Indian Wars :D

The Cheyenne were living on a reservation at Sand Creek in Colorado. They were on the brink of starvation. The leader Black Kettle wanted peace but they were desperate. 

The warriors from the reservation started to raid the south platte trails and started to attack people. 

The warriors then attacked and mutilated a family of setterlers near by, in Denver. 

Then army later attacked the cheynne camp at Cedar Bluffs.

Colonel J.M. Chivington decided to attack the indians at Sand Creek, he wanted to "exterminate" the indians.  Around 300 indians were killed-but a tiny minority were warriors, it was maily women and children butcherd deliberatly. 

Even the vast population of Denver knew that this was wrong, Chivinton resigned but resived no other punishment. :(

The Bozeman Trail connected to the mines in montana, and it went straight through the indian's reservation which was garanteed to them by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851.

The Army wanted to build forts in the reservation to protect the travellers (who were travellin to the mines) from the indians. Talks were held but the Indians refiused when they saw soldiers marching in before any deal had been made.

Col. H.B. Carrington started building three forts and were harrased by Indians, including Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.  

There were many small fights around outside the forts. But in december 1866 Captain Fettermans force was ambushed and destroyed. Around 100 soldiers died. 

The Army surrendered in 1868. A new treaty was formed called the Medicine Lodge Treaty. They agreed to keep there hunting grounds and live perminatly in reservations.

The indian Reservations formed the "perminant indian frontier".

The indian wars became nothing but an endless cycle:

1) A treaty would be made.

2) White people would break this treaty by going into thier land, out of greed and money.

3) This then lead to an indian uprising. 

4) Then the millitary defeat the indians.

5) Finally this would then lead to there reservation becoming smaller and smaller. 

This cylcle continued until the reservations were almost non-existent. 

The army wanted to perswade the indians into becoming "Normal American Citizens". 

In 1874 troops under Col. George Custer confirmed that there was GOLD in the Black Hills, which was sacred land to the Sioux and was granteed to them by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. A gold rush then started!!

Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse raised the largest indian campain ever seen, which consisted of around 4,000 warriors from a population in a rebellion of 50,000- which was mostly Sioux and Cheyenne. 

The army that was sent to oppose this out break was lead by Gen. George Crook. Renound for his good negotiations with the indians.  He had a plan to split the indians in half. However his own army split instead, because of glory hunting Custer, who asumed that he could defeat them on his own. 

Custer was outnumbered by less that 5 to 1, technology could not help them as the indians were equiped with rifles. Custer and all 225 of his men were killed. 

The army wanted revenge but the indians were defeated by the weather and loss of horses. 

The destruction of the buffalo herds and killing of the ponies during campains was the best wepon the army had in the end of the indian wars.