Chapter 13: Changes on the Western Frontier
GOOD NEWS: ITS JAN? BAD NEWS: LONGEST SECTION
Culture of the Plains Indians Importance of horse & buffalo -Great Plains- grassland extending through the westcentral portion of the U.S. -Horses allowed travel hunt efficiently -Horses led to war -"counting coup" -Buffalo provided basic needs
Culture of the Plains Indians Family Life -Lived in small extended family groups -Men hunted -Women butchered & prepared hides -valued "individualism" -Learned through stories, myths, games, and good examples -leaders ruled by counsel -land owned by all
Settlers Moving West -Defined prosperity by personal property -claimed "unsettled" land Lure of Gold -"Striking it rich" lured many -frontier towns filthy -Some women braved it -Helena, MT. -http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=f5psgreklho
Settlers Moving West Farming the Great Plains -Homestead Act 1862-160 acres free land to farm (5 years) -Exodusters- African Americans who moved from post-reconstruction South to Kansas -Railroads helped "wealthy" go west
Government Restricts Native Americans -Government changes policies Massacre at Sand Creek -November 29, 1864 -John Chivington and Co. attacked Cheyenne at Sand Creek -Killed about 200 inhabitants -Chivington treated as hero
Government Restricts Native Americans Death on Bozeman Trail -Sioux angered by settlement -Black Hills of South Dakota -Skirmishes between white settlers and Sioux cont. for year (1867ish) -Treaty of 1868 Sioux agreed to live on reservation along Missouri River -Promised supplies arrived late, poor quality -Sitting Bull doesn't sign
Bloody Battles Continue Gold Rush -George Custer: Civil War hero and colonel in Seventh Cavalry; sent to investigate "gold" -Reports Black Hills had gold "From the grassroots down"
Bloody Battles Continue Custer's Last Stand -June 25, 1876 -Custer attacked Sioux -Custer underestimated warriors -His men/horses exhausted -Split up regiment -All Custer's men died within 20 minutes -Americans took revenge
Government Supports Assimilation Failure of the Dawes Act (1877) -N.A. still had supporters -assimilation:give up beliefs & way of life & become part of the white culture -effort to make assimilation gov. policy -Try to make a desire to own land -Broke up reservations to individual pieces -N.A. lost much
Government Supports Assimilation Educating Native Americans -Off-reservation boarding schools -"kill the Indian, save the man" -traditional ways; backwards superstitious -Promoted white civilization -Children returned to educate -Caught in pickles
Government Supports Assimilation Destruction of the Buffalo -Railroad contributor -William F. Cody "Buffalo Bill" -Shot for sport -1800: 15 million buffalo -1886: <600
The Battle of Wounded Knee -Prophet promised Sioux if they performed a Ghost Dance vision of returned buffalo and whites be gone would come true -Sitting Bull killed -Sioux forced to camp at Wounded Knee Creek (South Dakota) -Seventh Cavalry kill 300 unarmed Sioux -Indian wars to an end.
Section 2: The Growth of the Cattle Industry
Cattle Industry Grows The First Cowboys -longhorn cattle- breed of sturdy long-horned cattle brought by Spanish -vaqueros- Aztec prisoner cowboys Importance of Railroads -Cowboys not needed until railroads erupted -Ranchers didn't stray from homesteads -Watch herd increase
The Cattle Industry Grows Cities Demand More Beef -Demand for beef skyrocketed -1866 Cattle to railroad, railroad to city -Obstacles: weather, rivers, farmers -Chisholm Trail:cattle route from San Antonio to Kansas
The Truth About Cowboys Cowboy's Life -worked 10-14 hours on ranch or 18 on trail -~24 yrs old, bowlegged -owned saddle not horse -gun, probably didn't shoot -prairie fires worried him -die of pneumonia before outlaws -worked summer, banned drinking, gambling, cursing
The Truth About Cowboys Cowboy's Life -rode the open range, fighting & shooting villains FALSE -James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok: Spy during C.W., Marshal in Abilene, Kansas, shot holding "dead man's hand" -Martha Jane Cannary (Calamity Jane): excellent shot, dressed like a man, spread stories about herself -Both legendary figures, model of Western heros, never dealt with cows, entertainers -famous for stories in dime novels
The Truth About Cowboy's Roundup -Spring collect longhorns -penned up -Branded cattle Long Drive -the moving of cattle over trails to a shipping center -1 cowboy per 250 cattle -Cook- drove wagon, set-up camp, cooked -Wrangler- cared for horses -3 months
The End of the Cattle Frontier Natural Disasters -1883 & 1886 drought Great Plains -1887 worst blizzard in American history Barbed Wire -ranchers turn to high-grade stock -cattle need grazing -fenced cattle in barbed wire -barbed wire invented to keep dogs out of garden
Section 3: Settling on the Great Plains
Settlers Flock Westward to Farm -Transcontinental railroads open up the West for settlement -Government encourages settlement by offering free land -Thousands respond to free land -homesteaders- settled on free land from H.S.A -
Settlers Flock Westward to Farm -homesteaderssettled on free land from H.S.A -African American -European immigrants -Government sets aside public land to preserve wilderness
Settlers Meet the Challenges of the Plains -First task provide shelter on treeless prairies -soddy- home built on blocks of turf -Pioneer women do much of the work of feeding, clothing, and sustaining their families
Settlers Meet the Challenges of the Plains -New technology and farmers methods help tame the prairie -Many farmers go into debt investing into technology and transporting their grain to market -Morrill Land Grant Acts- (1862&1890) help create agricultural colleges by giving federal land to states
Settlers Meet Challenges of the Plains -Bonanza farmsenormous farm on which a single crop is grown -Although successfully met the challenges, farmers lost money, they needed to organize to solve problems...
Section 4: Farmers and the Populist SeSs
Farmers Unite to Address Common Problems -Farmers go into debt because of deflation and high shipping costs and demand monetary reform -Farmers trapped in bad economic cycle -Reform needed
Farmers Unite to Address Common Problems -Farmers form organizations to address their common problems -Oliver Kelley- farmer who started Patrons of Husbandry AKA Grange -Grange- purpose was to provide a social outlet and an educational forum for isolated farm families
The Rise and Fall of Populism -The Populist Party provides a political power base for the farmers' alliances -Populism- political movement seeking to advance interests of farmers and laborers 1892 -Populist Party proposes financial and governmental reforms
Rise and Fall of Populism -Farmers suffer increasingly as a general business collapse deepens into economic depression -The metal backing paper currency becomes a major issue in the 1896 presidential election -Bimetallism -Gold Bugs
Rise and Fall of Populism -William McKinley: Republican Pres. nominee 1896 -Populist Party and Democrats both back William Jennings Bryan, who favors a bimetal policy -"Cross of Gold" speech- W.J.B gave at Dem. Conven., attacked "gold bugs" -Bryan is defeated and the Populist Party collapses