3. Railroads and the Growth of American Industry
Railroads linked the nation and increased the size of markets. The railroad
industry stimulated the economy by spending large amounts of money on
steel, coal, and timber.
Railroads allowed farmers, ranchers, and other settlers’ access to eastern
markets and resources.
4. Trans-Continental Railroad Approved
In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, which
provided for the construction of a transcontinental railroad by the Union
Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies.
To encourage rapid construction, the government offered each company land
along its right of way. Railroad companies like the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific were able to cover all their building costs by selling the land to settlers,
real estate agencies, and other businesses.
5. Railroad formed by an eastern railway company and a western railway
company which linked the nation from east to west. A transcontinental railroad
would make travel to the West Coast quicker and it would increase the growth
of territories on its route.
Trans-Continental Railroad
In 1865 the Union Pacific
pushed westward from
Omaha, Nebraska. The
workers included Civil
War veterans, Irish
immigrants, farmers,
miners, cooks, and ex-
convicts. Camp life was
dangerous.
Weather, labor, money,
and engineering problems
hampered the project.
6. Started from Omaha, Nebraska and went west.
Union Pacific Railroad Company
In 1865 the Union Pacific pushed westward from Omaha, Nebraska. The
workers included Civil War veterans, Irish immigrants, farmers, miners,
cooks, and ex-convicts. Camp life was dangerous.
Weather, labor, money, and engineering problems hampered the project.
7. Started from Omaha, Nebraska and went west.
Central Pacific Railroad Company
Railroad Company involved with the transcontinental railroad
that started from Sacramento, Ca. and went east.
8. Role of Chinese Immigrants and the Railroads
Working conditions for railroad laborers were very harsh. Because of a labor
shortage, the Central Pacific Railroad hired about 10,000 workers from China
who provided much of the labor that built the nation's western railroads.
Did You Know? In 1866 about 5,000 Chinese railroad workers went on strike. They demanded higher wages
and a shorter workday. The railroad company surrounded the Chinese workers on strike with strikebreakers
and starved them, forcing most of them to return to work.
9. Promontory, Utah “Wedding of the Rails”
Place where railroads met to complete the Transcontinental railroad.
The final spike was made
of solid gold and was
driven into the rails
during a ceremonial
event by the presidents of
both railroad companies.
The golden spike was
removed afterward to
prevent theft.
10. Homestead Act of 1862
Law stated that a 21 year-old person (male) could get 160 acres of land as a
homestead.
• $ 10.00 registration fee.
• Person had to improve the land by farming it or building on it and had
to live on the land for five years.
11. Oklahoma Land Rush
In 1889, Congress finally agreed and central Oklahoma was declared open.
Roughly 50,000 people gathered. Some "jumped the gun" to get a head start
and get there sooner. Hence, Oklahoma achieved the nickname the "sooner"
state.
12. Soddies
Since the prairies of the Midwest lacked wood and other traditional building
materials, settlers learned to build and live in sod houses.
Sod from the thick prairie grass was abundant and proved to be very strong
and durable.
13. Windmills
Windmills proved crucial because they allowed farmers to harness the
wind's power to pump water to the surface.
Farmers often had to dig more than 100 feet to reach water.
15. Vaqueros
Mexican cowboys that taught white settlers cattle ranching techniques in
Texas.
Vaqueros taught white settlers how to herd, raise, and drive cattle to market.
16. Cowboys
Those who moved the cattle on long drives to cow towns for shipment to eastern
slaughter houses.
The average trail crew consisted of a trail boss, cook, horse wrangler, and
eight to eighteen cowboys depending on the size of the herd.
• Confederate army veterans, blacks, and Mexicans all rode as cowboys.
• Cowboys were paid roughly $100 for three months work.
17. Black Exodus
When large numbers of African Americans made their way west following
the Civil War.
In reference to the Exodus of the Israelites recorded in the Bible after they
were freed from slavery in Egypt.
Nat Love
18. Major Cattle Trails
Shawnee Trail ran from east-central Texas to Kansas City, Missouri
Chisholm Trail ran from east-central Texas to Wichita & Topeka, Kansas
Western Trail ran from central Texas to Dodge City, Kansas & Ogallala, and
Nebraska.
Goodnight Loving Trail ran from central Texas to Denver in Colorado, where
cattle was sold to gold miners.
19. Hardships Endured on the Open Range
Real life cowboys had to endure numerous hardships:
• Being trampled (especially in a stampede).
