American West Flashcards

Question

Explain the impacts of settlement on: railroads, cattle industry, gold prospecting.

Answer 1

Railroads: disrupted buffalo migration because of the noise of the trains and the fences; encouraged settlement on the plains and there was increased competition for land and resources; relocated Indians away from the railroads onto reservations Cattle industry: cattle and buffalo competed for grass, so more cattle meant more pressure for buffalo to find food - 130,000 cattle in 1860 to 4.5m in 1880; some Indians allowed cattle trails for a fee but in Southwest the comanche didn’t and attacked cowboys which lead to tensions with the US army for retaliation attacks Gold prospecting: ignored treaties and crossed tribal land, prospectors bought diseases which sometimes were fatal Prospectors killed buffalos and used the resources that the Indians needed Settlements bought churches, schools and stores which weren’t a part of Indian culture This led to violence between the two groups In 1862, gold was found in Montana leading to a new gold rush, the first Fort Laramie Treaty was broken when the prospectors used the Bozeman Trail which crossed the Lakota Sioux’s hunting grounds This was a large reason for Red Cloud’s war 1866-68 which led to the second Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868

Answer 2

Why were reservations introduced: manifest destiny, US gov promised protection and regular food supplies Desperate for food due to the buffalo being disrupted and mass hunted so they signed the treaties for food Some tribes sided with US gov for support against their enemies Avoid conflict and a seen as a good way to accept white culture Couldn’t survive through hunting and became dependant on US gov for food Bureau of Indian Affairs were corrupt and cheated the tribes out of annuities (food, money etc) Then the food and money pressure cause conflicts this was used as an excuse to take more land from them

Answer 3

Little crow - warrior leader of a band of the Dakota sioux Gave up 24m acres of land in return for the promise of protection and supplies PI’s were desperately hungry - some resorted to eating grass because the US gov refused to give them food claiming that they had broken a treaty Dakota sioux reservation in southern minnesota Crops failed due to disease, annuity hadn’t been paid and little crow believed that the army wouldn't respond due to civil war Tribe stole from storehouses and killed 700+ settlers and soldiers were killed 400 sioux were sentenced to death but President Lincoln only wanted the ones who had evidence that they murdered and/or raped should be killed (38 in total ) The rest were moved to Crow CReek reservation and 400 died to hunger in their first winter

Answer 4

Cheynne and arapaho tribes came into conflict with US in 1864 due to the gold rush in Colorado Prospectors demanded that they do something to make their journey safer 1861 - treaty of fort wise stipulated that the PI’s move onto a reservation but they stayed put and for 3 years there was conflict between them and the prospectors Black Kettle tried to reach an agreement at a temporary camp at sand creek. John evans the territory's governor sent 1000 men to kill and destroy hostile PI’s. 150 were killed the majority being women, children and babies. They raped the women and took body parts as trophies During the massacre, Black Kettle surrendered with a white flag next to an american one They promised to move them to a larger reservation and pay compensation after the war but it was ignored and they had to move to a smaller reservation with no compensation This destroyed remaining trust between every PI and the US government

Answer 5

Red Cloud was a respected war leader of the Lakota Sioux Gold found in Montana in 1862 and prospectors trespassed on their properties and the Lakota Sioux responded by attacking them 1866 - US gov wanted to make a peace treaty with Red Cloud but he found out that they were already building forts along the Bozeman trail (the trail prospectors were using) and chose to fight Fetterman tasked with defending a fort that the PI’s were attacking, they got led into a trap by a few PI’s and they were quickly surrounded by 1000 of them, killed and mutilated US army’s worst defeat to date and led to the second fort laramie treaty of 1868

Answer 6

Great sioux reservation was bigger than the rest; included all their ancestral lands (Black hills) forever; and never leave the lands again US gov agreed to make regular payments of food and clothing to the Sioux Agreed to close the Bozeman Trail and the 3 forts built along it Settlers not allowed on the Great sioux reservation or attack US army/settlers Limited success: Not all sioux agreed to living on the reservation Some sioux followed the buffalo off the reservation Conflict between the two societies still happened Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused to sign the treaty which led to the battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 Trying to buy the land back: Bozeman trail was closed but there were other trails and they built the railroad through it which was highly disrespectful to the sioux When gold discovered the George Custer, the US gov offered to buy the land for millions but they refused and the US gov didn’t do anything to stop the settlers from mining the gold because they profited from it

