Author: MICHAEL BLOY

Name:
Form:

Revise for your GCSE Exam
Complete the tasks within the booklet to help you revise. Always begin each task without notes to see how much you can do, then use your notes to help you complete the tasks.
You will find some tasks easier than others—but do not rely on these being within the exam—you need to be able to answer questions on any topic.
Try working with a friend to help and test each other, or try the following websites
WWW.BBC.CO.UK/BITESIZE/HISTORY/AMERICAN WEST
WWW.SCHOOLHISTORY.CO.UK
WWW.SPARTACUS.CO.UK
When you have completed the booklet try the exam questions that your teacher has given you.

American West Depth Study: Summary
The study focuses on the years which represent a turning point for the native American Indians, the Plains, and America as a whole. Tribes of Native Americans had lived on the Plains for hundreds of years, but between 1840 and 1895 their traditional way of life came to an end. The seemingly ‘Wild West’ became a home to thousands of new settlers, who adapted and tamed the land to survive.
The changes to the Plains were not just brought on by different groups of people. Other factors had an impact, such as the railroads, technological developments and government policy of ‘Manifest Destiny’. When the railroads were built the Plains themselves were changed for ever. People travelling from East to West saw for themselves the potential of the land. The government also encouraged the settlement of the Plains. Even Europeans were encouraged to emigrate from their homelands to settle the Plains. The government wanted America to be fully settled and secure as a country.
The settlement brought the American Indians and the Whites into conflict. You will need to consider why the whites and the Indians clashed so much and how the settling of the plains caused problems of Law and Order as other groups clashed with each other.
By 1895 the Plains were no longer considered to be the Great American Desert. They had been successfully ‘tamed’ and were full of people fulfilling the ‘American Dream’. This booklet is designed for you to revise and test yourself upon these changes.

Section One: Who were the Plains Indians?

Key words you need to be able to explain:
Nomadic
Buffalo
Nation
Tribe
Chief
Elder
Dog Soldier

Most Indian customs stemmed from the belief that land and animals should be treated with respect as they were equal to humans. They were nomadic in order to hunt. Survival was more important than laws, so the Indians carried out many practices that Whites saw as barbaric, such as polygamy and exposure. Whites also believed that God had given them the land to farm and make use of it, and not to ‘waste’ it as the Indians did. Clashes between the two groups were inevitable, especially when whites decided they wanted the plains for themselves.

The map below shows the various nations of the Plains Indians, where they lived and the ‘Permanent Frontier’, which was established by the United States government to guarantee land to the American Indians

The various tribes were nomadic as they followed the buffalo across the Great Plains

‘Permanent Indian Frontier’ of the 1830s.—the land west of the 95th Meridian in 1834. This guaranteed the land to the Indians

What do I need to understand?
You need to be aware that all aspects of the Indian way of life were influenced by their religion and how Whites and Indians did not fully understand each others way of life.
The Indians’ belief that humans and animals were equal meant that they could not farm the land or animals.
The Indians were nomadic as they had to follow the buffalo herds to survive.
Indians believed that it was wrong to kill more than you needed.
With the need to move on quickly, the old or sick were left behind to die. This was called exposure.
The Indians took more than one wife, in order that all women could be provided for and have children
The Indians believed in the ’Great Spirit’ , called Waken Tanka by the Sioux. They communicated with the spirits through Medicine Men, visions and dances. When you died your spirit would go to the ’Happy Hunting Ground’
Indians believed that the natural world worked in circles, so the circle was an important symbol—tepees were round etc
The Indians could not afford to lose members of the band in battles. War often involved surprise attacks and braves demonstrating their courage through ’Counting Coup’.
Enemies were sometimes scalped to prevent their spirit from going to the Happy Hunting Ground.
All Indians believed that the land could not be bought or fenced off.

Explain why the following are important in the History of the Plain s Indians:
Polygamy
Scalping and Counting Coup
Exposure
(Some ideas might be important because what whites thought about them, as they well as how they helped the Indians survive on the Plains)

Polygamy:
Scalping and Counting Coup:
Exposure:

Explain how these aspects of Indian Life are connected. Write your explanations along the arrows and add further arrows if think it is necessary.

