1. History
Exam
Revision

2. Reservations:
• Territorial – Tribes were split up into smaller groups
• Political – Rations given to head of family, Individual plots of land, Government
took control of legal matters
• Economic – Ban on leaving reservation so couldn’t hunt buffalo, steal horses.
• Religious – Ban on religious festivals and ceremonies, no need for medicine men,
forced to convert to Christianity
• Education – Children sent away to boarding school, isolated from language and
culture
Buffalo Hunting: Changes to Indian Way of Life
• Buffalo hunted for sport
• Buffalo hunted for hides
• Buffalo bones collected and used
• Went from 60 million to 85 in 1910
• Meant Indians had to rely on Government for food
Railroad:
• Brought settlers west, and onto the Great Plains
• Transported Army and weapons
• Buffalo hunting as a sport

3. Jesse Chisholm:
• Famous for blazing the Chisholm trail
• Cattlemen used the trail to drive cattle to Abilene
• The trail avoided hostile farmers who complained that the Longhorns
carried fleas that they were immune to but caused problems for their own
cattle
Joseph McCoy:
• Set up the first ‘cow town’ called Abilene
• There was a hotel, stockyard, office and bank so cattlemen and cowboys
could stay they, keep cattle and carry out business transactions
• He got commission for every cow who passed through Abilene
Charles Goodnight:
• After the civil war he found he had 5000 cattle
• He sold his cattle to the US soldiers at Fort Sumner
• He and Oliver Loving established the ‘Goodnight-loving’ trail which avoided
hostile farmers but went through Indian territory and didn’t have enough
water
John Iliff:
• One of the first men to graze and breed cattle on the Great Plains
• He developed new breeds by crossing longhorns with English Herefords
• He sold beef to railway workers and Indian Reservations

4. During the Civil War (1861-65) Texan cattle men and cowboys left their herds to fight in
the war. The cattle bred freely.
At the end of the war, there were lots of cattle and demand for beef in the East was high.
So Cowboys went on the Long Drive to drive cattle north to the railroad.
Iliff realized that breeding and grazing cattle on the Great Plains would be much better
because then you wouldn’t have to have the Long Drive. More railroads being built so it
was easier to transport. More people moved onto the Plains to breed cattle and branded
them so they could roam free. This was called the open range
Problems were building in the cattle industry:
• Too many people breeding cattle, too much supply not enough demand so prices fall
• Too many cattle so they were over-grazing – grass never got time to grow back
• Men were experimenting with cross-breeding, but they weren’t sturdy enough
• In 1883 there was a drought, the grass wouldn’t grow, cattle died
• In 1886-7 there was a terrible winter, men died, cattle died
The only solution was to fence off land, which meant the end of the open range. Barbed
wire was invented so fencing was cheap, and cattlemen no longer needed rivers flowing
through their land because the wind-pump had been invented. The lifestyle of cowboys
changed as they weren’t need to ride round the range, but to mend fences

5. The Battle of Little Bighorn 1876
Gibbon + Terry
2
Custer had strict
instructions to
wait for Terry and
1 General Crook Gibbon. But force
Sioux Camp was engaged marched his men
in a war with through the night.
the Sioux and He reaches camp
Gen. Crook had to retreat a day early
3 Custer split his
4
men. Reno and
Custer
Benteen were
Custer had to
attacked
go onto high
ground
because of
quicksand and
was spotted.
Reno All of his men
were killed

6. Was Custer to blame for their defeat at little Bighorn?
Custer to blame Other factors
He turned down General Terry’s offer of No one in the army realized there was a
Gibbons cavalry + Gatling guns total of 7000 Indian warriors
Custer was used to surprise attacks and The geography of Little Bighorn was
normally divided his troops against him, e.g. quicksand
Benteen said that he didn’t believe Everyone thought that when the arrived
Custer had a battle plan the Indians would try and escape not
stand and fight
Scouts told Custer that there was a vast The Indians had superior weapons
Indian camp but Custer ignored this
Custer and his men rode all night across The Indians were very confident
Wolf Mountains. They had no sleep because Sitting Bull had had a vision of
and only one break them winning
Custer made the mistake in thinking the
Indians were running away and
attacked without waiting for the rest of
the army
He divided his men so they were beaten
more easily

