Booklet 3 Defeat of the Sioux

Question 1

What was the treaty that promised the Sioux their hunting grounds would be protected?

Answer 1

First Fort Laramie Treaty 1851

Question 2

Name two gold rushes after the 1848 to 49 rush to California.

Answer 2

Colorado 1858, Montana 1862, Black Hills of South Dakota, 1874

Question 3

What impact did the gold rushes have on the Sioux?

Answer 3

Brought thousands of gold miners across Sioux lands agreed in treaties, disrupted the buffalo herds.

Question 4

What were the main terms of the Second Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868?

Answer 4

Government would guarantee the area around the sacred Black Hills as the Great Sioux Reservation and no white people would be permitted to settle or travel through these lands without Sioux permission.

Question 5

How did the Americans cause the Second Fort Laramie Treaty 1868 to fail? 4 reasons.

Answer 5

Settlers (miners, railroad surveyors, homesteaders etc.) broke the treaty by going onto/through Reservations, government did not protect the Sioux, Government refused to negotiate with the Sioux any longer and treated the Plains as part of the USA to be controlled by the government, army had lots of soldiers after the Civil War (1865) to deal with Sioux, army had a network of forts on the Plains, army used TOTAL WAR against the South in the Civil War so used this against the Sioux.

Question 6

How did the Sioux cause the Second Fort Laramie Treaty 1868 to fail? 2 reasons

Answer 6

Some refused to stay on the Reservation, attacks on settlers (that came onto Reservation lands), attacks on army forts and the railroad.

Question 7

What was TOTAL WAR and how did the army use this against the Sioux?

Answer 7

Total War was first used by General Sherman and the Northern Army against the South in the Civil War. It includes destroying crops, transportation (e.g. pulling up railroad tracks), killing livestock, burning towns etc. in an effort to weaken the enemy. The army decided to over hunt the buffalo, forcefully move villages and camps back to the Reservations, attack the Sioux in the winter in order to weaken them.

Question 8

Describe the FOUR stages in the destruction of the southern buffalo herd by 1875.

Answer 8

1. Railroad workers hunted for food. 2. Buffalo became a popular leather so prices went up and more people hunted it. 3. The railroad made it easier for lots of hunters to get to the Plains. 4. Sport hunting (sometimes from the tops of train cars) became popular and buffalo were hunted then left to rot.

Question 9

Why were 7000 Sioux camping, off the Reservation, in the Big Horn Valley in the winter of 1876?

Answer 9

Sitting Bull had moved his tribe there to protest against miners invading the Black Hills after the Gold Rush of 1874. Thousands of other Sioux joined him in anger that the government was not upholding the Second Fort Laramie Treaty.

Question 10

What were General Sheridan’s orders in February 1876?

Answer 10

Sheridan was told to treat the Sioux as hostile and get all of them back to the reservation.

Question 11

What was Sheridan’s plan for the Sioux at Little Big Horn?

Answer 11

He planned a three pronged attack with three regiments coming from different forts across the Plains. Terry and Custer came from the East, Crook came from the South and Gibbon came from the West.

Question 12

What is a Gatling Gun?

Answer 12

This is a rapid fire gun, like an early machine gun, but it fires by winding a lever. It was a large gun on wheels and took a team of men to fire.

Question 13

Across the three army regiments gong to the Big Horn, there were infantry, cavalry and Gatling Guns. So, what were there weaknesses?

Answer 13

Poor communication, there was thousands of miles between each regiment hoping to meet up at the same time, poor reconnaissance from spies that assumed there would only be 800 warriors in the camp when there were closer to 1500.

Question 14

What was the name of General Custer’s cavalry?

Answer 14

7th Cavalry

Question 15

General Custer got there a day earlier than planned? Why? 2 reasons.

Answer 15

1. He made his men ride all night. 2. Crook was attacked by Crazy Horse whilst having a coffee break. He lost 91 casualties and a lot of ammunition so retreated.

Question 16

How did Custer disobey orders?

Answer 16

He decided to attack a day early without waiting for reinforcements.

Question 17

What was Custer’s plan for the Big Horn?

Answer 17

Three pronged attack. Reno and Benteen to attack from the South and South East to draw the warriors out of the village. Custer to attack from the North and catch village unaware.

Question 18

Account for Custer’s defeat at the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Answer 18

1. Did not wait for reinforcements, so outnumbered by Sioux. 2. Crazy Horse joined Sitting Bull with more warriors and warned Sitting Bull of an attack. 3. Custer split his men. 4. Reno attacked from the south and was defeated, then retreated. 5. Benteen was supposed to join Reno in attacking village from the South East, but he refused. 6. Custer was attacked by Crazy Horse and his warriors and was wiped out.

Question 19

What were the SHORT TERM effects of the Battle of Little Big Horn?

Answer 19

Sioux victory but reported to Americans as a savage massacre by the Sioux. Turned public opinion against the Sioux. Two new army forts were built and 2500 more troops were sent out west. Tribes were pursued and attacked by the army. Sitting Bull escaped to Canada.

Question 20

What were the LONG TERM effects of the Battle of Little Big Horn?

Answer 20

With most Sioux forcibly moved to the Reservations, many more Homesteaders and hunters came to the Plains. Northern buffalo herd was mostly destroyed by 1883, smaller reservations and assimilation.

Question 21

What was the Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887? Name 3 terms.

Answer 21

Reservations were split into smaller family size plots to destroy the strength of the tribes, other land was sold to Homesteaders, Sioux were banned from hunting and had to rely on hand outs from the army or start farming, Sioux traditions like government or religious ceremonies were banned, Missionaries worked to convert Sioux to Christianity, Sioux children were sent to Christian boarding schools and taught to be American.

Question 22

When was the Battle of Wounded Knee?

Answer 22

28th December 1890.

Question 23

What was the Ghost Dance?

Answer 23

A Sioux medicine man had a vision that if the Sioux did the Ghost Dance, the white men would leave the Plains. The Sioux dancers wore Ghost Shirts that they believed would repel bullets.

Question 24

What caused the Battle of Wounded Knee?

Answer 24

Big Foot was leading a group of mixed Sioux tribes off the Reservation. They were intercepted by the army and camped at Wounded Knee River on their way back to the reservation. The army was ordered to confiscate weapons.

Question 25

Account for the deaths at Wounded Knee.

Answer 25

1. The camp was surrounded by the army, including cannons. 2. The army was ordered to confiscate weapons from warriors. 3. The Sioux were doing the Ghost Dance which made the army nervous. 4. A gun went off accidentally when being taken from a deaf Sioux warrior. 5. The army opened fire on the village. 6. Some Sioux warriors fought back.

Question 26

How many people were killed at Wounded Knee?

Answer 26

120 Sioux men, 230 Sioux women and children, 25 army soldiers.

Question 27

How do we know what really happened at Wounded Knee in 1890?

Answer 27

Charles Allen, a Nebraska journalist, witnessed the event.

Question 28

Wounded Knee was the last event in the Indian Wars. Much of the Plains had been settled by 1890. Which new western states had joined the USA by 1890?

Answer 28

Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.