Need Nature to Survive

Equal respect for
humans, land and
animals

Need to be
nomadic

No farming—hunted only enough buffalo to
survive

Need to maintain numbers in the tribe to have enough hunters

Leave the old and the sick behind

Avoid needless death—guerrilla warfare

How did Indian and White attitudes differ?
Complete the grid below. Some have been started for you.

	Indians	Whites
Beliefs about the land		Whites believed that you could own the land and saw the Indians as lazy for not farming it
Beliefs about living in houses		Whites lived in static homes and saw Indians as primitive for living in tepees
Attitudes towards the sick and the old
Attitudes to warfare		Whites fought organised battles. They regarded the / Indians tactics as cowardly
Treatment of dead enemies
Organisation and Government	Indians had no one overall leader. They did not have to do as their chief or elder said.
Attitudes to hunting

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

What was the Sioux name for the Great Spirit?
2. Where did Indians believe that they went to when they died?
3. Give two different ways of contacting the Great Spirit.
4. Put these groups in order from biggest to smallest: Tribe, Band and Nation.
5. On what did the Indians rely on for food, clothing and shelter?
6. Which was considered to be more important by the Indians—land or animals?
7. Why didn’t Indians kill all of the animals in a hunt?
8. Why did whites think that the land should be farmed?
9. What did Indian warriors do to their enemies to prevent them going into the after life?
10. What was the name given when the elderly members of the tribe were left/moved away to die?

Answers at the back of the booklet—check don’t cheat!

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Source A—An Indian scalping a soldier, engraved in 1892

War has transformed into a great game in which scoring against the enemy often takes precedence over killing him. The scoring is in the counting coup—touching or striking an enemy with hands or weapons . . . A man’s rank as a warrior depends on two factors: his total score in coups, and his ability to raid successful raids in which losses are low. Actual killing and scalping get their credit too, but they do not rate as highly as the show off deeds.
Source B: An extract from a book about the Cheyenne, published in 1978

1: What impression do you get of the Indians from Source A?
2: Does Source B support this view in Source A?
3; Why would a white man and an Indian disagree over the interpretation in Source A?
4: Do Sources A and B show that the Plains Indians’ methods of warfare were completely different to those of the white settlers?

Try to extract as much information as possible from the sources, e.g. dates/practices/laws/individuals, etc; and use your own knowledge of the topic to add to, and explain what and what isn’t in the sources.

Section Two: Why did the early settlers go West?

Key words you need to be able to explain:
Mountain men
Rendezvous
Pioneers
Miners
Mormons
Manifest Destiny
Wagon Train

In 1840 the Plains were still known as the Great American Desert and no white Americans thought that it was fit for anything other than Indians. Most whites who had contact with he Plains were travelling through them to get to the rich, fertile land on the west coast. Mountain men trapped animals in the Rockies west of the Plains. The pioneers and the miners made the dangerous journey across the desert in search of a better life. Although they did not settle the Plains their contact with them began the process of opening up the rest of America to those living in the East.

1: Using the map above and your own knowledge, explain the difficulties that the pio -neers faced in crossing the Great Plains to get to the West coast.

What do I need to understand?
White Americans believed that it was God’s wish that they should control the whole of North America
In 1844 the US government printed 10,000 copies of a map showing the Oregon Trail to encourage people to go west. The government also promised land to new settlers
In 1845 John O’Sullivan, editor of a New York newspaper said it was the Manifest Destiny of whites to control the entire USA
Mountain men trapped animals to sell their fur to companies, such as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.
Mountain men often worked alongside Indian and adopted the Indian lifestyle in order to survive on the land.
The mountain men sold their goods at the ‘Rendezvous’, where they could spread news about the land in the West to traders from the East.
The scarcity of land, rising unemployment and the financial crisis of 1837 caused many people to head East in search of a new life. They were known as the Pioneers.
The journey across the Plains was very dangerous. As the pioneers were unfamiliar with the with the land they often hired mountain men to guide them across it. Some did not survive the journey, such as the Donner party, of which ½ died in blizzards.
In 1848 gold was discovered in California, which led to a rush of miners across the Plains.
When the Gold ran out the miners went up into the Rockies and the Black Hills of Dakota
At first most Indian tribes traded with the early migrants, but as the numbers grew tensions grew. The US army was sent to protect whites and forts were built on the trail.

