Sand Creek Massacre: The destruction of Black Kettle’s tribe of Cheyenne Indians in eastern Colorado in 1864 after it had sought protection with a U.S. fort. Indians retaliated for long after the incident.
George A. Custer: Most known for his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Little Big Horn by Cheyenne and Sioux Indians after he led a surveying expedition for gold in the Black Hills.
Comstock Lode: An enormous deposit of silver discovered by Henry Comstock in Nevada which employed 10,000 miners. He sold his claim for $11,000.
Homestead Act, 1862: Granted settlers 160 acres of land if they lived on the land for at least 5 years and improved it.
Timber Culture Act: An act in 1873 that yielded an additional 160 acres of land to any settler who planted trees on 40 acres. The act was often exploited by speculators because tree planting could not be assessed.
Helen Hunt Jackson: Originally a poet and author, she became a lobbyist for Indian rights and author of A Century of Dishonor after attending a lecture.
Ghost Dance: A dance created by the Indian prophet Wovoka, who taught that Indians should love each other and that whites would vanish from the earth on the day of judgment. The dance spread rapidly, and many whites feared Ghost Dancers.
“Range Wars”: Struggles for land to farm or graze animals. Fences were often constructed and cowboys (Billy the Kid) hired to protect land. Violence was commonplace among cattle barons.
General Land Revision Act of 1891: Gave the president the power to create forest reserves to protect the environment.
“Dime Novels”: Stories regarding the legends of the west sold in the 1860s, the first of which was Buffalo Bill.
Frederic Remington: The most famous western artist who captured vivid battle scenes in his work.
Fort Laramie Treaty: Signed in 1868 after Sioux Indians burned several American forts which guaranteed the Sioux land and hunting rights in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.
Chief Joseph: Leader of the Nez Perce Indians, who were forced to move off their land and proceeded to fight U.S. troops until they were captured.
Edmunds Act: Passed in 1882, this act threatened those who practiced polygamy with fines and imprisonment (aimed at Mormons).
Morrill Act, 1862: Act which provided colleges with funds for agricultural programs.
Newlands Act (National Reclamation Act): Passed in 1902, it added 1 million acres of irrigated land to the United States.
Dawes Act, 1887: Ended the tribal ownership of land and allowed the government to distribute land to individuals who were legally no longer part of their tribe.
Long Drives: The process of a cowboy herding hundreds of cattle from Texas northward to stockyards where they could be shipped east. The journey was arduous and dangerous, and the cowboys were ethnically diverse (Mexican, black, Indian).
Barbed-wire: Farmers often built fences to protect their land during the “range wars”; however, these were sometimes cut down by cowboys hired by neighboring landowners.
Yellowstone: The first national park, created in 1872
William F. Cody: Also known as “Buffalo Bill”, he was a famed buffalo hunter who set up an extravaganza demonstrating the talents of western cowboys.
Wounded Knee: A massacre in 1890 by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry of Sioux Indians partially in response to fear of the Ghost Dance. Indian women and children were among the killed.
Questions
1. In what ways did the federal government enable the West to be settled and developed? Does this challenge our assumptions about westerners being independent of the federal government?
The federal government passed the Homestead Act, which gave settlers 160 acres of land for free if they improved the land for 5 years. The federal government also ended its network of agreements with Indians and forced them off their land, which also had a direct impact on western migration. However, Western settlers were somewhat independent of the federal government because of their vast distance and the fact that the West was still developing transportation and communication.
2. What role did railroads play in western development? Why were westerners so angry at railroads by the end of the 19th century?
Railroad companies were often responsible for attracting the settlers around their railroads. The network of railroads allowed farmers and businessmen easy access to transportation, eliminating one of the only economic disadvantages of the West. Railroads also allowed mining settlements to arise in many areas of the West.
3. Why were Indians unable to successfully resist white incursion?
The Indians were unable to peacefully resist white advancement on their territory simply because the United States government did not recognize agreements made with Indians, and the Indians often depended on or were overpowered by whites economically. They were unable to resist militarily because the whites armed forces were vastly superior to the Indians.
4. Reformers considered the Dawes act to be a humanitarian gesture. Why did it turn out to be so terrible for the Indians?
The culture of the Indians was almost completely lost. Their religious ceremonies were banned, myths forbidden, and traditional medicine men were imprisoned. The adults were provided with inferior farming equipment and inadequate knowledge of farming practices. As a result, many Indians refused to accept the land offered to them.
5. The trans-Mississippi West has been referred to as an era of “internal empire.” What is meant by the phrase “internal empire” and to what extent did the western frontier provide for Americans as compared to the lands in Asia and Africa that were provided for Europeans in the late nineteenth century?
The phrase “internal empire” is referring to the fact that the United States gained access to a plethora of resources without having to leave its own soil. The trans-Mississippi West provided a successful mining industry (gold and silver), millions of acres of land for crops, and new opportunities for many Americans.
6. The West was long believed to offer individuals the opportunity to succeed if only they exerted sufficient effort. Do the histories of mining, cattle, and farming frontiers from 1865 to 1900 substantiate this belief? What happened to the individual prospectors, cowboys, and farmers of the late nineteenth century?
For the most part, this belief is not substantiated by the histories of westerners in the late 19th century. Members of the mining industry were often forced to become wage-earners for a wealthy property owner. Members of the cattle and farming industries had to resort to violence to guarantee the ownership of their land. Cowboys had to endure grueling journeys for a minimal sum of money at the end of their cattle drives.
