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Social Studies
11 March 2016
Buffaloes
George Francis Train predicted that the new railroads would cause tons of immigration
and it would be a pretty cool place to be in a couple decades. But nobody really knew how tragic
the railroad was going to be, and how it would change the West. Tons of Native Americans and
millions of buffalo died and came near to extinction because of these railroads.
General William Tecumseh Sherman had the job of protecting the construction going on
with the railroads from west of the Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains. When warriors
from Indian tribes trapped a group of the railroad construction and killed them all, General
Shermans job was taken and replaced by General Philip Henry Sheridan.
The U.S. troop were able to fight a conventional war, but were not prepared to fight an
enemy using guerilla tactics. So Sheridan decided to destroy all of the Indians belongings, giving
them no choice but to surrender or starve. When Sheridan took action he also decided to use the
women and children as human shields against the Indian men, but they ended up being murdered
without mercy.
It is estimated that 30-60 million buffalo wandered the plain of the West, rumbling and
creating the Thunder of the Plains. A buffalo lives for about 25 years and reproduce quickly,
but the Indians were still cautious to make sure they didnt kill too many buffalo. For Buffalo
then became a great trading resource and around 200,000 buffalo were killed each year, and the
completion of the railroad just increased that number.
Once the railroad was finished, hunting parties arrived on the trains to kill the buffalo,
and unlike Indians, who killed for survival, they hunted mostly for sport. They did what is call,

hunting by rail, which means that when there was a pack of buffalo, men aboard the train
would get out their guns and just shoot at them, leaving numerous 1,500 pound buffalo just lying
there. When the train would slow, the men would get out their guns, open the window, and then
start shooting, one hunter kill almost 6,000 buffalo by himself, and even lost hearing in one ear.
Texas proposes that they should start protecting buffalos because they have begun to
realize that it is possible for the buffalo to become extinct. But Sheridan argued against the Texas
legislature and says that they should keep killing buffalo because it is also keeping the Indian
problem under control. Sheridan understood that the railroads were changing the ways of the
West, and Indians were then put into reservations.