Reading Questions pt. 2

1. When and why were Indians increasingly attacking stagecoaches, wagon trains, ranchers, and the US army? From the 1850s to 1880s because they were threats to their civilizations.

2. Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians came into conflicts with white miners in eastern Colorado. They were also attacking stagecoaches and settlements in the region in the hopes of regaining lost territory.

3. The government urged "friendly Indians" to congregate at army posts for protection before the army began its campaign. The Black Kettle band responded by camping near Fort Lyon on Sand Creek in November 1864.

4. The volunteer militia led by Colonel J.M. Chivington was composed of unemployed miners, many of which were drunk. They killed 133 people which was known as the Sand Creek massacre.

5. The intense conflict between the Army and Sioux Indians in Montana resulted from the army attempting to build a road, the Bozeman Trail, to connect Fort Laramie, WY to the new mining centers. The Indians didn't like this because it intruded into the heart of their buffalo range.

6. Indian hunting was unofficial violence from the white vigilantes. In CA, some whites considered it a kind of sport to track and kill Indians. They were basically Indian bounty hunters.

7. Sioux warriors united under Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull in 1875.

8. George A. Custer and the tribal warriors met at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The tribal warriors surprised, surrounded, and killed all of Custer's 264 men.

9. The Indians weren't able to follow up on their victory because they didn't have the political organization or the supplies to keep their troops together.

10. Eventually Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse accepted defeat and the monotony of life on the reservations. Both were later killed by reservation police after being tricked or taunted into a last pathetic show of resistance.

11. Chief Joseph, leader of Nez Perce, persuaded his followers to flee from the expected retribution. American troops pursued and attacked them, but were driven off in a battle at White Bird Canyon. After that, Joseph's people scattered and he moved with 550 people to attempt to reach Canada and take refuge with the Sioux. They were caught after 1321 miles and 75 days at the Canadian border. Some escaped, but Joseph and most of the others gave up.