Sep. 14, 2006
INDIAN WARS
WERE THE PIONEERS HEROES?
It depends on whom you ask. To most people in pioneer days, and to many people today, the settling of the American West was a heroic achievement. The thousands of people who started new lives in the West were brave, hardworking, and resourceful. But the United States goverment gave them land that really belonged to the Indians.
What the pioneers gained, the Indians had to give up thir sacred lands and their way of life as they were pushed onto small reservations in the worst areas of the plains. They weren't allowed to hunt, dance, practice their religion, or do their traditional crafts. The United States was supposed to supply food, but there was never enough. Life on the reservations was terrible.
DID THE PIONEERS AND INDIANS EVER GO TO WAR? 
Yes. Whites and Indians had been fighting off and on ever since settlers arrived in the New World. But between 1865 and 1890, as pioneers flooded into the West, so many battles flared up that they are now called the Plains Indian Wars. Army officers stationed at forts in the West were called upon both to fight and to make treaties with the Indians. Of the 400 treaties the United States made with the Indians, our government broke every single one.
WHO MADE SURE THE BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN WAS CUSTER'S LAST STAND?
Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. These Indians defeated Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer at the Little Bighorn River in 1876. Since not a single man in Custer's force was left standing, and Custer himself was killed, the battle is also called "Custer's Last Stand." Little Bighorn was the Indians' biggest--and last--victory.
WHAT WAS THE INDIANS' "LAST STAND"?
The Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. The fight began while Dakota Indians were giving up their weapons to the United States Army at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. One of the Indians fired a shot--maybe by accident--and the army shot back. The Sioux Chief Big Foot. The Indian Wars were over.
"The more Indians we can kill this year, the less will have to be killed in the next war, for the more I see of these Indians, the more I am convinced that they all have to be maintained as a species of paupers." General William T. Sherman, 1867.
"We preferred our own way of living. We were no expense to the government. All we wanted was peace and to be left alone. Soldiers were sent out in the winter, who destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair {Custer} came in the same way. They say we massacred him, but he would have done the same thing to us had we not defended ourselves and fought to the last." Sioux Leader Crazy Horse, just before he died in 1877.
The Indians had a special name for the black soldiers they fought--"buffalo soldiers." The soldiers' black curly hair reminded the Indians of the hair of the buffalo. Since the Indians thought the buffalo sacred, the soldiers proudly took on the name. Buffalo soldiers served in nearly 200 battles and won seventeen Medals of Honor for bravery.
Taken from, "The Pioneers" by Kenneth C. Davis
Kelly KJV
Deuteronomy 6:5-9*Proverbs 31:28*Titus 2:5*
Psalm 19:14*Joshua 24:15*I Corinthians 15:58
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Sep. 14, 2006 - sad but true
 Posted by deedee06
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I never learned these facts in history books as a child, but read about them now in the newspapers. Thanks for all your interesting research, Kelly. I always enjoy your blog. ............................Denise (prairiemom)
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