American Indian Wars

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"Indian Wars" redirects here. For wars fought by India, see List of wars involving India.

American Indian Wars

An 1899 chromolithograph of U.S. Cavalry pursuing American Indians

(artist unknown)

Date 1609–1924 (intermittent)

Location North America
 Sovereignty of various combatants
extended or lost
 Genocide of indigenous tribes
 deportation and forced assimilation of
indigenous tribes
Result
 Many treaties, truces, and armistices made
and broken by combatants
 Indian reservations established in the
United States and Canada

Belligerents

American Indians  Spanish Empire

First Nations  Kingdom of France

Inuit  Kingdom of England

 Kingdom of Scotland
 British Empire

Dutch Empire

Swedish Empire

Danish Empire

British America
Aleut
British North America
 Dominion of Canada

Yupik Dominion of Newfoundland

State of Muskogee  Russian Empire

Métis  United States

Provisional Government of
Saskatchewan
 Vermont Republic

 Mexico

Portuguese Empire

 Republic of Texas

 Confederate States

The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, the First
Nations Wars in Canada (French: Guerres des Premières Nations) and the Indian Wars is
the collective name for the various armed conflicts that were fought by European
governments and colonists, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and
American and Canadian settlers, against various American Indian and First Nation tribes.
These conflicts occurred in North America from the time of the earliest colonial settlements
in the 17th century until the early 20th century. The various wars resulted from a wide variety
of factors, including cultural clashes, land disputes, and criminal acts committed. The
European powers and their colonies also enlisted Indian tribes to help them conduct warfare
against each other's colonial settlements. After the American Revolution, many conflicts were
local to specific states or regions and frequently involved disputes over land use; some
entailed cycles of violent reprisal.

As settlers spread westward across North America after 1780, armed conflicts increased in
size, duration, and intensity between settlers and various Indian and First Nation tribes. The
climax came in the War of 1812, when major Indian coalitions in the Midwest and the South
fought against the United States and lost. Conflict with settlers became much less common
and was usually resolved by treaty, often through sale or exchange of territory between the
federal government and specific tribes. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 authorized the
American government to enforce the Indian removal from east of the Mississippi River to the
west on the American frontier, especially Oklahoma. The federal policy of removal was
eventually refined in the West, as American settlers kept expanding their territories, to
relocate Indian tribes to specially designated and federally protected and subsidized
reservations.

Contents
 1 Colonial period (1609–1774)
 2 East of the Mississippi (1775–1842)
o 2.1 American Revolutionary War 1775–1783
o 2.2 Cherokee–American wars
o 2.3 Northwest Indian War
o 2.4 Tecumseh, the Creek War, and the War of 1812
o 2.5 Second Seminole War
 3 West of the Mississippi (1811–1924)
o 3.1 Background
o 3.2 Texas
o 3.3 Pacific Northwest
o 3.4 Southwest
o 3.5 California
o 3.6 Great Basin
o 3.7 Great Plains
 3.7.1 Dakota War
 3.7.2 Colorado War, Sand Creek Massacre, and the Sioux War of 1865
 3.7.3 Sheridan's campaigns
 3.7.4 Red Cloud's War and the Treaty of Fort Laramie
 3.7.5 Black Hills War
o 3.8 Last conflicts
 4 Effects on Indian populations
 5 Historiography
  6 List
 7 See also
o 7.1 Comparable and related events
 8 References
o 8.1 Citations
o 8.2 Sources
 9 Further reading
o 9.1 Historiography
o 9.2 Primary sources
 10 External links

Colonial period (1609–1774)[edit]

Further information: European colonization of the Americas

Indian massacre of 1622

Siege of Fort Detroit during Pontiac's Rebellion in 1763

The colonization of America by the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish was
resisted by some Indian tribes and assisted by other tribes. Wars and other armed conflicts in
the 17th and 18th centuries included:

 Beaver Wars (1609–1701) between the Iroquois and the French, who allied with the
Algonquians
 Anglo-Powhatan Wars (1610–14, 1622–32, 1644–46), including the 1622 Jamestown
Massacre, between English colonists and the Powhatan Confederacy in the Colony of
Virginia
 Pequot War of 1636–38 between the Pequot tribe and colonists from the
Massachusetts Bay Colony and Connecticut Colony and allied tribes
 Kieft's War (1643–45) in the Dutch territory of New Netherland (New Jersey and
New York) between colonists and the Lenape people
 Peach Tree War (1655), the large-scale attack by the Susquehannocks and allied tribes
on several New Netherland settlements along the Hudson River
  Esopus Wars (1659–1663), conflicts between the Esopus tribe of Lenape Indians and
colonial New Netherlanders in Ulster County, New York
 King Philip's War (1675–78) in New England between colonists and the Narragansett
people
 Tuscarora War (1711–15) in the Province of North Carolina
 Yamasee War (1715–17) in the Province of South Carolina
 Dummer's War (1722–25) in northern New England and French Acadia (New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia)
 Pontiac's War (1763–66) in the Great Lakes region[1]
 Lord Dunmore's War (1774) in western Virginia (Kentucky and West Virginia)

In several instances, the conflicts were a reflection of European rivalries, with Indian tribes
splitting their alliances among the powers, generally siding with their trading partners.
Various tribes fought on each side in King William's War, Queen Anne's War, Dummer's
War, King George's War, and the French and Indian War, allying with British or French
colonists according to their own self interests.[2]

East of the Mississippi (1775–1842)[edit]

Further information: Sixty Years' War, Origins of the War of 1812, and War of 1812

Indian Wars

East of the Mississippi (post-1775)

 American Revolution (1775–1783)

 Cherokee–American wars (1776–1794)

 Northwest Indian War (1785–1795)

 Nickajack Expedition (1794)

 Sabine Expedition (1806)

 War of 1812 (1811–1815)

o Tecumseh's War (1811–1813)

o Creek War (1813–1814)

o Peoria War (1813)

 First Seminole War (1817–1818)

 Winnebago War (1827)

 Black Hawk War (1832)

 Creek War (1836)

 Florida–Georgia Border War (1836)

 Second Seminole War (1835–1842)

British merchants and government agents began supplying weapons to Indians living in the
United States following the Revolution (1783-1812) in the hope that, if a war broke out, they
would fight on the British side. The British further planned to set up an Indian nation in the
Ohio-Wisconsin area to block further American expansion.[3] The US protested and declared
war in 1812. Most Indian tribes supported the British, especially those allied with Tecumseh,
but they were ultimately defeated by General William Henry Harrison. The War of 1812
spread to Indian rivalries, as well.

