33.8 America: a.d. 1801 to 1900  (Page 25/31)

The indian problem in the last half of the century

By way of recapitulation we should mention that many Indian problems began after the United States acquired Florida through the treaty ratified in 1821. Then Monroe's bowing to the demands of land craving "westerners" and Jackson's follow-up policies resulted in the attempt to remove all Indians to regions west of the Mississippi. This began in the old "Northwest" and the lower South. We have seen that the Seminoles of Florida refused to move and under the leadership of Osceola, retreated to the fastness of the everglades, where they remain in some 200,000 acres of swampland today. The only "western" statesman to denounce these shabby activities was Henry Clay. From 1853 to 1856 there were 52 treaties signed, mostly with Indian nations west of the Mississippi, resulting in the addition of 174,000,000 acres to the national domain. There were 200,000 Indians between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains at the beginning of the century.

The Indian story of the second half of the century, however, is that of the Great Plains tribes and their attempts to prevent white settlements. The Sioux, Blackfoot, Crow, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Nez Perce

The various tribes occupied and roamed over large territories at times and it will be easier to discuss them by tribes, rather than narrowly by regions. The Shoshones of Wyoming territory were linguistically and culturally related to the Utes and Paiutes and were actually great warriors against their Indian enemies (Sioux, Crows, Blackfoot, Cheyenne and Arapahos), but they made friends with the whites of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and later helped the Mormons to make safe passage. Fort Washakie was named after the great Shoshone chief. The Blackfoot occupied part of Wyoming and Montana territory, while the Nes Percel were primarily in Idaho. The Utes, some of whom were also friendly to whites, were primarily in Colorado, where there were no U.S. forts.