Cause and Effect: American Indian History

Americans remember the Battle of the Little Bighorn as Custer's Last Stand. But the shocking defeat of U.S. forces in 1876 represents the last stand of the Lakota nation. The greatest American Indian victory ever would be one of their last. How would it affect their lives and change the United States?

American Indians and white Americans had been living near each other for hundreds of years. But in 1830 the U.S. government forced Indians from their homes in the East. Many would die on their journey west, which became known as the Trail of Tears. How would it affect their lives and change the United States?

Lakota chief Red Cloud gathered an army of warriors across three tribes in the Great Plains. In the late 1860s he led his forces to victory in the only successful American Indian war in the West against the United States. It resulted in a treaty to protect Lakota land and their way of life. But the U.S. government would break the treaty many times. How would it affect their lives and change the United States?

A few days after Christmas 1890, U.S. cavalry troops surrounded and fired on a band of Lakota Sioux near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. The Indians had already surrendered, but when someone fired a shot while the band was being disarmed, chaos broke out. No one knows for sure who fired that first shot, but in the end nearly 300 Lakota lay dead. The massacre at Wounded Knee marked the final conflict between the Sioux and the U.S. Army. How would it affect the lives of the Lakota and change the United States?

The U.S. government told the Nez Perce in 1877 to move to a reservation far from their home, or else. What started out peacefully ended in a desperate attempt to escape U.S. forces. About 800 tribal members ran for their lives, almost reaching safety in Canada. How would it affect their lives and change the United States?

The Apache of the American Southwest had long been in conflict with Mexican and U.S. soldiers and settlers by the time Geronimo began resisting these forces. The Apache warrior and his followers spent decades fighting to remain free and in control of their vast lands. The last stage of the long-running resistance began about 1877 when U.S. troops rounded up the Apache and moved them to a reservation. Unable to tolerate life there, Geronimo and his followers escaped several times, fleeing to the hills and their traditional ways. Each time they were captured and brought back. Geronimo surrendered for the last time in 1886 and Apache resistance collapsed. How would it affect the lives of the Apache and change the United States?