Crushing the Native Americans

Crushing the Native Americans After the Civil War, Indians inhabited almost half of the United States. White Americans were urged to move west and settle, not taking regard that Native Americans already lived there. By the late 1800s most Indians had lost their land and had been driven onto reservations. Eastern Indians had already been forced to the west. A number of tribes weren’t cooperative with moving onto reservations and changing their customs. This caused many battles between whites and Native Americans. During the Gold Rush of 1849, a lot of Native Americans were killed by white disease and minors burning their villages. These events were significant because they contributed to an up rise between white Americans and Indians. On November 29, 1864, Colonel John M. Chivington led an attack on the Cheyeane and Arapaho. They killed and scalped men, women, and children. I believe this was important because it showed the disregard for the tribes and how ruthless the whites were against them, but also warranted a treaty. The Fetterman massacre that took place in December 1866 was a big part of the Sioux War of 1865-1867. Red Cloud, the Sioux Chief, lured Fetterman’s army into an ambush and wiped out all of them. This took place again because of gold rush invasion and only shows the results of someone trying to take another’s homeland. http://www.indians.org/articles/native-american-indians.html The Native American Indians were forced out of their homeland, resulting in many issues and events including the Trail of Tears. Most of them eventually converted to the European way of life by dressing the same and changing their religion to Christianity.