Explain why the following are important to the history of the Plains:
The basic lack of water and the extreme temperatures on the Plains
The Rendezvous
Letters from pioneers to the families in the East
Gold runs out on the West Coast

Dangerous Conditions;
The Rendezvous:
Letters Home:
Gold Rush:

Complete the chart below to show how each of the three groups
affected life on the Plains.

Group	Why they had contact with the Plains	How/where they lived	What difference did they make to the Plains
Mountain Men
Pioneers
Miners

On the bubbles below, write on to the legs what reasons made people take the journey across the Plains (Push) and what attracted them to the West (Pull). Add more legs if you need to.

‘Push’
Factors

‘Pull’
Factors

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

1: Name one fur trading company that many mountain men worked for.
2: Give two similarities between mountain men and Indians
3: Give two examples of contact between mountain men and other white Ameri- cans
4: Name one place on the West Coast that the pioneers were heading for.
5: Give two reasons why the pioneers travelled to the West Coast.
6: Name two problems that the pioneers faced on the journey across the Plains.
7: In one famous party only half the group actually made it across the Plains. What was the name of the group leader?
8: When was gold discovered in California?
9: Which Gold strike in 1874 meant that miners rushed into Indian Hunting grounds?
10: Which major technological breakthrough was speeded up by the demands of miners for resources?

Answers at the back of the booklet—check don’t cheat!

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Source A: A cartoon with one Mountain man saying to another ’I took ye for an Injun.’

Source B: This cartoon shows some of the financial problems faced by people in the East.

Why would mountain men be ‘mistaken for a injun’? Use your knowledge as well as Source A to explain your answer.
What contact was there between the mountain men and the Indians?
3: Use Sources A and B, as well as your knowledge, to explain why the pioneers took the dangerous across the Plains to the West.

Practice Exam Question: How did the opening up of the first trails by the early pioneers affect the development of the West?

Section Two: Why did the early settlers go West?

Source A: An American cartoon from the 1840s commenting on polygamy.

The Mormons were a different type of settler. They travelled to Salt Lake City, largely because most people were suspicious of Mormons. They opposed the Mormon belief of polygamy and resented Mormon success. A Mormon leader, Brigham Young, decided to move as far away as possible to avoid opposition. The Mormons had been forced out of Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, where they had tried to settle, so Young decided to cross the Plains and settle at Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City became a very prosperous, self-sufficient city and eventually an independent state.

What do I need to understand?
In 1823 Joseph Smith said he found some plates buried by an angel on a mountain side. He said he was to prepare God’s kingdom for Christ’s Second Coming.
Joseph Smith gained supporters and in Kirkland, Ohio but they were driven out when successful Mormon Banks lost money in a financial crisis of 1837, with non-Moron investors blaming Mormons for the problems.
Mormons moved to Independence in Missouri, where they again became successful, creating resentment amongst non-Mormons, who were especially suspicious of the Mormon secret police - the Danites. Many Mormons were forced to leave.
The Mormons settled in Illinois, building their own town—’Nauvoo’. Non-Mormons again felt threatened by the Mormons increasing wealth and were disgusted by their practice of Polygamy.
Joseph Smith tried to run for President, but this upset non-Mormons and he was killed by a mob in 1844.
Brigham Young decided the Mormons should leave Nauvoo for Salt Lake Valley. The first party arrived there in 1847.
Young wanted them to be self-sufficient, so he setup the Perpetual Emigration Fund to bring in Mormons from elsewhere.
Mormons were finally allowed to become fully independent and live under their own laws , but did not become a fully independent state until 1890, when they gave up polygamy.

Practice Exam Question: Look at Source A. Do you think that this cartoon gives a true picture of the Mormons?

