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BBC Bitesize Notes American West GCSE History Revision All notes taken from BBC Bitesize website which you can download directly from the BBC website.
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GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

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Page 1: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

American WestGCSE

History Revision

All notes taken from BBC Bitesize website which you can download directly from the BBC website.

Page 2: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

The development of cattle ranching

Cowboys and cattle ranchers were the first group of

European settlers to move permanently onto the Great

Plains. They did so, to a degree, by adopting or

copying many of the ways of the Native Americans.

So … why and how did cattle ranching develop on the

Great Plains?

Page 3: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Cattle ranching - a brief history 1820-1865: Origins in Texas

 • Ranching first started in Texas,

with ranches mostly manned by Mexican cowboys called vaqueros.

• In 1836 Texan ranchers drove many Mexicans out, and claimed the cattle left behind.

• The Civil War started in 1861, and Texans went off to fight. The cattle roamed free as huge herds grew up. On returning home, the Texans started rounding them up and driving them to sell in places such as New Orleans and California.

Page 4: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

1865-1870: The 'long drives' & first 'open range' ranch  

• Great demand for beef in the north of the USA, the Texans drove their cattle north on a long drive to Sedalia in Missouri, where they were loaded onto trains for Chicago.

• Two Texas ranchers, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving, pioneered a second trail, to Denver in Colorado, where they sold their cattle to gold miners.

• In 1868, a rancher named John Iliff (the 'cattle-king of the northern plains') won the contract to supply beef to the Sioux, who had been forced onto a reservation in the Black Hills.

• A safer drive (the Chisholm Trail) was established to Abilene. This was set up by Joseph McCoy as a 'cow-town', with railroad stockyards (and numerous saloons where the cowboys could spend their wages). John Iliff was the first rancher to set up an 'open range' ranch - in Wyoming in 1867.

Page 5: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

1870-1885: The 'open range'   • There were huge areas of 'open

range' - unfenced land which was free for anyone to use.

• Charles Goodnight is reputed to have invented the crazy quilt (by buying small patches of land here and there over an area, he could effectively control all of it).

• Refrigeration cars on trains opened a world-wide market for beef.

• By 1885, just 35 cattle-barons owned 8 million hectares of range, and owned perhaps 1.5 million cattle.

Page 6: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

1885-1890: The end of the 'open range'  

• Ranchers had over-grazed the plains. Overstocking had also led to a fall in prices.

• In spring 1886 there was a drought, followed by a scorching hot summer (up to 43°C). This was followed by a winter storm in January 1887, in which the temperature dropped to -43°C. Half the cattle on the plains died in a single year.

• More and more homesteaders were coming onto the plains, and fencing off their farms with barbed wire (patented in 1874).

Page 7: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Practice Question - 'The railroads were the critical factor in the development of cattle

ranching.‘ Discuss

List all the ways the railroads affected the development of cattle

ranching.   

Think about the arguments and facts you would use to describe:  

1. Why cattle ranching developed in Texas? 2. How and why cattle ranching spread from Texas further

into the Great Plains?3. Who the cattle pioneers were?4. Why cattle trails and 'cow towns' were set up in the

1860s? 5. How cattle ranching was affected by the railroads? 6. Why the 'open range' had come to an end by the 1890s?

Page 8: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Suggested answers   The railroads affect the development of cattle

ranching …  

• In 1865-1870 beef was transported north on the railroad from Sedalia, causing the opening up of Chicago and the other northern markets.

• The long drives were developed solely to get the cattle to the railroads.

• The development of 'cow-towns' such as Abilene were to allow the safe loading of cattle onto the railroads.

• In 1870-1885, refrigeration cars on trains opened a world-wide market for beef.

• After 1885 many homesteaders, who eventually destroyed ranching, were brought to the West on the railroads.

Page 9: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Why cattle ranching developed on the Great Plains?

Vast fortunes were made for a while out of

cattle ranching on the Great Plains.

The industry was based on a combination of

factors that made it highly profitable, though

unfortunately for the cattle barons the

bonanza did not last for ever.

Page 10: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Key factors in the development of the cattle industry

The underlying factor in the development

of cattle ranching was the free availability

of three crucial natural products:  

• wild cattle

• wild horses

• grass

Page 11: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

• These factors, together with a huge and growing market for beef in the north, meant that ranching became a good way to make a living.  

• For ranching to work, several things had to be in place. The railroads were a critical factor in the development of cattle ranching - without them the cattle would not have reached the marketplace. The long drives (which took the cattle to the railroads), cow-towns and stockyards (where the cattle were loaded onto the trains) were also all vital in getting the product to market.  

