The Indian Wars were a series of conflicts between American settlers and Native American tribes in the late 18th and 19th centuries. These wars led to the conquest of Native American lands and peoples. Some key questions about the Indian Wars include:
When did the Indian Wars take place?
The Indian Wars took place from the 17th to the 19th centuries, with the majority occurring between 1850 and 1890 as American settlers moved westward. The wars included conflicts such as the Pequot War, King Philip’s War, the French and Indian War, Tecumseh’s War, the Creek War, the First and Second Seminole Wars, and the American Indian Wars on the western plains.
Where did the Indian Wars take place?
The Indian Wars occurred throughout what is now the United States, including the original Thirteen Colonies, the American Midwest, the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the Southwest, and the West Coast. Key locations included the Ohio River Valley, the Great Lakes region, Alabama, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and the Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming territories.
What Native American tribes were involved?
Many Native American tribes were involved in the various Indian Wars, including the Pequot, Wampanoag, Ottawa, Shawnee, Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Sioux, Apache, Navajo, Modoc, Nez Perce, and more. Some of the most famous Native American leaders were Chief Pontiac, Tecumseh, Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, and Chief Joseph.
What were the causes and motivations behind the Indian Wars?
The Indian Wars were driven by the desires of Americans to expand westward and obtain more land, resources, and territory. Settlers and the U.S. government frequently broke treaties, seized land, and displaced Native Americans, leading them to defend themselves and their ways of life. Racism, greed, cultural misunderstandings, and cycles of violence aggravated the conflicts.
Now, here are 53 riddles exploring various aspects of the Indian Wars in greater depth:
Riddles About Key Events and People
1. I am a war named for a leader of the Wampanoag tribe who tried to stop Puritan expansion. Who am I?
King Philip’s War
2. In 1811, I was a historic battle in which Tecumseh’s tribal confederacy was defeated in present-day Indiana. What am I?
The Battle of Tippecanoe
3. I am a one-sided massacre of Lakota Sioux by the U.S. Army near Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. What tragedy am I?
The Wounded Knee Massacre
4. I commanded Native American troops against the 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Who am I?
Crazy Horse
5. I led the Nez Perce on an epic retreat from the U.S. Army in 1877 before surrendering just short of the Canadian border. Who am I?
Chief Joseph
6. In 1862, I led the Santee Sioux in an uprising in Minnesota after treaty violations. Name me.
Little Crow
7. I was a Shawnee chief who united tribes against American expansion in a confederacy based at Prophetstown. Who am I?
Tecumseh
8. In 1864, I led an assault on white settlers in Colorado in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre. Name me.
Chief Black Kettle
9. I commanded Confederate troops allied with the Apache against the Union in New Mexico in 1861-1862. Who am I?
General Henry Hopkins Sibley
10. I was an Apache chief who led raids against Mexicans and Americans from the late 1840s to the 1880s. What is my name?
Geronimo
Riddles About the Causes and Consequences
11. I am a cycle in which violence by one side leads to revenge by the other, fueling conflict. What am I called?
Cycle of violence
12. I offered Native Americans money and goods for their land and caused disagreements within tribes. Who am I?
Land speculators
13. I am a 19th century belief in the superiority of white European culture used to justify American expansion. What belief am I?
Manifest destiny
14. I was a system making Native Americans dependent on government money and goods in exchange for living on reserved lands. Name me.
Reservation system
15. I was an 1865 order forcing Navajos to walk over 300 miles to imprisonment in New Mexico, killing many. What was I called?
The Long Walk
16. I am an object given in exchange for Native American land or services, often leading to cultural losses. What am I?
Trade goods
17. I was a spiritual movement encouraging unity between tribes against American expansion in the early 1800s. What was I called?
The Ghost Dance movement
18. I was a government policy trying to assimilate Native Americans into white culture by sending children to boarding schools. Name me.
Indian boarding school policy
19. I was a nineteen-day battle in 1877 over the illegal movement of gold miners onto Lakota Sioux land. What was I?
The Battle of Rosebud
20. I was the reservation formed in Dakota Territory for the Lakota after the Great Sioux War. What am I called?
The Great Sioux Reservation
Riddles About Key Places and Events
21. I was an 1854 battle in southern Oregon fought between the Rogue River Indians and American troops led by General Joseph Lane. Name me.
The Battle of the Table Rock
22. I was an 1868 treaty ending war with the Navajo by allowing them to return to a portion of their homeland from incarceration in New Mexico. What treaty was I?
The Second Treaty of Bosque Redondo
23. In 1866, I was a fort near the Bighorn River where William Fetterman and his troops were wiped out by Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. What fort was I?
Fort Phil Kearny
24. I was an 1868 agreement between the US and Sioux granting ownership of the Black Hills to the Sioux. What broken treaty was I?
