Conflict on the Plains, 1862-1868 (Edexcel GCSE History)

Indigenous tribes wanted to negotiate treaties with the US government to protect their interests. Treaties such as the Fort Laramie Treaty established boundaries and guaranteed rights. In the short term, this helped relations between indigenous tribes and the US government.

The US government later broke agreements with the indigenous tribes. The government encouraged white migrants to trespass and settle on indigenous lands. This led to increased tensions between indigenous tribes and settlers.

The US government did not protect the tribes as they had promised to do. Many tribes felt that they had no option but to defend themselves by force. Indigenous leaders such as Little Crow, Red Cloud and Sitting Horse led resistance movements against the US government.

The indigenous tribes fought for their land rights and cultural survival. War was not the desired outcome for indigenous tribes. However, it became a necessary response to the threat posed by the US government's policies and actions.

In 1851, the Dakota Sioux signed a treaty with the US government. They gave up 24 million acres of land for a $1.4 million annuity

• The Dakota Sioux had to pay off $200,000 of debt to traders before they received the annuity

The number of white settlers increased rapidly in Minnesota

• Settlers took the fertile farming land within the Dakota Sioux's reservation

• The remaining area of the reservation could not produce enough food for the Dakota Sioux to survive over the winter

Corrupt agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs ran the Dakota Sioux's reservation

• When bands left the reservation to hunt, the agents punished them by keeping the annuity supplies

• Agents would hold onto supplies until the Dakota Sioux offered to pay high prices for them. They also gave the tribe rotten supplies

In 1858, the government forced the Dakota Sioux to give away half of their reservation land in exchange for money to pay off their debts

• Little Crow was incredibly angry as the government had broken their promise not to take away land

• The reservation was already too small to sustain the tribe

In 1858, gold was discovered in the Colorado Territory

• Prospectors began trespassing on Cheyenne and Arapaho land. The Fort Laramie Treaty guaranteed this land to the tribes

• The white settlers scared the buffalo away

• The prospectors demanded that the US government move the tribes onto reservations

In 1861, the Arapaho and Cheyenne chiefs signed the Treaty of Fort Wise

• While the chiefs agreed to move to east Colorado, the young warriors did not

• A warrior brotherhood called the Dog Soldiers remained in their old land and fought with prospectors

Black Kettle set up camp in Sand Creek to negotiate with the government. He believed that he was under army protection

• John Evans, the territory governor, saw this as an opportunity to 'kill and destroy' the tribe

In 1862, gold was discovered in Montana

• By 1865, 2,000 prospectors had used the Bozeman Trail to reach Montana. This crossed the hunting grounds of the Lakota Sioux

• The use of the Bozeman Trail broke the Fort Laramie Treaty

In 1866, the government called a council. They wanted the Lakota Sioux to allow people to travel on the Bozeman Trail

• Red Cloud discovered that the army had brought materials to build forts

• Red Cloud knew what happened to Little Crow. He did not trust the US government to stick to its promise of gifts and hunting grounds