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Question: Why did the thirty Native American tribes of the West lose the War of the Great Plains!?
Please give me some specific information!. thanks!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Alice, you have some good answers above!.
The inferior technology answer is not precisely correct!.
At the Little Bighorn, many of the the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors had Henry and Winchester repeating rifles while the poor 7th Cavalry men under Custer and Reno had single shot trap door Springfields!. The U!.S!. Army was cheap in those days - didn't like to pay for ammunition or better rifles!.
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A few other points:
The birth rate among the Plains Indians was low!. This relates to the inadequacies of the diet especially in the winter months when there was hardship!. (I am a medical doctor as well as a history teacher, so I understand human physiology as well as basic nutrition!.) The low birth rate meant that the Plains Indians would forever be outnumbered!.
This of course relates to the answer above about the buffalo (bison) being severely reduced by white hunters seeking only their hides!. The bison was the primary food source of the Plains Indians, and it was depleted by European/American interlopers!.
also, in all Indian wars there was a lack of cooperation among the tribes!. The Sioux and Cheyenne came together at the Little Bighorn and won a victory, but they had to disperse due to limitations of food supply!. The Indians never had the supply logistics to maintain a prolonged campaign!. They could never make their own ammunition for the rifles they obtained by trade (usually) or acquired in battles or raids!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The breaking of the treaty of 1868 by the American Government opening The Black Hills was one reason!. Indians on reservations every spring left to hunt, and try to live "The Old Ways" in 1876 they were considered " hostiles", and the Army was sent in to force them back!.Three forces were to co verge on an encampment of Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho!. The mysterious defeat of Gen!. George Crook the largest of the three at The Battle of Rosebud Creek, and his retreat 7 days before he was to converge with Custer along with Custer's ego was a large factor in the defeat at Little Big Horn!. Who knows what would have happened if the tribes stayed together long enough to fight Col!. Gibbons column which was mostly infantry!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The indians were nomadic people who followed the bison herds around!.
Their very existance depended on the bison!. The animals provided food ,clothing and shelter(TeePees)!. By the end of the 1800's the
bison herds(which were once in the millions)were nearly
wiped out by white hunters!. The Indians were faced with starvation and lack of hunting lands because of encrochment by whites!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

well first, we took the government at their word, which in case you haven't noticed doesn't mean anything!. so when a promise was made!.!.we kept it and they didn't!. indians were too trusting!.
also, the sheer numbers of americans!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Inferior technology (bow and arrows, spears, axes), No proper military leadership (Native Americans never needed to organize an army large enough as they did when the colonists arrived, therefore they were inexperienced and unprepared) Www@QuestionHome@Com