Page 12: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

CowboysThe cowboys were another essential ingredient - without their skills nothing, particularly the long drives, would have been possible.  

Engraving by GH Delorme, 1892,

showing Abilene cattle trail from

Texas, on the way to markets in

the north

Page 13: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Other factors added weight to the basic elements

• Range rights and the invention of crazy quilt allowed ranchers to acquire huge areas of land very cheaply.

• Skilful breeding (the development of heavier cattle, which were still tough enough to survive on the plains) increased the ranchers' profits.

• Also important for profits was the defeat of the rustlers and the Indians (which allowed ranchers to trade unhindered).

• Finally there was publicity - which encouraged people to take up cattle ranching.

Page 14: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Charles Goodnight Charles Goodnight had a huge effect on the history of cattle ranching:  

1. He was one of the original Texas ranchers, starting as a rancher in 1856.

2. He was the first to recognise and exploit the huge and growing market for beef in the mining towns of Wyoming.

3. He pioneered the 'long drive' (the Goodnight-Loving Trail).

4. He helped to develop the cowboys' skills on the long drives.

5. Range rights: Goodnight is reputed to have invented the technique he called the crazy quilt.

6. By crossing the Texas Longhorn with British Herefords, Goodnight was able to breed heavier cattle, which were still tough enough to survive on the plains.

7. He made a truce with a famous local rustler, 'Dutch Henry', then helped to form the Panhandle Stock Association, which drove out rustlers (especially Billy the Kid, who was killed in 1881).

8. James Brisbin's book about Goodnight - 'How to Get Rich on the Plains' - encouraged many other people to take up cattle ranching.

Page 15: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Revision preparationIdentify eight factors that helped cattle ranching

develop on the plains.  

Think about the arguments and facts you would use to

explain:  

1. Why cattle ranching developed in Texas. 2. How cattle ranching was affected by the

railroads. 3. Whether the railroads or Charles Goodnight

had the greater impact on the development of cattle ranching.

Page 16: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Suggested answers  

Eight factors that helped cattle ranching develop include:  

1. three essential natural products for the task 2. a growing market 3. 'long drives' and 'cow-towns' 4. cowboys 5. range rights 6. skilful cattle breeding 7. the defeat of rustlers 8. Charles Goodnight

Page 17: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Who were the cowboys?

When cattle ranching declined in importance,

many cowboys ended up working as extras on

cowboy films! Hollywood films, cowboy novels and,

later, TV programmes such as 'Bonanza',

glamorised the cowboys, and made them seem like

heroes.

Was this a true reflection of genuine cowboys?

Page 18: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

The real cowboys • The Hollywood image of cowboys was

not realistic. Many real cowboys were black ex-slaves, whereas the Hollywood heroes were always white. Also, after the hardships of the long drive, it seems unlikely that many genuine cowboys were specially good-looking!  

• They were, however, highly skilled. They could ride, shoot, lasso, wrangle, round up, herd, cross rivers, 'turn' stampedes, scout, keep watch and drive off rustlers - all in rain, hail and burning sun.  

Nat Love, African American cowboy, c.1876

Page 19: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Life as a cowboy

• The life of a cowboy followed the seasons:  • In winter they hung round the ranch, or lived

in 'line camps', taking daily rides to stop the cattle 'drifting' onto the open plain.

• In spring, they went 'bog-riding' to haul out 'mired' cows, and then went on the 'round-up'.

• In summer, they went on the trail drives to market.

Page 20: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Cowboys' lives were similar in many ways to the lives of Native Americans:  

• They were entirely dependent on the natural products of the Great Plains.

• They moved around (though the cowboys were herding cattle, whereas the Native Americans were following the buffalo).

• They cared for the cattle (eg by bog-riding and from line-camps) in a way similar to the way Native American dog-soldiers cared for the buffalo.

• Their food and clothing was derived from cattle (beef and leather).

• The round-up was a collective, community event similar in many ways to a buffalo hunt.

• Cowboys developed a system of long-range signals, such as waving a hat, in much the same way as the Native Americans used smoke signals.

Page 21: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Real life cowboys had to endure numerous

hardships:   1. freezing winter cold in the line camps 2. danger of being trampled (especially in a

stampede) 3. danger of drowning (crossing rivers) 4. rain, hail and burning sun on the long drive 5. having to stay awake all night on guard duty on

the long drive 6. having to ride 'drag' on the long drive (dust from

the herd) 7. attacks from Native American warriors on the long

drive 8. attacks from rustlers

Page 22: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

The Homesteaders - Moving to the Great Plains

Setting up home on the Plains was not an easy

option for those considering a new start in life

in the middle of the 19th century. But there

were many desperate (or adventurous) people

prepared to overlook the difficulties.

