The American West:

Part 2

For centuries, the frontier West manifested the contradictions and

contributions of humanity. Diverse peoples traveled and lived in the
West for a manifold of reasons. Native American oppression continued
during this time period from the late 1700s to 1865. This period saw a
radical change in the territorial disposition of America. It was the
beginning of many wars and the continuation of the unjust, evil
deprivation of Native American human rights. Explorers, criminals,
soldiers, traders, religious leaders, and other human beings were
heavily abundant in the North American continent. The messages of
hope and human justice are real, eternal, and transcendent. We
remember the past in order for us to learn lessons and to be aware of
many injustices that we have to defeat in our generation too. Now, we
recognize this long history and we are further inspired to help our
neighbors.
The time from 1776 to 1865 included some of the most powerful historical events involving the
American West. That time definitely caused monumental changes in the North American continent
for real. There were many battles of the Revolutionary War to the west of the Appalachian
Mountains and in the Midwest too. Soon, the British forces were defeated by the American forces
by the end the Revolutionary War in 1783. During that era, the settlers and pioneers readily lived in
one room log cabins in the frontier. Many of them ate deer, turkeys, and other animals. Many of
them used horses to travel into farther distances. Native American tribes were constant victims of
attack and murder by many settlers and their lands were increasingly stolen. As the 19th century
progressed, changes existed. American settlers traveled into the Northwest Territory as found in
Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, etc. Daniel Boone was a famous frontiersperson as well. He came from
Virginia into central Kentucky. Back then, Kentucky was part of Virginia. The Wilderness Road in
Kentucky by the 1700s and 1800s were home to many attacks. During the 19th century, the fur
trade expanded.

The federal postal system grew in the frontier West. Scientists, artists, and explorers existed too.
The evil, bigoted doctrine of Manifest Destiny was embraced by many. Manifest Destiny is the
myth that settlers (especially those of European descent) have the destiny to control all of the lands
of the North American continent from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean (plus beyond).
The Santa Fe Trail in the Southwest carried goods and services. Mexico became independent via the
Mexican Revolution and Texas became independent in a controversial fashion via the Texas
Revolution. The Oregon Trail allowed people to travel in the Northwest of the Pacific. Religions
developed like Mormonism in the west. Joseph Smith was the founder of Mormonism. This era
ends with the conclusion of the Civil War. Battles in the West during the Civil War existed. By
1865, railroads grew, technology became more advanced, and immigrants from China, Germany,
and Scandinavia came into America. A new era was born and the continued oppression against
Native Americans by imperialists unfortunately persisted. The American West has a complex
historical story that must be told.
The Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War (1775-1783) didnt just exist in the East Coast and in the South. It also
existed in the Midwest and the western territories west of the Appalachian Mountains (which is part
of the frontier region). There were many battles between American and British forces in the Ohio
Valley and the Great Lakes region. From 1775 to 1782, these battles existed. America allied with
Spain to fight British forces. British forces allied with many Native American tribes like the
Shawnee, Miami, Lenape, Seneca, and the Wyandot. American leaders included George Rogers
Clark, William Crawford, who allied with Francisco Cruzat and Fernando de Leyba. The British had
leaders like Henry Hamilton, Arent DePeyster, Blackfish, and Captain Pipe. There were conflicts in
the Northwest Territory, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. British forces fought in Detroit and
American settlers were found in south and east of the Ohio River. The Ohio River was a boundary
for many settlers. The British used the Proclamation of 1763 to prevent British colonists to settle
west of the Appalachian Mountains. This came after the French and Indian War in order to stop
conflict between Native Americans and colonists in the vast territory newly acquired from France.

Settlers continued to disregard the Proclamation and they just traveled into the area west of the
Appalachian mountains. The British negotiated 2 treaties with Native Americans in 1768. They were
the Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the Treaty of Hard Labourwhich opened up land for settlement
south of the Ohio River. Thereafter, tensions between British officials and colonists over western
land policy diminished. The problem was that most of the Native Americans who lived and hunted
in the Ohio Valley (i.e. the Shawnees, the Mingos, the Delawares, and the Wyandots) had not been
consulted in the 1768 treaties.
Angry with the Iroquois for selling their lands to the British, the Shawnees began to organize a
confederacy of western Native Americans with the intention of preventing the loss of their lands.
British and Iroquois officials worked to diplomatically isolate the Shawnees from other Native
American nations, however, and so when Dunmore's War broke out in 1774, Shawnees faced the
Virginia militia with few allies. After Virginia's victory in the war, the Shawnees were compelled to
accept the Ohio River boundary. Shawnee and Mingo leaders who did not agree with these terms
and renewed the struggle soon after the American Revolutionary War began in 1775.

Neutrality and small raids

During the start of the war, the British and the Continental Congress wanted to keep the Western
Native Americans out of the war. At Fort Pitt in October 1775, Native American and American
leaders reaffirmed the boundary formed Dunmores War the previous year. Without British
support, Native American leaders such as Chief Blackfish (Shawnee) and Pluggy (Mingo) raided into
Kentucky, hoping to drive the settlers out. Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia wanted to retaliate
by attacking Pluggy's Town in the Ohio Country, but he canceled the expedition for fear that the
militia would be unable to distinguish between neutral and hostile Native Americans. That would
thus make enemies of the neutral Delawares and Shawnees. Nevertheless, Shawnees and Delawares
became increasingly divided over whether or not to take part in the war. While leaders such as
White Eyes (Delaware) and Cornstalk (Shawnee) urged neutrality, Buckongahelas (Delaware) and
Blue Jacket (Shawnee) decided to fight against the Americans. In Kentucky, many isolated settlers
and hunters were attacked. Many of them returned to the East.

That is why by the spring of 1776, less than 200 colonists remained in Kentucky. Most were in the
fortified settlements of Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and Logans Station. In December 1776,
Pluggy was killed in an attack on McClellan's Station, which was located on the site of present
Georgetown, Kentucky.
1777

By 1777, there was an escalation of tensions. In that year, the British launched a major offensive
from Canada. They wanted to provide a strategic diversion for operations in the Northeast.
Officials in Detroit started to recruit and arm Native American war parties to raid American
settlements. Many unknown members of American settlers were killed in Kentucky, West Virginia,
and Pennsylvania. The conflict increased after enraged American militiamen murdered Cornstalk,
who was the leading advocate of Shawnee neutrality. In November 1777, Cornstalk was
murdered. Despite the violence, many Ohio Native Americans still hoped to stay out of the war.
This was a difficult task because they were located directly between the British in Detroit and the
Americans along the Ohio River.
1778-1779