• Drowning (crossing rivers).
• Weather: Rain, hail and burning sun on the long drive.
• Having to stay awake all night on guard duty on the long drive.
• Having to ‘ride drag' on the long drive (dust from the herd).
• Attacks from Indians and cattle rustlers along the long drive.
20. The Life of a Cowboy
Cattle drive cooks were just as cranky in real life as they
were portrayed in Hollywood westerns. Cowpokes knew
better than to tease or mess with "Cookie." They might
wake up with biscuit dough in their hair or find rocks
mixed with their beans. Cattle drive cooks had to serve
three meals a day, seven days a week. They kept alert to
find and pick up wood for the fire as they traveled in the
chuck wagon. They had to constantly go ahead of the
cattle drives and prepare food in all types of weather,
holding a tarp over the fire, if necessary. Cooks were
also "jacks of all trades," often playing the roles of
doctor, barber, and even dentist for the drive hands.
Rattlesnake Stew Cowboy Song [Horrible Histories]
21. Cow Towns
Once paid, many cowboys spent their money drinking, gambling, or with
prostitutes in “Cow Towns.” These were settlements to which ranchers would
drive their cattle so that they could be herded onto trains and shipped east to
market.
22. End of the Trail
Between 1,000 to 5,000 Longhorns made up a herd of cattle.
Once at the railhead, cattle were shipped to the stockyards located in Chicago,
Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri.
Conditions inside of slaughter houses were terrible and it took years before the federal government regulated
laws to have these conditions improved. (See unit on the Progressive movement.)
23. Joseph Glidden and Barbed Wire
Made it possible for farmers to cheaply and efficiently fence in their land and
livestock.
Led to conflicts between free-roaming cattlemen and farming settlers.
Joseph Glidden of Illinois got the idea to wrap two wires around a pointy piece of wire in a fixed position. He is
credited for being the first to patent barbed wire.
Barbed Wire [Story of US]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwDGgK3Wtf8&index=46
&list=PLnFrDeFoh1ckCFs4IcInaOwXGpbVu7QrX
Cowboys [The Story of US]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqO-
seTh_qc&list=PLnFrDeFoh1ckCFs4IcInaOwXGpbVu7QrX&index=45
24. Buffalo Soldiers
A name given to members of black regiments by Native Americans.
African American troops served with distinction and bravery in battle against
the Native Americans who they had to fight against.
25. Plains Indians
Posed a serious threat to western settlers because, unlike the Eastern Indians
from early colonial days, the Plains Indians possessed rifles and horses.
26. How Did the Lives of Indians Change in the Late 1800s
• After the Civil War, miners and settlers moved west with the
protection of U.S. troops. Indians fought unsuccessfully to keep their
lands.
• Between 1860 and 1890, the Western Indians lost 25% of their
population, mostly from diseases brought by white people, but also in
battles with U.S. troops.
• They also lost 90% of their lands, and what was left became
government reservations.
• White hunters killed nearly all 15 million buffalo on the Great Plains,
and the Plains Indians lost their main source of food.
27. Buffalo: A Source of Native American Livelihood
The Plains Indians greatly depended on the buffalo for their livelihood.
• White settlers killed great numbers of buffalo for their hides and to
make way for ranchers and their herds of cattle.
• By 1889, only 1,000 buffalo were left on the continent.
The days of hunting buffalo on the plains were numbered. Thousands of buffalo would be slaughtered by greedy white
hunters for just their hides and tongues.
http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-
cultures/videos/american-buffalo?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
28. Why Were the Buffalo So Important?
Every part of the buffalo was used to supply the needs of the Native Americans.
1. Buffalo provided the people's main food - buffalo liver, brain and nose gristle were a
treat, eaten raw.
2. Dried buffalo meat, called pemmican, provided food to eat through the winter.
3. Buffalo bones provided marrow to eat.
4. Buffalo bones were also carved to make knives, and boiled to make glue.
5. Buffalo skin could be used to make tipis, clothes, moccasins, bedding, saddle covers
and water-bags.
6. Dried buffalo dung provided fuel for fires.
7. Buffalo horns and hooves were made into
cups.
8. Buffalo sinews were used as bowstrings
and thread.
9. Buffalo fat was used as soap.
10. The rough tongue of a buffalo could be
used as a hairbrush.
11. The tail of a buffalo could be used as a
fly-swat.