Page 23: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Who settled the Great Plains?

Before 1860, few people moved west to try tosettle on the Great Plains. The poor soil and harsh climate discouraged them (along with the fact that the Plains were officially 'Indian territory'), land was expensive to buy, and anybody wanting to go west faced a long, dangerous and uncomfortable journey.  After 1865, thousands of settlers moved onto the Plains.  

Page 24: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Who settled on the Plains? continued

• Freed slaves went there to start a new life as freemen, or to escape economic problems after the Civil War.

• European immigrants flooded onto the Great Plains, seeking political or religious freedom, or simply to escape poverty in their own country.

• Younger sons from the eastern seaboard - where the population was growing and land was becoming more expensive - went because it was a chance to own their own land.

• They were followed by other Americans - such as tradesmen and government officials - who hoped to make their living from the farmers who had moved onto the Plains.

Page 25: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Factors encouraging people to go West

 

1. The Homestead Act, 1862This allowed homesteaders to claim 160 acres of land free if they lived and worked on it for five years. The prospect of free land was very attractive to people who could never have afforded a farm back home.

2. RailroadsIn order to encourage the railroad companies to build the transcontinental railways, the government gave them a two-mile stretch of land either side of the railroad - part of the companies' profit came from selling this land. Therefore they launched a massive sales campaign, offering a 'settlement package', which included:

a safe, cheap and speedy journey west temporary accommodation in 'hotels' until the families had built their

own home other attractions such as schools, churches and no taxes for five

years

Page 26: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Factors continued ..3. Manifest destiny

The idea grew up that white Americans were superior, and that it was America's manifest destiny (obvious fate) to expand and encourage 'the American way of life' on the Great Plains. The writer Horace Greeley, who popularised this idea, advised Americans: 'Go West, young man'.

4. Tall talesOnce the population of an area reached 60,000, it could apply to become a state of the USA. Local governments therefore encouraged publicity campaigns which claimed (for example) that farmers in the west could grow pumpkins as big as barns and maize as tall as telegraph poles. Many people moved west thinking they would make a fortune

Page 27: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Myth of the Great Plains

• Henry Worrall was a Kansas vine-grower and artist, who painted this picture to contradict claims that Kansas was a place of drought.  

• This painting shows farmers harvesting huge grapes, melons, maize, pumpkins and parsnips. It was used in railroad company pamphlets and became 'the biggest single advertisement Kansas had ever had.

Page 28: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Revision preparationMake spidergrams to show the four reasons people did not settle on the Plains before 1865, four kinds of person who went to live

on the Plains after 1865 and four factors encouraging people onto the Plains

As part of your revision, think about the arguments and facts you would use to explain:  

1. Why people settled and stayed in the West.

2. Why people moved west to become homesteaders in the late 1860s and 1870s.

3. Which of the following was the most important factor in opening up the West:

the railroad and the railroad companies, federal and state government actions, the belief in 'manifest destiny' and the hopes and aspirations of the

settlers, the Homestead Act of 1862.

Page 29: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Homesteaders' problems

Life was very tough for early settlers and

homesteaders on the Great Plains - how did

they cope with the harsh conditions?

Page 30: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Problems and solutions

Early settlers and

homesteader on the Plains

faced huge problems. The

burden of many of these fell

on the women, whose lives

were burdensome and

Unpleasant.

Page 31: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions

Building a house

There was little wood

to build log cabins.

Settlers built 'sod

houses', while they

lived out of doors –

people did their

cooking on an open

fire.

Page 32: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions

Dirt and diseaseOutdoor toilets and open wells. The sod houses leaked, and fleas and bedbugs lived in them 'by the million'. It was impossible to disinfect the floor. As a result the death rate, especially from diphtheria, was high.

A 'good thick coat of

whitewash' killed

bedbugs.

'A layer of clay'

stopped leaks.

Homesteaders

eventually built more

modern houses.

Page 33: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions

HouseworkThere was no wood for

fuel, and no shops to

buy items such as

candles and soap.

A typical household had

only two buckets, some

crockery and one cracked

cup. There was no water

and little food.

A travelling shoe-maker or

tinker might pass through who

would provide or mend

household items, but usually

families just had to make do.

The women collected 'buffalo

chips' for fuel, stoked the stove,

and made their own candles

and soap.

'I have often wondered how my

mother stood it', wrote an early settler.