During the early part of the war, the Virginians wanted to defend the western border with
militiamen. They garrisoned 3 forts along the Ohio River. Their names are Fort Pitt, Fort Henry,
and Fort Randolph. They had a hard time to defend the forts, because American Native Americans
just bypassed the forts during their raids. In 1778, the Americans decided that offensive operations
were necessary to secure the western border. The first American expedition into the Ohio County
was a debacle. In February 1778, General Edward Hand led 500 Pennsylvania militiamen from Fort
Pitt on a surprise winter march toward Mingo towns on the Cuyahoga River. This was where the
British stored military supplies which they distributed to Native Americans raiding parties. Adverse
weather conditions prevented the expedition from reaching its objective, however. On the return
march, some of Hand's men attacked peaceful Delaware Native Americans, killing one man and a
few women and children, including relatives of the Delaware chief Captain Pipe. Because only non-
combatants had been killed, the expedition became derisively known as the "squaw campaign.
Besides unruly militia, Loyalist sentiment around Pittsburgh also contributed to Hand's problems.
In March 1778, three men with close ties to the British and American Native Americans left
Pittsburgh, defecting to the British and Native American side. They were Simon Girty, an
interpreter who had guided the "squaw campaign", Matthew Elliot, a local trader, and Alexander
McKee, an agent for the British Native American Department. All three would prove to be valuable
British operatives in the war. Amid much criticism, and facing a congressional investigation for
allowing the men to defect, Hand resigned in May 1778.
After the escalation of the war in 1777, Americans on the western frontier wanted the Continental
Congress to send protection to them. There was an investigation by the Congressional commission.
It recommended in early 1778 that two regiments of the Continental Army should be stationed in
the West. Also, there was a defensive line of forts that had little effect on Native American raids
into the American settlements. The commissioners then called for a fort to be built on the Native
American side of the Ohio River. This was the first in a line of forts that would enable the
Americans (it was hoped by them) to mount an expedition against Detroit.

Hollidays Cove Fort was a Revolutionary War fortification constructed in 1774 by soldiers from Ft.
Pitt. It was located in what is now downtown Weirton, West Virginia, along Harmons Creek
(named for Harmon Greathouse). That location was about three miles from its mouth on the Ohio
River. It was commanded by Colonel Andrew Van Swearingen (17411793) and later by his son-in-
law, Captain Samuel Brady (17561795), the famous leader of Brady's Rangers. In 1779, over 28
militia members were garrisoned at Hollidays Cove. Two years earlier, Colonel Van Swearingen led
a dozen soldiers by longboat down the Ohio to help rescue the inhabitants of Ft. Henry in
Wheeling in a siege by the British and Native American tribes in 1777. That mission was
memorialized in a WPA-era mural painted on the wall of the Cove Post Office by Charles S.
Chapman (18791962). The mural features Col. John Bilderback, who later gained infamy as the
leader of the massacre of the Moravian Native Americans in Gnadenhutten in 1782.

In order to build a fort in the Ohio Country, the Americans sought the approval of the Delaware
Native Americans. In September 1778, Americans negotiated the Treaty of Fort Pitt with the
Delawares, which resulted in the building of Fort Laurens along the Tuscarawas River. American
plans soon went awry, however. White Eyes, the Delaware leader who had negotiated the treaty,
was apparently murdered in 1778 by American militiamen. His rival, Captain Pipe, eventually
abandoned the American alliance and moved west to the Sandusky River, where he began receiving
support from the British in Detroit. Furthermore, because of intense warfare in eastern
Pennsylvania and upstate New York, Congress was unable to provide the manpower for operations
against Detroit. Fort Laurens was abandoned in 1779.

Clarks Illinois Campaign

In late 1778, George Rogers Clark, or a young Virginia militia officer, launched a campaign to get
the sparsely garrisoned Illinois County from the British. He had a company of volunteers. Clark
captured Kaskaskia or the chief post in the Illinois Country, on July 4, 1778. It was later secured the
submission of Vincennes. Vincennes was recaptured by General Henry Hamilton or the British
commander of Detroit. In February 1779, Clark marched to Vincennes in a surprise winter march
and captured Hamilton himself. To American frontiersmen, Hamilton was known as "the Hair-
buyer General" because, they believed, he encouraged Native Americans to kill and scalp American
civilians. For this reason, Governor Thomas Jefferson brought Hamilton to Williamsburg, Virginia,
to be tried as a war criminal. After British officials threatened to retaliate against American prisoners
of war, Jefferson relented, and Hamilton was exchanged for an American prisoner in 1781.
The British and Native American Response

By 1780, there was a major British and Native American offensive. During the next years of the
war, both sides launched raids against each other. They usually targeted settlements. In 1780,
hundreds of Kentucky settlers were killed or captured in a British-Native American expedition into
Kentucky. George Rogers Clark responded by leading an expedition in August 1780 which
destroyed two Shawnee towns along the Mad River, but doing little damage to the Native American
war effort. In late May, Spanish-held St. Louis was attacked by a British force mostly made up of
Native Americans and was successfully defended by the mixed Spanish and French creole force.
Fort San Carlos, a stone tower in modern downtown St Louis, was the center of this defense. In the
Illinois territory, French officer Augustin de La Balme assembled a militia force of French residents
in an effort to take Fort Detroit. The force was destroyed in November by the Miami under Chief
Little Turtle. At the same time, the nearly abandoned Fort St. Joseph was raided by Americans from
Cahokia. On their return trip, however, they were overtaken by British loyalists and Native
Americans near Petit fort.
St. Louis

During the Revolutionary War, the Spanish Governor Francisco Cruzat in St. Louis sent a force of
about 140 Spanish soldiers and Native Americans under Captain Eugenio Pourre to capture Fort St.
Joseph. It was captured and plundered on February 12, 1781. In late 1780, George Rogers Clark
traveled east to consult with Thomas Jefferson (who was the governor of Virginia back then) about
an expedition in 1781. Jefferson created a plan. This plan wanted Clark to lead 2,000 men against
Detroit. Recruiting enough men was a problem. The reason was that during a time of war, most
militiamen preferred to stay close to their homes instead of going on extended campaigns.
Furthermore, Colonel Daniel Brodhead refused to detach the men because he was staging his own
expedition against the Delawares, who had recently entered the war against the Americans.
Broadhead marched into the Ohio Country and destroyed the Delaware Native American capital of
Coshocton in April 1781. This only made the Delawares more determined enemies and deprived
Clark of badly needed men and supplies for the Detroit campaign. Most of the Delawares fled to
the militant towns on the Sandusky River. When Clark finally left Fort Pitt in August 1781, he was
accompanied by only 400 men. On August 24, 1781, a detachment of one hundred of his men was
ambushed near the Ohio River by Native Americans led by Joseph Brant, a Mohawk leader
temporarily in the west.
Brant's victory ended Clark's efforts to move against Detroit. Between the combatants on the
Sandusky River and the Americans at Fort Pitt were several villages of Christian Delawares. The
villages were administered by the Moravian missionaries David Zeisberger and John Heckewelder.
Although non-combatants, the missionaries favored the American cause and kept American
officials at Fort Pitt informed about hostile British and Native American activity. In response, in
September 1781, Wyandots and Delawares from Sandusky forcibly removed the Christian
Delawares and the missionaries to a new village (Captive Town) on the Sandusky River.
1782

The year of 1782 of the Western theater of the American Revolutionary War was very bloody. In
March of 1782, 160 Pennsylvania militiamen under Lieutenant Colonel David Williamson rode into
Ohio County. He wanted to find the Native Americans who were responsible for ongoing raids
against Pennsylvania settlers. Williamson accused some Native Americans of murdering a white
woman and a baby. Williamsons men detained about 100 Christian Delaware Native Americans at
the village of Gnadenhtten. The Christian Delawares had returned to Gnadenhtten from Captive
Town in order to harvest the crops that they had been forced to leave behind. Accusing the
Christian Native Americans of having aided Native American raiding parties, the Pennsylvanians
murdered the 100 Christian Native Americansmostly women and childrenwith hammer blows
to the head. Colonel William Crawford of the Continental Army came out of retirement. He led 480
volunteer militiamen (mostly from Pennsylvania) deep into American Native American territory. He
wanted to surprise the Native Americans. The Native Americans and their British allies from
Detroit had learned about the expedition in advance. They brought about 440 men to the Sandusky
to oppose the Americans. There was a day of indecisive fighting. The Americans found themselves
surrounded and tried to retreat. The retreat turned into a rout, but most of the Americans managed
to find their way back to Pennsylvania. About 70 Americans were killed; Native American and
British losses were minimal.