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Explain why these are important in the History of the Mormons and the Plains:
Mormons and polygamy
Mormon success in banking
Brigham Young
Mormon’s belief that they were God’s chosen
people

Polygamy:
Mormon success:
Brigham Young:
Mormon’s belief:

1: Who wrote the book of Mormon?
2: Name the first area that the Mormons settled in.
Name the Mormon army/secret defence group.
4: Name the second place the Mormons settled in.
5: Name the last place they settled before they moved across the plains.
6: How did Joseph Smith die?
7: Who chose to take the Mormons to Salt Lake Valley?
In what year did they make the journey?
What was the name of the fund that was set up by Mormons to bring skilled Mormons to Salt Lake City?
10: What did the Mormons have to give up in order to become an independent state?

Answers at the back of the booklet—check don’t cheat!

Section Three: How was cattle ranching affected by the railways?

Key words you need to be able to explain:
Cattle trails
Long drives
Cattle towns
Ranching
End of the open range
Fencing

The cattle industry began with the driving of cattle from Texas through the Plains to the markets in the North., next to the railheads. Cattlemen and cattle buyers started meeting at these points, where cattle towns and cattle markets grew up. This led to success in the industry and ranches were set up. These were open, with cattle roaming free. The cattle industry reached its peak in 1880 but there were now too many cattle, causing prices to fall and ruining many ranches. The bad winter of 1885-6 caused the end of the open range system.

Source A: map of the Plains showing the main cattle trails

What do I need to understand?
The first long drives began in 1837.
The Civil War saw cattle herds grow dramatically as they were left alone by ranchers
There was a lot of money to be made by selling beef in cities of the North and West
The long drives were very dangerous. Cowboys risked attacks by Indians and cattle rustlers. Homesteaders did not want their animals to be infected to by Texas Fever carried by the Longhorn cattle and even blocked the trails.
Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving showed that the Long drives were profitable, as they sold beef to the Army and Indian Reservations
The drives ended as Indians began to charge cowboys for the right to cross their land and it was easier to take cattle to the railheads and have cattle taken to towns on trains.
Joseph McCoy built a Cattle Town called Abilene to buy and sell cattle. Other cattle towns developed along the railroads.
The first ranches were open. Ranchers had to compete over land and water.
As ranching spread cowboys became more settled and worked on one ranch. Work was still unglamorous, low paid and hard. In 1883, cowboys in Texas went on strike for better pay.
By 1880 there was more cattle than the demand for them. This caused the price to decline
The dry summer of 1886 and the bad winter of 1886/7, ended the boom in the cattle industry
Te remaining ranches began to fence of their areas. Cowboys now began to mend fences and care for cattle on the closed ranges.

Explain why these are important in the history of the cattle industry and the Plains:
The Civil War
The railroad
Expansion in the North
The Indian reservations
The bad winter of 1886-7
Barbed wire

Civil War:
Railway:
Northern Cities:
Indian Reservations:
Bad Winter of 1886-7:
Barbed Wire:

Briefly describe how the following individuals and factors helped the cattle industry to develop.

The Railroads
The Indians
The US army
Demand for beef from the east
Charles Goodnight
John Illif
Joseph McCoy
The cowboys

Practice Exam Question: How important were the railways in the development of the cattle industry?

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

1: Where did the first drives take cattle to and from?
What happened to the cattle during the Civil War?
Name the two famous cattlemen who made a success of the long drives.
Who founded Abilene?
Who did Illif sell meat to?
6: What factors helped to make ranching possible on the Plains?
When were the boom years for the cattle industry?
When did the industry collapse?
Name two factors which contributed to the closure of many ranches?
10: Name two issues that caused conflict cattlemen and homesteaders

Answers at the back of the booklet—check don’t cheat!

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Source B: The Roundup, 1913

Source C: Cowboys on the closed range, 1890

1: Does Source B give a realistic impression of the work of a cowboy?
2: Compare Source A with Source B. Which situation in the cattle industry cam first? Use your knowledge and the sources.
3: Briefly describe the work of a cowboy changed between 1840 and 1890.

Source D: Buffalo skulls piled by the railroad, ready to be transported to the Michigan Carbon Works, 1880s

Practice Exam Question: Study Source D. In what ways did the railroads change the way of life of the Plains Indians?

Section Four: Why were farmers able to settle the Plains?

