NativeAmericans Struggle to Survive
Section 2 by Tanner Burchett
People of the Plains
Many Native Americans lived in the Great Plains. People lived by gathering food, hunting, and fishing. They often traded for guns with the French or British. These Native Americans lived in tepees. They usually travel with buffalo herds. They found many uses for the buffalo. Women worked in the village while men hunted.
Broken Treaties
- The U.S broke many treaties with the natives
- One of these treaties was the Fort Laramie Treaty
- Broken treaties lead to the Sand Creek Massacre, in which 100 people died
- This massacre lead to a war era
- Railroads had hunters kill buffalo to feed their crew
Last Stand for Custer and the Sioux
- Many natives moved to reserves in Oklahoma
- Life was a disaster there
- General Custer was outnumbered but still attacked a large band of Sioux and Cheyennes
- Custer and all his men died
Other Efforts at Resistance
- The Nez Perces lived in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington
- The Navajos lived in the Southwest
- They raised sheep, horses, and cattle
- The Apaches were very fierce
- They were from Mexico
- Many Native Americans danced because of tradition but were shot because whites thought they were starting an uprise
The Failure of Reform
- Reformers didn't like how the natives were treated
- Many people believed in native rights
- Congress passed the Dawes Act to make natives farmers
- This act failed, however
- Government officials took away native's traditional ways