The Great Plains was home to many Native American nations. In the 1850s, the arrival of miners, railroads, cattle drives and farmers impacted them greatly. Many Plains peoples lived nomadic lives, traveling vast distances to follow buffalo, their main source of food. However, after the Civil War hunters began to slaughter the buffalo to make way for the railroads or to sell their hides. In 1867, the federal govt. recommended moving Native Americans to reservations. Created in the 1830s, the Indian Territory in OK was already a large reservation. The govt. intended to move the Sioux people to a reservation in Dakota Territory. The stage was set for conflict. A Sioux uprising led by Chief Red Cloud in MN was put down in 1862. The Lakota people fought hard to keep their territory in the Black Hills, Badlands in the Dakotas and Nebraska. Led by Chief Crazy Horse, the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho successfully prevented prospectors from reaching gold mines in MT in the 1876 Fetterman Massacre. In CO, Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle tried to negotiate peace, but widespread fighting between the military vs. the Cheyenne and Arapaho lasted from 1864-1865. The next major conflict occurred in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. In an 1868 treaty, the US govt. promised that no white person may settle, occupy, or even pass through the hills. All that changed when rumors leaked that the hills contained gold. In 1874, Gen. George Custer and his troops broke this treaty by trespassing into the territory. Met by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors led by Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, the two sides clashed at Little Big Horn in MT. The Native Americans triumphed in this battle - but not for long. We covered the Apache wars and Geronimo. Congress passed the Dawes Act in 1867. For over 50 years, the govt. divided reservations and speculators acquired the most valuable land. The Dawes Act forever changed the Native American way of life and weakened their cultural traditions. We discussed the events at Wounded Knee: the Ghost Dance, death of Sitting Bull, & the death of over 200 Native Americans. Wounded Knee marked the end of armed conflict between Native Americans and the govt.