Many refugees from defeated tribes went over the border to Canada; those in the South went
to Florida while it was under Spanish control. During the early 19th century, the federal
government was under pressure by settlers in many regions to expel Indians from their areas.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 offered Indians the choices of assimilating and giving up
tribal membership, relocation to an Indian reservation with an exchange or payment for lands,
or moving west. Some resisted fiercely, most notably the Seminoles in a series of wars in
Florida. They were never defeated, although some Seminoles did remove to Indian Territory.
The United States gave up on the remainder, by then living defensively deep in the swamps
and Everglades. Others were moved to reservations west of the Mississippi River, most
famously the Cherokee whose relocation was called the "Trail of Tears."

American Revolutionary War 1775–1783[edit]

Main article: Western theater of the American Revolutionary War

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The American Revolutionary War was essentially two parallel wars for the American
Patriots. The war in the east was a struggle against British rule, while the war in the west was
an "Indian War". The newly proclaimed United States competed with the British for control
of the territory east of the Mississippi River. Some Indians sided with the British, as they
hoped to reduce American settlement and expansion. In one writer's opinion, the
Revolutionary War was "the most extensive and destructive" Indian war in United States
history.[4]

The abduction of Jemima Boone by Shawnee in 1776

Some Indian tribes were divided over which side to support in the war, such as the Iroquois
Confederacy based in New York and Pennsylvania who split: the Oneida and Tuscarora sided
with the American Patriots, and the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga sided with the
British. The Iroquois tried to avoid fighting directly against one another, but the Revolution
eventually forced intra-Iroquois combat, and both sides lost territory following the war. The
Crown aided the landless Iroquois by rewarding them with a reservation at Grand River in
Ontario and some other lands. In the Southeast, the Cherokee split into a pro-patriot faction
versus a pro-British faction that the Americans referred to as the Chickamauga Cherokee;
they were led by Dragging Canoe. Many other tribes were similarly divided.

When the British made peace with the Americans in the Treaty of Paris (1783), they ceded a
vast amount of Indian territory to the United States. Indian tribes who had sided with the
British and had fought against the Americans were enemy combatants, as far as the United
States was concerned; they were a conquered people who had lost their land.

Cherokee–American wars[edit]

Main article: Cherokee–American wars

The frontier conflicts were almost non-stop, beginning with Cherokee involvement in the
American Revolutionary War and continuing through late 1794. The so-called "Chickamauga
Cherokee", later called "Lower Cherokee," were from the Overhill Towns and later from the
Lower Towns, Valley Towns, and Middle Towns. They followed war leader Dragging Canoe
southwest, first to the Chickamauga Creek area near Chattanooga, Tennessee, then to the Five
Lower Towns where they were joined by groups of Muskogee, white Tories, runaway slaves,
and renegade Chickasaw, as well as by more than a hundred Shawnee. The primary targets of
attack were the Washington District colonies along the Watauga, Holston, and Nolichucky
Rivers, and in Carter's Valley in upper eastern Tennessee, as well as the settlements along the
Cumberland River beginning with Fort Nashborough in 1780, even into Kentucky, plus
against the Franklin settlements, and later states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia. The scope of attacks by the Chickamauga and their allies ranged from quick
raids by small war parties to large campaigns by four or five hundred warriors, and once
more than a thousand. The Upper Muskogee under Dragging Canoe's close ally Alexander
McGillivray frequently joined their campaigns and also operated separately, and the
settlements on the Cumberland came under attack from the Chickasaw, Shawnee from the
north, and Delaware. Campaigns by Dragging Canoe and his successor John Watts were
frequently conducted in conjunction with campaigns in the Northwest Territory. The
colonists generally responded with attacks in which Cherokee settlements were completely
destroyed, though usually without great loss of life on either side. The wars continued until
the Treaty of Tellico Blockhouse in November 1794.[5]

Northwest Indian War[edit]

Main article: Northwest Indian War

The Ohio Country with battles and massacres between 1775 and 1794
The Battle of Fallen Timbers

In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance officially organized the Northwest Territory for settlement,
and American settlers began pouring into the region. Violence erupted as Indian tribes
resisted, and so the administration of President George Washington sent armed expeditions
into the area. However, in the Northwest Indian War, a pan-tribal confederacy led by Blue
Jacket (Shawnee), Little Turtle (Miami),[6] Buckongahelas (Lenape), and Egushawa (Ottawa)
defeated armies led by Generals Josiah Harmar and Arthur St. Clair. General St. Clair's defeat
was the most severe loss ever inflicted upon an American army by Indians. The Americans
attempted to negotiate a settlement, but Blue Jacket and the Shawnee-led confederacy
insisted on a boundary line that the Americans found unacceptable, and so a new expedition
was dispatched led by General Anthony Wayne. Wayne's army defeated the Indian
confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. The Indians had hoped for British
assistance; when that was not forthcoming, they were compelled to sign the Treaty of
Greenville in 1795, which ceded Ohio and part of Indiana to the United States.[7]

Tecumseh, the Creek War, and the War of 1812[edit]

Treaty of Fort Jackson with the Creeks, 1814

By 1800, the Indian population was approximately 600,000 in the continental United States.
By 1890, their population had declined to about 250,000.[8] In 1800, William Henry Harrison
became governor of the Indiana Territory, under the direction of President Thomas Jefferson,
and he pursued an aggressive policy of obtaining titles to Indian lands. Shawnee brothers
Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa organized Tecumseh's War, another pan-tribal resistance to
westward settlement.

Tecumseh was in the South attempting to recruit allies among the Creeks, Cherokees, and
Choctaws when Harrison marched against the Indian confederacy, defeating Tenskwatawa
and his followers at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. The Americans hoped that the victory
would end the militant resistance, but Tecumseh instead chose to ally openly with the British,
who were soon at war with the Americans in the War of 1812. The Creek War (1813–14)
began as a tribal conflict within the Creek tribe, but it became part of the larger struggle
against American expansion. Tecumseh was killed by Harrison's army at the Battle of the
Thames, ending the resistance in the Old Northwest. The First Seminole War in 1818 resulted
in the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States in 1819.

