills. When the tribes refused, the government ordered them to relocate, set a fair price for the property, and prepared to forcibly remove them onto the reservation in the spring of 1876. Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull called Native Americans from all surrounding tribes to join his troops in defense of their territories at the conflict of Little Bighorn, arguably the most well-known conflict of the American West (Figure 17.13). The United States at the Little Bighorn River. Colonel George Custer of the Army's Seventh Cavalry desired a confrontation. Motivated by self-interest, Custer stupidly assaulted what he believed to be a small encampment on June 25, 1876. Rather, it was a sizable tribe of Arapahos, Cheyennes, and Lakotas. The largest single loss of American forces to a Native American army during the westward expansion era occurred when the warriors, numbering close to three thousand, encircled and killed Custer along with 262 of his men and support groups.