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Indian Wars
How did Texans try and solve their
Indian Problem?
The Texas Frontier
• FRONTIER conflicts had existed in Texas for many years.
• Texas continued to push toward the WEST, building
towns and communities to complete their WESTWARD
EXPANSION..
•Factors leading to the expansion of the
Texas frontier
•Large amount of land
•Large supply of wild longhorn on the Texas
frontier
•Demand for beef in the northern and
eastern United States
Settlers Expand West
• By the time of the Civil War,
only the Plains Indians like
the Comanche were still in
Texas.
• White settlers feared the
Indians.
• They believed they were
savages and should be
exterminated.
• Settlers believed the land
was legally obtained by the
United States.
Savage: Someone who is uncivilized.
Forts were
established on
the western
frontier to
protect the
settlements
•Effects of westward expansion on American
Indians
•Battles between Comanche, Apaches,
Kiowas, and the U.S. Army
•Forced on reservations in Oklahoma
The further west
the settlers went
the more they
would come into
conflict with
Indians.
• After the Civil War, the United States Army wanted to
end the hostilities with the Natives.
Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek
Indian Reservation: Is land set aside for an Indian
tribe, were the tribe is allowed to govern itself.
• In 1867 Indians from
the southern plains met
in Kansas with the U.S.
government.
• The Treaty created a
3 million acre
reservation for Indians
in Oklahoma.
• The U.S. promised to
supply Indians with food
and clothing and to
teach them to farm.
• Promised that no
Americans would be
allowed on their land.
What were the terms of the Treaty of
Medicine Lodge?
• Indians would stop raiding & move to the reservation in
exchange for food, clothing, & financial status
Failure of the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek
• Plains Indians did not want to
be farmers or move to
Oklahoma
• U. S. government failed to keep
its promises of supplies and food.
• Often Indian Agents in charge of
the reservations were corrupt
and sold supplies for their own
profits.
• Traders called Comancheros in
New Mexico encouraged Indian
raids because they bought stolen
goods.
Corruption is using the power
of the Government for one’s
personal gain
Buffalo Soldiers
• Freedman soldiers who
fought natives in the
west were known as
Buffalo Soldiers
• Native Americans
called them this
because of their
bravery in battle.
• They guarded the
frontier.
Buffalo Soldiers
• African American soldiers who were in the 9th and 10th
Cavalry, as well as in the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments
stationed in Texas. They were former slaves who fought
during the Indian Wars.
• Helped keep peace among American Indians in the West
after the Civil War
• Native Americans gave them this nickname for their
bravery.
Quanah Parker
• Comanche leader
• Father was a Comanche
chief and mother was
Cynthia Ann Parker a white
woman who had been
captured when she was a
child in 1836
Cynthia Ann Parker
• In 1836 members of the Parker family were killed in a raid by
Comanche known as the Ft. Parker Massacre. In this raid, an 8year old girl, Cynthia Ann Parker, was captured.
• Cynthia was found by Texas Rangers 24 years later in 1860 and
returned to her white family.
Quanah Parker
• His parents were Cynthia Ann Parker and
Chief Peta Nacona. His mother was a
captured by the Comanche as a small
child and raised by them.
• Last Chief of the Commanches
• His tribe roamed West Texas
• Assimilated to American culture and
influenced other Native Americans to do
the same.
What the Buffalo Meant to the
Native Americans
Paunch
(stomach)
made into
water bags
Sinews (tendons)
and hair were
made into
bowstrings, rope,
and thread
Buffalo hide became
clothing, saddles,
robes, and covers
for teepees
Hoofs, horns
and bones
became
ornaments,
cups, and
utensils
=
Buffalo Poo
(dung) was
used as fuel
for fires
A Kiowa chief describes it this way:
“The buffalo is our money … the
robes we can prepare and trade. We
love them just as the white man does
his money. Just as it makes a white
man feel to have his money carried
away, so it makes us feel to see
others killing and stealing our
buffaloes, which are our cattle given
to us by the Great Father above.”
The End of the Buffalo
• Plains Indians faced a huge problem with the end of the wild
Buffalo.
• The U.S. allowed the Army and Buffalo hunters to kill off the
Buffalo in North America.