Second Seminole War[edit]

Main articles: Second Seminole War and Seminole Wars

American settlers began to push into Florida, which was now an American territory and had
some of the most fertile lands in the nation. Paul Hoffman claims that covetousness, racism,
and "self-defense" against Indian raids played a major part in the settlers' determination to
"rid Florida of Indians once and for all".[9] To compound the tension, runaway black slaves
sometimes found refuge in Seminole camps, and the result was clashes between white settlers
and the Indians residing there. Andrew Jackson sought to alleviate this problem by signing
the Indian Removal Act, which stipulated the relocation of Indians out of Florida—by force if
necessary. The Seminoles were relatively new arrivals in Florida, led by such powerful
leaders as Aripeka (Sam Jones), Micanopy, and Osceola, and they had no intention of leaving
their new lands. They retaliated against the settlers, and this led to the Second Seminole War,
the longest and most costly war that the Army ever waged against Indians.

In May 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress which stipulated forced
removal of Indians to Oklahoma. The Treaty of Paynes Landing was signed in May 1832 by
a few Seminole chiefs who later recanted, claiming that they were tricked or forced to sign
and making it clear that they would not consent to relocating to a reservation out west. The
Seminoles' continued resistance to relocation led Florida to prepare for war. The St.
Augustine Militia asked the US War Department for the loan of 500 muskets, and 500
volunteers were mobilized under Brig. Gen. Richard K. Call. Indian war parties raided farms
and settlements, and families fled to forts or large towns, or out of the territory altogether. A
war party led by Osceola captured a Florida militia supply train, killing eight of its guards
and wounding six others; most of the goods taken were recovered by the militia in another
fight a few days later. Sugar plantations were destroyed along the Atlantic coast south of St.
Augustine, Florida, with many of the slaves on the plantations joining the Seminoles.

Attack of the Seminoles on the blockhouse in December 1835

The US Army had 11 companies (about 550 soldiers) stationed in Florida. Fort King (Ocala)
had only one company of soldiers, and it was feared that they might be overrun by the
Seminoles. Three companies were stationed at Fort Brooke (Tampa), with another two
expected imminently, so the army decided to send two companies to Fort King. On December
23, 1835, the two companies totaling 110 men left Fort Brooke under the command of Major
Francis L. Dade. Seminoles shadowed the marching soldiers for five days, and they
ambushed them and wiped out the command on December 28. Only three men survived, and
one was hunted down and killed by a Seminole the next day. Survivors Ransome Clarke and
Joseph Sprague returned to Fort Brooke. Clarke died of his wounds later, and he provided the
only account of the battle from the army's perspective. The Seminoles lost three men and five
wounded. On the same day as the massacre, Osceola and his followers shot and killed Agent
Wiley Thompson and six others during an ambush outside of Fort King.

On December 29, General Clinch left Fort Drane with 750 soldiers, including 500 volunteers
on an enlistment due to end January 1, 1836. The group was traveling to a Seminole
stronghold called the Cove of the Withlacoochee, an area of many lakes on the southwest side
of the Withlacoochee River. When they reached the river, the soldiers could not find the ford,
so Clinch ferried his regular troops across the river in a single canoe. Once they were across
and had relaxed, the Seminoles attacked. The troops fixed bayonets and charged them, at the
cost of four dead and 59 wounded. The militia provided cover as the army troops then
withdrew across the river.

The Dade Massacre was the US Army's worst defeat at the hands of Seminoles

In the Battle of Lake Okeechobee, Colonel Zachary Taylor saw the first major action of the
campaign. He left Fort Gardiner on the upper Kissimmee River with 1,000 men on December
19 and headed towards Lake Okeechobee. In the first two days, 90 Seminoles surrendered.
On the third day, Taylor stopped to build Fort Basinger where he left his sick and enough
men to guard the Seminoles who had surrendered. Taylor's column caught up with the main
body of the Seminoles on the north shore of Lake Okeechobee on December 25.

The Seminoles were led by "Alligator", Sam Jones, and the recently escaped Coacoochee,
and they were positioned in a hammock surrounded by sawgrass. The ground was thick mud,
and sawgrass easily cuts and burns the skin. Taylor had about 800 men, while the Seminoles
numbered fewer than 400. Taylor sent in the Missouri volunteers first, moving his troops
squarely into the center of the swamp. His plan was to make a direct attack rather than
encircle the Indians. All his men were on foot. As soon as they came within range, the
Indians opened with heavy fire. The volunteers broke and their commander Colonel Gentry
was fatally wounded, so they retreated back across the swamp. The fighting in the sawgrass
was deadliest for five companies of the Sixth Infantry; every officer but one was killed or
wounded, along with most of their non-commissioned officers. The soldiers suffered 26
killed and 112 wounded, compared to 11 Seminoles killed and 14 wounded. No Seminoles
were captured, although Taylor did capture 100 ponies and 600 head of cattle.
Marines searching for the Seminoles among the mangroves

By 1842, the war was winding down and most Seminoles had left Florida for Oklahoma. The
US Army officially recorded 1,466 deaths in the Second Seminole War, mostly from disease.
The number killed in action is less clear. Mahon reports[citation needed] 328 regular army killed in
action, while Missall reports[citation needed] that Seminoles killed 269 officers and men. Almost half
of those deaths occurred in the Dade Massacre, Battle of Lake Okeechobee, and Harney
Massacre. Similarly, Mahon reports[citation needed] 69 deaths for the Navy, while Missal reports[citation
needed]
41 for the Navy and Marine Corps. Mahon and the Florida Board of State Institutions
agree[citation needed] that 55 volunteer officers and men were killed by the Seminoles, while Missall
says[citation needed] that the number is unknown. A northern newspaper carried a report[citation needed] that
more than 80 civilians were killed by Indians in Florida in 1839. By the end of 1843, 3,824
Indians had been shipped from Florida to the Indian Territory.

