Indian Wars: Western Wars

Background to the Indian Wars of the West

The Indian Wars in the West were the immediate result of American expansion and the movement of Euro-Americans across the continent following the acquisition of the territories of Louisiana (1803), Texas (1845), Oregon (1846), and the Southwest (1848). The rich natural resources of these territories attracted trappers, traders, miners, railroad companies, hunters, and homesteaders. By 1890, some 8.5 million immigrants had crossed the Mississippi River to settle in the West. Inevitably, this influx of settlers caused tensions with the 300,000 Indians who inhabited the region and who depended on its natural resources for their survival.

The consequences of westward expansion on Native American peoples were severe. Disease, warfare, and starvation resulted in tremendous suffering and depopulation. The population of the indigenous peoples of California, for example, plunged from 150,000 in 1850 to 35,000 in 1860. Between 1848 and 1890, the U.S. Army fought many wars with western tribes, who resisted the destruction of their [Page 367]resources, removal from their land, relocation onto reservations, forced acculturation, dismissal of their traditional ways, and abrogation of their treaty rights by federal policies.

In the Pacific Northwest, Native Americans were forced onto reservations following the Rogue River War, the Yakima War, and the Spokane War—all in the mid to late 1850s. In 1872 the Modocs took up arms in a desperate attempt to return to their homeland. Four years later, Chief Joseph led the Nez Percé on a march to Canada to seek a better future for his people. Both the Modocs and the Nez Percé failed to accomplish their goals, but their exploits on the battlefields caused major embarrassments for the Army.

On the northern plains the Army faced a powerful alliance of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, who particularly resented the decimation of the buffalo herds and the depletion of grass, timber, and game resources by migrants. Hoping to avoid armed confrontations, the United States negotiated the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, in which it promised to protect Indians against migrants and vice versa. In return for annuities and other payments, these Native Americans allowed the Army to construct forts along the Oregon and California trails. Unfortunately for all concerned, the government failed to provide the promised protection and prompt annuity payments, and hostilities soon erupted.

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