Native American Annihilation

Throughout, the history of the United States many cruel events have happened. The violation and destruction of the Native American lives is one of the most tragic. The westward expansion that led to their annihilation is full of disastrous events. One of them is the Dakota Conflict of 1862. Additionally, I’ll cover multiple other events that collaborated to the annihilation of Native American lives. To start, Thomas Jefferson third President of the United States believed the westward expansion would occur gradually. He believed this due to the slow technological advancements and predicted it would take 200 years to finalize. However, Andrew Jackson the seventh President aggressively forwarded this expansion in a fraction of that time. He

The abuse caused by white society onto Native Americans led to an uprising among the Dakota. This began in Mankato, Minnesota in the Redwood valley area along the river. This led to a Kangaroo court which unfairly sentenced 303 men to hanging. The white society wanted to create fear among the Native Americans. By doing this they wanted to show that nobody can mess with the American government. However, thanks to a religious man named Bishop Henry Whipple from Minnesota who truly believed in equality this didn’t happen. He brought this case to the attention of President Abraham Lincoln who decided the amount of people to be executed was too much. During that time Abraham Lincoln was strongly hated among the Minnesotans who would say they had enough trees to hang all Native Americans. They eventually decided to only execute 38 men which was still one of the largest mass executions in the history of the United States. The 38 men sang the Dakota death song and valiantly took their fate. They were then hung December 26, 1862 simultaneously which was a horrific sighting and buried under the same gallows. This event was another atrocity committed upon the Native Americans by the white society who wanted land no matter the

The Native Americans were forced to live in encampments in Oklahoma which was also known as the Indian Country. Here alcoholism was very prevalent also known as fire water due to the depressing form in which their lives had been destroyed. In 1890 at Wounded Knee South Dakota there was an encampment of 250 innocent Native American Families. There seventh cavalry soldiers would watch them from a hill overlooking the encampment waiting for any motive shoot. When a single shot was fired likely from a soldier they began shooting with Gatling guns nonstop. They killed all of the Native Americans present without remorse and shouted “this is for Custer”. This tragic event was horrific and by the 1900’s ninety six percent of the Native American populations were gone.
These were some of the most tragic events that occurred to Native Americans in the history of the United States. Additionally, the Dakota conflict that led to the hangings of 38 Native Americans is the biggest mass execution to occur in United States. This history should never be forgotten so it’s never repeated. Students should learn more about this at school because ignoring this adds to the disrespect the United States has done to Native Americans. In conclusion, The Dakota Conflict of 1862 along with the other event form the tragic history of Native Americans in the United