Page 34: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions

IsolationNo doctors or

midwives.

No social life

'because of the

distances between

farmhouses'. In the

winter families were

shut in 'and longed

for spring'.

People had to make

the most of any trip to

their nearest town,

where the women

talked of the harvest

and the men smoked

corncob pipes and

talked politics.

Page 35: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Homesteaders: Problems and Solutions

Law and order

Local government

was non-existent,

and some early

lawmen (such as

Henry Plummer)

were worse than the

bandits.

Law courts and

sheriffs such as

Wyatt Earp slowly

established law

and order.

Page 36: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Answer preparation  As part of your revision, think about the arguments

and facts you would use to explain:  

1. What life was like for the early homesteaders?

2. What problems faced the homesteaders, and how they overcame them?

3. What life was like for women in the early homesteads?

Page 37: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Farmers' problems in the West

Life on the Plains was really tough for the

first European farmers there. But they were

determined to survive, and found ingenious

answers to many of the problems that faced

them.

Page 38: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Farmers - Problems and solutions

Farming

A hard crust on the soil made it hard to start farming.

Farmers could not afford a plough or machines.

There were not enough workers.

Teams of 'sodbusters'

using steel ploughs did

the first ploughing.

After 1880, thresher

teams travelled around

following the harvest.

Farmers could hire them

for just a few days.

Page 39: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Farmers – Problems and solutions

Drought

There was only 38cm

of rainfall in a year,

and the hot summers

evaporated dampness

from the land. In the

1860s there were

terrible droughts,

followed by fires.

The well driller and windpump allowed deep wells to be dug, which gave water. New methods of dry farming were invented (the 'Turkey Red' variety of wheat was imported from Russia, and farmers put a layer of dust on the soil after rain,

which stopped evaporation).

Page 40: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Farmers – Problems and solutions

Food

Farmers could not

grow enough on

their farms to feed a

family.

The government

realised that 160 acres

was not enough to

sustain people. The

Timber Culture Act of

1873 gave farmers

another 160 free acres

if they grew some trees.

Page 41: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Farmers - Problems and Solutions

Fences

Lack of wood for

fencing meant farmers

could not keep cattle

off their crops. This led

to trouble with the

cattlemen.

Barbed wire

(patented by Joseph

Glidden in 1874)

solved the problem

of fencing.

Page 42: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Farmers – Problems and Solutions

Insect pests

In the 1870s,

grasshopper plagues

stripped the cornstalks

‘naked as beanpoles'

and sent pregnant

women insane.

Colorado beetle destroyed

potato crops.

Settlers tried to harvest the crops before the grasshoppers came. They tried to kill them, but gave up, 'weary and dispirited'.

The government raised relief funds. Modern insecticides solved this problem.

Page 43: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Farmers – Problems and Solutions

Law and Order

Rival settlers- Bandits

- Renegade Native Americans

- Vigilante cattlemen

Law courts and

sheriffs such as Wyatt

Earp slowly

established law and

order

Page 44: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Source analysis and answer preparation

• See how many problems you can spot facing the homesteader in Source A.  

• Relate each of the problems in the source to the problems.  

Page 45: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Answer preparation  Think about the arguments and facts you would use to

explain:  

1. Why farmers were able to settle on the Great Plains.

2. How homesteaders reacted to the many problems facing them on the Plains.

3. What life was like for the first farmers on the Plains.

4. How important the Timber Culture Act of 1873 was, in helping homesteaders to settle on the Plains.

Page 46: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Suggested answers  

• farmers struggling to use hoes and pick axes (problem 1: farming on hard soil)

• sun and sparse vegetation (problem 2: drought)

• no trees (problem 3: food) • few fences (problem 4: fences) • Colorado beetle (problem 5: insect pests) • grasshoppers (problem 5: insect pests) • Native Americans (problem 6: law and

order) • bandits (problem 6: law and order)

Page 47: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Problems of law and order

The first settlers of the American West had to be extremely tough to survive, so law and order was a rough and ready business in the newly settled territories.

Things started to improve as more peoplearrived, and federal territories became fully fledged American states.

Page 48: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Federal territory • At first, newly-occupied land on the

Plains was federal territory (it belonged to the US government) and was administered by a governor, three judges and a US marshal.  

• When the area reached a population of 5,000, it became a territory, with - in addition - locally elected sheriffs, who could deal with local criminals. New territories were notoriously lawless.  

Page 49: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Township of Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881The gunfight at the OK Corral took place near

here on 26 October 1881

• Miners in the mining towns set up miners' courts, which settled local matters such as disputed claims, but were powerless to stop gangs of outlaws or rustlers.  

