Online Encyclopedia
Indian Wars
The Indian Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and Native American peoples ("Indians") of North America. The wars, which ranged from colonial times to the Wounded Knee massacre and "closing" of the American frontier in 1890, collectively resulted in the conquest of Indian peoples and their decimation, assimilation, or forced relocation to Indian reservations.
The term Indian Wars is misleading because it groups American Indians under a single heading. American Indians were (and remain) a diverse category of peoples with discrete histories. Living in societies organized in a variety of ways (not necessarily as tribes or nations), Indians usually made decisions about war and peace at the local level, though they sometimes fought as part of formal alliances such as the Iroquois Confederation, or in temporary confederacies inspired by charismatic leaders such as Tecumseh. Native Americans were never a unified people any more than Europeans (or Asians or Africans) were.
To see the Indian wars as a racial war between Indians and European-Americans ("whites") overlooks the complex historical reality of the struggle. Indians and whites often fought alongside each other; Indians often fought against Indians. For example, although the Battle of Horseshoe Bend is often described an "American victory" over the Creek Indians, the victors were a combined force of Cherokees, Creeks, and Tennessee militia led by Andrew Jackson. From a broad perspective, the Indian wars were about the conquest of Native American peoples by the United States; up close it was rarely quite as simple as that.
Citing figures from a 1894 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, one scholar has noted that the more than 40 Indian wars from 1775 to 1890 reportedly claimed the lives of some 45,000 Indians and 19,000 whites.1 This rough estimate includes women and children, since noncombatants were often killed in frontier warfare (see also "Indian massacres").
Note that this article covers wars primarily involving Native Americans and European-Americans in the area that became the contiguous United States. Other "Indian Wars" occurred throughout the Western Hemisphere, including wars fought between Indians in which Europeans played little or no role.
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Colonial Era (1637-1775)
These are wars fought by Native Americans with colonizing powers in the future territory of the United States before the Declaration of Independence. See also: European colonization of the Americas.
- Pequot War (1637)
- Beaver Wars (1642-1698)
- Dutch-Indian War (1643)
- King Philip's War (1675-1676)
- Pueblo Rebellion (1680)
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French and Indian Wars
- King William's War (1689?1697)
- Queen Anne's War (1702-1713)
- King George's War (1748)
- French and Indian War (1754-1763)
- Tuscarora War (1711-1715)
- Dummer's War (1724-1725)
- Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-1766)
- Lord Dunmore's War (1774)
East of the Mississippi (1776-1835)
American Revolution (1776-1783)
Main article: Frontier warfare during the American Revolution
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"The American Revolution, a fight for freedom from colonial rule, was also the most extensive and destructive 'Indian war' in the nation's history. Whereas other wars affected individual nations, the Revolution affected all Native Americans east of the Mississippi."
- --Ray Raphael, A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for Independence (New York: The New Press, 2001), p. 244.
Wars of the Old Northwest
Little Turtle's War // War of the Wabash Confederacy (1791-1794)
During the later 1790s, American settlers began to flood into the Western United States. Without unified leadership, many Native American peoples began to crumble apart and moved farther and farther west. Although publicly the ascendent Jeffersonian party of the era condemned the genocide of Native Americans, there was a strong anti-Native sentiment. As early as 1780, Thomas Jefferson himself, acting as governor of Virginia, wrote that "If we are to wage a campaign against these Indians the end proposed should be their extermination, or their removal beyond the lakes of the Illinois River. The same world would scarcely do for them and us."
A series of Native American insurrections against the United States led to victories against isolated armies in the early 1790s, in part due to the large coalition formed between various peoples (the Wabash Confederacy) and led by men such as Blue Jacket, Little Turtle, and Buckongahelas.
However, the Indians were decisively defeated by a large U.S. army at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, and their villages and crops were razed. They were forced to sign the Treaty of Greenville, which ceded modern-day Ohio to the United States.
Tecumseh's War (1811)
After the Treaty of Greenville, white settlers quickly rushed in to settle territory reserved for the Native Americans under the terms of the treaty. Many Native American societies in the region were weakened by diseases brought by the whites; others were persuaded to sell the land and remove to the West.
Resistance to this process which was slowly eating away at the Indian community of the region was led by the Shawnee warrior Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa ("The Prophet"). They encouraged a purification of American Indian culture, specifically avoiding alcohol and extensive contact with whites, in order to hold on to their land. Tecumseh's followers were defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe by William Henry Harrison.
