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History Quiz - USA: 1840-1895 - Conflict Between White Americans And Plains Indians (Questions)

This GCSE History quiz explores conflict between white Americans and Plains Indians as settlement, ranching, and railways spread across the Great Plains in the mid nineteenth century.

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Fascinating Fact:

In 1874 Custer’s expedition found gold in the Black Hills, a sacred Sioux area. Prospectors flooded in, despite earlier treaty promises.

In GCSE History, this topic examines how white settlement, cattle ranching, and U.S. government policy transformed the Great Plains. You will explore changing land use, broken treaties, and clashes of culture.

Key Terms

  • Plains Indians: Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains, many of whom followed the buffalo and lived in tribal bands.
  • Reservation: An area of land controlled by the U.S. government where a Native American tribe was forced or persuaded to live.
  • Cattle ranching: The large-scale keeping of cattle on open range or fenced ranches to produce beef for growing markets.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What caused conflict between white settlers and Plains Indians?

Conflict was driven by competition for land and resources, the building of railroads, the hunt for gold, and U.S. government policies that ignored or broke earlier treaties with Plains Indians.

How did the U.S. government try to control the Plains Indians?

The government used treaties, reservations, army forts, and policies that limited traditional hunting, especially of the buffalo. These measures aimed to force Plains Indians to settle and farm.

Why is the Black Hills important in GCSE History?

The Black Hills were sacred to the Sioux and protected by treaty, but the discovery of gold there led to a rush of miners, further tension, and later wars between the Sioux and U.S. forces.

Try These Related Quizzes

1. What phrase means that White Americans were bound to expand the USA until it extended from coast to coast?
[ ] Inevitable Fate
[ ] Manifest Destiny
[ ] Natural Progression
[ ] Fateful Future
2. Several treaties were signed early in this period to permit White Americans to send immigrants, to construct roads and to station troops along trails from the Great Plains, through the Rocky Mountains and down to the Pacific Ocean. One such agreement was the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. To which established trail did it refer?
[ ] The California Trail
[ ] The Washington Trail
[ ] The Oregon Trail
[ ] The South Western Trail
3. Pike's Peak, the Black Hills of South Dakota and Montana all witnessed influxes of Whites after 1859. They were all intent on acquiring a particular commodity in these areas. Which commodity?
[ ] Diamonds
[ ] Silver
[ ] Gold
[ ] Copper
4. A religious group trekked across the Great Plains looking for a haven, where they could practise their faith from 1846 onwards. They established themselves in Utah, and received regular fresh influxes of co-religionists thereafter. They have a share in creating the hostility that marked relations between Indian tribes and Whites in the second half of the Nineteenth Century. What was the name of the sect?
[ ] Quakers
[ ] Amish
[ ] Mennonites
[ ] Mormons/Church of the Latter Day Saints
5. In which year was the first continental railroad completed?
[ ] 1850
[ ] 1843
[ ] 1869
[ ] 1882
6. In 1876 General Custer was defeated in battle and killed during the course of a Sioux rebellion. At which battle did this occur?
[ ] The Little Bighorn
[ ] Lazy Creek
[ ] Crazy Bull
[ ] Wounded Creek
7. Which Native American leader inflicted the above defeat in 1876?
[ ] Geronimo
[ ] Crazy Horse
[ ] Little Big Bird
[ ] Big Beast
8. Indiscriminate hunting in the 1880s slaughtered to extinction the kind of plains animal on which Native Americans had traditionally relied for food. Which creature was this?
[ ] Bison
[ ] Wildebeest
[ ] Deer
[ ] Brown Bears
9. White Americans got their revenge for Custer's death in 1890, when US government forces killed large numbers of Native Americans near the site of the 1876 battle. Where did this incident take place?
[ ] Wounded Knee
[ ] Snake Pass
[ ] Cloven Creek
[ ] Red Mountain
10. Native Americans were now herded into designated areas. What was the name of such places?
[ ] Ethnic Reserves
[ ] Homelands
[ ] Tribal Reserves
[ ] Reservations
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History Quiz - USA: 1840-1895 - Conflict Between White Americans And Plains Indians (Answers)
1. What phrase means that White Americans were bound to expand the USA until it extended from coast to coast?
[ ] Inevitable Fate
[x] Manifest Destiny
[ ] Natural Progression
[ ] Fateful Future
Many White Americans, especially those who were pressing westwards towards the Rockies, believed that America would eventually include the whole continent. This feeling influenced their attitude to Native Americans who seemed to be "in the way"
2. Several treaties were signed early in this period to permit White Americans to send immigrants, to construct roads and to station troops along trails from the Great Plains, through the Rocky Mountains and down to the Pacific Ocean. One such agreement was the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. To which established trail did it refer?
[ ] The California Trail
[ ] The Washington Trail
[x] The Oregon Trail
[ ] The South Western Trail
There was plenty of potential for conflict over such accords, such as difficulties of interpretation or misunderstandings over language
3. Pike's Peak, the Black Hills of South Dakota and Montana all witnessed influxes of Whites after 1859. They were all intent on acquiring a particular commodity in these areas. Which commodity?
[ ] Diamonds
[ ] Silver
[x] Gold
[ ] Copper
Those who took part in such crazes cared little for established agreements, and thus they provoked conflict with Native Americans
4. A religious group trekked across the Great Plains looking for a haven, where they could practise their faith from 1846 onwards. They established themselves in Utah, and received regular fresh influxes of co-religionists thereafter. They have a share in creating the hostility that marked relations between Indian tribes and Whites in the second half of the Nineteenth Century. What was the name of the sect?
[ ] Quakers
[ ] Amish
[ ] Mennonites
[x] Mormons/Church of the Latter Day Saints
Like the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620, they were determined to find space where they could be free to practise their faith away from interference and persecution. Unfortunately, in their search for such space they were likely to encroach on the rights of Native Americans
5. In which year was the first continental railroad completed?
[ ] 1850
[ ] 1843
[x] 1869
[ ] 1882
Competing railway companies were determined to cross the Great Plains, and to cut through the Rockies to reach the Pacific Coast. Inevitably they came into conflict with Native Americans, and so they played their part in the battles that were a feature of this period
6. In 1876 General Custer was defeated in battle and killed during the course of a Sioux rebellion. At which battle did this occur?
[x] The Little Bighorn
[ ] Lazy Creek
[ ] Crazy Bull
[ ] Wounded Creek
This was a major setback for the US government in its quest for stability on the Great Plains
7. Which Native American leader inflicted the above defeat in 1876?
[ ] Geronimo
[x] Crazy Horse
[ ] Little Big Bird
[ ] Big Beast
The Sioux and their allies were able warriors - especially as they felt that they were defending their traditional lands and way of life
8. Indiscriminate hunting in the 1880s slaughtered to extinction the kind of plains animal on which Native Americans had traditionally relied for food. Which creature was this?
[x] Bison
[ ] Wildebeest
[ ] Deer
[ ] Brown Bears
Modern firearms made short work of this population of animals, which had sustained Native Americans for countless generations
9. White Americans got their revenge for Custer's death in 1890, when US government forces killed large numbers of Native Americans near the site of the 1876 battle. Where did this incident take place?
[x] Wounded Knee
[ ] Snake Pass
[ ] Cloven Creek
[ ] Red Mountain
The massacre is important in US mythology. Indian tribes' resistance was now effectively over
10. Native Americans were now herded into designated areas. What was the name of such places?
[ ] Ethnic Reserves
[ ] Homelands
[ ] Tribal Reserves
[x] Reservations
Such areas exist to this day, but they represent a fraction of the land area that Native Americans regarded as their own before 1890
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