1. Wounded Knee Started Over A Scuffle

The awful massacre at Wounded Knee started over a scuffle about a rifle and the tensions between the U.S. military and the Native American tribes reaching a breaking point.

A man named Black Coyote allegedly refused to surrender his rifle to a soldier. The two of them started wrestling, and in the struggle, it went off. The nervous troops started to shoot, and the Miniconjous grabbed their weapons and returned fire.

2. The Fate Of The Cherokee Tribe

As part of President Andrew Johnson’s “Indian Removal Policy,” the Cherokee nation was forced to give up all the lands east of the Mississippi river and had to move to what is now Oklahoma.

The forced migration lasted from 1838 to 1839, and the Cherokee tribe dubbed the removal “The Trail of Tears” because so many of their people faced starvation, disease and exhaustion. Out of the 15,000 members of the Cherokee nation, 4,000 died during the march.

3. The Cherokee Tribe Tried To Protect Their Land Via Legal Means

The Cherokee tribe tried to use legal means in order to defend themselves from the land-hungry white settlers who often harassed them by stealing their livestock and burning their towns.

In 1827, they decided to adopt a written constitution that said they were a sovereign nation in an attempt to use this status to their advantage. Unfortunately, the state of Georgia didn’t recognize their new status and the Supreme Court ruled against them.

4. Kit Carson Harassed The Navajo Tribe To get Them To Surrender

In June of 1863, General James H. Carleton told Kit Carson to take 700 men with him and establish Fort Canaby in Navajo country.

The next month saw Carson and his men harassing the Navajo tribe capturing their livestock and destroying their crops in the hopes of getting them to surrender and move to a reservation.

5. Many Native Americans Were Sold Into Slavery

The ancestors of the African-Americans living in the United States today unfortunately are not the only ones who were cruelly sold into slavery by the early white settlers who colonized this country in the 1600s.

In 1637, some members of the local Pequot tried to fight against the colonists in Connecticut, but their rebellion ultimately failed. The victors took the men and the boys captive and sold them into slavery in the West Indies. The women of the tribe were also taken captive and forced to work in the households of the white settlers.

6. Diseases Wiped Out Many Of The Tribes

Many of the Native American tribes were wiped out thanks to the European settlers. Some of it was due to warfare, but some of it was also due to the influx of foreign diseases.

The European settlers brought with them a myriad of new diseases, and the poor Native Americans didn’t have any kind of immunity to them. These diseases killed millions and led to a massive population decline amongst the tribes.

7. The Real Pocahontas Wasn’t All That Happy

In 1613, an English Captain named Samuel Argall knew that the Powhatan tribe wasn’t happy with the British settlers and came up with a cruel plan to fix that.

He captured Chief Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas, who used visit the English settlers when she was a child, in an attempt to force the tribe to return stolen weapons and prisoners. She was first brought to Jamestown, and then a settlement called Henrico near modern-day Richmond.

8. Sitting Bull Was Perished Because They Thought He Was A Ghost Dancer

In 1890, the U.S. government grew concerned about the Ghost Dance movement that was taking the Pine Ridge reservation by storm.

The Ghost Dance was a spiritual movement that believed the Native American tribes were defeated by the European settlers because they abandoned their traditional customs. Unfortunately, the famous Sioux chief Sitting Bull was arrested and killed by the reservation police because they thought he was a Ghost Dancer.

9. Pocahontas Passed Away At The Age Of 22

Every ‘90s kid has probably watched Disney’s animated film Pocahontas at some point or another, but the true story of the spirited young woman is far more heartbreaking than what was portrayed in the movie.

Pocahontas married a tobacco planter named John Rolfe, and they visited England together. In March 1617, they prepared to return to Virginia and the ship set sail. Unfortunately, poor Pocahontas came down with that historians suspect was either pneumonia or tuberculosis, and she died at the age of 22. She was then buried in a churchyard located in Gravesend, England.

10. Sitting Bull Was Taken Prisoner In 1881

After the battle at Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull led his people into Canada and they stayed there for four years.

However, Sitting Bull eventually returned to Dakota territory and was promptly held prisoner in 1881. It wasn’t until 1883 when he was released as a free man once more.

If you’re a history buff, don’t stop now–there’s more on the next page.

