Indian Wars

White explorers and settlers encountering Indians for the first time were met with any of various reactions, including friendliness, curiosity, fear, and hostility. Indians resented intruders; on the other hand they usually could be induced to trade for a variety of goods.

The Spanish enslaved and destroyed the natives of the West Indian islands, and their conquests of Mexico and Peru were ruthless. The Aztec, Inca, and Maya civilizations were destroyed. Many priests protested the cruelties, and devoted missionaries sought to Christianize the Indians. In much of South America, Central America, and Mexico, the Indians were little disturbed and eventually were absorbed into the general population.

The English settlers at Jamestown, Virginia, maintained an uneasy peace with Powhatan. After Powhatan's death, his brother Opechancanough led massacres of the settlers in 1622 and 1644.

Massachusetts settlers lived at peace with Massasoit, but fought his son King Philip. Later the colonists waged war against the Pequot in Connecticut.

The French in Canada were interested in the fur trade and became friendly with Algonquian tribes. The Iroquois took the British side in the French and Indian War.

During the American Revolutionary War frontier settlements were raided by Indian allies of the British. An American expedition under Major General John Sullivan defeated the Iroquois and destroyed their villages.

After the Revolution, Indians of the Northwest Territory opposed white settlement. Troops under General Arthur St. Clair were defeated with heavy loss. Major General Anthony Wayne's forces won the Battle of Fallen Timbers and Wayne negotiated the Treaty of Greenville, opening Ohio to settlement.

Tecumseh sought to unite tribes of the Middle West and South against the whites, but the defeat in 1811 of his brother, the Prophet, in the Battle of Tippecanoe thwarted his plan. His followers were allied with the British in the War of 1812.

When Andrew Jackson became President he sought to move all Indians west of the Mississippi River. Attempts to remove the Seminoles from Florida resulted in the Second Seminole War, 1835-42; although most were ultimately forced to move, a few hundred eluded the U.S. Army troops and remained in their homeland. The Black Hawk War (1832) was an unsuccessful effort by Sac and Fox Indians to resist attempts to move them out of Illinios.

The Mexican War and settlement of the dispute over the Oregon country added to the United States a huge area inhabited by numerous Indian tribes. From 1847 to 1891 there were no years, and very few months, in which one or more Indian fights were not recorded.

Indian war parties raided for horses and other booty. Infantry was scattered widely over the Plains to guard trails and settlements. Cavalry was used to pursue the raiders, but seldom could it bring them to bay. When pushed too hard Indian warriors scattered and rode off in all directions.

While great numbers of troops might be employed in the chase of a small band of elusive Indians, most of the fights were between small groups. Rarely were as many as 100 soldiers engaged. Indian attacks on settlements, wagon trains, or stagecoaches were infrequent, despite the popularity of such scenes in fiction and drama.

Indians west of the Mississippi River made no concerted effort to oppose the whites, and at no time did Indian wars halt the Westward Movement.

The Sioux were the most persistent fighters. Sioux, often accompanied by Cheyenne and Arapaho, conducted raids along the Oregon Trail in the 1850's. Santee Sioux in Minnesota killed more than 400 settlers in an outbreak in 1862. They were driven off and fled to their relatives the Teton Sioux. During the Civil War Union troops fought Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, 1864-65.

In 1866 Red Cloud's warriors massacred 82 soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. He had heavy casualties the following year, and signed a peace treaty in 1868. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse rallied some 5,000 warriors in 1876 and annihilated a cavalry force under George A. Custer near the Little Bighorn River. By 1877 most of the hostile Sioux had surrendered. Principal incidents of the Ghost Dance disorders of 1890 were the killing of Sitting Bull and the Battle of Wounded Knee.

Apache wars were almost continuous, but were fought separately against Apache tribes or bands that seldom aided each other.

Other important wars were fought against the Navahos, Comanches and Kiowas, Modocs, and Nez Percés.