During the retreat, Colonel Crawford and an unknown number of his men were captured. The
Native Americans executed many of these captives in retaliation for the Gnadenhtten massacre
earlier in the year, in which about 100 Native American civilians were murdered by Pennsylvania
militiamen. Crawford's execution was particularly brutal: he was tortured for at least two hours
before being burned at the stake. The failure of the Crawford expedition caused alarmed among the
settlers along the American frontier. Many Americans feared that Native Americans would be
emboldened by their victory and launch a new series of raids. There would be more defeats for the
Americans. This year was bloody. On July 13, 1782, the Mingo leader Guyasuta led about 100
Native Americans and several British volunteers into Pennsylvania, destroying Hannastown and
killing nine and capturing twelve settlers. It was the hardest blow dealt by Indians in Western
Pennsylvania during the war.

In Kentucky, the Americans went on the
defensive while Caldwell, Elliot, and McKee with
their Native American allies prepared a major
offensive. In March of 1782, Fort Estill was
attacked by Wyandot Native Americans. Colonel
Benjamin Logan, commanding officer of the
region and stationed at Logans Station learned
that the Wyandot warriors were in the area on
the warpath. The Native Americans, aided by the
British in Detroit, had raided from
Boonsborough past Estills Station along the
Kentucky River. Logan dispatched 15 men to
Captain Estill at Estills Station with orders to
increase his force by 25 more men and
reconnoiter the country to the north and east.
Captain Estill followed orders and reached the
Kentucky River a few miles below the mouth of
Station Camp Creek. He camped that night at
Sweet Lick or known as Estill Springs. On that
day after they left Estills Station, a group of
Native Americans appeared there at dawn on
March 20. They raided the fort, scalped and
killed a Miss Innes in sight of the fortification
and took Monk (a slave of Captain Estill) and
killed all the cattle. When the Native Americans
retreated, Samuel South and Peter Hackett, both
young men, were dispatched to take the trail of
the men and inform them of the news. The boys
found them near the mouth of Drowning Creek
and Red River early on the morning of March
21. Of the 40 men, approximately 20 had left
families within the fort. They returned with the
boys to Estill's Station. The remainder crossed
the Kentucky River and found the Indian trail.
Captain Estill organized a company of 25 men,
followed the Native Americans, and suffered
what is known as Estill's Defeat, later known as
the Battle of Little Mountain (March 22, 1782) in
Montgomery Co. In July 1782, more than 1,000
Native Americans gathered at Wapatomica, but
the expedition was called off after scouts
reported that George Rogers Clark was
preparing to invade the Ohio Country from
Kentucky. The reports turned out to be false,
but Caldwell still managed to lead 300 Native
Americans into Kentucky and deliver a
devastating blow at the Battle of Blue Licks in
August.
With peace negotiations between the United
States and Great Britain making progress,
Caldwell was ordered to cease further
operations. Similarly, General Irvine had gotten
permission for a Continental Army expedition
into the Ohio Country, but this was cancelled. In
November, George Rogers Clark delivered the
final blow in the Ohio Country, destroying
several Shawnee towns, but inflicting little
damage on the inhabitants.
The End of the Revolutionary War

The war in the Northwest, in the words of historian David Curtis Scaggs, Jr. "ended in a stalemate.
In the war's final years, each side could destroy enemy settlements, but could not stay and hold the
territory. For the Shawnees, the war was a loss: the Americans had successfully defended Kentucky
and increased settlements there, so that prime hunting ground was now lost. Although the Native
Americans had been pushed back from the Ohio River and were now settled primarily in the Lake
Erie basin, the Americans could not occupy the abandoned lands for fear of Native American raids.
News of the pending peace treaty arrived late in 1782. In the final treaty, the Ohio Country was
signed away by Great Britain to the United States, even though "not a single American soldier was
north of the Ohio River when the treaty was signed. Great Britain had not consulted the Native
Americans in the peace process, and the Native Americans were nowhere mentioned in treaty's
terms. For the Native Americans, the struggle would soon continue as the Northwest Indian War,
though this time without the explicit support of the British.
Thomas Jefferson plus Lewis and Clark (Louisiana Purchase)

After the death of George Washington in 1799 (and after the unpopularity of then President John
Adams who advanced the anti-civil liberty Sedition Act), there was the election of 1800. The
Election was close and Thomas Jefferson won the 1800 election. Aaron Burr was the Vice
President. Burr is famous for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Jefferson was an anti-Federalist.
He opposed the Sedition Acts. He was a Democratic Republican. He was a person filled with
contradictions. He wrote the words of all men are created equal, but he owned slaves and he
believed in the myth of black racial inferiority. The truth is that black people are human and made
great contributions throughout human history. Jefferson cut taxes and cut resources from the navy
and army. He promoted westward expansion too. His advocacy of farm ownership (in the form of
yeoman farmers) and gaining more lands for America contradicted his streamlining government
message. He wanted this expansion to benefit white Americans primarily. We have to keep it real
and that documents Jefferson's racism and hypocrisy.

He wanted America to go into the Pacific. Back in 1801, the dictator Napoleon Bonaparte forced
Spain to give him the Louisiana Territory including the city of New Orleans (which was a very
strategic port city). By 1803, France gave Jefferson the Louisiana Purchase. It cost $15 million or
about $0.04 per acre ($240 million in 2016 dollars, less than 42 cents per acre). Federalists opposed
the expansion, but Jeffersonians hailed the opportunity to create millions of new farms to expand
the domain of land-owning yeomen; the ownership would strengthen the ideal republican society,
based on agriculture (not commerce), governed lightly. The supporters of the deal claimed that it
promoted self-reliance and virtue, as well as form the political base for Jeffersonian Democracy.
This land was acquired without much discussion with the Native Americans who lived in that
territory for centuries and thousands of years. Many people paid Native American money for lands
to the east of the Mississippi and in parts of west outside of the Louisiana Purchase later on.
Jefferson wanted exploration of these lands before the purchase. Thomas Jefferson, in 1804, sent
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the Louisiana Territory and beyond to the Pacific
Ocean. These men received help from a Native American woman named Sacajawea (who was a
Shoshone woman) and her husband. They traveled in the Missouri River. They came into Colorado
and Oregon. Jefferson told Lewis and Clark to research the native tribes (including their morals,
language, and culture), weather, soil, rivers, commercial trading, and animal and plant life. Lewis and
Clark discovered new species. They found 15 mammals, 16 birds, 7 fish, and 7 reptiles. They met
Black Moccasin (or a Minitari chef). They left St. Louis in 1803 and returned in 1806. John Jacob
Astor (who was a wealthy entrepreneur) expanded fur trading operations into the Pacific Northwest
too. He made the American Fur Company to break up the Hudsons Bay Company monopoly in
the region. Astor was a multi-millionaire by 1834 with a strong fur trade enterprise.
Settlers (Further Exploration too).

