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| Portrait describing one of the many battles fought during the Sioux Wars |
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| Treaty established between the Sioux and the United States Government, known as the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851) |
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| Poster created in response to the Treaty of Fort Laramie being broken |
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| Portrait depicting Custer's Last Stand at Little Bighorn |
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| Picture created to depict the lasting effect of American's on Native American society |
Sources:
Dakota Bush
10/28/2014
History – Essay
In most history textbooks, (when referring to the
westward expansion) there are only stories beginning with the “great
Christopher Columbus” and his discovery of America, and how we had several wars
with Native Americans over land upon settling in America, and the tales about
cowboys and the Wild West. However, the untold stories are the devastation that
we caused to the Native American society, and the genocide we brought upon
their people. This all truly began with the system we call the concentration
policy. The concentration policy was a broad term used to describe the many
policies, treaties, and systems enacted in an effort to move all of the Native
Americans in the east into the west, and then later force them into small,
defined reservations throughout the west. The intentions for doing this were
not only to “protect white settlers,” (as stated by the U.S. Government) but
also to make it simpler for Americans to divide and conquer the Native
Americans, in hopes of eradicating their ideals, their culture, and their race.
It all began with the assimilation and removal policies of 1830
which forced Native Americans to assimilate to European-American ideals (such
as having a written alphabet, knowing how to farm, and having a set system for
education) and move from their eastern homelands to the west (more commonly
known as the Trail of Tears). After most Native Americans had fled the east and
moved into the west, white settlers were still unhappy about the situation, as
they were continually under a threat of attack while crossing Native American
lands. Less than twenty years later, another “treaty” was formed, called the
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. This policy forced the remaining Native Americans
living in the west to move into defined boundaries, or “reservations,”
throughout the west. This was claimed to have been enacted in
an effort to protect white settlers and end intertribal rivalry and conflict.
Though, as proven by later acts of war against the Native Americans, this
policy was mostly created to make it easier to destroy the remaining tribes
while they were scattered throughout the west.
After
moving the Native Americans who were living in the west into reservations, and
promising a safe treaty between the two (referring to the tribes and the United
States), both continued to break the treaty, with the majority of the fault
leaning towards the United States. The breaching of the treaty began with many
Lakota and Dakota natives who never knew about the treaty, and thus they
continued their intertribal raiding. Also, white settlers continued to traverse
across the defined Indian territories and upon the discovery of gold near the Missouri
river ten years later, the amount of white travelers across the Indian lands
greatly increased. Both sides were at a breaking point until the United States
finally broke the treaty and started a war just a little more than ten years
later.
In
1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills (which were owned by the Sioux at
the time), causing a widespread movement of white settlers into the Native
American lands. General George Custer and his army were sent to the area to
“investigate the area’s resources,” finally pushing the Native Americans to the
brink of war, and causing the gruesome battle known as the Sioux War two years
later. The most famous and devastating skirmish of the many battles that took
place during the war was Custer’s Last Stand, at Little Bighorn. This is where
General George Custer and his army of 300 men were slaughtered at the hands of
a Sioux and Cheyenne war party. Though, the Native Americans later realized
that they may have won the battle, but they surely lost the war.
While
history textbooks won’t truly explain all of the bloodshed between the Native
Americans and the United States, it is easily the largest carnage in history,
and one that we can never forget. It began with the concentration policy which was
a system composed of several treaties set upon the Native Americans in an
attempt to bring order and peace between them and the people of the United
States, and it ended with the many wars that followed the attempted imprisonment
of the Native American culture and their people. While many can claim the
United States is based on freedom and equality, others can claim that no matter
what we are based on, we were created by the genocide and ethnocide of one
race, and built on the enslavement of another. History can be spoken from many
different righteous perspectives, but history is only truly told and heard by
the victors of war.