11. Pocahontas’s Son Thomas Rolfe Might Have Been Illegitimate

Dr. Linwood “Little Bear” Custalow and Angela L. Daniel (aka “Silver Star”) published a book called “The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side Of History” in 2007.

The book is based on the sacred oral history of the Mattaponi tribe, and it claimed that Pocahontas told her sister Mattachanna that she was raped when she was taken captive by the English settlers at Jamestown. She allegedly gave birth to her son Thomas before her marriage to John Rolfe.

12. Close To 250 Lakota Perished At Wounded Knee

At the Wounded Knee massacre, which took place in South Dakota in 1890, the Seventh Calvary only lost 25 men during the entire ordeal.

Unfortunately, most of the Native American victims were members of the Miniconjou band of Lakota Sioux, and over 250 people were killed at the massacre. The Native American dead were then buried in a mass grave.

13. Colonel Nelson A. Miles Pursued Crazy Horse

In an attempt to force the Native American tribes to surrender to the government agencies, Colonel Nelson A. Miles pursued the famous warrior Crazy Horse and his followers.

Crazy Horse was trying to lead some of his people back to the hill country to resume the old ways of their tribe, but after being weakened by cold and hunger, he made the decision to surrender to General Crook at the Red Cloud Agency in Nebraska in 1877.

Keep reading–there’s more eye-opening historical facts just waiting for you on the next page

14. Black Elk Was Injured At The Terrible Battle Of Wounded Knee

The famous Oglala Lakota Sioux medicine man Black Elk was wounded during the terrible massacre at Wounded Knee.

Even though there was an attempt to retaliate after the massacre, another Sioux chief named Red Cloud convinced the wounded Black Elk not to keep fighting and urged him to surrender.

15. The Nyack Tribe Were Pushed Out Of Their Home In New York

The Nyack and the Canarsee tribes were gradually pushed out of their homes in Brooklyn, thanks to the Dutch Settlers.

Aside from buying tribal land, the Dutch also forced the Canarsee out of their homes by persuading them to refuse to give the Mohawk tribe tribute. Of course, this angered the Mohawks, and they slaughtered the Canarsee in retaliation.

16. There Are Some Members Of The Nyack Tribe Buried In Bay Ridge

The Nyack Tribe used to live in the area of what is now a Brooklyn, New York neighborhood called Bay Ridge.

In 1911, the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper claimed that graves of some of the members of the Nyack tribes were found on what used to be known as Bliss Estate, and is today called Owl’s Head Park.

17. A Statue To The New York Native American Tribes Was Originally Planned

In 1910, New York wanted to build a statue that honored the Native American tribes who used to live in there before the European settlers arrived. If completed, it would have rivaled the Statue of Liberty in both size and beauty.

There were two proposed sites: Fort Lafayette, which was a small island near Fort Hamilton and Shore Drive. Unfortunately, the statue was never built due to funds drying up and waning interest.

18. The Lenape Once Camped In Inwood Park

The series of caves just off of a section known as the Clove in Manhattan, New York’s Inwood Park used to be the seasonal camping grounds of the Lenape tribe, and in 1890, an amateur archeologist named Alexander Crawford Chenoweth discovered a myriad of artifacts in the area.

Other archeologists over the years have also found pottery shards, weapons, and even human remains of a high-ranking official, a woman and a child in the area.

On the next page, there’s even more facts about Native American history, so don’t turn back now!

19. White Settlers Pressured The Government To Remove The Native Americans

In the early 19th-century, the United States was expanding into many of the Southern states, and the white settlers felt that the Native American tribes who were living on that land were an obstacle.

The white settlers then pressured the federal government to forcibly remove the Cherokee, Creek, Chicasaw and Seminole nations from their homes.

20. Andrew Johnson Forced The Southeastern Tribes To Leave Their Homes

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson pushed the “Indian Removal Act” through Congress, and it gave him the power to negotiate removal treaties with the tribes who were living east of the Mississippi.

The treaty stated that the tribes would have to move in exchange for owning lands to the west. The members of the tribes who didn’t want to leave their ancestral home would be able to become citizens in the new state. The move was supposed to be voluntary and peaceful, but sadly, that was not the case.

