Indian Wars

The Indian Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and Native American peoples ("Indians") of North America. The wars, which ranged from colonial times to the Wounded Knee massacre and "closing" of the American frontier in 1890, collectively resulted in the conquest of American Indian peoples and their decimation, assimilation, or forced relocation to Indian reservations.

Related Topics:
United States - Native American - Colonial times - Wounded Knee massacre - "closing" of the American frontier - 1890 - Decimation - Assimilation - Forced relocation - Indian reservation

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The term Indian Wars is misleading because it groups American Indians under a single heading. American Indians were (and remain) a diverse category of peoples with discrete histories; throughout the wars, they were not a single people any more than Europeans were. Living in societies organized in a variety of ways (the terms tribe or nation are not always accurate), American Indians usually made decisions about war and peace at the local level, though they sometimes fought as part of complex formal alliances such as the Iroquois Confederation, or in temporary confederacies inspired by charismatic leaders such as Tecumseh.

Related Topics:
Tribe - Nation - Iroquois Confederation - Charismatic leaders - Tecumseh

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There are other problems with the term Indian Wars. It creates a category which has traditionally been used to relegate the long story of American Indian warfare to a minor footnote in U.S. history. The term also tends to obscure American Indian involvement in other wars. For example, American Indians fought extensively in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, two wars which had massive consequences for Native Americans, yet these conflicts have not traditionally been labeled as Indian Wars.

Related Topics:
American Revolutionary War - War of 1812

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To see the Indian wars as a racial war between Indians and European-Americans ("whites") overlooks the complex historical reality of the struggle. Indians and whites often fought alongside each other; Indians often fought against Indians. For example, although the Battle of Horseshoe Bend is often described as an "American victory" over the Creek Indians, the victors were a combined force of Cherokees, Creeks, and Tennessee militia led by Andrew Jackson. From a broad perspective, the Indian wars were about the conquest of Native American peoples by the United States; up close it was rarely quite as simple as that.

Related Topics:
European-American - Battle of Horseshoe Bend - Creek - Cherokee - Tennessee - Andrew Jackson

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Citing figures from a 1894 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, one scholar has noted that the more than 40 Indian wars from 1775 to 1890 reportedly claimed the lives of some 45,000 Indians and 19,000 whites. This rough estimate includes women and children, since noncombatants were often killed in frontier warfare (see also "Indian massacres").{{fn|1}}

Related Topics:
1894 - United States Census Bureau - 1775 - Noncombatant - Indian massacre

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Note that this article covers wars primarily involving Native Americans and European-Americans in the area that became the contiguous United States. Other "Indian Wars" occurred throughout the Western Hemisphere, including wars fought between Indians in which Europeans played little or no role.

Related Topics:
Contiguous United States - Western Hemisphere

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