West of the Mississippi (1811–1924)[edit]

Indian Wars

West of the Mississippi

 Arikara War (1823)

 Osage Indian War (1837)

 Texas–Indian wars (1836–1877)

o Comanche Wars (1836–1877)

o Antelope Hills expedition (1858)

o Comanche Campaign (1867–1875)

o Red River War (1874–1875)

o Buffalo Hunters' War (1876–1877)

 Cayuse War (1847–1855)

 Apache Wars (1849–1924)

o Jicarilla War (1849–1855)

o Chiricahua Wars (1861–1886)

o Tonto War (1871–1875)

o Victorio's War (1879–1880)

o Geronimo's War (1881–1886)

o Post 1887 Apache Wars period (1887–1924)

 Navajo Wars (1849–1866)

 Yuma War (1850–1853)

 Ute Wars (1850–1923)

o Battle at Fort Utah (1850)

o Walker War (1853–1854)

o Tintic War (1856)

o Black Hawk War (1865–1872)

o White River War (1879)

o Ute War (1887)

o Bluff War (1914–1915)

o Bluff Skirmish (1921)

o Posey War (1923)

 Sioux Wars (1854–1891)

o First Sioux War (1854-1855)

o Dakota War (1862)

o Colorado War (1864–1865)

o Powder River War (1865)

o Red Cloud's War (1866–1868)

o Yellowstone Expedition (1873)

o Great Sioux War (1876–1877)

o Northern Cheyenne Exodus (1878-1879)

o Ghost Dance War (1890–1891)

 Rogue River Wars (1855–1856)

 Yakima War (1855–1858)

o Puget Sound War (1855–1856)

o Coeur d'Alene War (1858)

 Mohave War (1858–1859)

 Paiute War (1860)

 Yavapai Wars (1861–1875)

 Snake War (1864–1869)

 Hualapai War (1865–1870)

 Modoc War (1872–1873)

 Nez Perce War (1877)

 Bannock War (1878)

 Crow War (1887)

 Bannock Uprising (1895)

 Yaqui Uprising (1896)

 Battle of Sugar Point (1898)

 Crazy Snake Rebellion (1909)

  Battle of Kelley Creek (1911)

 Last Massacre (1911)

 Battle of Bear Valley (1918)

The series of conflicts in the western United States between Indians, American settlers, and
the United States Army are generally known as the Indian Wars. Many of these conflicts
occurred during and after the Civil War until the closing of the frontier in about 1890.
However, regions of the West that were settled before the Civil War saw significant conflicts
prior to 1860, such as Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon, California, and Washington state.

Various statistics have been developed concerning the devastation of these wars on the
peoples involved. Gregory Michno used records dealing with figures "as a direct result of"
engagements and concluded that "of the 21,586 total casualties tabulated in this survey,
military personnel and civilians accounted for 6,596 (31%), while Indian casualties totaled
about 14,990 (69%)" for the period of 1850–90. However, Michno says that he "used the
army's estimates in almost every case" and "the number of casualties in this study are
inherently biased toward army estimations". His work includes almost nothing on "Indian
war parties", and he states that "army records are often incomplete".[10]

According to Michno, more conflicts with Indians occurred in the states bordering Mexico
than in the interior states. Arizona ranked highest, with 310 known battles fought within the
state's boundaries between Americans and Indians. Also, Arizona ranked highest of the states
in deaths from the wars. At least 4,340 people were killed, including both the settlers and the
Indians, over twice as many as occurred in Texas, the second highest-ranking state. Most of
the deaths in Arizona were caused by the Apaches. Michno also says that 51 percent of the
battles took place in Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico between 1850 and 1890, as well as 37
percent of the casualties in the country west of the Mississippi River.[11]

Background[edit]

American settlers and fur trappers had spread into the western United States territories and
had established the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail. Relations were generally peaceful
between American settlers and Indians. The Bents of Bent's Fort on the Santa Fe Trail had
friendly relations with the Cheyenne and Arapaho, and peace was established on the Oregon
Trail by the Treaty of Fort Laramie signed in 1851 between the United States and the Plains
Indians and the Indians of the northern Rocky Mountains. The treaty allowed passage by
settlers, building roads, and stationing troops along the Oregon Trail.
Battles, army posts, and the general location of tribes in the American West

The Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1859 introduced a substantial white population into the Front
Range of the Rockies, supported by a trading lifeline that crossed the central Great Plains.
Advancing settlement following the passage of the Homestead Act and the growing
transcontinental railways following the Civil War further destabilized the situation, placing
white settlers into direct competition for the land and resources of the Great Plains and the
Rocky Mountain West.[12][13] Further factors included discovery of gold in the Black Hills
resulting in the gold rush of 1875–1878, and in Montana during the Montana Gold Rush of
1862–1863 and the opening of the Bozeman Trail, which led to Red Cloud's War and later
the Great Sioux War of 1876–77.[14]

Miners, ranchers, and settlers expanded into the plain, and this led to increasing conflicts with
the Indian populations of the West. Many tribes fought American settlers at one time or
another, from the Utes of the Great Basin to the Nez Perce tribe of Idaho. But the Sioux of
the Northern Plains and the Apaches of the Southwest waged the most aggressive warfare,
led by resolute, militant leaders such as Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. The Sioux were
relatively new arrivals on the Plains, as they had been sedentary farmers in the Great Lakes
region previously. They moved west, displacing other Indian tribes and becoming feared
warriors. The Apaches supplemented their economy by raiding other tribes, and they
practiced warfare to avenge the death of a kinsman.

During the American Civil War, Army units were withdrawn to fight the war in the east.
They were replaced by the volunteer infantry and cavalry raised by the states of California
and Oregon, by the western territorial governments, or by the local militias. These units
fought the Indians and kept open communications with the east, holding the west for the
Union and defeating the Confederate attempt to capture the New Mexico Territory. After
1865, national policy called for all Indians either to assimilate into the American population
as citizens, or to live peacefully on reservations. Raids and wars between tribes were not
allowed, and armed Indian bands off a reservation were the responsibility of the Army to
round up and return.

Texas[edit]

Main articles: Texas–Indian wars and Comanche-Mexico War

In the 18th century, Spanish settlers in Texas came into conflict with the Apaches,
Comanches, and Karankawas, among other tribes. Large numbers of American settlers
reached Texas in the 1830s, and a series of armed confrontations broke out until the 1870s,
mostly between Texans and Comanches. During the same period, the Comanches and their
allies raided hundreds of miles deep into Mexico (see Comanche–Mexico Wars).

