Indian Frontier :: essays research papers

The Indian Frontier of the American West tells a story of the different Indian tribes and whites from 1846 to 1890. This period of time is very famous in American history. It produced some of the most widely heard of names in the battles between Indians and whites. These names include Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe, Sitting Bull of the Oglala Sioux, Cochise, Geronimo, and Mangas Coloradas, and John Ross of the Cherokee Nation. These names are still very respected among historians and are seen throughout history books used in schools across the nation. These names were involved in many battles with whites in the essence of the nineteenth century. In this book, Robert Utley describes how many different Indian cultures survived between 1846 and 1890. Utley in any case spent some time in discussing how Americans felt about Indians. This book also talked about how the American government was run, and how they dealt with the different Indian cultures. This book had a couple of int eresting stories in it also. The dozens of cultures depicted in this book actually made it somewhat interesting to read. One story that I truly liked in the book was that of Yellow Wolf. Yellow Wolf was an extremely secure and wise Cheyenne Indian. He was a man that was known for his leadership in battles with the Utes, Pawnees, Kiowas, and Comanches. Yellow Wolf also played an important role in helping William solidifying, also known as Little White Man, as to where to set up his trading post along the river. After Bent had set up his fort, Yellow Wolf traveled there in the summer. He watched as tens of thousands of white men move in and through the Indian country. This made him worry about the future of his people, something no other Cheyenne leader would even consider for years. In discussing his fears with an army officer he talks of how his people and the buffalo are disappearing. He also says that his people will become extinct unless they change and adopt the habits of wh ite people. Yellow Wolf lived for xviii years amongst the white man. In his final year of his life, Yellow Wolf watched his worst fears come true. Through all of this, he continued to believe that the alone hope his people had was if they learned from the white man. On November 29, 1864, a white man from General Stephen Watts Kearneys army gunned down Yellow Wolf.