7. Mountain Men They blazed the trails west. They
were the only ones who knew
They were the first (after the Indians) about the route, so they made maps
to travel west through the Rocky and acted as guides to wagon train
Mountains migrants
They were fur trappers who lived in Jim Bridger was an important mountain
the mountains in order to hunt man…
animals, e.g. Beavers - He had great mapping skills of the
Great Plains
- He was the first man to see Great Salt
Once a year, all of the trappers
Lake
gathered at an agreed spot to
- Built a trading post, ‘Fort Bridger’ to
trade. Up to 600 trappers came.
provide supplies to migrants on
They met with merchants and
the Oregon trail
traded fur in return for
- Led 100’s of wagons safely through the
alcohol, rifles, powder, sugar etc…
Rockies
They also spread the word about
- He discovered a pass that shortened
fertile lands in the west.
the journey West by 61 miles
- Created the Bridger Trail
They had to face harsh climates, grizzly - Worked as a guide and an army
bears and hostile Indians scout

8. Reasons for Migration Westwards:
PUSH Factors PULL Factors
Economic Depression Fertile Land
Unemployment Cheap Land
Agricultural Spacious
Depression Religion – convert
Too crowded Indians
Land is expensive Stories of Prosperity
Nothing to loose Manifest Destiny
Persecuted Good Climate
Discovery of Gold
No persecution
Family already living
there
Railroad Advertising
Government Advertising
Challenge

9. Homesteaders and women settling on the Plains
Problems Women Faced Solutions
There was no wood to burn Had to collect barrow loads of
Dung burns too quickly cattle/buffalo dung
Keep collecting and constantly stoking
fires
No schools Taught children at home. Later, they
advertised for house school teacher
No resources Make do with what they have
Sod houses were hard to clean Used brushes made from twigs.
Bugs, fleas and disease Soap and candles made from fat
Hard manual labor Better Machinery
Illness: Homemade remedies:
Snakebite Warm manure
Ear ache Warm urine
Measles Roasted mouse
Lack of clothes Wool from sheep - washed, picked,
carding, weaving and spinning. Share
tasks with others

10. Homesteaders
Problems they faced Solutions
Lack of timber for building a home and fuel Cut the earth and built sod houses. Buffalo
dung for food
Timber culture act 1873, 160 acres free if you
plant 40 acres of trees
Extremes of weather and hard soil made Turkey Red Wheat was well suited to the
growing crops difficult Plains
Protecting crops and fencing off land Barbed wire, invented in 1874 by Joseph
Glidden
Plagues and swarms of grasshoppers No solution till 1900s when pesticides were
produced
Prairie fires Care and planting crops with gaps between
them so the fire couldn’t spread easily
Isolation and Loneliness In 1869 the Railway was completed and you
could travel East/West, and supplies could be
transported
Ploughing the land – Ploughs too weak A stronger plough was invented by John Deere
(Sod-buster)
Lack of water The wind pump invented by Daniel Halliday
in 1874
The method dry farming was developed
Desert Land Act 1877 enabled you to buy 640
acres of land - irrigation systems were needed

11. The Government and Lawlessness in the West
Territorial Officials Role
US Marshal Appointed by President. Responsible for
entire territory, too much for one man, so
he appointed deputies
Deputy Marshal Enforced law in towns and counties.
They tracked down Army Deserters
Town Marshal Appointed locally in townships. Dealt
with local outbreaks of violence (e.g. pub
brawls)
Sheriffs Elected by local people for 2 years.
Responsible for law and order in
counties. Local people could be called in
to form ‘posses’ and chase criminals.
Sometimes they were lawless – carried
guns
Judges There were 3 judges appointed by
president. Prisoners had to wait a long
time to be tried because they had to travel
around the territory. So lynching
(hanging without trial) happened often