American Indian Wars

The “American Indian Wars” is the term used in the United States for the conflicts between European colonists—and, eventually, the US government—and the indigenous peoples or American Indians. These took place in North America from the time of the European settlements in the early seventeenth century until approximately 1890.

The American Indian Wars, which ran the gamut from large-scale warfare to guerrilla-style skirmishes, lasted several centuries and spanned the Revolutionary War, the Mexican-American War over Texas annexation, and the Civil War. While in the beginning the conflicts were caused by colonial encroachment in native lands and cultural misunderstandings, they continued when wars among the Spanish, British, and French empires drove European armies to seek alliances among American Indians. In time, the United States’ policy of Manifest Destiny led the government to pressure the native populations, often violently, into increasingly small territories and enclosures known as reservations.

Background

Warfare was common in all of the Americas between colonizing Europeans and indigenous peoples. The wars that took place in North America starting in the early seventeenth century are known collectively as the American Indian Wars. These conflicts involved many tribes, constantly changing alliances, and gave the upper hand to different peoples at different times. The Powhatan Confederacy, for example, nearly destroyed the fledgling Jamestown colony; the Puritans, however, virtually wiped out the Pequots between 1636 and 1637. War alliances were made between colonists and native peoples, as when New England colonists, with the aid of some American Indian tribes, nearly annihilated native groups such as the Wampanoags, Narragansetts, and others in 1675.

In time, American Indians became key players in the international wars between the empires of England, France, and Spain. For example, in the seventeenth-century war between France and England, the Mohawks and Abenakis sided with the French, and the Cherokees and Chickasaws with the British. The French and their native allies prevailed during the first part of the battles, which is why the conflict is referred to as the French and Indian War. The British eventually dominated, taking over most of formerly French Canada.

Eventually in North America, many indigenous tribes came to consider colonists as a much greater threat than the British Crown. Therefore, many tribes sided and fought with the British during the American Revolution. During the War of 1812 between the United States and the British Empire, the British made Tecumseh, a leader of the Shawnee, a brigadier general and used allied native forces to capture key resources. Despite valuable aid from the tribes, the British deserted their native allies at the end of the war. The war took place on many fronts, from maritime warfare, to the South of the United States and in what is today Canada. American Indians participated in a series of treaties with the new US government, but in time American forces penetrated the core of Iroquois territory, which extended west of the Great Lakes and into Canada, leaving a wake of destruction behind. This drove the regional tribes westward or into reservations.

Overview

The American Indian Wars, which ended by 1890, were among the most tragic conflicts ever fought on the continent. Used to small-scale raiding, the natives could not prevail in the end against organized large-scale European military and the US government’s policy of relentless territorial expansion known as Manifest Destiny.

Expansionist policies and white settlements were at the forefront of most tribal resistance. When the Spanish ceded Florida to the United States in 1819, for example, the government began forcing the Seminole tribes to relocate. The refusal of Seminoles and groups of escaped slaves to abandon their territories caused the Seminole Wars of 1836–42 and 1855–38. These annihilated almost all of the members of the tribe. On the Pacific Coast, the rush of settlers in search of gold brought more warfare, plus diseases to which native peoples had no immunity. These events reduced the indigenous population from 150,000 to 35,000 in the years between 1845 and 1860. Other wars that took place in the mid-1850s were used to force native tribes into reservations. In the southern Plains, native tribes proved a challenge to the expansionist policies of the government, provoking deadly warfare against the Sioux, Kiowas, Arapahos, and others during more than a decade. The Southern plains tribes were finally defeated in the Red River War of 1874–75.

The Nez Perce War of 1877 was one of the most heroic episodes in the history of the United States. The Nez Perce had proved a great help to white explorers and maintained friendly relations with the US government. However, when the US government pressured the tribes to move to a reservation far from their homeland, Chief Joseph resisted. The tribe led the military on a 1,500-mile chase that ended close to the Canadian border. The tragic event captured the attention and sympathy of the American public.

Land for cultivation kept attracting settler migration to the Dakotas, causing the government to engage in more wars against native tribes, which culminated in the famous destruction of Custer’s cavalry at Little Big Horn by the coalition-led Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. The tribes eventually had to settle for peace, and Sitting Bull lived out his life on a reservation. A final rise among American Indians was provoked by shrinking reservations and widespread government corruption, culminating in the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890.

The acquisition of the southwest region and Texas in the 1840s proved a catalyst for new conflicts between American Indians and white settlements. After lengthy campaigns the Apaches, led by Geronimo, Cochise, and Victorio, were finally forced to surrender in the 1880s. Except for another violent encounter in 1973 at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the American Indian Wars in the United States ended in the late nineteenth century.

In short, white settlement expansion and forced removal policies kept meeting with sporadic American Indian resistance. Armed resistance to reservations ultimately failed, as native peoples were unable to withstand the territorial expansion of white settlements backed by military power.

Bibliography

Ehle, John. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. New York: Anchor, 1997. Print.

Fowler, William M. Empires at War: The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America, 1754–1763. London: Walker, 2006. Print.

Hickey, Donald R. The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict. Champaign: U of Illinois P, 2012. Print.

La Vere, David. The Tuscarora War: Indians, Settlers, and the Fight for the Carolina Colonies. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 2013. Print.

Nunnally, Michael L. American Indian Wars: A Chronology of Confrontations Between Native Peoples and Settlers and the United States Military, 1500–1901. Jefferson: McFarland, 2010. Print.

Taylor, Alan. The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels & Indian Allies. New York: Vintage, 2011. Print.

Tucker, Spencer, ed. The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: A Political, Social and Military History. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2011. Print.

West, Elliott. The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.

Wood, Gordon S. Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.

Yenne, Bill. Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West. Yardley: Westholme, 2008. Print.