The West

After the Civil War the West was the only area not settled. The land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains was the last unsettled area. In 1862 the federal government decided to get railroad companies to connect the east and the west.

The Union Pacific started at Omaha, Nebraska. The Central Pacific began in Sacramento, California. The crews had to fight Indians and buffalo herds and snow in the Rockies. About six miles of track could be laid in a day. On May 10, 1869 the two lines meet at Promontory Point, Utah.

By 1890 the west was heavily populated by white settlers. Some of the problems they faced were:

• summer of the plains stayed at 100 degrees
• winter below zero temperatures
• dry season brought fires
• swarms of grasshoppers

The Homestead Act of 1862 gave each head of a family 160 acres of  farm land for only $10. The family had to live on the land or grow crops for five years and the land would be his. This ended the way of life for the Indians.

General Philip Sheridan was commander of the army forces in the west. He wrote that he did not blame the Indians for making war after the way they were treated. White men slaughtered the buffalo. Railroad crews killed many buffalo just for sport. By 1865 about 15 million animals lived on the plains. By 1883 the buffalo were all but wiped out.

In 1864 at Sand Creek in Colorado Colonel Chivington and his soldiers called the Colorado Volunteers attacked the Indians. In return the Indians attacked  the white settlers. Colonel Chivington and his men pulled a surprise raid on the village. Chief Black Kettle, the chief of the tribe, ran up the American flag and a white flag. The soldiers did not pay any attention to this. More than 200 women and children and about 70 men were killed. The Cheyenne agreed to give up Sand Creek and move to a reservation.

In 1876 gold was found in the Black Hills. The Indians were ordered to leave. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse refused. George Armstrong Custer and 265 men attacked against orders at a place called Little Big Horn. All the white men were killed. Finally Crazy Horse and his warriors gave up. Sitting Bull and his followers went to Canada. In 1881 they returned to the United States and surrendered to the army.

In 1889 a Paiute Indian named Wovoka said an Indians' god leader was coming to bring back the buffalo and the white men would disappear. Many Indians believed this. To show their belief they did a certain dance called the Ghost Dance. On December 29, 1890 the army moved to put down the Ghost Dancers at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. The Indians were waiting to surrender. The army never got the message so they attacked. More than 300 men, women, and children were killed. This was the end of the Indian Wars.