More explorers and settlers existed in the West. Many of these explorers were funded by private
institutions or by the federal government. From 1805 to 1806, the Army lieutenant Zebulon Pike
(1779-1813) led a group of 20 soldiers to find the waters of the Mississippi. He explored also the
Red and Arkansas Rivers in the Spanish territory. He reached the Rio Grande. Pike saw the peak in
Colorado named after him. Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784-1864) led the Yellowstone and
Missouri expeditions of 1819-1820. He also described the Great Plains in 1823 as a desert. Many
settlements would be in the area decades later. Naturalists like Thomas Nuttall and John Bradbury
traveled up the Missouri River in 1811. They documented and drawn images of plant plus animal
life. They went with the Astoria expedition. Later, Nuthall explored the Indian Territory
(Oklahoma), the Oregon Trail, and even Hawaii. His book A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas
Territory was an important account of frontier life. Although Nuthall was the most traveled
Western naturalist before 1840, unfortunately most of his documentation and specimens were lost.
Artist George Catlin (17961872) traveled up the Missouri as far as North Dakota, producing
accurate paintings of Native American culture. A Swiss visitor Karl Bodmer (180993), was in the
U.S. in 183234 with the Prince Maximilian expedition; he made compelling landscapes and
portraits. In 1803, John James Audubon (17851851) immigrated from Haiti and established a
reputation as a leading explorer, woodsman, painter, and naturalist. His greatest achievement
involved classifying and painting in minute details 500 species of birds, published in Birds of
America.

Another famous explorer was John Charles Fremont. He was a commissioned Army officer in the
Corps of Topographical Engineers. He loved to explore. He was part of the Republican Party. He
crossed the Rocky Mountains by five different routes. He mapped parts of Oregon and California.
He played a role in conquering California from 1846-1847. In 184849, Frmont was assigned to
locate a central route through the mountains for the proposed transcontinental railroad, but his
expedition ended in near-disaster when it became lost and was trapped by heavy snow. He created
scientific data and adventure information. Many travelers used his information to go into the West.
It inspired many. Colleges grew in the Northeast. There was Transylvania University which was
founded in 1780 in the western frontier of Lexington, Kentucky. It had a law school and
undergraduate degree program. It had medical programs. Transylvania attracted politically
ambitious young men from across the Southwest, including 50 who became United States senators,
101 Congressman, 36 governors and 34 ambassadors.

Theft of Native Americans' Lands (Manifest Destiny, the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson, the Trial
of Tears)

America was formed in the midst of the genocide of Native Americans, the enslavement of black
people, and the theft of their lands. Manifest Destiny is the vicious lie that white settlers have the
divine right to conquer territories from the Atlantic to the Pacific by any means necessary. It was
part of the agenda of the system of racism/white supremacy. It involved murder, rape, and
destruction of lands plus the destruction of tons of wildlife too. The buffalo in America was almost
extinct by those who believed in the racist deception of Manifest Destiny. After the Revolutionary
War, many settlers created log cabins and other homes. Some people hunted deer, turkeys, and
other animals. Folks wore leather pants, moccasins, fur caps, and shirts. Many traveled in horses.
Some hunted hogs, sheep, and cattle. Some squatters existed too. Some wanted the people in the
frontier West to be law abiding and filled with a middle class republican community like Henry
Clay. Other slave owners wanted new lands for economic exploitation. Free Soilers wanted low cost
land for free white farmers. By 1862, Republicans offered 160 acre homesteads to all adults, male
and female, black and white, native-born or immigrant.

By 1788, American settlers traveled heavily into the Northwest Territory where they formed
Marietta, Ohio. That was the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory. In
1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Virginia through the
Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened to reach the Falls of the Ohio at
Louisville. The Wilderness Road was steep and rough, and it could only be traversed on foot or
horseback, but it was the best route for thousands of settlers moving into Kentucky during that
time period. In some areas they had to face Native American attacks. In 1784 alone, Native
Americans killed over 100 travelers on the Wilderness Road. No Native Americans lived
permanently in Kentucky back then, but they sent raiding parties to stop the newcomers. One of
those intercepted was Abraham Lincoln's grandfather, who was scalped in 1784 near Louisville.

The federal government gave funds to build railroads and canals in the frontier West. Conservatives
and Whigs like President John Quincy Adams wanted a moderate pace in charging people to get
resources from the federal government to live in frontier locations. The Democrats wanted a wild
scramble for land at very low prices. The steamboat existed in the Ohio River by 1811. There was
more travel in the Missouri River from 1818-1825 with help from Army engineers. The federal
postal system expanded.

The War of 1812 existed too. This war was about Americans and British disputing over traveling in
the Atlantic Ocean, competition for resources in North America, and issues not being resolved after
the Revolutionary War. American naval officers were kidnapped by British ships constantly. Many
Americans didnt like this. Also, many Native Americans allied with the British because of American
conflicts with Native American tribes. During that war, Andrew Jackson was a General in the war.
He worked with American frontier militiamen to defeat the Creeks. He opened the Southwest while
the militia under Governor William Henry Harrison defeated the Indian-British alliance at the Battle
of the Thames in Canada in 1813. The death in battle of the Native American leader Tecumseh
dissolved the coalition of Native American tribes. Meanwhile, General Andrew Jackson ended the
Native American military actions in the Southeast at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 in
Alabama. In general the frontiersmen battled the Indians with little help from the U.S. Army or the
federal government. To end the War of 1812, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and Albert Gallatin
(a leading anthropologist) and the other American diplomats negotiated the Treaty of Ghent in
1814 with Britain. They rejected the British plan to set up a Native American state in U.S. territory
south of the Great Lakes. They explained the American policy toward acquisition of Native
American lands. New states soon formed and the Trial of Tears existed. This was about Andrew
Jackson forcing Native Americans from the Southeast like the Creek to travels hundreds of miles to
Oklahoma by force. Many Native Americans died along the way. In Oklahoma, they were forced in
dilapidated, bad living conditions.

This was a great tragedy of American history.

Trading (in Fur, etc.)

The fur trade increased by the early 19th century. The frontier people moved westward. There were
trappers and hunters. They wanted new supplies of beaver and other skins for shipment to Europe.
Hunters wanted economic resources. Hunters encountered Native Americans in the Old West.
They knew of the Northwest terrain and the Rocky Mountains. Many trials grew too. By 1820,
however, a new "brigade-rendezvous" system sent company men in "brigades" cross-country on
long expeditions, bypassing many tribes. It also encouraged "free trappers" to explore new regions
on their own. At the end of the gathering season, the trappers would "rendezvous" and turn in their
goods for pay at river ports along the Green River, the Upper Missouri, and the Upper Mississippi.
St. Louis was the largest of the rendezvous towns. By 1830, however, fashions changed and beaver
hats were replaced by silk hats, ending the demand for expensive American furs. Thus ended the era
of the mountain men, trappers and scouts such as Jedediah Smith, Hugh Glass, Davy Crockett, Jack
Omohundro and others. The trade in beaver fur virtually ceased by 1845.