• In many areas, local citizens set up vigilante groups, who dished out summary justice to people suspected of crimes

Page 50: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Federal territory continued …

• When the population reached 60,000, the territory became a state, with its own laws, government and finances, although there was still a US marshal with responsibility for criminals who broke federal laws. Slowly, helped by improved communications (for instance the telegraph), law and order was established.  

• Among the lawmen who helped achieve this were Pat Garrett (who shot Billy the Kid) and Wyatt Earp (famous for his shoot-out with the Clanton gang at the OK Corral).  

Page 51: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Nine problems of law and order in the West

1. Distance (difficult to cover the large areas and isolated communities of the West)

2. Poverty and harsh conditions (people were prepared to resort to desperate measures)

3. More men than women (no calming influence; prostitution) 4. Different races (differences of language and culture led to there being little

sense of a united community) 5. Culture of violence (everyone carried guns, and sorted out problems by

using violence) 6. Land claims and gold (arguments over land ownership; greed, gamblers,

criminals) 7. Cattle barons (fear of reprisal; 'respectable' citizens were scared to speak

out; juries could be bribed and were often biased) 8. Poor court system (judges often had poor knowledge of law; courts often

gave unfair verdicts; lack of convictions) 9. Vigilantes (often as much a problem as the criminals)

Page 52: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Answer preparation  As part of your revision, think about the arguments and

facts you would use to explain:  

1. What the structure of government was on the Plains.

2. Why law and order was a problem on the Great Plains.

3. What ways were used to try to solve the problems of law and order.

4. How successfully law and order was established on the Plains.

Page 53: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

The Johnson County War (Wyoming) 1892

The first farmers on the Plains clashed with the cattle barons who had their ranches

there. There were many disputes, particularly over fencing and waterholes, leading to a series of clashes known as the range wars.

The most famous confrontation was the Johnson County War.

Page 54: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Events of the Johnson County War

Part 1 • Governor Barber of

Wyoming supported the cattlemen, who said homesteaders ('nesters') were rustling (stealing) their cattle.

• The sheriff of Buffalo (Red Angus) supported the homesteaders, who said the cattle barons were stealing their land.

Page 55: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Events of the Johnson County War Part 2

• The cattlemen regularly caught and hanged local homesteaders.

• Among those they hanged were Ella Watson and Jim Averill (a poor local couple), and nine trappers who were out hunting wolves.

Page 56: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Events of the Johnson County War Part 3

• The cattlemen assembled a list of 70 rustlers they wanted killed. In spring 1892 they hired a lynching party of 43 cattlemen (including 20 hired gunmen).

• The lynching party attacked a ranch known as the KC ranch. They killed Nick Ray and his partner Nate Chapman, who was roundup foreman of the local Northern Wyoming Farmers & Stock Growers Association.

Page 57: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Events of the Johnson County War Part 4

• In response, Red Angus raised a posse of 319 men, who rode out and trapped the cattlemen at a ranch called the TA.

• The cattlemen were eventually rescued by the Army cavalry.

Page 58: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Events of the Johnson County War Part 5

• The cattlemen were charged with murder. They bribed the jury and the case was dropped. Nevertheless, the war marked the end of the power of the cattlemen.

Page 59: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Answer preparationAs part of your revision, think about the arguments and

facts you would use to explain:  

1. Why cattlemen and homesteaders clashed on the Great Plains.

2. What the problems were that hindered the establishment of law and order on the Plains.

3. Who won the Johnson County War, and what the main events of that war were.

Page 60: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Struggle for the Plains

The struggle for the Plains was an unequal

one, with the US government putting great

pressure on Native Americans. They put up a

vigorous resistance, but their way of life was

doomed.

Page 61: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Main events in the struggle for the Plains

•1803-1851:

The Permanent Indian Frontier

Page 62: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Policy

Pressures on

Native Americans

Results

• In 1803, the US government purchased Louisiana from the French. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced all Native Americans in the eastern United States (eg Cherokee, Seminole) to go there (the Trail of Tears).

• First settler trails across Plains to the West - Oregon Trail (1841), Mormon Trail (1846), California Trail (to the goldfields, 1849).

• First skirmishes between Native and white Americans.

Page 63: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

•  1851-1867: Concentration of Native American land

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BBC Bitesize Notes

Policy

Pressures on Native

Americans

Results

• In the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, the US government agreed that large areas of land should belong to Native American tribes 'for all time' (eg the Sioux were given the Black Hills of Dakota).

