Custers Last Stand essays

Custers Last Stand essays Americans often pride themselves for living in the land of the free. This is rather ironic considering that we stole our beloved country from its original inhabitants, the Native Americans. Not many people are aware of the severity of the numerous hardships the American Indians have faced over the years. Perhaps one of the most famous Native American conflicts is the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as General Custers Last Stand. The end of the civil war marked the beginning of a large-scale westward movement of American Settlers. The area surrounding the Black hills proved to be especially popular due to the discovery of gold. This proved to be a problem however, because this land already had occupants; the Sioux Indians. Tensions between the settlers and the Indians had been mounting as more and more miners and settlers ignored the Treaty of Fort Laramie, which had designated the area a reservation exclusively for the Indians. Many Indians were unsatisfied by the treaty and left the reservation, and the tensions continued to rise. In 1875 United States Government issued an ultimatum to all Sioux Indians. The Ultimatum ordered the all Indians, even those who didnt have anything to do with the treaty, to proceed to the Great Sioux Reservation. This outraged the Indians because their sacred Black Hills were not part of the Reservation and many did not follow the order. In response to there unwillingness to co mply with the ultimatum General Phillip Sheridan, commander of the armed forces of the plains, decided that this mixture of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians were a threat and needed to be forced onto their reservation. Sheridan devised a three-prong invasion plan and mobilized forces in the Montana, Dakota, and Wyoming territories. In May of 1876 three groups of soldiers set off from the Wyoming, Montana and Dakota Territories on a mission to round up Native Americans and place them on the Gr...