The Bozeman Trail is established to carry whites from the Oregon Trail to goldfields in what is now southwestern Montana. The trail runs directly through prime hunting grounds of the Lakota Sioux, who are soon enraged by the growing traffic of non-Indians in their lands. These invasions will lead to the conflict known as Red Cloud’s War (see entry for 1866).
Congress passes the Morrill Act.
Through the Morrill Act, Congress approves land grants for the establishment of colleges for agricultural research across the United States. The act will have an enormous impact on Indians in the West, particularly those whose lands have been unattractive to whites because they are difficult to farm. The research resulting from the Morrill Act will so improve agricultural techniques that in coming decades even these previously unwanted lands will be flooded by white farmers.
Indian troops fight the Battle of Pea Ridge.
By the treaties of allegiance the Confederacy negotiated with the Five Civilized Tribes (see entry for SUMMER 1861), these tribes are entitled to establish military regiments to protect Indian Territory in case of attack by Union troops. The treaties also hold that these forces will not be required to fight outside of Indian Territory. Ignoring these provisions, Confederate general Earl Van Dorn orders 25 Indian soldiers to join his campaign against Union forces in Missouri.
Van Dorn’s army confronts Union troops in northwest Arkansas at the Battle of Pea Ridge, the only Civil War battle in which a large number of Indian soldiers will fight. They and their Confederate allies are forced to retreat when they run out of ammunition. Despite the defeat, Cherokee leader Stand Watie (see entries for OCTOBER 1861 and SUMMER 1862) distinguishes himself in the battle. He will later become the only Indian to rise to the rank of general in the Confederate army (see entry for JUNE 23, 1865).
Congress passes the Homestead Act.
The Homestead Act allows U. S. citizens to apply for title to 160 acres of land in present-day Kansas and Nebraska. Aside from a $10 registration fee, the land is free to homesteaders who agree to make certain improvements and live on their tract for five years. Over the next 18 years, the act will grant more than 100,000 whites title to land formerly held by Indians. It will also influence the allotment of Indian land (see entry for FEBRUARY 8, 1887), by establishing 160 acres as a suitable amount of land for individual homesteads.
Union troops invade the Cherokee capital.
Federal soldiers, bolstered by pro-Union Indians, march south from Kansas into northeastern Indian Territory. When they reach the Cherokee capital of Tahelquah, they arrest Principal Chief John Ross, who hesitantly agreed to sign a treaty of allegiance with the Confederacy in order to avert a civil war within his tribe (see entry for OCTOBER 1861). Ross is sent first to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, then to Philadelphia, where he declares a pro-Union stance. During his exile in the East, his political rival Stand Watie will be elected the new principal chief.
The Pacific Railroad Act is passed.
The Pacific Railroad Act gives 174 million acres of public land to transcontinental railroad companies. Aside from making these companies the largest landowners in the West, these land grants will allow construction of nine major rail routes through the region. These railroads will threaten Indian societies by bringing a flood of whites into their territory and disrupting the buffalo herds on which the Plains Indians rely for their survival.
Apache warriors attack U. S. troops at Apache Pass.
In late 1861, troops led by Brigadier General James H. Carleton were sent into the Southwest to guard the southern route to California from Indian raiding parties. To drive off the intruders, Mimbreno Apaches led by Mangas Coloradas and Chiricahua Apaches led by Cochise stage a surprise attack on an advance party at Apache Pass, an abandoned mail station in southern Arizona. Armed with howitzers and rifles, the soldiers successfully defend themselves. Before the Apaches’ retreat, Mangas Coloradas suffers a serious, but not fatal, bullet wound in the chest.
The Dakota Sioux wage war on white settlers.
Pressured by whites moving onto their land, the Dakota Sioux of Minnesota agreed to settle on a reservation (see entry for MARCH 8 TO 9, 1857). The U. S. government, however, has not honored its promise to protect their lands from further encroachment. Adding to the Dakota’s desperation, it also refuses to give them the rations guaranteed to them by the treaty.
As the Dakota face starvation, four warriors murder five white settlers. Although earlier an advocate of making peace with the government, Dakota leader Little Crow decides to escalate the violence and organize a full-scale war against their white neighbors. On August 18, the first day of warfare, Little Crow’s men attack non-Indian settlements and trading posts and kill approximately 400 whites. As the Indians continue their raids, an army of 1,500 troops led by General Henry Hastings Sibley arrive in Minnesota to repulse them. After several encounters, Little Crow’s force is defeated on September 23, causing the Dakota warriors to scatter. Little Crow flees to Canada but soon returns to Minnesota. (See also entries for JULY 3, 1863; DECEMBER 26, 1863; and JULY 28, 1864.)
Cherokee leader John Ross meets with Abraham Lincoln.
To seek aid and protection for his people, John Ross, the former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, visits the White House to speak with President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is cold to Ross, who signed, but later repudiated, a treaty of allegiance with the Confederacy (see entries for OCTOBER 1861 and SUMMER 1861). Ross tells the president that the tribe sided with the South only after the United States failed to live up to its treaty obligations to them. To his disappointment, Lincoln offers little assurance that in the event of a Union victory the United States will do anything to protect the Cherokee—even those, like Ross, who have sided with the Union. (See also entry for SEP TEMBER 1866.)
Dakota rebels are hanged in a public execution.
Following the Minnesota Uprising (see entry for AUGUST 18 TO SEPTEMBER 23, 1862), many of the Indian rebels fled their homeland for what is now Dakota Territory and Canada. Of those who stayed behind, about 1,300 people, mostly women and children, are exiled to the desolate Crow Creek region of the Dakota Territory, while more than 300 are arrested. Although those arrested deny any involvement in the killing of whites during the rebellion, all are sentenced to death. Most of the condemned are saved by President Abraham Lincoln, who, ignoring the protests of Minnesota authorities, commutes the sentence of all but 38. Before a crowd of angry whites, these Indians are hanged in Mankato, Minnesota, in the largest mass execution in U. S. history.
World History