• Gold was discovered in Colorado (1859). The first cattle drives were opened up (eg the Goodnight-Loving Trail, 1866). The Pony Express and a regular stagecoach service to California started up.

• Indian wars of 1860-1867 • Little Crow's war (1860-61) • Massacre of Sand Creek by Chivington's 3rd

Colorado Volunteers (1864) • Red Cloud led the Sioux in a successful war

against the US (1866-7). During this war the Fetterman massacre (1866) occurred, in which 80 US cavalry troopers died.

Page 65: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

•1867-1875:

Native Americans on small reservations  

Page 66: GCSE HISTORY American West Revision

BBC Bitesize Notes

Policy

Pressures on Native

Americans

Results

• In the Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867) the southern plains tribes agreed to move to Oklahoma.In the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) Red Cloud realised he could never defeat the US permanently, and the Sioux agreed to move onto a small reservation. The US government promised to supply food and medicine.

• Railroads.Cow towns and cattle ranching. Gold was discovered in the Black Hills. Many white Americans wanted to exterminate the Native Americans.Slaughter of the buffalo. The US government broke its promises of 1868, and supplies were inadequate.

• Indian wars of 1875-85 • Custer and his army were wiped out at the battle of

Little Bighorn (1876). Custer's Avengers swelled the US Army, and superior US numbers, technology and winter campaigns forced the Sioux to surrender.

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•1885: Opening up Native American territory  

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Policy

Result

• The US government made Native American territory available to white settlers (eg the Oklahoma Land Run, 1889). Homesteaders arrived.The Native Americans' own law courts were abolished. The Native Americans had to seek justice in the white man's court.

• End of the Native American way of life.

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Answer preparation  As part of your revision, think about the arguments and

facts you would use to explain:  

1. How the policy of the American government towards the Indians changed between 1803 and 1890.

2. Why the policy of the American government towards the Indians changed so often between 1803 and 1890.

3. What the consequences were of the changes in policy of the American government towards the Plains Indians.

4. What the causes of the Plains wars were. 5. What the consequences of the Plains wars were.

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Conflict on the Plains

The harsh conditions of the Great Plains meant that

both the new settlers and the Native Americans had

to struggle to survive, and they fought hard against

anyone who threatened their way of life.

There was certainly little understanding between

the various sides in the conflict, making it hard to

distinguish between 'goodies' and 'baddies'.

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Looking at the conflict There a number of ways you can look at the conflict on the Plains.  • It is possible to see the conflict as a clash of cultures. White Americans

did not understand the Native Americans' way of life. Consequently, they distrusted and feared them, and could believe anything (including torture and deceit) of a people they did not understand. Conversely, the Native Americans felt that white Americans were devils who ruined the earth. Differences of culture caused them to hate and despise each other, and led to war.  

• The wars might be seen as the result of racism. The white settlers believed that the Native Americans were inferior. They felt justified in saying that 'complete extermination is our motto', and in slaughtering the buffalo to starve the Native Americans to death. In 1864, Colonel Chivington justified the massacre at Sand Creek by saying: 'Kill them all, big and little: nits make lice'. Faced by an attitude of genocide, Native Americans had nothing to lose - as the Sioux Chief Gall said: 'You fought me and I had to fight back'.  

• It could be argued that war broke out simply because the white men wanted the Great Plains - firstly to cross, then for gold, then for cattle and then for farming. Many white Americans believed that it was their manifest destiny to take over the Plains. They took the land that Native Americans believed belonged to everyone.  

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Bad behaviour However, bad behaviour on both sides added to the confrontation.  • The US government regularly broke its treaty

promises - as the Sioux Chief Gall said: 'If we make peace, you will not keep it'.  

• Meanwhile, some Native Americans wanted war. Early travellers on the Plains were robbed and murdered. And when some Native Americans made peace with the US government, others would stay out on the warpath - white Americans could not understand that the chiefs had no power to make their warriors obey.  

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Map showing major battles between white and Native Americans

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Negotiation to Extermination

In 1866, a group of Native Americans wiped

out a unit of US cavalry (the Fetterman

Massacre), and events like this, and the defeat

at Little Bighorn (1876), made the white

Americans determined to win the war.

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White Americans attitudes to ..

Race and Red skin

White Americans regarded Native (and black)

Americans as subhuman. Horace Greeley wrote

that: '...their wars, treaties, habitations, crafts,

comforts, all belong to the very lowest ages of

human existence'. President Jefferson wrote

that they were: '...backward in civilisation like

beasts'.

