Plains Indian Slaughter

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The slaughter of the bison played a big factor in the Plains Indian’s removal to the reservations. The bison was a way of life for the nomadic tribes of the plains; it was a source of food, shelter, fuel, and a central part of their religion and rituals (Roark 540). While a way of life for the Indians, bison for the white Americans were not. Even though the army took credit for the conquest of the Plains Indians, it was mostly the destruction of the bison herd that the victory is due to (Roark 540). In 1867, more than five thousand Comanches, Kiowas, and Southern Arapahos gathered at Medicine Lodge Creek in Kansas to negotiate a treaty, and signed the treaty agreeing to move to reservations (Roark 540). Even with all this, the Indians would