21. Sacajawea Was Kidnapped As A Teenager

Everyone knows about the famous guide Sacajawea and how she helped two explorers navigate through the lands obtained by the U.S. through the Louisiana Purchase. What you might now know is that she was taken away from the Shoshone tribe when she was only 12 years old.

The Hidatsa tribe, which was the enemy of the Shoshone, kidnapped her when she was barely a teenager. Since they also had a habit of selling war captives, in 1803 they sold her to a French-Canadian fur trapper named Toussaint Charbonneau.

Fascinated by Sacajawea’s life? Keep reading–there’s more facts about this famous guide on the next page.

22. Sacajawea Also Passed Away At A Very Young Age

Sacajawea wound up marrying the fur trapper Toussaint Charbonneau, and together they had two children.

Her infant son Jean Baptiste accompanied his parents on the expedition with Meriweather Lewis and William Clark while her daughter Lisette was born in 1812. Unfortunately, Sacajawea passed away only a few months after giving birth to her second child.

23. The Mohawk Population Suffered A Decline In The 1600s

In 1650, the Mohawk tribe had an estimated population of about 5,000 people. Sadly, that number did not last over the next 10 years.

The Mohawks actually underwent a rapid decline thanks to their wars with other tribes such as the Mahican, and the fact that a large part of their tribe was eventually removed to mission villages like Caughnawaga.

24. Dr. Charles Eastman Cared For The Victims At Wounded Knee

The famous Sioux writer, doctor and activist Dr. Charles Eastman was working as a government physician on the Pine Ridge Reservation when the massacre at Wounded Knee occurred.

Dr. Eastman was then called upon to treat the victims who were wounded at the massacre. The 2007 HBO film Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee follows Dr. Eastman (played by Adam Beach) and his experiences after the massacre at the reservation.

25. Dr. Eastman Separated From His Wife

Dr. Eastman eventually married a white woman named Elaine Goodale Eastman, who was a gifted poet. She even helped him edit some of his later books about his early life and the beliefs of his tribe.

Sadly, Dr. Eastman separated from his wife Elaine in August 1921. They had opposing views on how to help the Native Americans: Elaine thought they should assimilate while her husband felt that they should be able to retain their identities while still interacting with white society.

26. Charles Eastman Passed Away At A Ripe Old Age

Even though Dr. Charles Eastman separated from his wife, he was still very active in the lecture circuit.

In 1928, he purchased land on the north shore of Lake Huron, and lived in a cabin. When he was a much older man, he spent the cold winter months with his son in Detroit, Michigan and passed away at the ripe old age of 80.

Don’t stop reading now–we’ve saved the most interesting facts about Native American history for last.

27. The Nyack Felt Pressured To Leave Brooklyn, New York

The Nyack tribal leaders felt pressured to leave their ancestral lands in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn because they were worried that the Dutch were going to attack them.

That is why they decided to sell their tribal lands to the Dutch in 1652, and were forced to move away and never return. After they sold their lands, the Nyack tribe decided to move to what is now known as Staten Island, New York.

28. The Montauk Tribe Almost Went Extinct In The 1650s

The Montauk tribe, which lived in what is now Long Island, New York, almost went extinct after a long war with their enemies.

In 1653, another tribe called the Narragansett attacked the Montauks, which started a war that lasted for several long years. They almost went extinct, but managed to survive after they found refuge and help from the white settlers who were living in what is now East Hampton.

29. The Last Of The Canarsee Passed Away In 1830

The last remaining member of the Canarsee tribe was a man named Jim DeWilt, who was also known by the nickname “Jim the Wild Man.”

Unfortunately, Mr. DeWilt passed away in 1830 and was buried in a beautiful shroud that was handmade by Mrs. Anthony Remsen. With his death, there were no more members of the Canarsee tribe living in Brooklyn, New York.

30. The U.S. Government Outlawed The Sun Dance

The prohibition against the Sun Dance was renewed once again in 1904, although it was finally reversed in 1934.

Fascinated by Native American history? Test your knowledge with our excellent Native American History quiz!

Sources: historicamestown, native-american-indian-facts, historyfanatic, slate, allabouthistory, nps, history, biography, pbs, plainshumanities, brittanica, heyridge, placematters.