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White Americans Attitudes to .. Adapted to the Plains

(Nomadic, Tipis, Leisure crafts and Acceptance)

White Americans demanded a settled, farming way oflife. They thought that tipis were: '...too full of smoke ...inconceivably filthy'.

Horace Greeley despised the Native Americans for:'…sittingaround the doors of their lodges at the height of the planting season', and said they were '...squalid and conceited, proud and worthless, lazy and lousy'. 'Thesepeople must die out,' he wrote, 'God has given this earth to those who will subdue and cultivate it.'

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White Americans attitudes to ..

Loved the land Land cannot be owned or sold • White Americans believed that God had given them

the right to 'subdue the earth', and they wanted to make money from it. They thought land ownership, fences and cultivation were natural. White Americans thought only they could make full use of the land. They gave the Plains to the Native Americans when they thought they were 'wholly unfit for cultivation', but when they found this not to be true, they took the land for themselves.

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White Americans attitude to ..

Government and laws Influence of chief, Community spirit and Horse stealing

White Americans could not understand why chiefs couldnot make their warriors obey them.

Government based on 'community spirit' was incomprehensible to white Americans, whose government was based on laws and compulsion.

They particularly hated horse stealing, because 'depriving a man of his horse could mean life itself on the Plains'.

White observers declared that the Native Americans were 'without government'.

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White Americans attitude to ..

Religion and morality (Animistic (spirits) Medicine men young marriage Easy divorce

Polygamy, Exposure of old people to the elements to die) • Christian preachers thought '...the

Indians have no religion, only ignorant superstition'. Native American customs of marriage, divorce and exposure of old people to the elements offended white Americans' religion and morality.

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White Americans attitude to ..

War Preserve life, Ambush and stealth, Coups & Scalping

• White soldiers saw ambush as treachery, scalping as barbarous and retreat as 'a total lack of courage'. 'The first impulse of the Indian,' wrote Colonel Dodge, '...is to scuttle away as fast as his legs will carry him ... there is one example of a fair stand-up fight.'

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Answer preparation  As part of your revision, think about the arguments and

facts you would use to explain:  

1. What attitudes different white Americans had towards Native Americans.

2. Why white Americans and Plains Indians came into conflict on the Plains.

3. Why white Americans and Plains Indians found it so difficult to reach a peaceful settlement of their differences.

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The Battle of the Little Bighorn 1876

The Battle of the Little Bighorn was

the most decisive defeat for the US

Army during the whole of the Indian

wars.

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Events leading up to the Battle of Little Bighorn

• Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull refused to accept the peace of 1868.

• Gold was discovered in the Black Hills in 1874.

• The Sioux refused to sell their land in the Black Hills.

• The government ordered the Sioux onto small reservations. When the Sioux refused, they were declared 'hostile'.

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The Battle Plan

• General Philip Sheridan was sent to defeat the Sioux.

• In June 1876 US armies, led by the generals Alfred Terry and John Gibbon, met at the Yellowstone river.

• Gibbon was set to march up the Little Bighorn river, and Lt Colonel George Custer was ordered to march round the Wolf mountains, as part of a two-pronged attack on the Sioux camp.

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The Battle

• The Sioux had been joined by the Cheyenne and Arapaho, making an army of more than 3,000 warriors, armed with Winchester repeating rifles.

• Custer marched his men through (not round) the Wolf mountains, to arrive at the Sioux camp first.

• Custer divided his 600 men into three groups.

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The Battle

• Custer sent Captain Frederick Benteen scouting, and sent Major Marcus Reno to attack the Sioux village from the south.

• Custer headed north of the village with 215 men.

• The Sioux cut off both Reno and Custer. Benteen rescued Reno, but Custer and all of his troops lost their lives.

• The Sioux withdrew when Terry and Gibbon arrived.

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Why was Custer defeated?

Custer was defeated at the Battle of the Little Bighorn because he made a lot of fundamental errors.  1. He acted alone - even though Gibbon's last words to him were: 'Custer, don't be

greedy. Wait for us.' 2. Instead of going round the Wolf mountains, Custer force-marched his men through the

mountains. His troops and horses arrived tired after the long march. 3. He weakened his forces by dividing them into three (although this was classic US Army

tactics). 4. He expected the Sioux warriors to scatter and run. Instead they outmanoeuvred and

surrounded him. 5. He was hugely outnumbered. 6. He was arrogant and over-confident, and wanted the victory to bolster his political

ambitions. He ignored the advice of his Crow scouts to wait for reinforcements. 7. The Sioux leaders - especially Crazy Horse - were expert and experienced generals. 8. The Native Americans regarded the war as their last chance - they fought with

desperation. 9. The Sioux were determined: 'The whites want a war and we will give it to them', said

Chief Sitting Bull. 10. Custer had poor information - he did not know how big the Sioux army was, nor that

they were armed with Winchester repeating rifles.

