Indians Impact On Native Americans

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“My reasons teach me that land cannot be sold. The Great Spirit gave it to his children to live upon.” (Gold, 7). During the eighteen hundreds, thousands of Indians’ were forced from their homes due to westward expansion. Indians’ suffered and lost their family during the move to reservations. The impact on Native Americans’ was negative because Natives’ were forced from their homes, wars were started between settlers’ and Natives’, and many Native Americans’ died when moving locations.
One of the most known negative impacts, was when the Natives’ were forced off their lands. The life on reservations were dull. With no place to hunt, Indians’ were forced to rely on government handouts (Gold, 41). Many Indians’ died on the reserves’
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For example, “Early on the morning of November 29, 1864, a troop of Colorado volunteers opened fire on the sleeping Indian village. Black Kettle stood in front of his tipi, waving an American flag that President Lincoln had given him and a white flag of truce. The troops ignored these signs of peace, preferring instead to slaughter as many men, women, and children as they could” (Gold, 16). Despite the fact the Indians’ surrendered, the troops decided to kill as many as possible instead. When the remaining Indians’ returned to the village 200 were dead. The most expensive war was with the Seminole tribe, it cost more than 40 million. Florida officials, were determined to capture the tribe. The army moved four thousand Indians' who were taken to Indian Territory. Another fifty or sixty Indians were killed during the war (Gold, 66). Not only was the Seminole war the most expensive, it had the most casualties. This resulted in the most negative war between the Indians’ and settlers’. The first victims of the war were the Fox and Sauk tribes. When the two tribes arrived back to their homeland, they were confronted by hundreds of troops. Any tribe member who could not stay ahead of the troops was killed (McGill, 6). The troops had killed anyone who could not stay ahead of them, resulting in more Indian deaths. This was the first tribe to be confronted by troops. After the …show more content…
Many starved along the way, causing even more Indian deaths. Many members of the Cherokee tribe died from starvation and disease. The rest of the remaining Indians’ were left in the hands of the abusive military and the pain of losing their homes (McGill, 13). Many Indian lives were destroyed when their friends and family died. This had a huge impact on the Indians’ lives as they had to suffer for years alone on the reservations. The first group of Cherokee began their march to the reservations in the sizzling heat of summer, while the other 12,000 suffered in prison camps. The remaining 12,000 then traveled through the freezing winter. Many starved and froze along the trail (McGill, 13). This reduced the Cherokee population greatly, causing families to be broken or disbanded. Once the Cherokee arrived at the reserve, they too joined the other dispirited Indians’ and started their new life. The living conditions on the reserve was miserable, because there was no where to hunt, the Indians’ were forced to live off of Government rations. Many Indians’ starved due to the little amounts of food they were given (McGill, 13). The Indian population was already dwindling because of the wars and the long walk to the reserve. Due to starvation many more died, negatively impacting the Indians’ even more. Overall, the treatment of Indians’ was cruel and inhumane. The settlers’ didn’t treat them like