Josiah P. Wilbarger being scalped by Comanches, 1833

The first notable battle was the Fort Parker massacre in 1836, in which a huge war party of
Comanches, Kiowas, Wichitas, and Delawares attacked the Texan outpost at Fort Parker. A
small number of settlers were killed during the raid, and the abduction of Cynthia Ann Parker
and two other children caused widespread outrage among Texans.

The Republic of Texas was declared and secured some sovereignty in their war with Mexico,
and the Texas government under President Sam Houston pursued a policy of engagement
with the Comanches and Kiowas. Houston had lived with the Cherokees, but the Cherokees
joined with Mexican forces to fight against Texas. Houston resolved the conflict without
resorting to arms, refusing to believe that the Cherokees would take up arms against his
government.[15] The administration of Mirabeau B. Lamar followed Houston's and took a very
different policy towards the Indians. Lamar removed the Cherokees to the west and then
sought to deport the Comanches and Kiowas. This led to a series of battles, including the
Council House Fight, in which the Texas militia killed 33 Comanche chiefs at a peace parley.
The Comanches retaliated with the Great Raid of 1840, and the Battle of Plum Creek
followed several days later.
Quanah Parker, son of a Comanche Chief and a Texas settler; his family's story spans the
history of the Texas–Indian wars

The Lamar Administration was known for its failed and expensive Indian policy; the cost of
the war with the Indians exceeded the annual revenue of the government throughout his four-
year term. It was followed by a second Houston administration, which resumed the previous
policy of diplomacy. Texas signed treaties with all of the tribes, including the Comanches. In
the 1840s and 1850s, the Comanches and their allies shifted most of their raiding activities to
Mexico, using Texas as a safe haven from Mexican retaliation.

Texas joined the Union in 1846, and the Federal government and Texas took up the struggle
between the Plains Indians and the settlers. The conflicts were particularly vicious and bloody
on the Texas frontier in 1856 through 1858, as settlers continued to expand their settlements
into the Comancheria. The first Texan incursion into the heart of the Comancheria was in
1858, the so-called Antelope Hills Expedition marked by the Battle of Little Robe Creek.

The battles between settlers and Indians continued in 1860, and Texas militia destroyed an
Indian camp at the Battle of Pease River. In the aftermath of the battle, the Texans learned
that they had recaptured Cynthia Ann Parker, the little girl captured by the Comanches in
1836. She returned to live with her family, but she missed her children, including her son
Quanah Parker. He was the son of Parker and Comanche Chief Peta Nocona, and he became
a Comanche war chief at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls. He ultimately surrendered to the
overwhelming force of the federal government and moved to a reservation in southwestern
Oklahoma in 1875.

Pacific Northwest[edit]

Main articles: Cayuse War, Rogue River Wars, Yakima War, Puget Sound War, Spokane –
Coeur d'Alene – Paloos War, Snake War, Nez Perce War, Bannock War, and Sheepeater
Indian War
A number of wars occurred in the wake of the Oregon Treaty of 1846 and the creation of
Oregon Territory and Washington Territory. Among the causes of conflict were a sudden
immigration to the region and a series of gold rushes throughout the Pacific Northwest. The
Whitman massacre of 1847 triggered the Cayuse War, which led to fighting from the Cascade
Range to the Rocky Mountains. The Cayuse were defeated in 1855, but the conflict had
expanded and continued in what became known as the Yakima War (1855–1858).
Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens tried to compel Indian tribes to sign treaties
ceding land and establishing reservations. The Yakama signed one of the treaties negotiated
during the Walla Walla Council of 1855, establishing the Yakama Indian Reservation, but
Stevens' attempts served mainly to intensify hostilities. Gold discoveries near Fort Colville
resulted in many miners crossing Yakama lands via Naches Pass, and conflicts rapidly
escalated into violence. It took several years for the Army to defeat the Yakama, during
which time war spread to the Puget Sound region west of the Cascades. The Puget Sound
War of 1855–1856 was triggered in part by the Yakima War and in part by the use of
intimidation to compel tribes to sign land cession treaties. The Treaty of Medicine Creek of
1855 established an unrealistically small reservation on poor land for the Nisqually and
Puyallup tribes. Violence broke out in the White River valley, along the route to Naches Pass
and connecting Nisqually and Yakama lands. The Puget Sound War is often remembered in
connection with the Battle of Seattle (1856) and the execution of Nisqually Chief Leschi, a
central figure of the war.[16]

Nisqually Chief Leschi was hanged for murder in 1858. He was exonerated by Washington
State in 2004.

In 1858, the fighting spread on the east side of the Cascades. This second phase of the
Yakima War is known as the Coeur d'Alene War. The Yakama, Palouse, Spokane, and Coeur
d'Alene tribes were defeated at the Battle of Four Lakes in late 1858.[16]

In southwest Oregon, tensions and skirmishes escalated between American settlers and the
Rogue River peoples into the Rogue River Wars of 1855–1856. The California Gold Rush
helped fuel a large increase in the number of people traveling south through the Rogue River
Valley. Gold discoveries continued to trigger violent conflict between prospectors and
Indians. Beginning in 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in British Columbia drew large
numbers of miners, many from Washington, Oregon, and California, culminating in the
Fraser Canyon War. This conflict occurred in Canada, but the militias involved were formed
mostly of Americans. The discovery of gold in Idaho and Oregon in the 1860s led to similar
conflicts which culminated in the Bear River Massacre in 1863 and Snake War from 1864 to
1868.
In the late 1870s, another series of armed conflicts occurred in Oregon and Idaho, spreading
east into Wyoming and Montana. The Nez Perce War of 1877 is known particularly for Chief
Joseph and the four-month, 1,200-mile fighting retreat of a band of about 800 Nez Perce,
including women and children. The Nez Perce War was caused by a large influx of settlers,
the appropriation of Indian lands, and a gold rush—this time in Idaho. The Nez Perce
engaged 2,000 American soldiers of different military units, as well as their Indian
auxiliaries. They fought "eighteen engagements, including four major battles and at least four
fiercely contested skirmishes", according to Alvin Josephy.[17] Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce
were much admired for their conduct in the war and their fighting ability.[18]

The Bannock War broke out the following year for similar reasons. The Sheepeater Indian
War in 1879 was the last conflict in the area.