Key words you need to be able to explain:
Homesteader
Manifest Destiny
Railroads
Homestead Act
Sod Houses
Dry Farming
Wind Pumps

The Homesteaders set out to live the American Dream. They waned a better life and took huge risks in setting out to make the Plains fertile enough to support them. The Homesteaders took advantage of new technology to help manage the land. Many did not succeed but they opened up the way to mass-migration, which led to the race for land and the end of the Indians way of life. The homesteaders meant that the Indians could not live their nomadic lifestyle. The homesteaders were backed by the Army, who placed Indians onto reservations.

What do I need to understand?
Life in the East was becoming increasingly hard for many Americans. Land was expensive and unemployment was high. This was also now starting on the West coast, where the pioneers had settled.
Many Europeans, especially Irish Catholics and Jews, arrived fleeing religious persecution.
The railroad sold cheap land and advertised in America and Europe, to make sure that people used the railways.
The government wanted the Plains to be settled with white Americans (Manifest Destiny) and made land available in the Homestead Act of 1862, giving 160 acres of land for $30.
The government then passed the Timber and Culture Act of 1873, when they realised that 160 acres was not enough to live off—but homesteaders had to plant trees on half.
Homesteaders had to build houses out of soil rather than wood. These were known as ‘Sod Houses’.
Homesteaders used Dry Farming, which saved the water from rainfall being evaporated and wind pumps to make the land fertile.
‘Turkey Red’ wheat grain could grow in harsh conditions.
Railroads brought machinery and supplies, and general stores were set up in towns
Women were vital to survival on the Plains. They cared for the families and collected valuable resources, such as Buffalo Dung (Cow Chips) for fuel.
Women became teachers and taught the children of the West to be civilised American citizens.

Complete the summary of the Problems facing the Homesteaders below. You need to add the solutions as well as detailing problems

Droughts
Could not irrigate
Crops would not grow

Dry Farming
Wind pumps

Water

Fencing

Size of land

Problems Facing the Homesteaders on the Great Plains

Others

Machinery

Fires
Grasshoppers/
locusts
Indian attacks

Crops

Explain why these were important in the history of the homesteaders and the Plains:
The Railroads
Women
The Timber and Culture Act
Barbed Wire
Wind Pumps

Railroads:
Women:
Land Acts:
Barbed Wire:
Wind Pumps:

On the bubbles below, write on to the legs what reasons made people leave home to become Homesteaders (Push) and what drew them to farming on the Plains (Pull).

‘Push’
Factors

‘Pull’
Factors

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Name one group who moved onto the Plains o escape religious persecution.
Why didn’t the homesteaders move on to the fertile land of the West Coast as the pioneers had done?
3: Name two things that attracted them to the Plains.
What did they have to build houses from?
What was the nickname for people who built these houses?
6: What was the main problem for farmers on the Plains?
7: What was the name of the crop that grew well in extreme conditions?
Name the date and Act that the government passed to give the settlers more land to use.
What did the homesteaders use to fence off their land?
10: What did the homesteaders have to use for fuel?

Answers at the back of the booklet—check don’t cheat!

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Source A: A railroad advert for land

Source B: A painting showing settlers on the way to the Plains

1: What impression do Sources A and B give about going to the Plains?
Would the government have approved of these posters? Use your knowledge to explain your answer.
3: Study the Source below. How different was life for the Homesteaders compared to the pictures in Sources A and B?

Source C: Collecting Buffalo Dung for fuel

Practice Exam Question: The Homesteaders and the Indians were the largest groups on the Plains. Although the plains were dry and hostile both groups managed to survive. Did they use the same methods?

Section Five: Why was Law and Order a problem on the Great Plains?

Key words you need to be able to explain:
Federal Territories
US Marshals
Outlaws
The Range Wars
Johnson County Wars
Vigilance Committees
Miners Courts

The famous examples of problems with law and order in the ‘Wild West’ are the shoot-outs, bank robberies and corrupt sheriffs of the Western movies. All these existed to a certain extent but they have been romanticised. In the early years of cow towns, cowboys wanted entertainment after the long drives. Some got drunk, some turned to crime or fought with rival gangs. Whilst the towns were relatively small, inhabitants did not want to pay taxes to set up systems of law and order. This led to gangsters and outlaw gangs taking advantage.

