At the end of this tutorial, students will be to:
After the signing of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, very little went right in terms of the Amerindians of the Great Plains keeping the land that had belonged to them for generations. Yes, they won a major victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn over General George A. Custer and his 7th Cavalry, but all that did was to inspire the U.S. soldiers to take nothing for granted and to shoot first and ask questions later. Senator Henry Dawes from Massachusetts believed he was helping the situation with the eponymous Dawes Act, granting Amerindians 160 acres of reservation land, which they could live on and farm. But this was not realistic, as many of the tribes he was trying to "help" were nomadic. The final battle of the Indian Wars took place at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, a defeat for the Amerindians and one that proved to them they should move to reservations.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of
fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men
are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is
cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them,
have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are –
perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them
I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.