9 Les Indiens (extraits)
9.1 Histoire
By the 1850s almost all the Indian tribes lived to the West of the Mississippi River as East Indian tribes have been forced to move to the Indian territory present-day Oklahama.
They were at that time more than 350,000 Indians.
It should be first noted that Indians have often fought each other - which was one of the reasons for the construction of forts in the West. Every tribe in the West had his enemies and his allies and wars and especially raids were common.
During the West migration, Indians often demanded tolls, sold objects to settlers or just begged. Sometimes they captured women and children and asked for ransom.
Conflicts erupted from the 1850s when white encroachments, diseases spread and diminishing resources on Indian hunting territories impacted their lives. They generally began with a disagreement regarding property, retaliation by one group against the other, and finally counter-retaliation by the opposite party. Indian eventually raided farms and ranches for food, stoled horses and cattle and attacked immigrants. This frequently culminated in the armed involvement of the U.S. Army and as a result, numerous Indian wars fought throughout the western regions.
From 1860 to 1890 though the plains were the scene of constant conflicts there were also many conflicts in the states bordering Mexico. Half of the Indian war battles between 1850 and 1890 took place in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas
In a attempt to avoid conflicts the US governement had to deal with Indian tribes through treaties (see later in the section)
The Bureau of Indian Affairs was formed on March 11, 1824, by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun, who created the agency as a division within his department, without authorization from the US Congress. Its goals were to help the federal government negotiate trade and treaties and ultimately assimilate Indians into the US culture.
In 1896, when the wars broke out, they were only ~ 250, 000 Indians left.
9.2 Culture
The difference in climate, geography and resources of each region of the West has resulted in very distinct cultures between indians.
Only the organization of the Indians is more or less identical everywhere. The important figures of the tribe are the chief, the shaman and the war chief, followed by the elders, the warriors, the squaws and the children. The chief was above all the guardian of customs, he had no real power of command and the tribe did not obey the rules of the majority. When no consensus was reached, each indian acted in his own way, which was a major problem in enforcing the treaties.
The tribes generally grouped together a hundred individuals, often composed of less than 10 men, about twenty women and children and adolescents. The men practiced hunting, the women took care of the camp. Names were given in adolescence, often following a vision.
The tribes spoke different languages, incomprehensible to others. The tribes of the plains invented the language of the signs which enabled them to communicate.
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9.7 Tribus du Nord et du Centre
Main tribes
Nez Percés, Ute, Easter Shoshone
Main Wars and Events
Walker War (1851-1853), Black Hawk War (1865-1872), Nez Percé War (1877), White River War (1879).
Main Treaties
Treaty of Abiquiú (1849), Fort Laramie Treaty (1851), Council of Walla walla (1855), Fort Bridger Treaty (1863), Ute Treaty (1868)
Reservations (until 1883)
Style de vie
The Nez Percés are inhabitants of the highlands. They sought a variety of game, berries, and roots. Their dwellings were communal lodges, A-framed and mat-covered, varying in size and sometimes housing as many as 30 families.
Utes were commercants.
Histoire
In Idaho, until the end of the 1850s, emigrants were moving on the Oregon Trail without encoutering any problems with Indians. In 1855 the Nez Percé agreed to the Treaty of Walla Walla with the U.S. governement that created a large reservation encompassing most of their traditional land. In 1860, gold was discovered on the Salmon and Clearwater rivers. The influx of miners and settlers into the Nez Perce reservation raised tensions among all the tribes. It led U.S. in 1863 to force renegotiation of the treaty of 1855. The new treaty reduced considerably the size of the reservation. The Nez Perce were divided when some chiefs agreed to a new treaty that permitted the intrusion. Many Nez Percé however had never accepted the treaty, and hostile actions and raids by both settlers and Indian eventually evolved into the Nez Percé War of 1877.
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9.7.2 Ute
The Ute are divided into the Northern Ute, the Southern Ute and the Ute Mountains.
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Northern Ute tribes (Tabeguache, Yampa, Grand River, and Uintah )
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Southern Ute tribes (the Muache, Capote)
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the Ute Mountains tribes (Weeminuche)
