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The Lakota, Cheyenne, and
Arapaho were
nomadic
tribes living
primarily in western Nebraska. Year-
round, they migrated across the
Plains, following herds of buffalo.
They subsisted entirely off of hunting.
For the Native Americans,
increased European-American settle-
ment meant more competition for
land and resources. The construction
of the railroads and the development
of the cattle industry meant the who-
lescale destruction of vast herds of
buffalo. And as the buffalo disap-
peared from the Plains, the entire way
of life of these tribes was threatened.
These tensions led to the outbreak
of armed conflict between the U.S.
Army and Nebraska’s Lakota,
Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. The
clashes were part of a larger series of
conflicts that took place throughout
the Great Plains between about 1854
and 1890. They were a response to the
encroachment
onto Native American
lands by European-American settlers.
Collectively, these conflicts are known
as the Plains Indian Wars.
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Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska
This stone marker designates
the spot where the famed Sioux
chief Crazy Horse was killed at
Fort Robinson, in northwestern
Nebraska, in 1879.