The Treaty of Fort Laramie
25. I was an 1876 battle marking the union of Lakota and Cheyenne forces that defeated Custer. Name me.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn
26. In 1862, I was the site of the largest mass execution in US history, when 38 Dakota men were hanged. What am I?
Mankato, Minnesota
27. I was an 1874 discovery that brought gold miners into the sacred Black Hills, violating Sioux treaties. What was I?
Gold in the Black Hills
28. In 1874 near the Texas-Mexico border, I was a camp of Mescalero Apaches massacred by US cavalry led by Ranald Mackenzie. Name me.
Tularosa
29. I was an 1864 massacre of over 200 friendly Cheyenne by US forces under Colonel John Chivington in Colorado. What was I?
Sand Creek Massacre
30. In 1881, I was the site of the last major confrontation between the US army and Native Americans at Crow Agency, Montana. What was I called?
The Battle of Crow Agency
Riddles About the Final Battles and Downfall
31. I was the last major conflict between Native American tribes, led by Geronimo, and the US. Name me.
The Apache Wars
32. In 1877, I was the battle ending the Nez Perce War after Chief Joseph surrendered to General Nelson Miles just 40 miles from Canada. What was I?
The Battle of Bear Paw
33. I am the canyon where Apache warriors ambushed and killed the legendary Indian fighter John Henry “Kid” Wade in 1899. What place am I?
Bloody Tanks Wash
34. In December 1890, I was the massacre of Lakota Sioux by US troops that marked the end of major Native American resistance. What battle was I?
The Wounded Knee Massacre
35. I was the last band of Northern Cheyenne who escaped confinement in 1877 and eventually settled in Montana. Who am I?
Little Wolf’s band
36. In 1886, I was the final surrender of the great Apache warrior Geronimo to US forces in Arizona. What was I called?
Geronimo’s final surrender
37. I was the Native American fort in the Montana Bitterroot Valley captured by US forces in 1877, marking the end of the Nez Perce War. What was I called?
Fort Fizzle
38. In 1909, I was the final large group of Native American prisoners of war released from incarceration in Florida and sent west. What was I?
The Florida Seminole diaspora
39. I was an 1890 event marking the official end of Indian resistance after Wounded Knee, as symbolized by the Ghost Dance shirts worn. What was I?
The Wounded Knee Massacre Ghost Dance shirt handover
40. I was an 1894 battle in Oklahoma ending the last Indian war fought between US troops and the Kiowa. Name me.
The Battle of Sugar Point
Riddles About Treaties and Resistance
41. Signed in 1851, I was a widely disputed treaty resulting in the loss of tribal lands in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana. What was I called?
The Treaty of Traverse de Sioux
42. In 1871, I officially ended the era of treaty-making with tribes as the House of Representatives banned further negotiations. What act was I?
Indian Appropriations Act
43. In the 1860s, I was a decentralized Native American government opposing American western expansion. What was I?
The Southern Plains Indian Confederation
44. In 1873, I was a group of Native American leaders who traveled to Washington DC to petition for fair treatment of their peoples but were denied by the White House. What delegation was I?
The Nez Perce Delegation to Washington
45. I am the name given to skilled Native American warriors who left reservations to continue fighting against US settlement. Who am I?
Renegade Indians
46. I was an 1874 declaration by Lakota chiefs asserting sovereignty over the Black Hills after Custer’s expedition violated treaties. What was I called?
The Declaration of War Against the United States
47. In 1877, I was a small Native American stronghold in the Bear Paw Mountains where Chief Joseph made his last stand. What was I called?
The Fort on Snake Creek
48. In November 1909, I was the final Native American uprising put down by US troops in Nevada, marking the end of the Indian Wars era. What was I?
The Last Massacre
49. I was a spiritual movement of the late 1800s that fueled the resistance efforts of tribes across the Plains through shared rituals and dances. What was I?
The Ghost Dance Movement
50. In 1907, I was the Native American organization founded to lobby for citizenship and reform, operating to this day. What am I?
The Society of American Indians
Riddles About the Aftermath and Legacy
51. I am the term for the cultural losses and damage done to Native Americans by efforts to assimilate them into white society. What am I?
Ethnocide
52. Signed in 1868 and broken many times, I granted large sections of Indian Country to Native Americans before being dismantled in the late 1800s. What treaty was I?
The Treaty of Fort Laramie
53. I am the controversial 20th century federal policy of encouraging Native American relocation to cities that failed to promote adjustment. What was I called?
Indian termination policy
Conclusion
The Indian Wars left a complex legacy for Native Americans and the United States. Though ending centuries of armed conflict, they also inflicted great suffering, cost irreplaceable lives, undermined cultures, and took the vast majority of Native lands. The struggles, sacrifices, injustices, and periods of cooperation seen throughout the Indian Wars era continue to shape relations between Native peoples and the US government today. These riddles provide a set of engaging perspectives into the many interwoven events, figures, places, motivations, and policies involved in this difficult chapter of American history.
