Indian Wars Timeline of Events

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Indian Wars

American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who continuously sought to expand their territory, pushing the indigenous populations westwards...

Timeline of Events

1763

5.7.1763

Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins – Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.

1814

8.9.1814

Indian Wars: the Creek sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving up huge parts of Alabama and Georgia.

1832

4.6.1832

Indian Wars: The Black Hawk War begins – the Sauk warrior Black Hawk begins a war with the United States.

1842

8.14.1842

Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma.

1855

9.3.1855

Indian Wars: in Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan Massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 between men, women and children.

1862

8.17.1862

Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.

8.19.1862

Indian Wars: during an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.

11.5.1862

Indian Wars: In Minnesota, 303 Dakota warriors are found guilty of rape and murder of whites and are sentenced to hang. 38 are ultimately executed and the others reprieved.

1863

7.30.1863

Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, agreeing to stop the harassment of emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah.

1864

11.29.1864

Indian Wars: Sand Creek Massacre

1868

11.27.1868

Indian Wars: Battle of Washita River

1873

8.4.1873

Indian Wars: whilst protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the United States 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer clashes for the first time with the Sioux near the Tongue River; only one man on each side is killed.

1876

6.17.1876

Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud

11.25.1876

Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River.

1877

5.5.1877

Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.

8.9.1877

Indian Wars: Battle of Big Hole

9.5.1877

Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.

1881

7.20.1881

Indian Wars: Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford, North Dakota

1886

9.4.1886

Indian Wars: after almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo, with his remaining warriors, surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona.