Indian wars

Indian wars, struggle in North America between the Native Americans and European colonizers from the earliest colonial times to the late 19th century. Despite peaceful trade under Powhatan, hostilities between Native Americans and the English settlers of Jamestown, Va., began in 1622, and by 1644 the native tribes had been crushed. In New England, war with the Pequot tribe (1636) resulted in their massacre. With the end of King Philip's War in 1678, Native American resistance in New England was broken. During the Revolutionary War trade regulations were introduced to protect Native Americans from exploitation. Trade and land companies continued to cheat them, however, provoking uprisings. In 1811 an alliance of southern and western tribes under the Shawnee chieftain Tecumseh was defeated at the Tippecanoe River; Tecumseh's death in 1813 ended tribal resistance in this area. The Seminole in Florida, however, continued hostilities until 1816. In 1830 the Indian Removal Act, passed by President Andrew Jackson, authorized the transfer of southeastern tribes to land west of the Mississippi. Native American resistance was met by illegal force; Jackson even ignored a Supreme Court order upholding the land rights of the Cherokees. In 1855 the defeated Nez Percé tribes were given land in the northwestern states, but when gold was found in the area they were again forced to move. Chief Joseph led an unsuccessful revolt against this in 1877. The second half of the 19th century saw the final suppression of the Native Americans. The Navaho, holding the land between the Rio Grande and California, were defeated by Kit Carson in 1863 and transferred to northwestern Arizona. After the Civil War attempts were made to restrict the Apaches, though Cochise and others resisted; their last war chief, Geronimo, surrendered in 1886. In 1871 the government ceased to recognize tribes as independent nations. The Great Plains, home of the Sioux, Apache, and Cheyenne, were subdued in 1870–90 by a combination of military force and the depletion of buffalo herds. The Native American victory at the battle of Little Bighorn only hastened their defeat. Crazy Horse surrendered in 1877, and there was a final massacre at Wounded Knee, S. Dak., in 1890.