Westward Expansion along with Technology (Sante Fe trial, Oregon Trial, Phony Express
Telegraph)

Western Expansion grew with technology. This technology included the following: the Sant Fe
Trail, the Oregon Trail, the pony express, and the telegraph. The Santa Fe Trail was a transportation
route during the 19th century. It connected Independence, Missouri with Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Pedro Vial pioneered the route in 1792 and he was a French explorer. William Becknell promoted it
in 1821. It was a very important route that carried many goods and services throughout the frontier
west. It was a very vital highway. The railroad replaced the Santa Fe Trail by 1880. The trade center
in Santa Fe carried trade into Mexico City. The route intersected Comanche land in the area called
Comancheria. The Comanche wanted compensation for passage on the trail. It was another market
for American traders. Comanche raided areas in America, New Mexico, and Mexico. Wagons
readily traveled along the route. By the 1840's trail traffic along the Arkansas Valley was so heavy
that bison herds could not reach important seasonal grazing land, contributing to their collapse
which in turn hastened the decline of Comanche power in the region. The Santa Fe Trail was used
as an invasion route of New Mexico during the Mexican American War in 1846. Americans
exchanged manufactured good for the New Mexicans giving the Americans horses, mules, furs, and
silver. Today, the road area of the Santa Fe is now remembered by the National Park Service as the
Santa Fe National Historic Trial.
The Oregon Trail was different in many ways than the Santa Fe Trail. Thousands of men, women,
and children traveled along 2,000 in wagon trains at time during a six month journey on the Oregon
Trail. Many people wanted to not travel across South America to go into the West Coast. So, the
Oregon Trail was created in order to allow people to have easiest access to the Pacific Coast. The
Oregon Trail started in Missouri. Many people carried farm supplies, weapons, animals, clothing,
etc. The trail crossed through rivers, prairies, and mountains. It ended in Oregon and California. By
1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in Independence, Missouri, a wagon trail
had been cleared to Fort Hall, Idaho. Trails were cleared further and further west, eventually
reaching all the way to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. This network of wagon trails leading to the
Pacific Northwest was later called the Oregon Trail.

The eastern half of the route was also used by travelers on the California Trail (from 1843),
Mormon Trail (from 1847), and Bozeman Trail (from 1863) before they turned off to their separate
destinations. In the "Wagon Train of 1843", some 700 to 1,000 emigrants headed for Oregon;
missionary Marcus Whitman led the wagons on the last leg. In 1846, the Barlow Road was
completed around Mount Hood, providing a rough but passable wagon trail from the Missouri
River to the Willamette Valley: about 2,000 miles. People also used the Oregon Trail to travel
eastward too. Many people had to deal with the dangers of snakebites, wagon accidents, violence
from other travelers, etc. Some had to deal with attacks from Native Americans. Some had diseases
like dysentery, typhoid, and cholera. Avalanches happened too. The Donner Party had over 40
people dying of starvation during the winter of 1846-1847.

The pony express existed very powerfully in the world. The federal government gave subsidies for
the development of mail and freight delivery. By 1856, Congress authorized road improvements and
an overland mail service to California. So, new commercial wagon trains service existed to haul
mostly freight. In 1858, John Butterfield (180169) established a stage service that went from Saint
Louis to San Francisco in 24 days along a southern route. This route was abandoned in 1861 after
Texas joined the Confederacy, in favor of stagecoach services established via Fort Laramie and Salt
Lake City, a 24-day journey, with Wells Fargo & Co. as the foremost provider (initially using the old
"Butterfield" name).

William Russell, hoping to get a government contract for more rapid mail delivery service, started
the Pony Express in 1860, cutting delivery time to ten days. He set up over 150 stations about 15
miles (24 km) apart. In 1861 Congress passed the Land-Grant Telegraph Act which financed the
construction of Western Union's transcontinental telegraph lines. Hiram Sibley, Western Union's
head, negotiated exclusive agreements with railroads to run telegraph lines along their right-of-way.
Eight years before the transcontinental railroad opened, the First Transcontinental Telegraph linked
Omaha, Nebraska and San Francisco (and points in-between) on October 24, 1861. The Pony
Express ended in just 18 months because it could not compete with the telegraph.
The 1846 California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush existed because of many reasons. Back in 1846, about 10,000 Hispanic
people lived in California. They mostly lived in cattle ranches in the LA area. There were a few
hundred human beings (from other countries) in the northern districts including some Americans.
War existed in 1846 when U.S. forces sent Fremont and an U.S. Army unit plus naval forces to
quickly control California. Many people back during the 1840s viewed California as too far away.
That would change in 1848. That was the year when workers found flecks of gold in the American
east. That was east of Sacramento, California. The people were in John Sutters sawmill. By the
summer of that year, many people in the Eastern United States had a frenzy to go into the West
Coast in search of gold. This mass migration to the west in search of gold was called the California
Gold Rush. 80,000 people travel in trying to get a fortune. The population of California increased to
over 200,000 in 1852 from about 14,000 in 1847. This was mostly in gold districts that stretched
into the mountains east of San Francisco. The people who wanted gold were called forty-niners.
Many of them traveled via land trials. Some traveled by ship across the Isthmus of Panama into
California. Many people from Chile, Peru, and 25,000 laborers from China came into California for
getting resources as well. Most mining worked in placer mining and got little wealthy.

Only a small percentage of miners became very wealthy from gold discovery. Food and clothing
were expensive. Mining camps were crowded and many had sanitation issues. Many of them lived in
the San Francisco area. People had pork, beans, and whisky. Many of the miners used violence,
some were drunk, etc. Native Americans, Mexicans, African Americans, and Chinese people were
heavily discriminated against back then. The gold rush brought many professionals like merchants,
doctors, attorneys, and precious metal specialists in the region. Saloon locations grew. There were
gamblers and prostitutes. A San Francisco newspaper stated, "The whole country... resounds to the
sordid cry of gold! Gold! Gold! while the field is left half planted, the house half built, and
everything neglected but the manufacture of shovels and pick axes."

Over 250,000 miners found a total of more than $200 million in gold in the five years of the
California Gold Rush. As thousands arrived, however, fewer and fewer miners struck their fortune,
and most ended exhausted and broke. Bandits harmed many miners. Jonathan R. Davis killed 11
bandits by himself. Camps were in the north and south of the American Rivera and eastward into
the Sierras. Mining companies took control of many mining institutions. Many white miners
murdered thousands of Native Americans. Mexican Americans experienced violence and drove
most of them from mine fields.

The Mexicans or the Californios were in California before the miners came into the land. Mariano
Vallejo was a Mexican who lived in California, but his land was stolen and he was forced (by the
court and many white settlers) to live in a small ranch. Racists also didnt want black people to live
in California, but black people lived in California regardless. Beginning in 1852, at the end of the '49
gold rush, through 1883, hydraulic mining (which was about using jets of water to erode gravel hills
into dirt to get the gold. This was dangerous since this method harmed the environment) was used.
Despite huge profits being made, it fell into the hands of a few capitalists, displaced numerous
miners, vast amounts of waste entered river systems, and did heavy ecological damage to the
environment.