Source A: A photograph showing ranchers cutting a barbed wire fence

Using your knowledge, explain why the ranchers above are cutting the wire.
2: The photograph above was staged. Does this mean that it is of no use to us as historians studying the history of the West?

What do I need to understand?
The real problems of law and order took time to sort out as settlers arrived before the government could put in place a system of law and order and local politicians didn’t think that the issue was important enough to spend money on employing more or better trained officers.
The areas which needed to be policed were far apart, with slow transport connecting them, and were too much land to control for unskilled sheriffs.
Values had a part to play—you had no duty to retreat in a confrontation and if you shot some one in self-defence, no crime had been committed
There were social disturbances, as different ethnic groups settled in the West. There were many Chinese and freed black slaves settling in the west.
Miners courts were set up to put people on trial in mining towns but as they were not an official government agency, they often failed as people simply refused to accept their verdicts.
Settlers formed Vigilance Committees and took the law into their own hands. The vigilantes acted quickly and dealt with problems such as cattle rustling. They often made mistakes and hung or lynched innocent people.
During the Johnson County War, which was conflict between homesteaders and cattlemen over cattle rustling, one vigilante group got out of control and hung Ella Watson and her partner Jim Averill without trial. She was a prostitute who was sometimes paid in cattle and was innocent.
Cattlemen and Homesteaders argued over the use of watering holes and fencing. Some cattlemen went against the law and cut fences to get to water.
Cattlemen hired gunslingers to hunt out rustlers. The homesteaders decided to protect themselves, which resulted in an open conflict, which had to be put down by the Army under President Harrison’s orders
The Johnson County War showed how ineffective the system of law and order was and began to set up a better system of law and order.

Explain why the following points are important in the history of Law and Order on he Plains
Barbed wire
Vigilance
committees
Small towns, far apart
Miners Courts

Barbed Wire;
Vigilantes:
Small Towns:
Miners Courts:

Complete the diagram below to explain why there was lawlessness in the West. Explain how each factor helped increase crime.

Geographical Factors

Political Factors

Thousands of Chinese were attacked , as mobs feared they were taking their jobs
Blacks were subject to racial attacks
The Civil War led to divisions within communities

Social Factors

Why was there
lawlessness or
violence?

Values and
Attitudes

Economic Factors

There were conflicts over Cattle rustling
Gangs robbed banks

Practice Exam Question: The settlers and the ranchers both wanted to make a success of their life on the Plains. Why then did they cause so many problems of law and order?

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

1: Name one town where law and order was particularly bad.
2: Which sheriff was sacked for ‘disturbing the peace’?
Name the famous bank-robber brothers who specialized in train robberies.
What types of courts were set up to deal with problems in local towns?
Name the county and state where homesteaders and cattlemen went to war.
Who was the prostitute who was wrongly hanged by a vigilante group which ac -cused her of cattle rustling?
7: Apart from cattle rustling what else made the cattlemen unhappy with the homesteaders?
Give two problems with vigilante groups.
Give two reasons for the lack of law and order.
10: Name two things that meant law and order gradually improved.

Answers at the back of the booklet—check don’t cheat!

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Source A: A photograph of the
outlaw Billy the Kid

Source B: An artists impression of the lynching of Ella Watson and James Averill, 1889

Why were gunfighters and outlaws, such as Billy the Kid, able to operate so
openly in the ‘Wild West’?
2: Using Source B and your knowledge, explain why cattlemen came into conflict with homesteaders in the American West

Practice Exam Question: How successful was the system of law and order before 1890?

Section Six: How successfully was the ‘Indian Problem’ resolved

Key words you need to be able to explain:
Permanent Indian Frontier
Reservations
Fort Laramie Treaty
Plains Wars
Battle of Little Big Horn
Ghost Dance
Wounded Knee

Indians and white settlers had very distinct beliefs and values, and as whites began to travel through and then settle the Plains, these values led to conflict. The ‘Indian Problem’ became more of a headache for the US government, as the government started to take back land that it had originally promised ‘permanently’ to the Indians. As the size of land became smaller, it became impossible for Indians to live their nomadic lifestyle and Indians began to resist the Whites, leading to conflicts such as the Battles of Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee.

