American History from 1865-1900

335). The most sweeping measure was the Ku Klux Klan Act of April 1871, which made the violent infringement of civil and political rights a federal crime punishable by the national government. By the election of 1872, the federal government's intervention had helped break the Klan and restore a semblance of law and order. By 1875, the Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in theaters, hotels, railroads, and other public places. (Faragher, et al, p. 335). .
             Caused by the pressures of the slaughtering of the buffalo, a few tribes organized themselves and their allies to resist both federal policies and the growing wave of white settlers. (Faragher, et al, p. 348). The majority of tribespeople didn't take up arms, but settlers responded to imaginary or real threats with their own brands of violence.
             Large-scale war erupted in 1864. Since all treaties with tribes in eastern Colorado were terminated, territorial governor John Evans encouraged a group of white civilians, the Colorado Volunteers, to stage raids through Cheyenne campgrounds. Looking for protection, Chief Black Kettle brought a band of 800 Cheyennes to a U.S. fort and received orders to set up camp at Sand Creek. On November 29, 1864, the Colorado Volunteers and soldiers attacked. Even while Chief Black Kettle held a white flag in surrender, the men continued to murder the helpless Cheyennes. (Faragher, et, al, p. 349). Months after the Sand Creek Massacre, the Cheyennes, Sioux, and Arapahoes were still retaliating, burning civilian outposts and sometimes killing whole families.
             The Sioux played the most dramatic roles in the Indian Wars. (Faragher, et, al, p. 340). In 1851, believing the U.S. government would recognize their own rights of conquest over other tribes, the Sioux relinquished large tracks of land as a demonstration of good faith, but within a decade, a huge invasion of miners and construction of military forts along the Bozeman Trail in Wyoming, the Sioux's principle buffalo range, threw the tribes future into doubt.