Hydraulic mining ended when public outcry over the destruction of farmlands led to the outlawing
of this practice. Most of the new Californians back then were Northerners. Later, gold was
discovered in New Mexico, and South Dakota. Gold was found in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico,
Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota (by 1864). Silver was found in Nevada areas of Virginia City,
Carson City, and Silver City. The wealth of silver more than gold caused San Francisco to grow
even more. Wealthy families developed there like George Hearst. The gold rush in California
rapidly increased the population of San Francisco. California would soon achieve statehood in the
year of 1850.
Mexico and Texas

Mexico and Texas have a long history spanning centuries and thousands of years. Many of my
relatives visited many places in Texas before. There can be no discussion about the frontier west
without discussing about Mexico and Texas. Back by the 17th and 18th centuries, Spanish
imperialists conquered a large area of the Southwest from Mexico to Texas and New Mexico. New
Mexico was a colony, which was founded in 1598. Many settlers lived in New Mexico and Sante Fe.
Some people were farmers and ranchers on the Rio Grande valley. Many Native Americans fought
for their freedom too. Some settlers allied with the Pueblo Native Americans for protection, but
their populations increasingly declined by the 1700s. In the Great Plains and in Texas, the Apaches
grew in power and readily fought against the Spanish people. The Apaches in New Mexico were
called the Navajos. The Pueblo taught the Navajos about pottery, growing corn, and herding sheep.
The Hispanic population in New Mexico grew to about 40,000 by 1821.

Texas was different than New Mexico. The Spanish empire made Texas to be used as a buffer to
protect Mexican towns in the south. Texas had farms, ranches, and military presidios. Texas
population was small in the beginning. Many lived in San Antonio. Only 1,200 colonists lived in
Texas centuries ago. Ranchers had to sell cattle in Mexico to get economic resources. By the early
1800s, Mexico fought the Spanish Empire to gain its independence by 1821.

Afterwards, new events would come like the growth of the Sante Fe trail. After Mexican
independence, Mexico controlled Texas. Texas was part of Mexico back then. Tejanos were the
local Hispanic population in Texas. Texas had wide open spaces and fertile lands, so settlers during
the early 19th century started to travel into Texas mightily. Only about 4,000 Tejanos lived in Texas
back during the early 19th century. With more people coming into Texas, Mexico believed that it
can cause the new Anglo settlers to benefit them economically. So, Mexico created a plan. Mexico
allowed Americans to go into Texas. Yet, Mexico wanted the settlers to get cheap land grants as
long as they accepted the Mexican constitution, become Mexican citizens, worship as Roman
Catholics (as most Mexicans back then and today are Roman Catholics), and reject slavery. The
Mexican Constitution banned slavery in 1829. They wanted to not cause tension in the region. By
the early 1800s, Stephen Austin led settlers to form the city of Austin, which is east of San Antonio.
Many of the Anglo immigrants came from the South. They raised pigs, cattle, and corn. They grew
cotton and other resources. 30,000 Americans were in Texas by 1835. They soon outnumbered
Tejanos six to one.
Tensions grew by the 1830s. The problem was that the settlers didnt agree with many of the
demands from Mexico. Many of the white settlers refused to give up slavery. Many settlers forced
slaves to live in Texas. Many remained Protestant. I believe in religious freedom (and the right of
anyone to be a Protestant or a Baptist), but I reject slavery. The Mexican government had many
coups. Another problem was that the new Mexican leader Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna grew
more authoritarian. In 1835, the 1824 Constitution was overturned; state legislatures were
dismissed, militias disbanded. So, Santa Anna enacted dictatorial policies. Santa Anna wanted
soldiers to curtail new immigration into Texas, but immigration continued. Liberal Mexicans wanted
a more democratic, decentralized government in Mexico. Tejanos and Anglo-Texans wanted more
autonomy outside of Santa Annas rule. Yet, many Anglo-Texans loved slavery so much that they
opposed Santa Annas beliefs. The problem with many of the Anglos is that many of them wanted
slavery not true liberty. Austin at first just wanted autonomy in Mexico. Other American immigrants
like William Travis desired total independence of Texas from Mexico.

In 1835, the Texans rebelled against Mexico. The settlers conquered Goliad and San Antonio,
which were Mexican garrisons. In 1836, the settlers (many of whom were slaveholders) declared
Texas an independent country. It was called the Lone Star Republic, because it had one star on its
flag. This started the Texas Revolution. In Section 9 of the General Provisions of the Constitution
of the Republic of Texas, it is stated how the new republic would resolve their greatest problem
under Mexican rule:

All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are
now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude ... Congress shall pass no laws to
prohibit emigrants from bringing their slaves into the republic with them, and holding them by the
same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall congress have power to
emancipate slaves.
Santa Anna acted immediately in opposing the new Republic of Texas. He sent troops north into
Texas to try to stop the rebellion. In March 1836, Annas military forces met in a Texas garrison
called the Alamo. This was located in San Antonio, Texas. Mexican forces defeated the settlers in
the Alamo. The battle was bloody. Anna refused to take prisoners. So, Annas forces used an
offensive that killed Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, and many Tejanos. Joe, or the personal slave of
William Travis, was spared of his life. The Alamo historic event galvanized the Anglos and the
Tejanos who wanted Texas independence. Remember the Alamo was the famous phrase that the
settlers used to fight back. Sam Houston led Santa Anna eastward. He was using a war strategy and
Houstons forces defeated the Mexicans in the Battle of San Jacinto. Over 600 Mexicans were
killed. Santa Anna was captured too. Santa Anna was forced to sign a treaty to recognize Texas
independence. Texas boundaries expanded to the Rio Grande and to Sante Fe (in New Mexico).
The problem is that the Mexican government refused to accept the treaty since Anna became a
dictator.

Progressive Mexicans wanted only acceptance of Texas within traditional boundaries, which no
further south than the Nueces River. This border dispute was one large factor in causing the
Mexican-American War. Now, Sam Houston was the President of Texas, but he wanted America to
annex Texas. Many Northern representatives opposed this plan since they believed that Texas
would cause a growth of slavery and expand pro-slavery political power in Congress. Some opposed
annexation, because of fear of causing war with Mexico. President Polk supported the annexation
and it came about. Polk also gained Oregon from Britain during this time (via compromise since he
didnt want war with Britain. America got Oregon, Washington State, and Idaho. The British owned
British Columbia in the north).

Texas was annexed to America as a slave state in December 1846. Republic of Texas policies
changed the status of many living in the region. The constitution forbade free black people from
living in Texas permanently. Individual slaves could only be freed by congressional order, and the
newly emancipated person would then be forced to leave Texas. Women also lost significant legal
rights under the new constitution, which substituted English common law practices for the
traditional Spanish law system. Under common law, the idea of community property was
eliminated, and women no longer had the ability to act for themselves legally to sign contracts,
own property, or sue. Some of these rights were restored in 1845, when Texas added them to the
new state constitution. During the Republic of Texas years, Tejanos likewise faced much
discrimination.
Polk rejected the Mexican governments claim that the border of Texas should be at the Nueces
River. He believed that the border is at the Rio Grande. So, Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to
occupy the lands between the Nueces and Rio Grande Rivers. In May 1846, a clash happened
between American and Mexican forces. This started the Mexican American war. To Polk, it was a
Mexican attack. To the Mexicans, this was an American invasion. Democrats in Congress supported
the war heavily. The Whigs voted for the war mostly out of fear of losing their political power. The
war was a total American victory. America had more resources, populations, and massive industries
to cause a Mexican defeat. Mexico didnt have massive factory industries during that time period.
Americans had a larger navy and artillery too. Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott had
extensive military experience. Junior officers in the war were Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grand, and
William T. Sherman (who played a role in the later Civil War). By the summer of 1846, American
won a majority of the battles. John Fremont seized California. General Stephen W. Kearny
conquered New Mexico. In September, Monterrey was conquered by Taylors forces. In February
of 1847, Santa Anna tried to retake the city, he was defeated. Buena Vista was ruled by the
Americans.

