Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Santana Francisco
9/8/2010
How did disease, the near demise of the buffalo, and the U.S Government affect Great Plains Indians in
the 19th Century? Examine each of these factors in turn and draw conclusions about their impact on
Plains Indians. Was one of these factors more important than the others?
The Great Plains Indians were a great civilization of people with different tribes of people that
each had their own characteristics that made each very unique. All tribes practiced different spiritual
rituals and had different gods they worshipped but all shared the same viewpoints on life: live and
respect the land, cherish the buffalo, wage war or make peace with those who venture onto their land,
and respect the gods in which one served. This was the way the Indian of the Great Plains lived until
white settlement grew heavily across the plains and America sought to make the dream of manifest
destiny a reality. As Americans (whites and blacks included) started to cross the plains, the Indians had
to adjust their way of life to make the newcomers of the plains feel welcome. They had no choice in this
matter and with the white man came things the Indian was not prepared for. As one Indian chief noted,
“The white people came, they brought with them some good (like horses and guns), but they brought
the small pox, and they brought evil liquors (L.R Masson, 5).” The things that this Indian chief speak on
are only some of the things that almost lead to the extinction of the first inhabitants of the land we call
America today. The introduction of foreign diseases, the destruction of buffalo herds across the Plains,
and the U.S Government trying to assimilate and control the Indians of the Great Plains, all made life
extremely difficult for the Great Plains Indians and almost lead to the destruction of their entire culture
with the introduction of new diseases causing the most irreversible damage.
As white settlers and traders made their way across the Great Plains in the early 19 th Century,
they came into contact with native people that were susceptible to any and all forms of sickness in
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which they had never even seen before. Smallpox, the measles, whooping cough and cholera were some
of the leading new diseases with smallpox being the leader of all new diseases as it whipped out whole
tribes of people. It is said that a mortality rate, “between 50 and 90 percent were common whenever
new epidemics struck (Calloway, 40).” An example of this can be seen in the Omaha Indians who at one
point in the late 1700 numbered as many as 3000 but were,” reduced to less than 300 by 1800, losing
more than 1500 to the 1801-1802 smallpox epidemic (Calloway, 40).” Before the U.S army could
attempt to wipe them out, the Great Plains Indians were being diminished by a biological threat named
smallpox. With this element being in play, the Plains Indians never stood a chance to even conquer their
American counterparts that threatened their society. The Indians knew nothing about the spread of
disease, so as they came into contact with one another, they ultimately killed one another which is why I
feel this was the most important factor in the destruction of their culture. Smallpox wiped out more
Indian nations and villages than the entire U.S army and, with no vaccinations or even knowledge of
what a vaccination was, the Great Plains Indians were in trouble from the day they shook hands with an
While trying to fight off the smallpox, Great Plains Indians were hit with another blow to their
culture: the destruction of buffalo herds. Buffalo were essential to Indian life. They provided food,
clothing, and even tools for the Great Plains Indian. No parts of the buffalo went unused