Plains Natives had a nomadic lifestyle due to their main food and material source, the buffalo. They used buffalos for everything; skins for tipis, clothes, rope, and shields, the horns made into tools and sinew used for bow strings. The natives also assimilated newly introduced horses into their hunting and warrior culture allowing them to travel farther and faster. The work of the tribe was split between men and women; men were warriors and hunters while women prepared hides and food. The whole tribe was advised by a council which made the decisions for the tribe.

Lifestyle and customs of tribal groups on the plains

The massacre happened due to many factors that all started in 1874. The Lakota faced generations of broken treaties due to the discovery of gold on their land in 1874. In hopes of a utopia and the removal of white colonists, they started doing the ghost dance. This angered and caused fear to build up in the whites, this made them think the dance was a prelude to an uprising. They then sent the police to arrest chiefs, however, Spotted Elk fled to Wounded Knee and the army followed him. They surrounded the Native camp and rained down bullets upon the innocent people, in the end, 150 Lakota died and 25 American soldiers died.

The Massacre at Wounded Knee

Sitting Bull was a very popular and powerful chief of the Lakota Nation. He had been on the battlefield ever since he was 14 years old !  Every battle he was in he expressed a great amount of bravery and skill. His bravery and skill was finally recognized by the Lakota after an attack on Fort Rice. He was then later arrested with the follow up events to wounded knee.

Sitting Bull

At this time in history, cattle became a big money maker in the west. This caused the ranches and cowboys/vaqueros population to skyrocket to meet the rising demand for cattle. The cowboys were huge players in the ranches, they worked for 14-hour days on ranches and could spend 3 months transporting cattle. On the other hand, the settlers who didn't own a ranch would live in houses made of dirt and grass and worked on smaller personal farms. All settlers on the plains had to deal with droughts, floods, blizzards and locust swarms

Lifestyle of American Settlers and cowboys

One problem with the railroad was its abuse of immigrants.. They made immigrants work long hours of hard physical labor. The railroads were also corrupt, they would charge high transportation fees to farmers and since there was very few options many farmers were exploited. They would also charge more money if they were the only line in the region or they would charge different rates for different people. However, this corruption led to near bankruptcy for the railroads causing the panic of 1843 and the start of Big Business.

Problems with the Railroad