Answer 7

Dry farming: Aimed to conserve the water that was in the ground (e.g. plough the soil immediately after it had rained Best and main way of growing wheat for homesteaders Wind pumps: Started with the ‘self-regulating’ windmill in 1854 Late 1880s saw greater development of the pumps since it was a vast amount of energy was needed to get to the water Also the late 1880s saw pumps that didn’t need constant repairing and oiling - now widespread Barbed wire: 1874 Solution to the lack of wood First introduced = expensive and weak - some wounded cattle 1880s - coating had been applied to the wire to make it stronger and new techniques had made it cheaper to produce Railroads used it to fence off the tracks

Answer 8

Too many cattle: Overgrazing meant that there was too little grass and the price dropped because of the oversupply → less revenue = less profit which lead to less cattlemen since some sold/bankrupt → winter of 1886/7 meant that freezing weathers saw over 15% of cattle died End of the open range: Bad weather meant that over 15% of cattle died so open range ranchers moved to smaller herds which were raised under shelter in bad weather Kept in closed ranches since they were easier to protect from rustlers Only used high quality cattle which produced better meat - kept separate from other breeds so the calves were also of a high quality Less cattle → higher prices → industry recovering Consequences for cowboys: Many had also died looking for cattle in the winter Cowboys now had new responsibilities since no open ranges meant to long drives - this meant that they had to: mending barbed wire fences, branding cattle, dehorning cattle They also lived in bunkhouses - poor living conditions and strict rules which often included a ban on carrying firearms Not as many needed so numbers of cowboys dropped

Answer 9

Exodusters: End of the civil war saw that slavery was banned and previously enslaved people were meant to become socially, politically and economically equal Southerners remained racist towards black people and they also remained in poverty Many moved West in 1879, after rumors that the Federal government had given the entire state of Kansas to previously enslaved people - it was benjamin singleton who promoted Kansas since it had a reputation for supporting anti-slavery and helped migrants move This wasn’t true but triggered a mass migration of 40,000 black americans The homestead act of 1862 also gave opportunity to the migrants, which allowed them to claim private property However - other settlers had already taken the best land, many didn’t have enough money to set up a farm Southern white settlers strongly opposed the migration and thought that the previously enslaved people shouldn’t be helped - this lead to the governor of Kansas helping the migrants This mass migration ended by 1880 because there were too many difficulties when migrating, and the 43000 that did migrate were typically poorer than the white migrants and had fewer rights

Answer 10

Indian territory wasn’t for settlement until 1889 because at this point the US gov wanted to destroy their identity and their population. In the middle there was a section of land which wasn’t allocated to any one tribe so the settlers tried to move there with the US army trying to keep them off the land Then on the 22nd of april 1889 they opened the middle section and thousands rushed to claim their 160 acres of free land

Answer 11

Grew up in poverty and got into trouble for stealing 1878 saw him getting involved in the Lincoln County War between cattle baron and John Chisum. Many of his friends were killed and he wanted revenge His gang caused chaos over New Mexico Only when Pat Garrett effectively enforced the law and after Billy escaped jail he was tracked down and shot dead by Garrett in 1881

Answer 12

After being arrested he helped the deputy marshal deal with rowdy cowboys 1879 - moved to mining town of Tombstone where rich businessmen were fighting for control of the area against the ranchers and cowboys, being led by the Clantons and McLaureys 1880 - businessmen hired him and his brothers since they harshly dealt with crime The rivalry between the Earps and the Clantons and McLaureys led to a gunfight at OK Corral in 1881 where 3 cowboys died where the Earps were found innocent but the local population considered them murderers Months after one of the brothers killed another cowboy They were now seen as murderers and left in 1882

Answer 13

Only 9000 population in Wyoming and the majority of the land was public Very rich cattle barons controlled Wyoming since their large herds took up most of the land 1884 - more small ranchers and homesteaders had moved to Wyoming and 10,000 acres had been homesteaded After the winter of 1886/7, Wyoming saw a few barons go bankrupt due to significant proportions of their cattle dying. Some blamed the small ranchers of rustling Ella watson and Jim Averill bought 640 acres of public land which a rancher called Bothwell was using for his herd Watson and Averill also acquired a small herd of cattle which Bothwell used as leverage to get them hanged after accusing them of rustling After their deaths the smaller ranchers announced that they would hold their spring round up earlier than the big ranchers (WSGA) and the WSGA were certain that they would steal their cattle WSGA hired 22 gunmen from Texas to kill 70 suspected rustlers and raised $100,000 which mainly went to legal costs after the invasion The invasion failed as they got held up in a gunfight with Nate Champion and the Sheriff of Johnson County with the population of Buffalo where the hired gunmen were arrested This was taken to court and the $100,000 raised went to hiring chicago’s best lawyers who got the trial moved to Cheyenne (the capital) where the juries favoured the WSGA They continued to delay the trial until the small ranchers ran out of money