Southwest[edit]

Main articles: Navajo Wars, Yuma War, Mohave War, Apache Wars, Black Hawk War
(1865–1872), Apache–Mexico Wars, Long Walk of the Navajo, and Yavapai Wars

Geronimo (right) and his warriors in 1886

Various wars between Spanish and Native Americans, mainly Comanches and Apaches, took
place since the 17th century in the Southwest United States. Spanish governors made peace
treaties with some tribes during this period. Several events stand out during the colonial
period: On the one hand, the administration of Tomás Vélez Cachupín, the only colonial
governor of New Mexico who managed to establish peace with the Comanches after having
confronted them in the Battle of San Diego Pond, and learned how to relate to them without
giving rise to misunderstandings that could lead to conflict with them. The Pueblo Revolt of
1680 was also highlighted, causing the Spanish province to be divided into two areas: one led
by the Spanish governor and the other by the leader of the Pueblos. Several military conflicts
happened between Spaniars and Pueblos in this period until Diego de Vargas made a peace
treaty with them in 1691, which made them subjects of the Spanish governor again. Conflicts
between Europeans and Amerindians continued following the acquisition of Alta California
and Santa Fe de Nuevo México from Mexico at the end of the Mexican–American War in
1848, and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. These spanned from 1846 to at least 1895. The first
conflicts were in the New Mexico Territory, and later in California and the Utah Territory
during and after the California Gold Rush.[citation needed]

Indian tribes in the southwest had been engaged in cycles of trading and fighting with one
another and with settlers for centuries prior to the United States gaining control of the region.
These conflicts with the United States involved every non-pueblo tribe in the region and often
were a continuation of Mexican–Spanish conflicts. The Navajo Wars and Apache Wars are
perhaps the best known. The last major campaign of the military against Indians in the
Southwest involved 5,000 troops in the field, and resulted in the surrender of Chiricahua
Apache Geronimo and his band of 24 warriors, women, and children in 1886.[citation needed]

California[edit]

Main articles: California Indian Wars, Gila Expedition, Mariposa War, Klamath and Salmon
River War, Modoc War, Bald Hills War, Pitt River Expedition, Mendocino War, Owens
Valley Indian War, and Snake War
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The U.S. Army kept a small garrison west of the Rockies, but the California Gold Rush
brought a great influx of miners and settlers into the area. The result was that most of the
early conflicts with the California Indians involved local parties of miners or settlers. During
the American Civil War, California volunteers replaced Federal troops and won the ongoing
Bald Hills War and the Owens Valley Indian War and engaged in minor actions in northern
California. California and Oregon volunteer garrisons in Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, New
Mexico, and the Arizona Territories also engaged in conflicts with the Apache, Cheyenne,
Goshute, Navajo, Paiute, Shoshone, Sioux, and Ute Indians from 1862 to 1866. Following the
Civil War, California was mostly pacified, but federal troops replaced the volunteers and
again took up the struggle against Indians in the remote regions of the Mojave Desert, and in
the northeast against the Snakes (1864–1868) and Modocs (1872–1873).

Great Basin[edit]

Main articles: Ute Wars, Walker War, Paiute War, Bear River Massacre, Goshute War,
Snake War, Black Hawk War (Utah), Bannock War, and White River War

The tribes of the Great Basin were mostly Shoshone, and they were greatly affected by the
Oregon and California Trails and by Mormon pioneers to Utah. The Shoshone had friendly
relations with American and British fur traders and trappers, beginning with their encounter
with Lewis and Clark.

The traditional way of life of the Indians was disrupted, and they began raiding travelers
along the trails and aggression toward Mormon settlers. During the American Civil War, the
California Volunteers stationed in Utah responded to complaints, which resulted in the Bear
River Massacre.[19] Following the massacre, various Shoshone tribes signed a series of treaties
exchanging promises of peace for small annuities and reservations. One of these was the Box
Elder Treaty which identified a land claim made by the Northwestern Shoshone. The
Supreme Court declared this claim to be non-binding in a 1945 ruling,[20][21] but the Indian
Claims Commission recognized it as binding in 1968. Descendants of the original group were
compensated collectively at a rate of less than $0.50 per acre, minus legal fees.[22]

Most of the local groups were decimated by the war and faced continuing loss of hunting and
fishing land caused by the steadily growing population. Some moved to the Fort Hall Indian
Reservation when it was created in 1868. Some of the Shoshone populated the Mormon-
sanctioned community of Washakie, Utah.[23] From 1864 California and Oregon Volunteers
also engaged in the early campaigns of the Snake War in the Great Basin areas of California,
Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. From 1866 the U.S. Army replaced the Volunteers in that war
which General George Crook brought to an end in 1868 after a protracted campaign.[24]

Great Plains[edit]

Main articles: Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851), Treaty of Fort Wise, Dakota War of 1862,
Sand Creek Massacre, Colorado War, Powder River Expedition (1865), Red Cloud's War,
Great Sioux War of 1876–77, Battle of the Little Bighorn, and Wounded Knee Massacre

Massacre Canyon monument and historical marker in Nebraska

Wagon Box Fight, near Fort Phil Kearny, 1867

Initially relations between participants in the Pike's Peak gold rush and the Native American
tribes of the Front Range and the Platte valley were friendly.[25][26] An attempt was made to
resolve conflicts by negotiation of the Treaty of Fort Wise, which established a reservation in
southeastern Colorado, but the settlement was not agreed to by all of the roving warriors,
particularly the Dog Soldiers. During the early 1860s tensions increased and culminated in
the Colorado War and the Sand Creek Massacre, where Colorado volunteers fell on a
peaceful Cheyenne village killing women and children,[27] which set the stage for further
conflict.

The peaceful relationship between settlers and the Indians of the Colorado and Kansas plains
was maintained faithfully by the tribes, but sentiment grew among the Colorado settlers for
Indian removal. The savagery of the attacks on civilians during the Dakota War of 1862
contributed to these sentiments, as did the few minor incidents which occurred in the Platte
Valley and in areas east of Denver. Regular army troops had been withdrawn for service in
the Civil War and were replaced with the Colorado Volunteers, rough men who often favored
extermination of the Indians. They were commanded by John Chivington and George L.
Shoup, who followed the lead of John Evans, territorial governor of Colorado. They adopted
a policy of shooting on sight all Indians encountered, a policy which in short time ignited a
general war on the Colorado and Kansas plains, the Colorado War.[28]

Raids by bands of plains Indians on isolated homesteads to the east of Denver, on the
advancing settlements in Kansas, and on stage line stations along the South Platte, such as at
Julesburg,[29][30] and along the Smoky Hill Trail, resulted in settlers in both Colorado and
Kansas adopting a murderous attitude towards Native Americans, with calls for
extermination.[31] Likewise, the savagery shown by the Colorado Volunteers during the Sand
Creek massacre resulted in Native Americans, particularly the Dog Soldiers, a band of the
Cheyenne, engaging in savage retribution.

