The Massacre at Wounded Knee The massacre that occurred, in the winter of 1890, at Wounded Knee was uncalled for and cruel. The Native Americans were scared and searching for hope. People were coming into their home, stealing their land, and killing their people. The Europeans over reacted when the Natives began to dance. When the Indian police took the Native Americans to a camp near Wounded Knee, they were listening to orders and not rebelling. They gave the Europeans no reason to shoot at them. Somewhere in-between 153 to 300 Native Americans were killed (Gitlin, 2011, pg. 91). Men, women, and children were killed. None of them had done anything wrong. The Indian police didn't just open fire at people that could have been a possible threat. They opened fire at everyone. Native Americans and …show more content…
When they were stopped from escaping and taken to the camp they were following orders. They didn't rebel or try to run away. They went with them to the camp and handed over their weapons. Although they were angry they did not act upon it. They listened to the Indian police and did what they told them to do. The Native Americans gave the police no reason to shoot at them. Once they were at the camp they caused no trouble. They didn’t attempt to escape. They didn’t refuse to hand over weapons. "The Indian men had no intention of fighting," (Richardson, 2010, pg.6). All they did was follow orders and then start to dance the Ghost Dance. They began to dance because they were scared. They were surrounded by about 500 soldiers with massive guns. All of their weapons had been taken from them so their only way to defend themselves was to turn towards hope and dance the Ghost Dance with faith that the messiah would save them. They put on their ghost shirts to protect them from the bullets. When they started dancing was when the police began to shoot. (Takaki,
During the period 1860-1890, western expansion negatively impacted the lives of Native Americans, by turning their lives upside-down under the order of the orders of the federal government. I say this because The Americans massacred the friendly Indians, Disrespected the culture and beliefs by slaughtering the buffalo, and Forcing Indians to assimilate to American culture. Native Americans were negatively impacted by Americans because of the western expansion and in doing so it lead to the incorrect assumption which in fact lead to the massacre of friendly Indians. In the morning of November 29th Colonel Chivington allowed a surprise attack on the friendly native americans which lead to the death of mostly women and children. The Native
They truly wanted justice in the United States and most of the time, they were shot down. However, with this belief that the white men could soon be gone, they would do basically anything to get that. After the all, the white men were the ones holding the Indians back. In conclusion, this article has taught me that you can believe in something that may not be realistic. The Indians thought it was reasonable, but of course looking at it now from my point of view, I know that it was not.
Author Dee Brown presents a factual as well as an emotional version of the relationship among the Indians, the American settlers, and the U.S. government. The massacre at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota on December 29, 1890, provides the backdrop for the narrative. In his introduction, Brown states the reason for his work. Thousands of accounts about life in the American West of the late nineteenth century were written. Stories are told of the traders, ranchers, wagon trains, gunfighters, and gold-seekers.
The event began February 27, 1973 and ended 71 days later in May 9, 1973. The failed impeachment of tribal chairman, Dick Wilson led to the occupation of Wounded Knee. During the occupation, “two Native Americans, Frank Clearwater and Lawrence Lamont, died and one FBI agent, Lloyd Grimm, was shot and paralyzed” (Exhibits - American Indian Movement). The intensity of the siege lead to the death and injury of people. This shows that free people have to fight for their freedom and liberty at the expense of their lives.
The Fort Pillow Massacre represented one of the most unfortunate events in Civil War history. It resulted in a Confederate victory at the cost of many African Americans and Union troops. Sectionalism influenced the interpretations and accounts of what occurred at Fort Pillow. Both the South and North had conflicting accounts of the battle at Fort Pillow. This would lead to an investigation by the Joint Committee On the Conduct of the War which concluded that a massacre did occur.