• There may have been 30 million buffalo in the 1850’s, by 1910,
a little over 1000 buffalo could be found in America
• Plains Indians lost their way of life which included their homes,
food, clothes, tools and weapons with the buffalo gone.
The most valuable part of the Buffalo was its hide.
Bison hides were used for
industrial machine belts, clothing
such as robes, and rugs. There was
a huge export trade to Europe of
bison hides.
Buffalo hides were sold for big money back in the east
With the end of the buffalo the remaining holdout plain
Indians were forced onto reservations.
The End of the
Plains Indians
The railroad, the development of the hide industry during the 1800s, and the wholesale
destruction of the buffalo guaranteed that the Native Americans would no longer have
the means to survive
Pile of Buffalo Skulls in 1870
Buffalo skulls, mid-1870s,
waiting to be ground into
fertilizer
After 1870, the U.S. gave up on peace policies and
started the policy of removal.
U.S. Army
• The U.S. Army sent
thousands of soldiers west
to deal with the Indians.
William Tecumseh Sherman
would be in charge of the
western army.
• U.S. General during the Civil
War who marched to the sea
and burned Atlanta, Georgia
to the ground.
• In 1871 he came to Texas to
inspect Frontier Forts.
1873 Winchester Model “The Gun that won the West”
Winchester Model 1873
In the early 1870’s a new
invention the “repeating rifle”
was invented.
This weapon, along with the
repeating revolver pistol, finally
gave Texas Rangers and the U.S.
Army an advantage over the
Comanche and other natives.
Texas Rangers with Winchesters
• Sherman ordered General
Ranald Mackenzie to lead
raids against Indians
reducing their numbers on
the plains of Texas.
Red River Wars
• Texas Rangers also
constantly patrolled west
and south Texas searching
for Indians. They
considered any Indian an
enemy and would attack if
they found them.
General Ranald Mackenzie
The 2nd battle of Adobe walls
• In 1874 Quanah
Parker led 700
warriors and attacked
a buffalo hunters
camp at Adobe Walls.
• This is known as
Second Battle of
Adobe Walls
• The hunters held off
the Indians with their
long range rifles.
• The Red River War was
launched by the U.S.
Army in 1874 to remove
the Comanche, Kiowa,
and other Indian tribes
from the Southern
Plains and relocate
them to reservations
• The U.S. Army sent
soldiers in five
directions and finally
trapped the Indians in
Palo Duro Canyon.
Palo Duro Canyon, the last stand
Battle of Palo Duro Canyon
• The U.S. Army trapped the
Comanche in the Palo Duro Canyon,
their winter home.
• Flat land of High Plains allowed for
them to be untouched for so long
• This defeat forced the Comanche to
reservations in Oklahoma.
The Army burned several villages, killed over a thousand
horses and destroyed the winter food supply.
• Quanah Parker, the
Comanche and the
rest of the Native
Texans Tribes
(including the Kiowa)
were finally forced to
surrender at Palo
Duro Canyon in
1874.
• Quanah Parker then went on
to tirelessly work to help his
people adapt to the “white
world”.
• Appointed by his old enemy
Colonel Mackenzie as sole
Chief of the Comanche, he
worked hard to bring
education and the ability to
survive in the white man's
world to his people.
Quanah Parker during his reservation days
End of the Indian Wars
Indian Raids End Along the Rio Grande
• Victorio and other American Indians begin raids into Texas from Mexico
• U.S. Army troops, many of whom are buffalo soldiers, are stationed near the
border to stop the raids
• Raids stop when Mexican army joins the chase
• Victorio died in 1880 while being pursued
• Victorio – Apache Indian chief
• buffalo soldiers – name that American Indians gave to African American troops.
The Results of the Indian Wars in Texas
• Native Americans in Texas moved onto the reservations in Indian Territory
(Oklahoma) or continued their fight in other states
• With the Native Americans out of Texas and the threat of raids gone, settlers
could move into West Texas and the Panhandle and establish their farms and
ranches
• Many new towns were established at this time in the Western half of the state
• The cattle industry exploded… with the buffalo gone from the “Sea of Grass”
cattlemen now had huge areas in which to raise cattle on their new ranches
• The forts were no longer needed, so many were closed.
• The American Indian population had decreased greatly by the 1880s.