Question

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how did the discovery of gold in the montana rocky mountains in 1862 impact the black Elk's people?

what historical event jeopardized the Sioux living on the great Sioux reservation?

what was black Elk's inability to preserve the Sioux way of life?

Answer 1

When gold was discovered near what is now Pike's Peak, Colorado. Soon thousands of gold hunters filled the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, driving out the game. All the Indians became restless at the invasion of their hunting grounds.
In 1862, there was a great Sioux uprising in Minnesota. Although the Oglala and Brule Sioux were hundreds of miles away, their hearts were with their kinsmen in the north. They knew that a great war was going on between the white men of the North and the white men of the South. They were urged by messengers to go on the warpath and drive all the white men out of their country before they became too strong to be driven out.
Anticipating open warfare, the Army ordered the construction of a series of new fortified posts. Among these were Camp Rankin (later Fort Sedgwick) near Julesburg, Mud Springs near Courthouse Rock, Fort Mitchell at Scotts Bluff and, to the west, Platte Bridge and Deer Creek Stations.
Councils of all the plains Indians were held in 1862 and 1863, the greatest of which was held on May 1, 1863 near what is now the Nebraska/Wyoming border. Many Indians favored a general massacre of the whites, but the plan was postponed for another year.
In August 1864, the Sioux and Cheyenne began attacks in Nebraska and Colorado. All of the plains tribes were in sympathy with the war, but not all were active in it. Then came the unauthorized surprise attack in November by volunteer troops under Colonel Chivington on Black Kettle's Cheyenne/Arapahoe camp at Sand Creek in southeast Colorado . The virtual massacre of around 250 men, women and children, far from squelching the Indian spirit, precipitated a powerful and vengeful alliance of all hostile tribes.
At the same time, a new gold field was discovered in Montana. The most direct route to this new gold field was by way of the Oregon Trail to Fort Laramie, and then from Fort Laramie north, through the "Powder River" country on a new road, the Bozeman Road .
On November 15, 1875, President Grant, without waiting for Congress's approval, secretly gave the order to open the Black Hills to miners. This act violated the measure under the Treaty of 1868 that forbade non-Native Americans to enter the Great Sioux Reservation.
The U.S. Government also sent a commission to the Red Cloud Agency to try to buy back the Black Hills, but was unsuccessful. The territory had been guaranteed to the Sioux "forever;" yet there was no serious attempt on the part of the U.S. Government to prevent violations of the treaty. Red Cloud accepted what he knew he could not change, but large numbers of Sioux and Cheyenne expressed their anger and withdrew into the Powder River country. Small war parties attacked travelers, and the land became known for outlaws and thieves. When the Commission failed in its mission to buy back theBlack Hills, the Army simply gave up efforts to keep prospectors away. An attempt was made by means of military camps to establish control and force all the Indians to the reservations, and finally anultimatum was issued: return to the reservations by January 31, 1876 or the Army would take appropriate action.
In direct violation of the concession made to the Sioux under the same treaty which had established that they were to roam freely within the Great Sioux Reservation, the United States Governmentordered that the Sioux in the area between the Powder River and the Black Hills abandon their lands and move to the different Indian Agencies. The order to move was issued, strategically, on December 3, 1875 and the Sioux were required to reach the Indian Agencies by January 31, 1876. Those who failed to meet this deadline were to be considered insubordinate by the United States Government. It was irrelevant whether the Sioux chose to follow this order or not, because it was physically impossible to move from this area to the different agencies in seven weeks due to the harsh conditions of the winter.
The failure of the Sioux to comply with this deadline gave the government the perfect opportunity to declare war on the Sioux. It is an irony that the United States declared a war on the Sioux, becausethey were occupying the land guaranteed to them under the Treaty of 1868!
Black Elk, who was forced to move from his land, expressed the general sentiment of his people when he said: "...all that country was ours. Also, the Wasishus [white person] had made a treaty with Red Cloud [1868] that said it would be ours as long as grass should grow and water flow."
The last step the United States Government would eventually take to force the Sioux to sell the Black Hills occurred in 1877. Under the "Sell or Starve" Bill, they stopped sending the food and clothing rations agreed to under Article 10 of the Treaty of 1868. The Sioux Council was forced to relinquish the Black Hills or starve to death. Thus, the Sioux lost the Black Hills and all of the land to the west up to the Powder River.

Answer 2

thanks so much!