Dakota War[edit]

Main article: Dakota War of 1862

Settlers escaping the Dakota War of 1862

The Dakota War of 1862 (more commonly called the Sioux Uprising of 1862 in older
authorities and popular texts) was the first major armed engagement between the U.S. and the
Sioux (Dakota). After six weeks of fighting in Minnesota, led mostly by Chief Taoyateduta
(aka, Little Crow), records conclusively show that more than 500 U.S. soldiers and settlers
died in the conflict, though many more may have died in small raids or after being captured.
The number of Sioux dead in the uprising is mostly undocumented. After the war, 303 Sioux
warriors were convicted of murder and rape by U.S. military tribunals and sentenced to death.
Most of the death sentences were commuted by President Lincoln, but on December 26,
1862, in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Dakota Sioux men were hanged in what is still today the
largest penal mass execution in U.S. history.[32]

After the expulsion of the Dakota, some refugees and warriors made their way to Lakota
lands in what is now North Dakota. Battles continued between Minnesota regiments and
combined Lakota and Dakota forces through 1864, as Colonel Henry Sibley pursued the
Sioux into Dakota Territory. Sibley's army defeated the Lakota and Dakota in three major
battles in 1863: the Battle of Dead Buffalo Lake on July 26, 1863, the Battle of Stony Lake
on July 28, 1863, and the Battle of Whitestone Hill on September 3, 1863. The Sioux
retreated further, but again faced an American army in 1864; this time, Gen. Alfred Sully led
a force from near Fort Pierre, South Dakota, and decisively defeated the Sioux at the Battle of
Killdeer Mountain on July 28, 1864.

Colorado War, Sand Creek Massacre, and the Sioux War of 1865[edit]

Main articles: Colorado War, Sand Creek massacre, and Powder River Expedition (1865)
Mochi, a Southern Cheyenne in Black Kettle's camp, became a warrior after her experiences
at the Sand Creek massacre

On November 29, 1864, the Colorado territory militia responded to a series of Indian attacks
on white settlements by attacking a Cheyenne and Arapaho encampment on Sand Creek in
southeastern Colorado, under orders to take no prisoners. The militia killed about 200 of the
Indians, two-thirds of whom were women and children,[33] taking scalps and other grisly
trophies of battle.[34]

Following the massacre, the survivors joined the camps of the Cheyenne on the Smokey Hill
and Republican Rivers. They smoked the war pipe and passed it from camp to camp among
the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho camped in the area, and they planned an attack on the
stage station and fort at Julesburg which they carried out in the January 1865 Battle of
Julesburg. This attack was followed up by numerous raids along the South Platte both east
and west of Julesburg, and by a second raid on Julesburg in early February. The bulk of the
Indians then moved north into Nebraska on their way to the Black Hills and the Powder
River.[35][36] In the spring of 1865, raids continued along the Oregon trail in Nebraska. Indians
raided the Oregon Trail along the North Platte River and attacked the troops stationed at the
bridge across the North Platte at Casper, Wyoming in the Battle of Platte Bridge.[37][38]

Sheridan's campaigns[edit]

Main articles: Washita Massacre and Marias Massacre

After the Civil War, all of the Indians were assigned to reservations, and the reservations
were under the control of the Interior Department. Control of the Great Plains fell under the
Army's Department of the Missouri, an administrative area of over 1,000,000 mi2
encompassing all land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Maj. Gen.
Winfield S. Hancock had led the department in 1866 but had mishandled his campaign,
resulting in Sioux and Cheyenne raids that attacked mail stagecoaches, burned the stations,
and killed the employees. They also raped, killed, and kidnapped many settlers on the
frontier.[39]

Philip Sheridan was the military governor of Louisiana and Texas in 1866, but President
Johnson removed him from that post, claiming that he was ruling over the area with absolute
tyranny and insubordination. Shortly after, Hancock was removed as head of the Department
of the Missouri and Sheridan replaced him in August 1867.[40] He was ordered to pacify the
plains and take control of the Indians there, and he immediately called General Custer back to
command of the 7th Cavalry; Hancock had suspended him.[41]
The Battle of Prairie Dog Creek (August 21, 1867) ended the Army's offensive operations on
the Kansas frontier for the year.

The Department of Missouri was in poor shape upon Sheridan's arrival. Commissioners from
the government had signed a peace treaty in October 1867 with the Comanche, Kiowa,
Kiowa Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho which offered them reservation land to live on along
with food and supplies,[40] but Congress failed to pass it. The promised supplies from the
government were not reaching the Indians and they were beginning to starve, numbering an
estimated 6,000. Sheridan had only 2,600 men at the time to control them and to defend
against any raids or attacks, and only 1,200 of his men were mounted.[42] These men were also
under-supplied and stationed at forts that were in poor condition. They were also mostly
unproven units that replaced retired veterans from the Civil War.

Sheridan attempted to improve the conditions of the military outpost and the Indians on the
plains through a peace-oriented strategy. Toward the beginning of his command, members of
the Cheyenne and Arapaho followed him on his travels from Fort Larned to Fort Dodge
where he spoke to them. They brought their problems to him and explained how the promised
supplies were not being delivered. In response, Sheridan gave them a generous supply of
rations. Shortly after, the Saline Valley settlements were attacked,[by whom?] and that was
followed by other violent raids and kidnappings in the region.[by whom?] Sheridan wanted to
respond in force but was constrained by the government's peace policy and the lack of well-
supplied mounted troops.[40] He could not deploy official military units, so he commissioned a
group of 47 frontiersmen and sharpshooters called Solomon's Avengers. They investigated
the raids near Arickaree Creek and were attacked by Indians on September 17, 1868. The
Avengers were under siege for eight days by some 700 Indian warriors, but they were able to
keep them at bay until military units arrived to help. The Avengers lost six men and another
15 were wounded. Sherman finally gave Sheridan authority to respond in force to these
threats.[42]
A cartoon from Harper's Weekly of December 21, 1878 features General Philip Sheridan and
Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz

