The Battle For Land
Ramsay Stroud
Sioux V.S. Whites
In the 1800’s the U.S Government was trying to continue moving out west after the American Civil War. They ran into a few problems, the Sioux Indians territory was around the Black Hills. The Whites wanted the Black Hill because they wanted to be able to have the country go into the North. The Government did not care about the Indians, they just wanted all of the land and to make more money.
The government thought to put the Sioux in the reservations. Chief Sitting Bull was disgusted at the fact that he had a great tribe who could hunt and do things their own way, now he had to get rations from the government. The indians soon adapted to this but they missed the old ways. The Sioux were not allowed to hunt themselves, any hunting would be in a corral. At first Sitting Bull’s tribe fled to Canada. They had trouble with living in the cold, most of them were not used to cold and many got sick. After a group of the Sioux started to leave, the leader chief Sitting Bull went along with. They were put into the reservation that the rest of the Sioux Indians. They slowly got used to life there.
Since the government wanted the land from the tribes they made very good deals. The whole plan would be to get them into camps and the give every person an amount of land. Then they could sell the land that was not being used for a great deal of money. The first attempt was a fail, none of the Indians agreed to it. A few months later Senator Henry Dawes returned to the Sioux to make another offer. The offer was indeed a great offer back then but now it would be terrible. The new offer was $1.25 and acre and they would still get rations and necessities. Along with the land that every house leader would get there own land.
Though it may seem easy, it was not. There was a great dislike between the Sioux and Whites, they would always be arguing. Before they really started begging for land there was the Battle At Little Bighorn. After that battle it really started the hate towards each other. It was many years when they were in camps that the next battle stated. All of the Sioux were participating in Ghost Dance. They would dance for days and weeks until the Whites got angry. Chief Sitting Bull was starting to make the Sioux listen to him and not the Whites. After this happened, the Whites went to arrest Chief Sitting Bull. Many of the Sioux gathered to Sitting Bull’s house to stop what was going on. There was much commotion when they brought him outside. Sitting Bull was shot, that made everyone go insane. The White troops had cannons waiting for them at Wounded Knee. They started to shoot just after a Sioux pulled out a gun. The battle left 150 Sioux Indians dead, and many more injured.
Today there are still Sioux Indians, they mostly are in there own territory in South Dakota(Birchfield 6). Even though so many of them died, enough of them lived to repopulate and make it live on. There are Sioux Tribal Governments in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana(Birchfield 6). These governments watch for the Sioux and to protect them. These states are the most popular states for the Sioux. In the U.S the Siouan Languish is the most popular Indian languish in the English world(Birchfield 6). Many of the Sioux today work very hard to be able to protect their people, and to preserve their land and remember their great leaders. It is hard for them to live their lives, because of their history. The whites have always wanted that land and the more and more that they try to take that land the more that the Sioux are being moved into more compacted areas. That explains the whole reason for them only living in a few states. You may not even know it but they could be in your town. Just because they have a bad history with the U.S but people are people and they have the right to their land but they also have the right to be a citizen of the U.S. Many of the Sioux do their best to protect what their ancestors fought for, I mean they are making their own societies so that way they don't have to deal with the people of the U.S.
Today there is still Sioux Indians in the U.S. They all know what happened but that had been cleared up. The fighting came to an end and everyone finally agreed. The Whites were so desperate to get their hands on that land that they killed and injured so many Indians. In the Black Hills there is a memorial being built for Chief Crazy Horse. He may not be Sioux but this shows that we are memorizing those who have fallen.The Sioux And White Pictures
The Tragedy Of Wounded Knee (The Ghost Dance)
Work Cited
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March 2016