Winfield Scott led the Navy to rule Veracruz. Scott marched to Mexico City from Veracruz. In
September of 1847, Scott captured Mexico City. He then marched his 12,000 man force west to
Mexico City, winning the final battle at Chapultepec. The American victory caused the Treaty of
Guadalupe to exist. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in February of 1848. It forced
Mexico to give up the northern third of their country. It added about 1.2 million square miles of
territory to America. Mexico was paid $15 million. Also, America gained California and New
Mexico. America made Rio Grande as the southern boundary of the state of Texas. Polk wanted
more Mexican lands, but he was opposed by Northern Congress people. Also, there was an anti-war
movement that opposed the imperialism of American forces involving Mexico. The Gadsden
Purchase of 1853 caused America to gain more land from Mexico in southern Arizona and New
Mexico.
The Mexican American war continued the debate about slavery. David Wilmot of Pennsylvania
proposed the Wilmot Proviso which would ban slavery in any lands won from Mexico. This was
debated and it represented tensions. The Proviso was passed in the House, but it failed in the
Senate. Northern Democrats and northern Whigs supported the bill. Southern Democrats and
southern Whigs opposed it. The war was a prelude to the Civil War. Ironically, Abraham Lincoln
(who was a Whig Congressman back then) denounced the Mexican-American war. More migrants
came to Texas after the Mexican-American war. Many German immigrants came there too.

Texas is a symbol of the frontier West to this very day. Its a Southern state with heroes and villains.
On the eve of the Civil War, which Texas would enter as a part of the Confederacy, there were
182,566 slaves, nearly one-third of the states population. As more slaves came into the Republic of
Texas, more escaped to Mexico. Matamoros in the 1840's had a large and flourishing colony of ex-
slaves from Texas and the United States. Mexico encouraged escaped slaves to go into Mexico in
finding freedom. It has its troubled past and it has heroic people who fought for justice too.

The Mormons and Utah (other Religions too)

Religion has always been a part of the frontier West. Religious freedom is a part of the human rights
movement. By the early 1800s, America had Muslims, Christians, followers of Judaism, and other
members of faith. The Second Great Awakening in America revolutionized religious expression. It
started in the early 1800s and lasted until the mid-19th century. Preachers or revivalists traveled the
West to spread the Christian gospel. The Second Great Awakening changed American spirituality
forever. It caused church attendance to massively increase. Many religious people were inspired by
the Great Awakening movement to fight for social reforms and become abolitionists. Charles
Finney was one of the leading preachers of the Second Great Awakening. It originated in Kentucky
and spread nationwide. Also, the separation of church and state was debated back then and today. I
believe in religious expression, but I also believe in the separation of church and state because the
federal government has no right to infringe on anyones religious freedom. African Americans
increasingly became Christian as a product of the Great Awakening movement too. Unitarians grew
and they denied the Trinity. Roman Catholicism existed in America and many Jewish people
experienced unjust discrimination. Utopian movements like Transcendentalism developed.
Transcendentalism was about humans looking to Nature, the senses, and other forces to go beyond
ones self. Ralph Waldo Emerson (who was an ex-Unitarian minister) was a famous
Transcendentalist. Henry David Thoreau was a follower of Emerson. Thoreau was anti-slavery and
anti-war as he protested the Mexican-American war. He wrote the essay entitled Civil
Disobedience in mentioning that people have the right to follow his or her conscience even if it
means to break unjust laws. He went to jail for refusing to pay taxes to the Mexican-American war.
He followed his conscience. Also, alternative religious groups were invented during this time. One
was Mormonism.

Mormonism was invented in New York State by a man named Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith said that
an angel named Morori gave him visions to establish a new religion. By 1830, he and his followers
formed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons). It grew rapidly to over 1,000
members in months. Mormons back then believed that a man can have more than one wife.
Mormonism back then was frowned upon by many. Many of them were persecuted because of their
religious faith. I dont agree with Mormonism, but Mormons should have never been oppressed or
persecuted because of their religious faith. Mormons were chased from town to town during the
19th century. Mormons were chased out of Ohio and Missouri. Then, they settled in Illinois. They
founded a town named Nauvoo. It grew strongly. Still, in Missouri and Illinois, there was animosity
between Mormon settlers and locals. Militias from both sides clashes and there was a mass killing of
Mormons in Livingston County 6 days after October 24, 1838. An executive order was filed during
these conflicts and the Mormons were forced to scatter. In 1844, Joseph Smith wanted to run for
President and some Mormons disagreed with him. Soon, violence came and Joseph Smith was
killed.

His successor Brigham Young led the Mormons across territories into Salt Lake City, Utah. Back
then, Utah was owned by Mexico. Mormons thrived in Utah. A hundred rural Mormon settlements
sprang up in what Young called "Deseret", which he ruled as a theocracy. It later became Utah
Territory. Young's Salt Lake City settlement served as the hub of their network, which reached into
neighboring territories as well. The communalism and advanced farming practices of the Mormons
enabled them to succeed. They sold goods to wagon trains passing through and came to terms with
local Native American tribes because Young decided it was cheaper to feed the Native Americans
than fight them. Education became a high priority to protect the beleaguered group, reduce heresy
in their minds, and maintain group solidarity. The U.S. government took over Utah in 1848. Many
Protestant churches rejected theocracy and polygamy. The Republican Party had members who
wanted to destroy polygamy. Many of them saw it as an affront to religious, cultural, and moral
values. Open warfare happened. President Buchanan sent in troops. Although there were no
military battles fought, and negotiations led to a stand down, violence still escalated and there were
a number of casualties. Savagery escalated further on September 11, 1857 when a Mormon militia
killed civilians headed for California. After the Civil War the federal government systematically took
control of Utah away from the Mormons, and drove the church's leadership underground.
Meanwhile, aggressive missionary work in the U.S. and Europe brought a flood of Mormon
converts to Utah. Finally in 1890 the Church leadership announced polygamy was no longer a
central tenet, and a compromise was reached, with Utah becoming a state and the Mormons
dividing into Republicans and Democrats.

Bleeding Kansas

The history of Bleeding Kansas is an important part of American history. Back then, the Congress
couldnt deal with slavery in the states which caused its total abolition. It did have jurisdiction in the
western territories. California rejected slavery unanimously in 1850 and became a free state. New
Mexico back then allowed slavery, but it was rare there. Kansas was off limits to slavery by the
Compromise of 1820. Free soil elements feared that if slavery were allowed, then rich planters
would buy up the best lands and work them with slaves. This left little opportunities in their minds
for free white men to own farms. Many of the free soilers opposed slavery not for moral reasons,
but for economic and political reasons. Few Southern planters were truly interested in Kansas. Yet,
the idea that slavery was illegal there implied to them that they had a second class status (which is
silly). The Southerners had an ego and wanted to promote their extremist doctrine of states rights.
States rights to them were about the right of a state to have slavery, which is ludicrous and wrong.

