200 Apaches massacred, 100 more murdered, and 148 laying dead at Chihuahua Mexico, was something the Chiricahua Apache tribe, and many other tribes, lived through on a regular basis (Hoxie 1). All of the previously mentioned, in addition to wars and being parted from their own land, were some of the consequences due to a country seeking to expand and conquer new territory, regardless of what or who they had to eliminate in order to accomplish this goal. However, if Americans would have taken a more peaceful path in order to conquer the land of the Natives, if there would have been respect and honesty, and the many treaties made would have been honored, then these massacres would have been prevented and it would have been a dramatically different story. Chiricahua Chief, Cochise, was one of the few people to realize that peace was the only way his people and the people around him could survive (Hoxie 1). Honesty and respect was his method to come to an agreement. If more people had followed his example, what we know now as the "Indian Wars", would probably be known as the "Indian Compromises". Events during that time were mostly responsible for all the chaos. America was becoming more industrialized and new settlers were moving in to the "free" land. The Apache were outnumbered and outgunned by these settlers. Soon the Chiricahua found themselves on land that was not good, otherwise known as reservations. The natives, including Chief Cochise, did not agree with this, and they let everyone know by rebelling and killing many new settlers. After a long struggle, the Chief gave his first step towards peace by giving the "We Will Remain at Peace with Your People Forever" speech on March 20, 1872 in Canada Alamosa, New Mexico. T...
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...edia of North American Indians. 0-395-66921-9 (01 Dec 1996): 1eLibrary curriculum edition Proquest. ADDISON TRAIL HIGH SCHOOL. M.C., Addison IL. 29 Jan 2007. .
Trafzer, Clifford E. "Book reviewsOnce they Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo and the Apache wars by David Roberts" The Journal of American History. Vol 81 155.3 (Dec 1004)Pg 1328. History Study Center. ProQuest Company Addison Trail High School M>C>, Addison, IL. 29 Jan.2007http://www.historystudycenter.com/search/displayJournalpg
Walker, A Francis. 1866-1883 Reconstruction and Industrialization. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. Inc. 1976
Watts, Karen. North American Biographies. Julia Banks. Vol.6. Danbury: Grolier Educational Corporation,1994.
One can list the boons of western expansion — more opportunities for innovation; trains; more land for the colonists; increased trade opportunities, in both products and transportation, but none of these benefitted natives. In fact, they harmed Amerinds, pushing them to the brink of total extinction, and seemed to soil everything in nature that they had nurtured. "My heart feels like bursting; I feel sorry," Santana, the Chief of the Kiowa, said of the changes wrought by the foreigners (document G). They had every right and more to feel hurt, as Westward Expansion and the outstandingly poor treatment of natives contributed the largest, but most under-discussed, genocides in the Common Era, if not history. At least 100 million North or South American natives were killed by white or European settlers, according to the Smithsonian, whether from battle, pestilence, dislodging, or some other tribulation. There was really no way for the natives to win. This persecution lasted several decades. "In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into effect the Homestead Act, which gave 160 acres west of the Mississippi, to any man who was willing to farm it," Northern Arizona University reported. Even the beloved sixteenth president contributed to the auctioning off of land that was not the US's to give away. Through increments of 160 acres, the natives' possession of land was chipped away,
War is always destructive and devastating for those involved leaving behind a trail of death and barren landscape leading to heartbreak and shattered lives. War has its subjugators and its defeated. One enjoys complete freedom and rights while the other has neither freedom nor rights. Defeated and broken is where the Eastern Woodland Indians found themselves after both the Seven Years' war and the American Revolution. The Europeans in their campaigns to garner control of the land used the native peoples to gain control and ultimately stripped the rightful owners of their land and freedoms. The remainder of this short paper will explore the losses experienced by the Eastern Woodland Indians during these wars and will answer the question of which war was more momentous in the loss experienced.
The American Indians were promised change with the American Indian policy, but as time went on no change was seen. “Indian reform” was easy to promise, but it was not an easy promise to keep as many white people were threatened by Indians being given these rights. The Indian people wanted freedom and it was not being given to them. Arthur C. Parker even went as far as to indict the government for its actions. He brought the charges of: robbing a race of men of their intellectual life, of social organization, of native freedom, of economic independence, of moral standards and racial ideals, of his good name, and of definite civic status (Hoxie 97). These are essentially what the American peoples did to the natives, their whole lives and way of life was taken away,
O'Neill, Laurie A.. Chapter 9: Final Defeat of the Plains Indians. The Millbrook Press, 1993. eLibrary.
