HIST 10613 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Dawes Act, American Indian Wars, First Transcontinental Railroad
1/24 US Indian Policy & the Plains Indian Wars
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
11:03 AM
Nomadic peoples lives surrounded buffalos and following its migration
The different attitudes towards how land is handled resulted in many Indian wars
The Battle of the Washita:
• In the Indian wars, closing with the enemy was very hard
• Most vulnerable during the winter
• In 1866 the Indians have been raiding
o Black Kettle:
• A chief who believed in peace but had hostile warriors carrying out raids
o George A. Custard
• Splits his force, comes from multiple directions and is successful
Battle of Little Bighorn- June 25, 1876
• "Custer's last stand"
• American Military hero
• Custer began to be painted as a bad man after his wife died
• Went after a big Indian village
• Split his force and was defeated but his wing commanders let him down because one had a
nerous breakdon and the other didn’t like Custer
Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
• Supreme court ruled that the tribes are domestic dependent nations
• In between state and federal government
• How Indian reservations are allowed to have casinos
Homestead Act (1862)
• One of the largest land giveaways
• Requirements to own land:
o Must live 5 years on the land
o Must build something
o Cultivate land (crops)
• Sod hut was a staple for a homestead
The First Transcontinental Railroad
• A railroad that links the East Coast and the West Coast
• Helped instigate the civil war (fighting on if the new settlements will have slavery or not)
• Subsidized by the federal government
o Law of unintended consequences
• Government reasoned that they would have to pay different rates for different terrain
• Chose to build on mostly the mountainous and hardest terrain because they would get paid more
James J. Hill & the Great Northern Railway
• Building on easiest land and most direct route
• "I'm not paying for scenery"
"The Wild West"
• Many Western towns were quite civilized and had lower crime rates than other places and even
today
• Cow towns usually had high crime rates
• Limits to the "wildness"
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