29. Why were the Buffalo so Important?
Bladders
used as
waterpro
of bags &
pouches
Brains were sometimes eaten,
but used mostly to prepare
the hide for tanning.
Bones used for knives, arrowheads,
and everyday tools; the skull was used
for ceremonies.
Hooves can be ground
up for glue or used a
rattles or spoons.
Buffalo chips were used for
fuel or jewelry.
Hair was woven into
ropes, headdresses, and
pillows. The long beard
in particular was
popular for
ornamentation.
Scrotum used to make
rattles or tobacco pouches
Hides were used as bedding,
clothing, and tepee covers
Tails were used as fly
swatters and whips
Stomachs
turned into a
canteen.
Ligaments were
dried and used for
bowstrings
Meat- Anything that can be eaten was.
Tongue was
the tastiest
delicacy
Blood was used to
make paint
30. White Man & Buffalo Hunting
Buffalo Tongue
Buffalo Hides
Buffalo tongue was a delicacy at
many of the finest restaurants in
the larger cities back east.
Buffalo hunters
decimated the once
mighty buffalo herds by
shooting hundreds daily.
Trains were used to shoot at buffalo
herds as the they rolled past the
herds, leaving the dead buffalo to lie
where they fell and rot.
Most buffalo were shot for only
their hides and tongues
31. Treaty of Fort Laramie 1851
The federal government wanted peace, so in 1851 the U.S. government and
eight Native American groups negotiated the Treaty of Fort Laramie
or the Indian Appropriations Act (1851). The Native American groups agreed
to live in certain territories. In return, the U.S government promised that
these territories would always belong to the Native Americans.
32. Reservations
Parcels of land set aside by the federal government for the Native Americans.
The poor living conditions and corruption led to bitter and violent wars with
U.S. government troops.
33. The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862
Throughout the late 1850s treaty violations by the United States and late
annuity payments by Indian agents caused increasing hunger and hardship
among the Sioux. The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862 began on August 17,
1862.
During the war, the Dakota made extensive attacks on hundreds of settlers
and immigrants, which resulted in settler deaths, and caused many to flee the
area.
"Let them eat grass.“
Andrew J. Myrick, 1862
Comment about starving Sioux (Minnesota)
*Shortly thereafter he was killed by Sioux
warriors who stuffed grass inside the mouth
of his dead body.
34. The Great Sioux Uprising of 1862
This ended with soldiers capturing hundreds of Sioux warriors and interning
their families. A military tribunal quickly tried the men, sentencing 303 to death
for their crimes. President Lincoln would later commute the sentence of 264 of
them. The mass hanging of 38 Sioux warriors was conducted on December 26,
1862, in what was the largest mass execution in United States history.
Little Crow’s body was
dragged down the town's
Main Street while
firecrackers were placed in
his ears and nose. The body
was ultimately tossed into a
pit at a slaughterhouse, and
the head was later removed.
35. Sand Creek Massacre of December 1864
Colonel Chivington of the Colorado 3rd Volunteer Cavalry attacked peaceful
village of Cheyenne Indians led by Chief Black Kettle. Several women,
children, and elderly Cheyenne massacred.
Sand Creek: Despite flying an American flag from his lodge, Black Kettle’s village came under attack by Colonel
Chivington. Most of those killed were women, children, and old men. A few days after the battle, Chivington’s
men rode through camp with scalps and other items from Sand Creek. Colonel Chivington was openly criticized,
but nothing happened to him.
Colonel John Chivington
36. Native American vs. White View of Warfare
Native American concept of warfare:
1. Warfare was glorious, no better way to die.
2. Fought battles to gain personal recognition. (How one gained status within a tribe.)
a. The aim of war was to capture horses and to show bravery.
3. Warfare was based on ambush, not the White man concept of standing in the open.
4. The bravest act of war was to score a coup (where a warrior tapped his enemy with
a stick and escaped).
5. Looked down on captured opponents, thought it was better to die in battle than
surrender. Treated prisoners very cruelly and often tortured them.
6. Native Americans scalped their enemy to stop him going to an afterworld they called
the Happy Hunting Ground.
37.
38. Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull
What treaty have the white
man ever made with us that
they have kept? Not one. I
would die for my people
and my country?”
Sitting Bull
“One does not sell the
earth upon which the
people walk.”
Indian leaders during the wars with U.S. troops between 1865-1890
Crazy Horse
"I was born a
Lakota and I
shall die a
Lakota.”
