Sand Creek Massacre Lesson 1

Sand Creek Massacre Lesson 1

This lesson will situate the Sand Creek Massacre within the broader context of Native American history and the Civil War. This lesson will describe important events and treaties leading up to the Sand Creek Massacre. By showing how the Civil War and Sand Creek Massacre are not simply simultaneous events, but part of an intertwined process of westward expansion, this lesson will demonstrate how Native American history is U.S. history, and students will be able to understand the context and importance of the following lesson plans on the Massacre and its consequences for U.S.- Indian relations. As historian Ari Kelman says, "We remember the Civil War as a war of liberation that freed four million slaves. But it also became a war of conquest to destroy and dispossess Native Americans.” Sand Creek, he adds, “is a bloody and mostly forgotten link” between the Civil War and the Plains Indian Wars that continued for 25 years after Appomattox." Included in this lesson are the Fort Laramie (link to the digital copy in Lesson Sources) and Fort Wise treaties, which can be used for analysis if students and teacher are already familiar with treaties. However, they are not essential to this lesson plan, but are included for your convenience.

Ben Binversie

1851/1861

1 Day

Students should understand that the Civil War is more complex than the traditional dichotomy of Union/Confederate battles , that the Sand Creek Massacre occurred as a part of the land dispossession efforts of the U.S. government , and that the Sand Creek Massacre was not an isolated event, but part of a sustained conflict between Plains tribes, encroaching settlers, and territorial governments

Students will be able to describe the important events leading up to the Sand Creek Massacre, explain the various causes of the Sand Creek Massacre, both long-term and immediate, and understand how to weigh the importance of different causes.

Lesson 1 Worksheet, Lesson 1 Presentation, Lesson 1 Fort Wise Treaty

Sand Creek Unit
Lesson 1: Treaties and Civil War Context

Description: This lesson will situate the Sand Creek Massacre within the broader context of Native American history and the Civil War. This lesson will describe important events and treaties leading up to the Sand Creek Massacre. By showing how the Civil War and Sand Creek Massacre are not simply simultaneous events, but part of an intertwined process of westward expansion, this lesson will demonstrate how Native American history is U.S. history, and students will be able to understand the context and importance of the following lesson plans on the Massacre and its consequences for U.S.- Indian relations. As historian Ari Kelman says, "We remember the Civil War as a war of liberation that freed four million slaves. But it also became a war of conquest to destroy and dispossess Native Americans.” Sand Creek, he adds, “is a bloody and mostly forgotten link” between the Civil War and the Plains Indian Wars that continued for 25 years after Appomattox." Included in this lesson are the Fort Laramie (link to the digital copy in Lesson Sources) and Fort Wise treaties, which can be used for analysis if students and teacher are already familiar with treaties. However, they are not essential to this lesson plan, but are included for your convenience.

Essential Questions:
How are the Sand Creek Massacre and the Civil War connected to each other and the larger process of Westward Expansion?
What people, events, and larger processes contributed to the Sand Creek Massacre?

Desired Results
Understandings Students Will Know/Will be Able To:
• The Civil War is more complex than the traditional dichotomy of Union/Confederate battles
• The Sand Creek Massacre occurred as a part of the land dispossession efforts of the U.S. government
• The Sand Creek Massacre was not an isolated event, but part of a sustained conflict between Plains tribes, encroaching settlers, and territorial governments
• Describe the important events leading up to the Sand Creek Massacre
• Explain the various causes of the Sand Creek Massacre, both long-term and immediate
• How to weigh the importance of different causes


Assessment Evidence
• Class discussion of treaties
• Causes of the massacre worksheet

Key Terms
• Fort Laramie Treaty
• Fort Wise Treaty
• Civil War
• Colorado War
• Ethnocentrism
• Massacre
Materials:
Powerpoint Presentation
Worksheet: Weighing Causes of the Massacre

Lesson Activities:
Introduction (10 minutes)
• Teacher will lead students through a brief background on the history of treaties between the United States and Native Americans
• Use Powerpoint Slides 1 and 2
• Emphasize the power dynamics present in treaty negotiations and the various problems with relying on treaties to negotiate
 Many Indian tribes did not have a European-style of governance with one decision-maker, but had many people who led them (but who didn't necessarily speak for the entire tribe)
• One leader (perhaps supported by a faction of the tribe) might agree to a treaty without the consent of others
 Interpreters: most treaty negotiations involved interpreters, which meant that misunderstandings were bound to happen
 Very rarely did the government actually hold up its treaty obligations
Body Activity (35 minutes)
• Teacher will discuss the two formative treaties (Fort Laramie and Fort Wise, 1851 and 1861) and how they set the stage for the Sand Creek Massacre
• Use Powerpoint Slides 3-7
• For Slide 7, emphasize that the war to which William Bent refers is the Colorado War, not the Civil War. Ask students, based on what they learned about the treaties and relations between settlers, the government, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho, why William Bent might say that?
 William Bent was a trader who served as the Colorado and Arapaho agent in Colorado, and also married a Cheyenne named Owl Woman and had 4 kids with her
• Students will, with a partner, rank the causes of the Sand Creek War in terms of their importance
• Use Worksheet: Weighing Causes of the Sand Creek Massacre
• Class discussion relating the Sand Creek Massacre to the Civil War
 Ask students to draw connections between the causes of the Sand Creek Massacre and what they know about the causes of the Civil War. Which causes are related? Hint at the tension caused by settlers moving westward, which produced conflict among the North and South (free-states vs. Slave states) and between settlers and Native American tribes.
Wrap-Up/Conclusion (10 minutes)
• Summarize what students learned and discuss the most important causes of the Sand Creek Massacre and briefly prepare them for the next lesson, which will involve determining what actually happened at Sand Creek
• Ask students to consider what more they would like to know that might help them determine which causes were most important (Hint at wanting to know how the events actually unfolded and reading some witness accounts of the event- Primary sources can help us learn more about what happened)

Lesson Sources:
1851 Fort Laramie Treaty:
Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc., September 17, 1851. Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol2/treaties/sio0594.htm1861
Fort Wise Treaty:
Ratified treaty no. 315, documents relating to the negotiation of the treaty of February 18, 1861, with the Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, February 18, 1861. http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/History-idx?type=header&id=History.IT1861no315&isize=M
Neely, Jr., Mark E. The Civil War and the Limits of Destruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007.

Westward Expansion: Who and How