With the passage of the extremely controversial KansasNebraska Act in 1854, Congress left the
decision up to the voters on the ground in Kansas. Across the North a new major party was formed
to fight slavery: the Republican Party, with numerous westerners in leadership positions, most
notably Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. To influence the territorial decision, anti-slavery elements (also
called "Jayhawkers" or "Free-soilers") financed the migration of politically determined settlers. But
pro-slavery advocates fought back with pro-slavery settlers from Missouri. Violence happened
among the pro-slavery and anti-slavery human beings. The Marais des Cygnes massacre of anti-
slavery Kansans occurred on May 19, 1858. 56 people were killed by the time the violence abated in
1859. In 1860, pro-slavery forces were in control, but Kansas only had 2 slaves. The antislavery
forces took over in 1861 as Kansas became a free state. Bleeding Kansas proved that there was no
compromise with slavery. Slavery is immoral period. The Civil War existed and the North and the
South clashed militarily for the future of America.

The Civil War in the West

The Civil War has a long history in the West. The Confederacy engaged in many campaigns in the
West. This has been called by historians as the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the U.S. Civil War (or
military operations that happened west of the Mississippi River). Yet, Kansas was a major area of
conflict building up to the war, was the scene of only one battle, at Mine Creek. Its proximity to
Confederate lines enabled pro-Confederate guerrillas like the Quantrills Raiders, to attack Union
strongholds and massacre the residents. Texas was part of the Confederacy too. Citizens voted
Texas to join the evil Confederacy. Anti-war Germans were hanged in Texas. Local troops took
over the federal arsenal in San Antonio with plans to grab the territories of Northern New Mexico,
Utah, Colorado, and possibly California. Confederate Arizona was created by Arizona citizens who
wanted protection against Apache raids (which happened after United States Army units were
moved out). The Confederacy then wanted to gain control of the New Mexico Territory. This
happened in the year of 1861. Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley was tasked for the
campaign, and together with his New Mexico Army, marched right up the Rio Grande in an
attempt to take the mineral wealth of Colorado as well as California.

The First Regiment of Volunteers discovered the rebels, and they immediately warned and joined
the Union forces at Fort Union. The Confederate Territory of Arizona was proclaimed by Col. John
Baylor after victories in the First Battle of Mesilla on July 25, 1861, at Mesilla, New Mexico, and the
capture of several Union forces. Southern forces advanced northward through the Rio Grande
Valley, capturing Albuquerque and Santa Fe in March 1862. Attempts to press further northward in
the territory were unsuccessful, and Confederate forces withdrew from Arizona completely in 1862
when Union reinforcements arrived from California.

The Battle of Glorieta Pass (on March 26-28, 1862. 140 Union troops died and 190 Confederates
died in the battle) soon erupted, and the Union ended the Confederate campaign and the area west
of Texas remained in Union hands. In other words, the Confederacy was defeated and they left
Arizona completely. If the Confederates werent stopped at Glorieta Pass, they could have
conquered Denver. This small battle dissolved any possibility of the Confederacy taking New
Mexico and the far west territories. In April of 1862, the California Column, Union volunteers from
California, pushed the remaining Confederates out of present-day Arizona at the Battle of Picacho
Pass. In the Eastern United States, the fighting dragged on for three more years, but in the
Southwest the war against the Confederacy was over, but the war against the Apache, Navaho and
Comanche continued for the California garrisons until they were replaced by U. S. Army troops
after the Civil War ended.

Missouri had legal slavery and it was a Union state. It was a battleground when pro-secession
governor (against the vote of the legislature) led troops to the federal arsenal at St. Louis. He was
aided by Confederate forces from Arkansas and Louisiana. However, Union General Samuel Curtis
regained St. Louis and all of Missouri for the Union. Missouri was the scene of many raids and
guerrilla warfare in the West. The Union solidified its control of Missouri after Union leader Samuel
Ryan Curtis defeated the Confederate forces at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas in March of
1862.
The U.S. Army after 1850 established a group of military posts across the frontier. This was done to
stop warfare among Native American tribes or between Native Americans and settlers. Throughout
the 19th century, Army officers usually served built their careers in peacekeeper roles moving from
fort to fort until retirement. Actual combat experience was uncommon for any one soldier. The
most dramatic conflict was the Sioux war in Minnesota in 1862. This was when Dakota tribes
systematically attacked German farms. They wanted to drive out settlers. Over the next couple of
days, Dakota attacks at the Lower Sioux Agency, New Ulm, and Hutchinson, slaughtered 300 to
400 white settlers. The state militia fought back and Lincoln sent in federal troops. There were
subsequent battles at Fort Ridgely, Birch Coulee, Fort Abercrombie, and Wood Lake. It lasted for 6
weeks and the Americans had a victory. The federal government tried 425 Native Americans for
murder. 303 of them were convicted and sentenced to death. Lincoln pardoned the majority, but 38
leaders were hanged. The decreased presence of Union troops in the West left behind untrained
militias and many tribes used the opportunity to attack settlers. The militia struck back hard, most
notably by attacking the winter quarters of the Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples, filled with women
and children, at the Sand Creek massacre in eastern Colorado in late 1864. Kit Carson and the U.S.
Army in 1864 trapped the entire Navajo tribe in New Mexico, where they had been raiding settlers,
and put them on a reservation.
Within the Indian Territory,
now Oklahoma, conflicts arose
among the Five Civilized
Tribes, most of which sided
with the South. Some Native
Americans back then in that
location were slaveholders
themselves. In Oklahoma,
Native Americans were divided
into Union or Confederate
supporters. A campaign led by
Union General James G. Blunt
to secure Indian Territory
culminated with the Battle of
Honey Springs on July 17,
1863. Though his force
included Native Americans,
the Union did not incorporate
Native American soldiers into
its regular army. Officers and
soldiers supplied to the
Confederacy from Native
American lands numbered at
7,860 and came largely from
the Cherokee, Chickasaw,
Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole
nations. Among these was
Brig. Gen. Stand Watie, a
Cherokee who raided Union
positions in Indian Territory
with his 1st Cherokee
Mounted Rifles regiment well
after most of the Confederate
forces abandoned the area.
Watie led his troops in guerrilla
warfare by attacking Union
positions, supply wagons, and
by attacking other Cherokee
and Native Americans who
supported the Union. He
became the last Confederate
General to surrender when he
signed a cease-fire agreement
with Union representatives on
June 23, 1865.

In 1862, Congress enacted two major laws to facilitate settlement of the West: the Homestead Act
and the Pacific Railroad Act. The result by 1890 was millions of new farms in the Plains states,
many operated by new immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia. Texas was probably the most
difficult place for the Union to fight during the Civil War. Major fighting by the Union in Texas
ended mostly in defeat. It would only be at the end of the Civil War where the Confederates from
Texas would surrender. On June 2, 1865, after all other major Confederate armies in the field had
surrendered; Kirby Smith officially surrendered his command. I thank God that those Confederate
traitors lost the Civil War. This ends Part 2 of this American West series. Part 3 would entail the
time after the Civil War until the end of the 19th century.

By Timothy