Red Cloud
Sitting Bull
39. Fetterman Massacre (Dec. 1866)
Dispute was over the Bozeman Trail and military posts in Sioux territory as
whites trespassed onto Sioux hunting grounds.
Captain William Fetterman boasted that with 80 men he could ride through the
entire Sioux nation.
Fetterman pursued a decoy of Indians led by Chief Crazy Horse.
Every soldier with Fetterman was killed.
Capt. William Fetterman boasted that with eighty soldiers he could ride through the entire Sioux Nation. After the
battle, there were exactly eighty dead soldiers on the battlefield. Fetterman choose suicide rather than being
captured by Indians.
With 80 men,
I'll ride across
the entire
Sioux nation.
40. The Campaigns of General Hancock and General Sheridan (1867- 1868) Was
aimed at combating raiding Sioux and Cheyenne hostiles in Kansas.
The campaign was very embarrassing for the U.S. Government as Indians evaded
the U.S. Army and continued raiding.
Sheridan realized a new tactic for combating Indians was needed.
This included attacking Indian encampments during the winter.
Red Cloud's War of 1867-1868
General Phil Sheridan is best known for his “The only good Indian… is a dead Indian” comment. He decided it was
time to end the Indian wars once and for all. To do this he recruited his favorite Civil War subordinate, George
Armstrong Custer.
41. George Custer
During the Civil War, Custer had distinguished himself as a cavalry officer
and was brevetted* one of the youngest generals in the Union Army.
In a postwar reorganization, Custer became a lieutenant colonel and
commanded the Seventh Cavalry Regiment in 1866. He won fame as he
fought Indians in the Southwest and in the Dakota and Montana territories.
Lt. Col. Custer commanded the famous U.S.
Seventh Cavalry.
42. Battle of the Washita
Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, a Civil War hero turned famous Indian
fighter commanded the famous U.S. 7th Cavalry.
Custer and the 7th Cavalry attacked the peaceful Cheyenne village of Chief
Black Kettle on November 27, 1868.
Custer was victorious as over 103 Indians were killed and several more were
captured. Black Kettle himself was killed.
The battle was the Seventh Cavalry’s most famous victory.
Custer and the Seventh Cavalry destroy Black Kettle’s village along the Washita River on the morning of Nov. 27,
1868. Black Kettle and his wife were among those killed. This battle marked the 7th Cavalry’s most famous victory.
43. Gold Discovered in the Black Hills (1874)
Gold was discovered by Custer's 7th Cavalry in the Black Hills.
Miners violated treaty, which banned white encroachment into the Black Hills.
The army was sent to protect miners and escort them from the region by force if
necessary.
The federal government offered to buy the Black Hills from the Indians, but the
Indians refused to sell the land as it was considered a sacred Indian hunting
grounds.
The U.S. Army was called to place the Indians on reservations.
The Blacks Hills Expedition of 1874:
Lt. Colonel Custer with his favorite
scout, Bloody Knife during the Black
Hills Expedition of 1874.
Custer’s comment that gold could be
found at the roots of the grass in the
Black Hills led to the Great Sioux War
of 1876-1877.
44. The Sioux War of 1876-1877
General William T. Sherman
Sitting Bull: The Great Medicine chief of
the Hunkpapa Sioux organized the many
separate tribes into one large village for
protection against the white soldiers.
“The more Indians we can kill this
year, the less will have to be killed the
next war, for the more I see of these
Indians, the more convinced I'm that
they have to be killed or be
maintained as a species of paupers."
If we must die,
we die defending
our rights.
Hoka Hey! It is a
good time to die!
Not an original poster, but one that
could be purchased at the gift shop
at the Little Bighorn National
Battlefield.
Lt. Col George Custer
There are not
enough Sioux in
the entire world
that could whip
the 7th Cavalry…
45. “With my husband’s departure my last happy days in garrison were ended, as a premonition of disaster that I had never
known before weighed me down. I could not shake off the baleful influence of depressing thoughts. The presentiment and
suspense, such as I had never known, made me selfish, and I shut into my heart the most uncontrollable anxiety, and could
lighten no one else’s burden.”
Elizabeth Custer, Boots and Saddles, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1885
46. Battle of the Little Bighorn June 25, 1876
The last great victory for Native Americans over U.S. troops.
Indians defeated and killed Lt. Col. George A. Custer and about 250 soldiers.