George A. Custer: Most known for his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Little Big Horn by Cheyenne and Sioux Indians after he led a surveying expedition for gold in the Black Hills.
Comstock Lode: An enormous deposit of silver discovered by Henry Comstock in Nevada which employed 10,000 miners. He sold his claim for $11,000.
Homestead Act, 1862: Granted settlers 160 acres of land if they lived on the land for at least 5 years and improved it.
Timber Culture Act: An act in 1873 that yielded an additional 160 acres of land to any settler who planted trees on 40 acres. The act was often exploited by speculators because tree planting could not be assessed.
Helen Hunt Jackson: Originally a poet and author, she became a lobbyist for Indian rights and author of A Century of Dishonor after attending a lecture.
Ghost Dance: A dance created by the Indian prophet Wovoka, who taught that Indians should love each other and that whites would vanish from the earth on the day of judgment. The dance spread rapidly, and many whites feared Ghost Dancers.
“Range Wars”: Struggles for land to farm or graze animals. Fences were often constructed and cowboys (Billy the Kid) hired to protect land. Violence was commonplace among cattle barons.
General Land Revision Act of 1891: Gave the president the power to create forest reserves to protect the environment.
“Dime Novels”: Stories regarding the legends of the west sold in the 1860s, the first of which was Buffalo Bill.
Frederic Remington: The most famous western artist who captured vivid battle scenes in his work.
Fort Laramie Treaty: Signed in 1868 after Sioux Indians burned several American forts which guaranteed the Sioux land and hunting rights in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.
Chief Joseph: Leader of the Nez Perce Indians, who were forced to move off their land and proceeded to fight U.S. troops until they were captured.
Edmunds Act: Passed in 1882, this act threatened those who practiced polygamy with fines and imprisonment (aimed at Mormons).
Morrill Act, 1862: Act which provided colleges with funds for agricultural programs.
Newlands Act (National Reclamation Act): Passed in 1902, it added 1 million acres of irrigated land to the United States.
Dawes Act, 1887: Ended the tribal ownership of land and allowed the government to distribute land to individuals who were legally no longer part of their tribe.
Long Drives: The process of a cowboy herding hundreds of cattle from Texas northward to stockyards where they could be shipped east. The journey was arduous and dangerous, and the cowboys were ethnically diverse (Mexican, black, Indian).
Barbed-wire: Farmers often built fences to protect their land during the “range wars”; however, these were sometimes cut down by cowboys hired by neighboring landowners.
Yellowstone: The first national park, created in 1872
William F. Cody: Also known as “Buffalo Bill”, he was a famed buffalo hunter who set up an extravaganza demonstrating the talents of western cowboys.
Wounded Knee: A massacre in 1890 by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry of Sioux Indians partially in response to fear of the Ghost Dance. Indian women and children were among the killed.
Questions
1. In what ways did the federal government enable the West to be settled and developed? Does this challenge our assumptions about westerners being independent of the federal government?
The federal government passed the Homestead Act, which gave settlers 160 acres of land for free if they improved the land for 5 years. The federal government also ended its network of agreements with Indians and forced them off their land, which also had a direct impact on western migration. However, Western settlers were somewhat independent of the federal government because of their vast distance and the fact that the West was still developing transportation and communication.
2. What role did railroads play in western development? Why were westerners so angry at railroads by the end of the 19th century?
Railroad companies were often responsible for attracting the settlers around their railroads. The network of railroads allowed farmers and businessmen easy access to transportation, eliminating one of the only economic disadvantages of the West. Railroads also allowed mining settlements to arise in many areas of the West.
3. Why were Indians unable to successfully resist white incursion?
The Indians were unable to peacefully resist white advancement on their territory simply because the United States government did not recognize agreements made with Indians, and the Indians often depended on or were overpowered by whites economically. They were unable to resist militarily because the whites armed forces were vastly superior to the Indians.
4. Reformers considered the Dawes act to be a humanitarian gesture. Why did it turn out to be so terrible for the Indians?
The culture of the Indians was almost completely lost. Their religious ceremonies were banned, myths forbidden, and traditional medicine men were imprisoned. The adults were provided with inferior farming equipment and inadequate knowledge of farming practices. As a result, many Indians refused to accept the land offered to them.
5. The trans-Mississippi West has been referred to as an era of “internal empire.” What is meant by the phrase “internal empire” and to what extent did the western frontier provide for Americans as compared to the lands in Asia and Africa that were provided for Europeans in the late nineteenth century?
The phrase “internal empire” is referring to the fact that the United States gained access to a plethora of resources without having to leave its own soil. The trans-Mississippi West provided a successful mining industry (gold and silver), millions of acres of land for crops, and new opportunities for many Americans.
6. The West was long believed to offer individuals the opportunity to succeed if only they exerted sufficient effort. Do the histories of mining, cattle, and farming frontiers from 1865 to 1900 substantiate this belief? What happened to the individual prospectors, cowboys, and farmers of the late nineteenth century?
For the most part, this belief is not substantiated by the histories of westerners in the late 19th century. Members of the mining industry were often forced to become wage-earners for a wealthy property owner. Members of the cattle and farming industries had to resort to violence to guarantee the ownership of their land. Cowboys had to endure grueling journeys for a minimal sum of money at the end of their cattle drives.