North American Indians: The Story of Genocide

Delaware

The Delaware occupied the New Jersey basin of the Delaware river.  They called themselves "Lenni-Lenape" which means genuine man or original man.  They were composed of three main powerful tribes. The Turtle, the Turkey ,And the Wolf. At First the Delaware did not like their name, but once it was explained they grew to appreciate it. They were named after a famous Englishman, Lord de la Warre, the second governor of Virginia. The Delaware lived in villages with dome shaped, bark covered homes resembling a wigwam. When the Revolutionary war ended they were driven west to Pennsyvilia and Wyoming. In 1867 they were relocated to Indian Territory.
 

Mohican

The Mohicans are an Algonquin who were an allied tribe to the English in the French and Indian War. The occupied both sides of the upper Hudson River extending almost to Lake Champlain. The name Mohican means wolf. James F. Cooper made them famous in his book "The Last Of The Mohicans." Once colonist started to come to America they started to lose their land. After the Revolutionary war the Mohicans slowly started to disappear. One band of this rare tribe still lives in Stock Bridge, Massachusetts, at the Stock Bridge Reservation. Today there are 500 descendants of this group left.

Apache Map: Tribes of N. America

The Apache were the first to ride horses.  They were already living in New Mexico when the Spaniards arrived.  They also had a reputation as raiders and killers on the Pueblo villages.  Once  the obtained liquor and guns they became the white mans worst enemy.  Their main location of living was New Mexico and Arizona.  The Apache were assigned to reservations in 1870.  A renegade band under the command of Cochise broke out.  With fewer than 200 warriors he managed to fight off the US Army for more than four years forcing them to make piece with a unconquered enemy.  When a reservations was established he brought in his warriors.  Three years later the US rounded up 3,000 of them and put them on a reservation. In 1876 Geranium and some of his followers fled to Mexico when the government to move them to San Carlos, Arizona. He was born in 1834. Later he and his band were arrested and settled in San Carlos. When the government refused to assist them in irrigating their crops the Indians once again were unsatisfied. Geranium again went on the war path and once again surrendered. Two years later in 1884 he and a group of hostile Indians raided some white settlements in Arizona and New Mexico. This revolt was due to the government attempting to stop to Indians from producing home made liquor called tiswin. General A. Crook began a campaign with orders to capture or kill Geranium. Finally after about ten years of raids and war Geranium agreed to a truce, in which the Indians were to be relocated to Florida, but this broken two days later. General Nelson A. Miles now look over the project and in August Geranium surrendered. His entire band of 340 were sent to Florida as prisoners of war. Later they were sent to Mount Vernon, Alabama and from there to Fort Sill, in Oklahoma. He died peacefully in 1909. Geronimo’s Indian name was Goyathlay “one who yawns”. The Spaniards gave him the name Geranium for the Spanish name Jerome.

Cheyenne
The Cheyenne became most famous in the TV sitcom Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. They were mostly confined to the plains, Minnesota and North Dakota. They were among the Indians who rode horses. Their main source of food was buffalo. They used the buffalo for many other things than just meat, the hide would be used for their teepees and the bones for tool and weapons. In 1876 the Cheyenne joined the Dakota under the command of Sitting Bull. They were also at Custers Last Stand. Two years later they were defeated and sent to Oklahoma. The climate their did not agree with many of them and as a result many died. In September of 1878, they escaped under the command of Chief Dull Knife. They fought their way to the Dakota border only to be recaptured. The Cheyenne were eventually confined to reservations on Oklahoma and Montana. Custers last stand took place on June 25, 1876 at junction of Big Horn and Little Horn River. The Seventh US Calvary, led by General George Armstrong Custer, was in pursuit of the Dakota and other tribes led by Sitting Bull. Custer entire division was slaughtered, all 264. The only survivor was Custer horse, Comanche. Sitting Bull was a famous Sioux warrior and medicine man. He was also the leader of the allied troops at Custer's Last Stand. He was born in 1834 on the Grand River in South Dakota. As a boy he was known as Jumping Badger. He was an exceptional warrior, at age ten he went on his first buffalo hunt and at age fourteen he counted his first coup on a fallen enemy while in a war party against the Crow. He changed his name to Four Horns until 1857 when he made medicine and changed it to "Tatanka Yotanka" or Sitting Buffalo Bull.

Cherokee

The Cherokee were a very powerful tribal branch of the Iroquois. They roamed from southern Alleghenies in southwestern Virginia, west North Carolina and South Carolina, northern Georgia, and northeastern Alabama. They also claimed touristy in the Ohio River. Their first encounter with white men was in 1540 by a Spanish explorer named De Soto. They sided with the English in the Revolutionary war, but did not wage war on the colonists. The Cherokee were the first to adopt a regular form of government in 1820 called the Cherokee Nation. It was modified after the United States government. They were the first to own farms and accept white man's schools. They were also the first to have a written alphabet. But things turned for the worst when gold was found. In 1838-1839 the US Army rounded up most of the Cherokee population and marched them west resulting in the worst act of betrayal by the government toward the Indian known as "The Trail of Tears." One fourth of the population died from hypothermia, dehydration or starvation. The remaining Indian started as what is known as the Five Civilized Tribes, made up of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and the Cherokee. During the Civil War they joined the confederate states. The remaining Cherokee are on the Qualla Reservation in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.
 

Other sources of information:

For additional resources, please use this Alta Vista search results page for "Cheyenne Reservation."

Stockbridge Reservation

Qualla Reservation

Trail of Tears
 


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