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Look at the photo of American Indians on horseback. Make a list of ways the Plains Indians might have benefited from having horses.

Guiding Questions

• What role did the bison play in the life of the Plains Indians?
• How did shifting federal policy toward American Indians cause ongoing problems?
• Why did reforms aimed at improving federal policy fail American Indians?

Vocabulary

• travois
• tepee
• jerky
• corral
• reservation
• allotment

Academic Vocabulary

resist

recount

Horses Transform Life on the Plains

Christopher Columbus had brought horses to the Americas in the late 1400s, and the Spanish brought them to the North American mainland in the 1500s. Under Spanish rule, American Indians were not allowed to own horses, but they did learn how to care for them and ride them. After the Pueblo revolted against the Spaniards in 1680, they were left with thousands of horses. They started trading these horses to neighboring American Indians. Eventually, the horses reached the people of the northern plains.​​

The horse transformed the lives of the Plains Indians. Horses allowed hunters to pursue and kill bison more easily than they could on foot. Stronger than dogs, horses could haul heavier loads on sleds called travois (truh-VOY), which allowed entire villages to follow the herds of bison as they migrated. During these times of following the herds, the Plains Indians lived in cone-shaped tents called tepees. Teepees consisted of long poles covered with bison hides. A flap at the top released the smoke of the hearth fire.

Hunting Bison

Although the American Indians of the plains also hunted deer and elk, they mainly depended on the bison. Bison meat, rich in protein, was a staple in their diet. Women cut up and dried the meat on racks. The dried meat was called jerky. Bison hides were used for tepee covers, transformed into clothing, and even used to make boats. Bison horns were crafted into spoons and weapon points. Even the bison’s tails were incorporated into hoop-shaped toys.

The movement of the Plains Indians mirrored the migration of the bison. In winter, small groups of bison moved to protected valleys and forests. In summer, huge herds gathered on the Plains where the grass was plentiful. In the same way, Plains Indians spent the winter in small bands and gathered in large groups during the summers. Some, such as the Arikara, planted their crops in the spring, followed the bison in the summer, and returned in time to harvest.

Before horses came to the Plains, hunting bison was difficult. A group of hunters would shout and wave colored robes at the bison. The hunters would gradually drive a herd of buffalo into a corral, or enclosure.

There they killed the trapped bison. Then, everyone, including the children helped cut up the bison and take the meat and other materials back to camp.

Once they had horses, the bison hunters could ride right into the herd and kill their targets with bows and arrows, and, later, guns.

Interpret Images Plains Indians had hunted bison before they obtained horses.

Infer How would having horses change hunting methods?

Councils and Ceremonies

Many American Indian groups met on the Plains. They hunted together and attended special events. Summer gatherings were the time for councils. At the councils, the elders were consulted about the problems that affected an entire Plains Indian nation.

An important religious ceremony among the Plains peoples was the Sun Dance. Each nation performed it slightly differently, but the ritual was a means of renewing the relationship between the people, the land, and the spirit world. However, neither the Canadian nor United States government saw the ritual in that way; the Sun Dance was outlawed until the mid-1900s.

READING CHECK

Recall How was the bison useful to the Plains Indians?

Broken Promises

Before Europeans and Americans began to settle on the Plains, the Plains Indians often fought with one another over territory or other resources, including horses. But as American settlers began to encroach on Plains Indians’ lands, their attention turned toward this new threat.

Conflict on the Plains began as early as the 1840s, when settlers and miners began to cross Plains Indian hunting grounds on their way west. The settlers and miners asked for government protection from the American Indians.

Interpret Images Soldiers of the U.S. Cavalry attack a Cheyenne village at Sand Creek. More than 150 Cheyenne men, women, and children lost their lives in the massacre.

Draw Conclusions What effect did the Sand Creek Massacre have on the relationship between the Plains Indians and the government?

A Treaty Quickly Forgotten

The U.S. government built a string of forts to protect settlers and miners. In 1851, federal government officials met with Plains Indian nations near Fort Laramie in Wyoming. The officials asked each nation to keep to a limited area. In return, they promised money, domestic animals, farm tools, and other goods.

Officials told the American Indians that the lands that were reserved for them would be theirs forever. The treaty reflected federal policy toward American Indians established during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Native peoples would be moved when needed to limit conflict and make way for white expansion. Promises would be made and later broken.

American Indian leaders agreed to the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty. However, in 1858, gold was discovered at Pikes Peak in Colorado. A wave of miners rushed to land that the government had promised to the Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples. Federal officials forced American Indian leaders to sign a new treaty giving up the land around Pikes Peak. Some American Indians refused to accept the agreement. They attacked white settlers.

Analyze Images These American Indian children wear the uniforms of the government school they were forced to attend.

Infer How did forcing American Indian children to dress this way affect them culturally?

The Sand Creek Massacre

The settlers struck back. In 1864, Colonel John Chivington led his militia against a Cheyenne village whose leaders had come to a fort asking for protection. When Chivington attacked, the Cheyenne raised both a white flag of surrender and the flag of the United States. Chivington had thought the Cheyenne were hostile. He either ignored or did not see the flags. He ordered his men to destroy the village and take no prisoners. In what would become known as the Sand Creek Massacre, the militia slaughtered more than 150 men, women, and children.

