A Very Short Introduction to North American Indians

I just need to write down a rough timeline to help me understand the order of Indian relations in North America.

  • 1565 St. Augustine becomes first permanent European (Spanish) settlement in N. Am
  • 1607 Jamestown VA
  • 1620 Plymouth
  • 1629 Boston
  • 1610, 1622-32, 1644-6 (Virginians vs Powhatans)
  • 1670 English found Carolina
  • 1675 King Philip (Metacom)’s War (Wampanoags&Narragansetts vs English&Mohegans)
  • 1676 Bacon’s War (planter Nathaniel Bacon vs Occaneechis — Williamsburg burned)
  • 1680 Pueblo uprising led by Pop’e
  • 1689-1763: British vs French: 4th war of empire: Seven Years War/French&Indian
  • 1699 French establish Biloxi
  • 1718 French establish New Orleans
  • 1715 -1720 Yamasee war, Indian slave trade consequently diminishes
  • 1755 Gen Braddock (UK) marches on Fort Duquense (Pittsburgh) which French and Indians preemptively decimate
  • 1758 Treaty of Easton (w Iroquois Confed, Shawnee, Delawares) transfers Canada to English, Louisiana to Spain
  • 1759 British take Fort Duquense
  • 1763 Pontiac‘s Rebellion (Ottawa leader) between Ohio tribes and the British
  • Proclamation of 1763 drew line between colonies & Indian country
  • 1768 Iroquois cede Kentucky & Tennessee (Daniel Boone takes hunters from N.C. in 1769)
  • 1783 Treaty of Paris marked US territory N to Great Lakes, W to Mississippi River, S to Spanish Florida
  • 1789 US Constitution
  • Henry Knox, G. Washington’s Secretary of War, brokers deals w Indians. Encourages “civilizing” Indians with ideas of “surplus”, land as commodity, and “love of exclusive property” & Christian conversion
  • 1790 Treaty of New York negotiated w Creek Alexander McGillivray 
  • 1791 NW Indian Alliance defeats Gen. Arthur St Clair
  • 1794 Gen Anthony Wayne attacks Alliance Fallen Timbers
  • 1795 Treaty of Greenville, Alliance cedes contested land (N Ohio)
  • 1799 Seneca prophet Handsome Lake leads revitalization, Shawnee Tenskwatawa & brother Tecumseh lead movement against land cessions, recruit “Red Sticks”
  • 1805 Chickasaw treaty cede lands north of TN River for $20,000
  • treaties’ headmen got commissions, inducement to negotiate land cessions
  • 1803 Louisiana Purchase, TJ mentions west as possible relocation for Indians
  • 1806 Cherokee assassinate Doublehead, chief beneficiary
  • 1814 Andrew Jackson defeats Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend on Tallapoosa River, kills >800 Creeks & loses acres belonging to allies
  • 1814 Treaty of Greenville 
  • 1816 Indiana enters the union
  • 1817 Mississippi enters the union
  • 1818 Illinois
  • 1819 Alabama
  • 1819 Congress Civilization Fund to support Christian missions, Protestant revival; w low conversion rates, focus on schools
  • 1820s eastern Indians begin moving west — Stockbridge of MA go to Iowa, NY Oneidas move to WI
  • 1828 Andrew Jackson elected president
  • 1831 US Supreme Court refused to hear Cherokee Nation v Georgia
  • 1832 court ruled in favor of Cherokee sovereignty in Worcester v Georgia but lacked ability to enforce
  • 1835-42 Second Seminole War (US withdrew in 42)
  • 1838-39 Cherokee removal to Oklahoma
  • 1848 California…
  • 1851, Fort Laramie, 1853 Fort Atkinson on the Arkansas River
  • 1854-7, 14 treaties making reservations in MO watershed
  • 1867 commission on Medicine Lodge Creek in KS, Red Cloud (Oglala Teton Sioux) refused to sign
  • 1876 June Battle of Little Bighorn — Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Hump, Two Moon defeated Gen G.A.Custer
  • 1887 Dawes Act Severity Act, Allotment Act
  • Dec 29, 1890 Big Foot & 300 Sioux massacred at Wounded Knee
  • 1928 Merriam Report trashed Dawes Comm’n
  • 1933 FDR appoints John Collier commissioner of Indian affairs
  • 1934 Indian Reorganization Act (IRA)
  • 1936 Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act