Source A: A print showing dead cavalrymen shot full of arrows, being discovered by comrades.

Source B: An engraving showing an Indian attack on homesteaders

1: Study Sources A and B, what impressions do they give of the Plains Indians?
What do you think that the sources are arguing should happen to the Plains In -dians?
3: Can we trust these sources to give us reliable argument about the actions of the Plains Indians. Use your knowledge to explain your answer.

What do I need to understand?
In 1832 the US government agreed that the ‘Great American Desert’ was to belong to the Indians, with the Mississippi representing a ’Permanent Frontier’.
The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 changed this policy, concentrating Indians into smaller areas to prevent them attacking government troops and settlers who were crossing the Plains.
The Plains Wars followed as the Indians were angry that the land they were given was getting smaller.
In 1864, Chief Black Kettle went to Fort Lyon to end the wars. He thought that he had reached an agreement but Colonel Chivington massacred 450 men women and children at Sand Creek. This created more violence
By 1870 the peace treaties of Fort Laramie and Medicine Lodge Creek were being broken by whites and the government was supporting the wholesale slaughter of the buffalo, making life difficult for Indians on the reservations, which led to the Kiowa’s war to save the buffalo. Their defeat marked the end of the resistance in the South.
In 1874 General Custer and his men found gold in the Black Hills. This was an area protected by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, as they were special Indian Hunting grounds. The US government tried to renegotiate the treaty to take the land from the Indians. The Sioux refused leading to the War for the Black Hills.
Despite defeating General Custer at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, the US government forced the Sioux onto reservations.
Life on the reservations was bad. In desperation many followed Wovoka’s Ghost Dance idea. This was meant to bring all the dead buffalo and Indian’s back to life, causing the white’s to disappear. The authorities were alarmed and in the last clash between the army and Indians, at the Battle of Wounded Knee 1890, men, women and children were massacred. The remaining Sioux surrendered.

Explain the importance of these events in the history of the Plains;
The Battle of Wounded Knee
The Army finding gold in the Black Hills of Dakota
The Battle of the Little Big Horn
The Killing of buffalo for sport

The Battle at Wounded Knee:
The Black Hills:
The Battle of the Little Big Horn:
The Killing of buffalo:

The diagram below shows the pattern of events that
happened again and again. Add your own notes to this to
explain it fully

Indians sign peace treaties

Army defeats
Indians

Settlers, miners etc break the treaty

Army called in to protect whites

Indians attack the settlers etc.

Practice Exam Question: Did the Sioux achieve anything by fighting the American Government and Army?

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

1: Think carefully about the Indians lifestyle. Why was the winter a good time to at -tack the Indians?
What was agreed at the treaty of Fort Laramie?
Why was the slaughter of the buffalo such a powerful weapon against the Indi - ans?
Give two problems with living on the reservations for an Indian.
Give one reason why the Indians fought with such determination at the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Give two reasons why Custer have been to blame for the defeat of the army.
Give two reasons why Custer may not have been responsible.
Which Indian nation held out the longest against the army on the Plains?
What was Ghost Dancing?
10: What happened at the battle of Wounded Knee?

Answers at the back of the booklet—check don’t cheat!

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

‘They are in terrible want of food half of the year. The travel upon the road (trail) drives the buffalo off or else confines them to a narrow path during the period of migration . . . Their women are pinched with want and their children are constantly crying with hunger.’
Source A: Part of a report, made in 1853, by an Indian agent, on the effect of the wagon trains on the life of the Plains Indians.

Scarcely were the refugees settled behind the security of the ‘permanent Indian frontier’ when soldiers began marching through the Indian Country. When the War with Mexico ended in 1847, the United States took possession of a vast expanse of territory, reaching from Texas to California. All of it was west of the ‘permanent frontier’.
In 1848 gold was discovered in California. Within a few months, fortune seeking Easterners by the thousand were crossing the Indian territory . . . Most of them were bound to California for Gold, but some turned southwest for New Mexico or northwest for Oregon. To justify these breaches of the ‘permanent frontier’, the policy makers in Washington invented Manifest Destiny . . .
Source B: An extract from a history book, 1970

1: Read Sources A and B carefully. Using the sources and your knowledge, explain which of the two sources you would chose as the most reliable in showing why Plains Indians were unhappy about the developments on the Great Plains in the period 1840-51?