After the massacre, soldiers said they found scalps of whites in the camp, indicating that there had been some hostile American Indians there. A congressional committee that investigated the massacre condemned Chivington’s actions, but Chivington had already left the army. As a result of the massacre, Plains Indians went to war. They attacked white settlers and U.S. troops. U.S. troops responded by attacking American Indians.

Changing Traditional Ways of Life

In 1867, federal officials established a peace commission to end the wars on the Plains so that settlers would be safe. The commission urged American Indians to settle down and live as white farmers did and to send their children to government-run boarding schools to learn “American” ways.

The Reservation System

In 1867, the Kiowas, Comanches, and other southern Plains Indians signed a new treaty with the ­government. They promised to move to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. The soil there was poor. Also, most Plains Indians were hunters, not farmers. They did not like the treaty but knew they had no choice.

The Lakotas and Arapahos of the northern Plains also signed a second Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868. They agreed to live on reservations in present-day South Dakota. A reservation is a limited area set aside for American Indians.

Bison Populations Fall Dramatically

The Plains Indians suffered from lost battles and broken treaties. Even worse for them, however, was the destruction of the bison.

The decline of the bison began before the arrival of white settlers. Great herds lived in areas west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies. However, with disease, drought, and destruction of the areas in which they lived, the herds were slowly growing smaller. As the market demand for bison robes increased during the 1830s and 1840s, professional hunters killed more of the animals. In addition, bison hunting became a pastime for railroad passengers, who could shoot at the animals from moving trains. Dead, dying, and wounded bison littered the plains.

American Indians learned to hunt more efficiently. Some, such as the Pawnee, continued to hunt bison even though they knew the number of bison was decreasing.

The bison hunt was a part of their culture that they did not want to give up. As the bison disappeared, so did the Plains Indians’ way of life.

Analyze Images Bison run as passengers and crew aboard this train shoot at them for sport. This contributed to the rapid decline of the bison population in the mid to late 1800s.

Use Visual Information How does this image sum up the attitude of Americans of this time toward the natural world?

READING CHECK

Identify Cause and Effect Why were the terms of the Fort Laramie treaty broken?

Longing for a Lost Way of Life

Many American Indians longed for their lost way of life. On the ­reservations, the Lakotas and other Plains Indians turned to a ­religious ceremony called the Ghost Dance. It celebrated the time when American Indians lived freely on the Plains.

What Was the Ghost Dance?

In 1889, word spread that a prophet named Wovoka (woh VOH kuh) had appeared among the Paiute ­people of the southern Plains. Wovoka said there would come a new world, free of whites and filled with plenty. To bring about this new world, he said, all the American Indians had to do was perform the Ghost Dance.

In their ceremonies, Ghost Dancers joined hands in a large circle in which they danced, chanted, and prayed. As they danced, some felt a “growing happiness.” Others saw a glowing vision of a new world.

Analyze Charts Geronimo and Chief Joseph both led their tribes during difficult times.

Identify Supporting Details How would you describe each man’s leadership?

Settlers Misinterpret the Ghost Dance

Many settlers grew alarmed. The Ghost Dancers, they said, were preparing for war. The settlers persuaded the government to outlaw the Ghost Dance.

In December 1890, police officers entered a Lakota reservation to arrest Sitting Bull. They claimed that he was spreading the Ghost Dance among the Lakotas. In the struggle that followed, Sitting Bull was ­accidentally shot and killed.

Tragedy at Wounded Knee

Upset by Sitting Bull’s death, groups of Lakotas fled the reservations. Army troops pursued them to Wounded Knee Creek, in present-day South Dakota. On December 29, the Lakota were preparing to surrender. As nervous troops watched, the Indians began to give up their guns.

Suddenly, a shot rang out. One account says a rifle went off by ­accident. The army opened fire. By the time the shooting stopped, nearly 300 Lakota men, women, and children lay dead. About 25 ­soldiers had also died. The massacre at Wounded Knee marked the end of warfare between the Plains Indians and the U.S. Army.

Interpret Images Wearing dresses covered with small metal bells, these jingle dancers are preparing for a competition.

Infer What does the advent of the jingle dance in the 20th century say about American Indian society?

READING CHECK

Identify What was the purpose of the Ghost Dance?

Lesson Check

1. How did the tepee and the travois make it easier for Plains Indians to follow the bison?
2. How did a reservation limit the activities of Plains Indians?
3. Why couldn’t the settlers and miners live in peace with the Plains Indians?
4. Given what you have learned about the treatment of American Indians at the hands of the U.S. government, what best explains the reaction of Chief Joseph and some Nez Percé Indians when they were ordered to move to a reservation in Idaho after gold was discovered on their land?
5. Why did the new federal policy outlined in the Dawes Act fail as a reform measure?
6. Writing Workshop: Distinguish Claims from Opposing Claims Write a few sentences to explain how your claim, or argument, varies from the opposing claim.