Far from the Apache, on the opposite side of the continent, the Cherokee nation was a southeastern tribe that, at their peak, spanned mu...
Banks, D., Erodes, R. (2004). Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement. Ojibwa Warrior. Retrieved January 20, 2005, from http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-3580-8
A young Apache at the time, Geronimo set out one day with his family from their homeland, which is now located in southeastern Arizona, on a trading mission into Mexico. Many other families also went with him. The men went into town to trade each day, leaving their families behind. On this momentous evening, they returned home to find that Mexican soldiers had ferociously attacked their camp. They had murdered their women and children and stolen their supplies and horses. The dead were scattered everywhere. Geronimo’s wife, three children, and his mother were among those slaughtered. He found their bodies lying in a pool of blood. “I had lost all,” Geronimo said. His heart was broken. He would never be the same again. The loss of his family led Geronimo to a lifelong hatred of all Mexicans. He was filled with hatred, and he would spend a lifetime pursuing vengeance for all that he and his people had lost. He became one of the most feared Apache warriors of all time. The career and accomplishments of Apache warrior Geronimo were indicative of the fight for a Native American way of life in conflict with that of the progressing American frontiersmen and Mexican soldiers.
De Rosier, Arthur H. Jr. The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville; 1970
Did you know that the Ancient Indian people of the Southwestern United States have dated back to the year 10,000 BC? First appearing toward the end of the last Ice Age, they were the first “Americans.” (Noble, 1998) When Christopher Columbus arrived in the America’s in 1492 and seeing the people of this land for the first time, he thought that he had landed in India, thus giving them the name “Indians.” (Noble, 1998) However, he was nowhere near India, or that region of the world. Because the Ancient Indians were nomadic people, (people who wondered the lands with no permanent home) through the years they developed, separated, and re-located their clans, developing into what we know today as the American Indian. One group or tribe, are the Hopi Indians. Although the Hopi are still a tribe today, mostly living in Arizona, their population, traditions, skills, and crafts have dwindled throughout the years. Let us sit back, relax, and explore the ancestor’s of the Hopi tribe and learn about their traditions, skill, and crafts.
S.G. Colley, a U.S. Indian Agent, writes in a Report for the Committee on the Conduct of War, “That notwithstanding his knowledge of the facts as above set forth, he is informed that Colonel Chivington did, on the morning of the 29th of November last, surprise and attack said camp of friendly Indians and massacre a large number of them, (mostly women and children,) and did allow the troops of his command to mangle and mutilate them in the most horrible manner” (Colley, 1865). This quote shows the Americans were exterminating innocent American Indians for no justifiable reason. For Americans to expand west the Indians would have to leave the picture. Americans wanted to acquire more land and take advantage of the newfound resources, however with the Native Americans were residing in the land it, caused more difficulties. This was largely the reason why Americans felt there was a need to kill Indians or move them. Americans were also strong believers in Manifest Destiny, “the belief that the United States had a “God-given” right to aggressively spread the values of white civilization and expand the nation from ocean to ocean” (American Promise: A History of the United States). Americans didn 't believe in the Native Americans way of life or culture and strongly felt the need for Americans culture to conquer. This was
Francis, L. (1998). Native time, a historical time line of native America. New York: St Martins Press.
"Native American Youth 101." Aspen Institue. Aspen Institues, 24 July 11. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
"Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives." National Center for Educational Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. .
People know about the conflict between the Indian's cultures and the settler's cultures during the westward expansion. Many people know the fierce battles and melees between the Indians and the settlers that were born from this cultural conflict. In spite of this, many people may not know about the systematic and deliberate means employed by the U.S. government to permanently rid their new land of the Indians who had lived their own lives peacefully for many years. There are many strong and chilling reasons and causes as to why the settlers started all of this perplexity in the first place. There was also a very strong and threatening impact on the Native Americans through the schooling that stained the past and futures of Native Americans not only with blood but also with emotion. It was all a slow and painful plan of the "white man" to hopefully get rid of the Indian culture, forever. The Native American schools were created in an attempt to destroy the Native American way of life, their culture, beliefs and tradi...
During this conquest of the West, an Apache Chief known as Geronimo led the Chiricahua Apaches in a series of revolts against the American tyranny that had seized Apache lands, herded its people into a Reservation, then abolished the Reservation to reclaim the land for white Americans.