The War of 1812
Black Hawk War (1832)
Without support from their British allies, the Native Americans of the Ohio River valley and Old Northwest region were pushed west of the Mississippi River by the federal government through a series of imposed treaties. The major resistance to relocation in this region was the Black Hawk War in 1832. However, the combined forces of Sauk and Fox tribes failed to prevent the land from United States annexation. The Battle of Bad Axe marked the end of the Black Hawk War after the Native Americans were crushed by Colonel Zachary Taylor's forces.
Seminole Wars (1818-1843)
- The First Seminole War in 1818 concerned the invasion of Florida by U.S. troops in retribution for Spanish aid to the Seminole. It was concluded by the Adams-Onís Treaty, which finalized the transfer of Florida to the United States in 1819
- The Second Seminole War (1835-1843). The U.S. defeated the Seminole and the Creek tribes of Georgia, who were forced to relocate farther west. One of the major battles was the Battle of Lake Okeechobee in 1837.
Indian removal
After the War of 1812, the United States government began to focus on developments at home. During this period, one of the key national questions was that of Native American policy. There was no question that Indian removal would take place; but the method and rationale for the removal was a subject of controversy. President Thomas Jefferson argued that "civilized" Native Americans should be allowed to stay as United States citizens. However, during the Presidency of James Monroe and beyond, it became clear that white settlers would stop at nothing short of total removal, "civilized" or not. In the South especially, settlers clamored for the removal of Native Americans so that they could steal their lands.
During this era, several presidents were elected at least in part because of their success in removing or killing Native Americans: Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Zachary Taylor are several.
Indian Removal Act of 1830
Jackson was responsible for the notorious Indian Removal Act of 1830, and thus the Trail of Tears, in unconstitutional defiance of a Supreme Court ruling.
In 1829, American demand for land due to population growth and the discovery of gold on Cherokee land led to pressure on Native American lands. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act that Jackson signed into law. The act was challenged successfully by the Cherokee Nation in 1832 in the US Supreme Court as Worcester v. Georgia, in 1832. Despite the Supreme Court decision, Jackson took no action to uphold the Court verdict, and in fact would openly defy it; he was quoted as saying "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!" As the court has no executive powers to enforce its decisions, Jackson's executive disregard of the court marked a time when the Judicial branch of government was very weak.
It is worth noting that Jackson may well not have wanted to displace Native Americans, but instead felt that circumstances left him with little recourse. Supreme Court rulings aside, permitting Native Americans to remain would likely have lead to their displacment or destruction at the hands of local whites. Jackson's only other two options beside the Indian Removal Act were to deploy troops to protect Native Americans -- politically untenable and militarily unfeasible -- or to simply kill all Native Americans, which was morally repugnant.
The state of Georgia held two land lotteries in 1835 to divide the Cherokee land, and Jackson sent military support to oust the Native population. This led to what is now known as the "Trail of Tears", which killed roughly four thousand Cherokee (25%), en route to Oklahoma.
West of the Mississippi (1861-1890)
- Apache and Navajo Wars (1861-1886) After Col. Christopher "Kit" Carson kills or relocates many Apache to reservations in 1862, skirmishes between the U.S. and Apaches continue until 1886, when Geronimo surrenders.
- Red Cloud's War (1866 - 1868) Lakota chief Makhpyia luta (Red Cloud) conducts the most successful war against the U.S. during the Indian Wars. By the Fort Laramie Treaty , the U.S. granted a large reservation to the Lakota, without military presence or oversight, no settlements, and no reserved road building rights. The reservation included the entire Black Hills.
- Sand Creek Massacre -- John Chivington kills almost 150 surrendered Cheyenne and Arapaho Indnians
- Modoc War - (1872 - 1873) - 53 Modoc warriors under Captain Jack hold off 1000 men of the U.S. Army for 7 months. Major General Edward Canby was killed during a peace confrence, becoming the only general to be killed during the Indian Wars.
- Red River War (1874-1875) between Comanche and U.S. forces under the command of William Sherman and Lt. Gen. Phillip Sheridan
- Black Hills War (1876 - 1877) - Lakota under Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull) and Tasunka witko (Crazy Horse) fight the U.S. after repeated violations of the Fort Laramie Treaty.
- Battle of Rosebud - (1876) Lakota under Tasunka witko defeat U.S. Army column moving to reinforce Custer's 7th Cavalry.
- Battle of the Little Bighorn - (1876) Sioux and Cheyenne under the leadership of Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull) and Tasunka witko (Crazy Horse) defeat the 7th Cavalry under George Armstrong Custer.
- Massacre of Wounded Knee (December 28, 1890) Tatanka Iyotake and some 200 Sioux are killed by the U.S. 7th Cavalry.
See also
Notes
1: Thornton, pages 48-9.
References
- Thornton, Russell. American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492. University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.