Remember— When answering reliability questions you must comment in detail on the author, the possible motivations and purpose for the source and the nature of the source. Think how your knowledge of the period to explain your choice

Test yourself!
Try to answer the following question without your notes

Source A: A painting by E.S. Paxton, made in 1899

Source B: An impression by Kicking Bear, a Sioux warrior in the battle.

1: Which of the two sources above is more reliable for showing what happened during Custer’s ‘Last Stand’ in 1876? Use your knowledge of the event to help you explain your choice.

Practice Exam Question: The Indians only lost their struggle for the Plains because they were outnumbered by the cavalry who also had much better weapons. Do you agree?

Section Seven: Conclusion Tasks
Complete the chart below to compare various groups on the plains.
What similarities and differences are there?

Groups and aims	Why go to (or through) the Plains? Push and pull Factors	Problems—What did they have deal with?	Solutions– How did they survive?	Contact with the Plains Indians
Mountain Men / Miners / Pioneers
Mormons
Cattlemen and Cowboys
Homesteaders

Explain each of the points below to help explain why the Indians lost their way of life.

Destruction of the
buffalo herds

Gold

Cattle ranching

How did the USA destroy the
Indian way of life?

US Army

Railroads

Reservations

2: Why did Indian organisation and tactics put them at a disadvantage when fighting the US Army?

Practice Exam Question: Did the Indians lose, or the settlers gain, control of the Great Plains?

Answers to the tasks

Section One—Who were the Plains Indians?
Waken Tanka
Happy Hunting Ground
Medicine men/Dances/Visions
Nation—Tribe—Band
Buffalo
Equal respect for both—animals more
important for survival
Religion meant they only took what they needed
It was given to them by God/it was their
‘Manifest Destiny’
Scalping
Exposure
Section Two—Why did the settlers go west? Mormons
Joseph Smith
Kirtland, Ohio
Danites
Independence, Missouri
Nauvoo, Illinois
Killed by a mob in 1844
Brigham Young
1847
Perpetual Emigration Fund
Polygamy
Section Four—Why were farmers able to settle on the Plains
Jews/Catholics/Mormons
Very little good land left in the West
Free or cheep land/American Dream/new life
Earth (sod houses)
5:
Dry Soil/lack of water/not enough land
Turkey Red
Timber and Culture Act, 1873
Barbed wire
Cow Chips (Dried Dung)

Section Two—Why did the settlers go west?
Rocky Mountain Fur Company
Married Indian women/dress/reliance on the land and animals for survival
Selling at the ‘Rendezvous’/guides to the pioneers
California/Oregon
Gold/land/new life/unemployment in the east
Lack of water/desert/blizzards/lack of food/attacks by Indians
Edward Donner
1848 (Gold Rush in 1849)
Black Hills
Railroads
Section Three—How was cattle ranching affected by the railways?
Texas to the markets in the North
Bred and increased the population
Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving
Joseph McCoy
Government protection/Railways/Cow Towns/free and unfenced land/New technology
The Army and Indian Reservations
1865-1880
1886/7
Too many cattle/Dry summer/Bad winter/competition over land/end of the open range
Water/land/fencing
Section Five—Why was law and order a problem on the plains?
Dodge city/Abilene—A cow Town
Wild Bill Hickok
3:
Miners courts
Johnson County
Ella Watson
Fencing/Lack of land and water
They made mistakes/killed people without trial
Towns far apart/lack of a real system of law and order/Values/arguments/law-could be armed
More people moving to the towns/Government intervention

Section Six—How successfully was the ‘Indian Problem’ resolved?
Snow etc meant it was hard to follow buffalo 6: Ambitious/didn’t wait/disobeyed orders
Indians to have less land in return for not attacking 7: Indian tactics/Reno and Benteen
army and settlers 8: Sioux
They survived off them 9: Bring back the dead Indians and animals
Not nomadic/can’t follow buffalo/lack of food etc 10: Last of the Sioux killed
They hated Custer/lack of land