Sheridan believed that his soldiers would be unable to chase the horses of the Indians during
the summer months, so he used them as a defensive force the remainder of September and
October. His forces were better fed and clothed than the Indians and they could launch a
campaign in the winter months. His winter campaign of 1868 started with the 19th Kansas
Volunteers from Custer's 7th Cavalry, along with five battalions of infantry under Major John
H. Page setting out from Fort Dodge on November 5. A few days later, a force moved from
Fort Bascom to Fort Cobb consisting of units of the 5th Cavalry Regiment and two
companies of infantry, where they met up with units from the 3rd Cavalry leaving from Fort
Lyon. Sheridan directed the opening month of the campaign from Camp Supply. The Units
from the 5th and 3rd Cavalry met at Fort Cobb without any sign of the 19th Kansas, but they
had a lead on a band of Indians nearby and Custer led a force after them.[43]

Custer's force attacked the Cheyenne Indians and Black Kettle in the Battle of Washita River,
and an estimated 100 Indians were killed and 50 taken prisoner. Custer lost 21 men killed and
13 men wounded, and a unit went missing under Major Elliott's command. Custer shot 675
ponies that were vital for the Indians' survival on the plains.[43] Immediately following the
battle, Sheridan received backlash from Washington politicians who defended Black Kettle as
a peace-loving Indian. This began the controversy as to whether the event was best described
as a military victory or as a massacre, a discussion which endures among historians to this
day.

U.S. cavalry attacking an Indian village

Following Washita, Sheridan oversaw the refitting of the 19th Kansas and personally led
them down the Washita River toward the Wichita Mountains. He met with Custer along the
Washita River and they searched for Major Elliott's missing unit. They found the bodies of
the missing unit and the bodies of Mrs. Blynn and her child who had been taken by Indians
the previous summer near Fort Lyon.[43] The defeat at Washita had scared many of the tribes
and Sheridan was able to round up the majority of the Kiowa and Comanche people at Fort
Cobb in December and get them to reservations. He began negotiations with Chief Little
Robe of the Cheyennes and with Yellow Bear about living on the reservations.[44] Sheridan
then began the construction of Camp Sill, later called Fort Sill, named after General Sill who
died at Stone River.

Sheridan was called back to Washington following the election of President Grant. He was
informed of his promotion to lieutenant general of the army and reassigned from the
department. Sheridan protested and was allowed to stay in Missouri with the rank of
lieutenant general. The last remnants of Indian resistance came from Tall Bull Dog soldiers
and elements of the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes. The 5th Cavalry from Fort
McPherson were sent to handle the situation on the Platte River in Nebraska. In May, the two
forces collided at Summit Springs and the Indians were pursued out of the region. This
brought an end to Sheridan's campaign, as the Indians had successfully been removed from
the Platte and Arkansas and the majority of those in Kansas had been settled onto
reservations. Sheridan left in 1869 to take command of the Army and was replaced by Major
General Schofield.[44]

Red Cloud's War and the Treaty of Fort Laramie[edit]

Main articles: Red Cloud's War and Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)

Black Hills War[edit]

Custer and Bloody Knife (kneeling left), Custer's favorite Indian Scout

In 1875, the Great Sioux War of 1876–77 erupted when the Dakota gold rush penetrated the
Black Hills. The government decided to stop evicting trespassers from the Black Hills and
offered to buy the land from the Sioux. When they refused, the government decided instead
to take the land and gave the Lakota until January 31, 1876 to return to reservations. The
tribes did not return to the reservations by the deadline, and Lt. Colonel George Custer found
the main encampment of the Lakota and their allies at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Custer
and his men were separated from their main body of troops, and they were all killed by the
far more numerous Indians led by Crazy Horse and inspired by Sitting Bull's earlier vision of
victory. The Anheuser-Busch brewing company made prints of a dramatic painting that
depicted "Custer's Last Fight" and had them framed and hung in many American saloons as
an advertising campaign, helping to create a popular image of this battle.[45][46]
Mass grave for the dead Lakota following the Wounded Knee Massacre

The Lakotas conducted a Ghost Dance ritual on the reservation at Wounded Knee, South
Dakota in 1890, and the Army attempted to subdue them. Gunfire erupted on December 29
during this attempt, and soldiers killed up to 300 Indians, mostly old men, women, and
children in the Wounded Knee Massacre.[47] Following the massacre, author L. Frank Baum
wrote: "The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total
extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better, in order to
protect our civilization, follow it up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and
untamable creatures from the face of the earth."[48]

Last conflicts[edit]

Buffalo Soldiers of the 25th Infantry Regiment, 1890

 October 5, 1898: Leech Lake, Minnesota: Battle of Sugar Point; last Medal of Honor
given for Indian Wars campaigns was awarded to Private Oscar Burkard of the 3rd
U.S. Infantry Regiment
 1907: Four Corners, Arizona: Two troops of the 5th Cavalry from Fort Wingate
skirmish with armed Navajo men; one Navajo was killed and the rest escaped
 March 1909: Crazy Snake Rebellion, Oklahoma: Federal officials attack the
Muscogee Creeks and allied Freedmen who had resisted forcible allotment and
division of tribal lands by the federal government since 1901, headquartered at
Hickory ceremonial grounds in Oklahoma; a two-day gun battle seriously wounded
leader Chitto Harjo and quelled this rebellion[49]
 1911: Chaco Canyon, New Mexico: A company of cavalry went from Fort Wingate to
quell an alleged uprising by some Navajo.[citation needed]
 January 19, 1911: Washoe County, Nevada: The Last Massacre occurred; a group of
Shoshones and Bannocks killed four ranchers; on February 26, 1911, eight of the
Indians involved in the Last Massacre were killed by a posse in the Battle of Kelley
Creek; the remaining four were captured
 March 1914 – March 15, 1915: Bluff War in Utah between Ute Indians and Mormon
residents
 January 9, 1918: Santa Cruz County, Arizona: The Battle of Bear Valley was fought
in Southern Arizona; Army forces of the 10th Cavalry engaged and captured a band of
Yaquis, after a brief firefight[50]
 March 20–23, 1923: Posey War in Utah between Ute and Paiute Indians against
Mormon residents