Answer 14

After Red Cloud’s war in 1868, the US army signed the 2nd Fort Laramie treaty where the Sioux were given the ‘Great Sioux reservation’ which was larger than all the other reservations and included their ancestral lands. As the railroad approached the black hills George Custer and his men, who were there to protect the builders, searched for gold and found it The US gov offered $6m for the reservation they just gave to the Sioux or $400,000/year for the mineral rights - which they refused 1875 - US commanded them to give the land back or they’d be attacked in 60 days but there was deep snow which made it impossible to move out even if they wanted to Sitting Bull and Crazy horse took their people to the river of Little Bighorn after they defeated General Crook. 1876 - Custer took 600 men but split them into 3 groups to surround them however once they saw that they were outnumbered only Custer’s 200 attacked and were all killed and scalped This was a huge failure for the army in the short term but in the long term, to get revenge the US: built 2 forts and sent 2500 reinforcements, killed Crazy Horse, all the Cheyenne and Sioux were sent back to reservations Sitting bull moved his tribe to canada but after food shortages they returned and he surrendered in 1881, the rest of the Sioux were forced to give up their reservation and had to live under military rule

Answer 15

In 1890, after Sioux reservations were cut and a drought had destroyed thier crops a member of the Sioux tribe had a vision of the Ghost dance which was said to bring back their dead and wash away the white settlers To stop the dancing the US army moved and Sitting Bull was killed when he was arrested to stifle any potential rebellion His followers joined Big Foot’s band who fled the army, however the snow and pneumonia slowed the band. The indigenous people started dancing but a shot was fired for no apparent reason This caused a chain reaction of shooting and all 250 indigenous were killed and 25 soldiers were also killed This became the last conflict between the indigenous and the US The sioux stopped resisting control Later became pivotal in the fight for indigenous peoples rights This became part of the reason why the Frontier was shut down The settlers saw it as justified since it confirmed the view that they were ‘hostile’

Answer 16

1840 = 13m buffalo 1855 = 200 buffalo They provided almost everything that the indigenous needed and the near extinction of them meant that they had to give up their nomadic lifestyle Buffalo were almost exterminated by: the railroad was built through their habitat where the hunters would kill them and feed them to the workers; hunted for sport; made into good quality leather and used for factory conveyor belts sold for $1-3 so there was a mass hunting of them just for their hide; the grassland that they fed on was already eaten by other animals like cattle, diseases from other animals also killed them Until the late 1860’s indigenous people could hunt outside of their reservations but after they were banned from doing so to encourage them to live like white settlers Destroying the buffalo meant a greater reliance on the US which they could use as leverage to assimilate them into their culture Settlers gained wealth from the hides which bettered the economy and the sport that came with hunting them

Answer 17

Reservations broken down so that they didn’t have their community surrounding them for protection or maintaining their way of life Indian agents were responsible for looking after the reservations, the money and rations often went missing though Some indigenous joined the police to maintain law and order on the plains and often had better clothes, food and shelter than others Rations were poor and crops often failed, medical care was very poor and many died from diseases such as the flu or measles 1871 - chiefs were no longer signing treaties Early 1880s - the chiefs power was taken from them and the council looked after the reservations 1883 - indigenous were tried and punished in special courts which then were scrapped and then they were tried in US courts The indigenous children were sent to white schools where they were punished for speaking their mother tongue - they weren’t accepted by their families nor the white settlers Not being allowed to hunt affected their entire social structure and removed men’s traditional role Practicing their beliefs was also banned, no: feasts, dances and ceremonies which reduced the power of the medicine men Missionaries were sent to ‘civilise’ them They had no horses so they couldn’t hunt even if they wanted to, this meant that they had to learn how to plough, sow and reap crops

Answer 18

The indigenous should assimilate to become farmers, christians and settle in one place Pressure from the white settlers who wanted indian territory for minerals and farming and the ones who thought they’d been given too much help Dawes Act 1887: each indigenous family was allocated 160 acres of land, 80 acres for singles, and under 18s 40 acres. Individuals who took up the offer could become US citizens They couldn’t sell the land for 25 years All reservation land left over after allotments could be sold to white settlers This: encouraged: individualism>community; US ebay of life; farm themselves rather than depend on the tribe; freed up more land for white settlers; reduced costs for running the reservations; and reduced the influence that the chief and council had The act failed to improve conditions for the indigenous and by 1890 they had lost half of their land that they had in 1887 They weren’t able to farm successfully since the land was poor and didn’t have enough to compensate for it Many sold the land immediately and many were cheated into selling the land 1890 - the US closed the frontier so all land was open to settlement

American West Flashcards

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