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Source analysis • This painting depicts the

traditional view about the heroism of Custer and his men at the Battle of the Little Bighorn - Custer can be seen brandishing two guns, fighting until the very end.  

• However, this painting illustrates the problem of reliability of sources. This depiction is almost certainly wrong. An archaeological survey in 1983 found that Custer's men fell in a running battle, perhaps as they scattered and fled down the hillside towards the river. It also found that Custer was not scalped, which suggests that he shot himself, because the Sioux did not scalp a suicide.

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Answer preparation  As part of your revision, think about the arguments and

facts you would use to explain:  

1. Why war broke out between the US government and the Sioux in 1876.

2. Why the Sioux won the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

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The end of the Native American way of life

The Battle of the Little Bighorn only seemed

like a Sioux victory. In fact, it was the start of

the total defeat of the Sioux.

Before long the US government had completely

defeated the Native Americans, and their way of life

was destroyed over the next 15 years.

So what were the key steps?

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November 1876

• The US Army began winter campaigns against the Sioux, starving them into surrender. Colonel Mackenzie destroyed Dull Knife's Cheyenne camp - driving the Cheyenne into the hills to survive the winter without any food.

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January 1877

• Chief Sitting Bull fled to Canada. He joined a Wild West show, but eventually returned to join the reservation.

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October 1877

• Chief Joseph of the Nez Percé tribe tried to flee to Canada, but was intercepted. 'I will fight no more forever', he vowed.

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1879

• Richard Pratt opened the first boarding school for Native American children.

• The Sioux were given cattle and forced to become cattle-herders.

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1881 (-1887)

• Geronimo led a series of rebellions by the Apache warriors, but eventually had to surrender and become a vegetable farmer.

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1883

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs issued the Code of Religious Offences, banning Native American religious customs such as the Sun Dance.

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1887

• The Dawes Act divided the Native American reservations between the different families.

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1889

• The Oklahoma Land Run. The government split 2 million acres of former 'Indian territory' into 160 acre plots, and people had to race to claim a plot. The race began at noon on 22 April 1889 and by next day all the land was claimed.

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1890

• A medicine man called Wovoka started a Ghost Dance - although it was peaceful, the Army, fearing a rebellion, tried to arrest Sitting Bull, who was taking part (he was killed during the attempt). Then when Sioux Chief Big Foot, trying to avoid the trouble, led his people to Wounded Knee Creek, they were massacred by the US Army.

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Why did the white Americans win the West?

White Americans won

the West because

everything was on their

side. The Native

Americans fought

bravely, but the odds

were completely against

them.

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Reasons why the Whiteman won

Little Bighorn - the massacre of Custer's regiment caused thousands of 'Custer's Avengers' to join up, and it made the US Army determined to hunt down and destroy the Native American warriors.

Lies - the US government made promises which it later broke.

Economy - the US government had unlimited men and money. After the Little Bighorn, the Sioux had to disband their army because the land could not support so large a group for long.

Technology - the US Army had access to repeating rifles, machine guns, cannons and the telegraph. The Native Americans had to buy rifles, and used smoke signals to communicate.

Railroads - thousands of white Americans and US soldiers could travel to the West in hours by railroad.

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Reasons why continued …

Slaughter of the buffalo - after the 1870s, white hunters destroyed the buffalo, not only for their hides, but partly to destroy the Native Americans, whose way of life depended on these animals. By 1895, less than a thousand buffalo remained on the Great Plains.

The US Army was too big and strong for the Native American warriors. It controlled the Plains from a system of forts.

Reservations destroyed the Indian way of life, because people on them were forced to become farmers. Many warriors became alcoholics. The influence of the chiefs declined, because the reservations were run by agents. The Code of Religious Offences destroyed the Native American religion, and the Dawes Act ended community ownership.

Education - the Indian boarding schools (which the children were made to attend) forced Native American children to become 'white'. They were beaten if they even whispered in their own language - the motto of one school was 'kill the Indian to save the man'.

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Answer preparationAs part of your revision, think about the

arguments and facts you would use to explain:

1. What the purpose and effect was of the reservations.

2. Why the Native Americans lost the battle for the Plains.

3. How important the Battle of the Little Big Horn was in the eventual defeat of the Plains Indians.

4. How successfully the so-called Indian problem was resolved.