Even when treaties were used in place of violence, the Native Americans were treated with little respect by the settlers. One example of this can be found in the story of The First Treaty of Fort Laramie. The First Treaty of Fort Laramie claimed that if the Native American peoples remained in the reservations, the United States government would send them annual payments of $50,000 dollars. However, many of these payments would never be delivered. This failure of the U.S. Government would lead to increasing amounts of starvation among the
Title: The Sand Creek Massacre Research Question: What were the reasons behind the gold rush in Colorado in the 19th century and the war atrocities committed by United States Government towards the culmination of the Sand Creek Massacre? Though Colorado was not yet a state in the 1950s, the gold prospects within the territories which were still under Kansas at the time led to an influx of emigrants in a land that was originally occupied by Native Indians. The Colorado gold rush to this day is considered to have been the largest in the United States in the 19th century forming an intricate description of the country’s history in general. Following the discovery of gold in 1859 thousands of people descended towards the Rocky Mountains of Colorado,
The Native Americans many times did not understand what the soldiers were doing, from this the Sioux became scared and fled. Furthermore, Reno’s battalion had coverage from the landscape which cause mass confusion, among both groups. From the eyes of George Henderson, the Native Americans truly never faltered; however, as it was mentioned they could not truly see the battalion. The one statement made from both sides was the Native Americans fled. Though no party considered the other weak, they both felt fear, both the battalion and the Native Americans became confused during this battle.
The United States sent armies into the Native American lands, mistreating the Native Americans, and caused trouble against them by sparkling conflicts and wars. “It is not, of course, to be understood that the government of the United States is at the mercy of Indians; but thousands of its citizens are, even thousands of families. Their exposed situation on the extreme verge of settlement affords a sufficient justification to the government for buying off the hostility of the Savages, excited and exasperated as they are…by the invasion of their hunting grounds and the threatened extinction of their game.” (Document 4) The United States government introduced policies for Native Americans to have a better life, but in fact, they kept them in
The United States gave the Indians time to move west and those that had not done so by choice were forced. The removal of the Indians was a long going issue for The United States, that no one knew just how to deal with. “Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington, believed that the best way to solve this “Indian problem” was simply to “civilize” the Native
They were forced to leave their homes to move somewhere they did not know about. Also how badly they were treated and the war against one another unlike the Jews the Native Americans were not put in death camps but they were placed somewhere they had no idea about that area so in rebellion of not accepting this forced change the Native Americans decided to fight back against the Americans to get their ways and land back to the way it was before. During the war against Americans the Native Americans did lose a lot of lived like mother’s, children, men, women, people just in general who had loved one same as the
The treaty the US government signed with the Indians in 1851 granted the Indians to have an extensive territory, which means the Indians can get more land, but eventually that did not last(doc 3,4). One of the most important and well-known wars was the Sand Creek Massacre. On November 29, 1864, John Chivington led 700 troops in an unprovoked attack on the Arapaho and Cheyenne villagers. There they killed over 200 women, children, and older men. US Indian Commissioner admitted that :We have substantially taken possession of the country and deprived the Indians of their accustomed means of support.”
It’s been trying to kill Indians since the very beginning. Indians are pretty much born soldiers anyway. Don’t need a uniform to prove it” (Alexie 29). This quote shows the truthful thoughts of a modern day Native American and can reflect his first had experiences with living in America. Based on the quote, Natives are so ridiculed that they are basically taught
The Oglala Lakota Indians felt their rights and values from government treaties were not being abided by, and they believed their condition could be positively altered. While there were many shoot-outs during this incident, it all came to an end after the second death of an Oglala Lakota tribe member. The lack of human rights and government support lead to the violent reaction of some Oglala Lakota members, a great example of how a social problem can lead to violence. The conflict perspective views violence as a tool to enhance or protect one’s own interest.
In Life Among the Piutes, sarah winnemucca hopkins describes what happens when soldiers came to their reservation based off what white settlers tell the government. The most shocking instance of this happened when Winnemucca encountered a group of soldier who told her the white settlers accused the natives of stealing cattle, “the soldiers rode up to their [meaning the Piute’s] encampment and fired into it, and killed almost all the people that were there… after the soldiers had killed but all bur some little children and babies… the soldiers took them too… and set the camp on fire and threw them into the flames to see them burned alive”(78). This is an abhorrent act that is unthinkable in a functioning society. The natives had done nothing but want to hold some shred of land from the settlers who had taken everything from them and are exterminated like vermin. This was something that stayed hidden from many white settlers because of its barbarism and by exposing it Winnemucca truly educates the reader, past and present, on how natives are