Known as "Custer's Last Stand"
The Indians were led by chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
Custer attacked an Indian village thought to have 600-1000 Indians, actually
there were about 10,000. The nation was shocked and vowed revenge.
Famous Last Words:
"Hurray boys!!! We caught them napping."
George Armstrong Custer
25 June 1876
47.
48. Scenes from the Battle of the Little Bighorn
“I heard the alarm, but I did not believe it.
I thought it was a false alarm. I did not
think it was possible that any white men
would attack us, so strong as we were.”
Account of the Custer fight by Low Dog,
Oglala Sioux chief
The Battle of the Little Bighorn,
June 25, 1876 “Custer’s Last
Stand.”
Custer and 265 men of the U.S.
Seventh Cavalry were killed at this
battle. Five members of Custer's
family were killed with him. Killed
with Custer were his two younger
brothers, his brother-in-law, and his
17-year-old nephew.
49. Scenes After the Battle of the Little Bighorn
A marker at the Little
Bighorn Battlefield marks
where one of Custer’s
soldiers fell that fateful day
at the Little Bighorn.
Several bodies were
unrecognizable because of
their mutilated condition.
“Oh… How white they look…”
Captain Weir, June 27, 1876.
Upon viewing Custer’s mutilated
dead
50. Scenes After the Battle of the Little Bighorn
A horse named Comanche
is credited as being the sole
survivor of the Battle of the
Little Bighorn. Today, one
can view Comanche’s
stuffed remains at the
University of Kansas.
51. Crazy Horse Murdered (Sept. 5, 1877)
After the victory at Little Bighorn, U.S. Army forces led by Colonel Nelson
Miles pursued Crazy Horse and his followers. His tribe suffered from cold and
starvation, and on May 6, 1877, Crazy Horse surrendered to General George
Crook at the Red Cloud Indian Agency in Nebraska. He was sent to Fort
Robinson, where he was fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting
confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson.
52. Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce'
US government attempted to remove them from the Oregon Territory onto
reservations.
Chief Joseph outmaneuvered U.S. troops for several months as the Nez Perce'
attempted to escape to Canada.
Stopped 30 miles from the border and forced to settle on reservations in
Oklahoma.
"The old men are dead. The children are freezing to death. Hear me, my chiefs! My heart is sick and sad. From
where the sun now stands. I will fight no more forever!”
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perez, 1877.
53. Ghost Dance
The Sioux believed that this dance would bring back the buffalo, return the
Native American tribes to their land, and banish the white man from the
earth.
The Indians believed that by dancing the
sacred Ghost Dance that the whites would
disappear, the buffalo would return, and
things would return to the old days. Fearing
the Indians were going on the warpath,
fearful reservation agents called troops to put
a stop to the Ghost Dance. Ironically, in an
act of revenge, it was Custer’s former 7th U.S.
Cavalry, now under the command of Gen.
Nelson Miles, who participated in the
Wounded Knee Massacre. When it was all
over, 350 Indians lay dead at Wounded Knee.
Among those killed was Sitting Bull.
Ghost Dance Shirt
“Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. We need
protection and we need it now."
Daniel F. Royer
Reservation Agent at Pine Ridge S.D. (Wounded Knee) November 1890 A Ceremonial
Ghost dance
Shirthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PQj-NHp83A
54.
55. Wounded Knee
The last notable armed conflict between US troops and Native American that
occurred in December 1890.
Before it was over, Sitting Bull and more than 300 Native American men, women
and children, most of whom were unarmed, lay dead.
“I wish it to be
remembered that
I was the last
man of my tribe
to surrender my
rifle.”
56. Wounded Knee Aftermath
Chief Bigfoot Dead in the Snow
Burying the Dead in a Mass Grave
Surveying the Carnage
Wounded Knee Memorial
57.
58.
59. Indian Schools
Many Indian children were taken away from their families and sent to
Indian schools in the eastern United States.
This was an attempt to assimilate (civilize) them into White America.
60. Dawes Act of 1887
Gave Native Americans:
• Right to own property.
• Right to an education.
• Promise of U.S. citizenship.
*All Native Americans finally received American
citizenship in 1924.
Also called the General Allotment Act, it tried to dissolve Indian tribes by
redistributing the land. Designed to forestall growing Indian poverty, it
resulted in many Indians losing their lands to speculators.
Henry L. Dawes
“Great White Father now calls you his brother.”
President Woodrow Wilson,
Address to the American Indians, Summer of 1913.
