Culture Of The Plains Indians, Specially The Lakota Sioux

The West By: Christy King HIS/125 U.S. History 1865 to 1945 Date: January 26, 2014

The West Page 2 How did the culture of the Plains Indians, specially the Lakota Sioux, change in the late 19th century? In the Northern Plains the Lakota Sioux, were known as iconic horsemen. They were well-known out of all the Indian nations for their disagreements with U.S. military, photographs and paintings, and their famous leaders. They are known throughout U.S. history for the events that took place in the 18th century such as Battle of the Little Bighorn (Encyclopedia of the Great Plains; 2011). The Great Sioux Nation has many divisions, and the Lakota’s are
The Sioux would hunt for their own food, live off the land, and make their clothing out of leather and hide. More than half of the Sioux tribes live on reservations in northern Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota (Encyclopedia of the Great Plains; 2011). They only knew how to hunt for their food, and didn’t know other ways in order for survival. The white settlers progressively tore the Sioux tribe apart by taking away their land. They tried to keep their culture alive by having ceremonies “pow-wows” where they would sing, dance, and feast. They also dressed up in traditional Indian costumes like their ancestors did. The white settlers would make the Indians do things the way they wanted them done, and taught them to speak English. The settlers forced the Indians to give up their way of living, and their
military troops was one of the many significant conflicts between both parties. It resulted in 300 deaths of the Sioux Indians. Wounded Knee’s massacre was the last major battle in the late 19th century lead by Indians. The U.S. militaries constant pursuit of the Sioux leader “Sitting Bull” was because he led many of the Sioux Indians away from reservations. In 1889, Sioux Indians gathered at Wounded Knee to take part in the Ghost Dance. The Indians believed the Ghost Dance was a movement of religious revival that would help to reclaim the land that they lost. The U.S. military was in fear of the armed and large number of Indians that had gathered together. They tried to prohibit the Ghost Dance ceremonies because they viewed it as demented by the participants (The Wounded Knee Massacre; 2003-2014). Sitting Bull was a leader of the Sioux Indians, and had major influence over them. Military officials arrested Sitting Bull for fear he would lead the Indians from the reservations. Wounded Knee begun because of the death of Sitting Bull, his followers, and police men. Tensions arise after the death, and murder of their great