Speaker 1: Hey, there, this episode contains material that may be uncomfortable
Speaker 1: to hear. Please take care while listening. Some of them
Speaker 1: lived nomadic lives and followed the seasons and the animals.
Speaker 1: Others preferred to stay in one place and work the land,
Speaker 1: growing crops like sunflowers, corn, pumpkin, and more. Nomadic or
Speaker 1: agricultural indigenous people relied on their hunting skills to provide food.
Speaker 1: No part of the animal went unused. As we've always heard,
Speaker 1: the meat fed them, and the pelts clothed and sheltered them.
Speaker 1: Even the bones could be used both for weapons and tools.
Speaker 1: Although cultures sometimes varied, they shared similar rituals. Some followed
Speaker 1: leaders instead of rulers, and above all, a sense of
Speaker 1: community was stronger than individualism. The people marked the seasons
Speaker 1: and celebrated their triumphs and losses together. In their mind,
Speaker 1: the land and the animals that roamed it sacred and
Speaker 1: life giving. Across North America, some eighteen million indigenous people
Speaker 1: lived in harmony with nature, earth and sky, water and animals.
Speaker 1: The Native Americans believed that they were at one with
Speaker 1: all of it. Others, though, felt that they were above it.
Speaker 1: To them, nature was something to conquer. In fourteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean. A little over a
Speaker 1: century later, Europeans landed on the shores of North America
Speaker 1: in droves, bringing their own cultures, and they also brought disease.
Speaker 1: You have to remember the native populations had no prior
Speaker 1: exposure to things like smallpox, chicken pox, typhoid, leptospirosis, influenza,
Speaker 1: or bubonic plague. Those were European illnesses, not global things,
Speaker 1: and the results were devastating. Smallpox had one of the
Speaker 1: highest mortality rates of them all, and it spread like wildfire.
Speaker 1: Half of the entire Cherokee population died from smallpox during
Speaker 1: an outbreak in seventeen thirty eight. Twenty years later, half
Speaker 1: the Cataba tribes succumbed. European settlers traveled across the country,
Speaker 1: and everywhere they went they carried the disease. Some historians
Speaker 1: estimate that smallpox killed roughly ninety percent of indigenous tribes
Speaker 1: across the continent. Folks back then didn't have a clear
Speaker 1: view on how disease worked, though, and so settlers took
Speaker 1: the death toll as a sign from the heavens. In
Speaker 1: their minds, God himself had chosen them to tame and
Speaker 1: inherit the land, and he was clearing the way. Plymouth,
Speaker 1: Massachusetts settler William Bradford wrote in horrific detail of the
Speaker 1: slow and miserable deaths that God had bestowed on the
Speaker 1: Native Americans. Disease rendered them unable to care for themselves
Speaker 1: or their families. Entire communities starved or became dehydrated. God,
Speaker 1: he wrote, was good. He had provided for the English
Speaker 1: by killing others. Please tell me that you can see
Speaker 1: the hypocrisy in that. And while these diseases also killed
Speaker 1: plenty of settlers, they mostly had immunity from prior exposure
Speaker 1: and didn't take long before Europeans quickly learned that spreading
Speaker 1: the disease was an effective weapon against the Native Americans,
Speaker 1: and if they killed off the indigenous people, they could
Speaker 1: take over their land. Correspondence between British Commander and Chief
Speaker 1: Sir Jeffrey Amherst and Colonel Henry Bouquet discussed spreading diseases
Speaker 1: as a warfare tactic. So when an outbreak of smallpox
Speaker 1: hit Fort Pitt in seventeen sixty three, the British gifted
Speaker 1: local tribal leaders with blankets from the fort's smallpox ward
Speaker 1: in the hopes of infecting them. It all sounds incomprehensible,
Speaker 1: and it was. But unfortunately for the indigenous people, the
Speaker 1: newcomers had a few more plans. Settlers wanted the land
Speaker 1: and all that it offered for their own. Only one
Speaker 1: thing stood in their way, the people already living there.
Speaker 1: And if disease wouldn't kill off the Native Americans, they
Speaker 1: would simply come up with even more sinister methods to
Speaker 1: do it. I'm Aaron Mankee, and welcome to the wild West.
Speaker 1: When colonists wanted more land for farming, they took it,
Speaker 1: often by force. And I need to make this clear.
Speaker 1: This isn't biased propaganda. This is documented, historical fact. The
Speaker 1: story tells itself, and the story is tragic and dark.
Speaker 1: Far too many looked upon the Indigenous people as inconsequential.
Speaker 1: They saw their religions and beliefs as inferior to their own,
Speaker 1: and when tribes fought back or resisted, that made them
Speaker 1: the savages. It didn't matter to many of the settlers
Speaker 1: if the Native Americans had fought at their sides. During
Speaker 1: the French and Indian War in seventeen fifty four, they
Speaker 1: still pushed those tribes off their own land and then
Speaker 1: forced them farther and farther west. When the war ended
Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty three, King George the Third made a
Speaker 1: surprising announcement. Native Americans had a right to keep their
Speaker 1: sacred land. No longer could English settlers travel across the
Speaker 1: indigenous territory west of the Appalachian Mountains, and no longer
Speaker 1: could they steal the indigenous people's land and take it
Speaker 1: for their own. The king acknowledged the tribes who fought
Speaker 1: alongside England, and his proclamation sought to end the fraud
Speaker 1: and abuse that the indigenous peoples had suffered. Native American
Speaker 1: sovereignty was to be protected, he said so. The Crown
Speaker 1: actually dedicated troops to protect the border between the colonists
Speaker 1: and the Native Americans. Indigenous people gathered by the thousands
Speaker 1: in Niagara to celebrate. They vowed to be at peace
Speaker 1: with their British neighbors. But the king's declaration angered many
Speaker 1: of the colonists. They believed that they had fought for
Speaker 1: that land and it was theirs for the taking. As
Speaker 1: a result, most settlers simply ignored the proclamation. Once the
Speaker 1: revolutionary war was over, there was a new government to
Speaker 1: write new laws designed to take Indigenous place, and yes,
Speaker 1: while they did acknowledge that the land belonged to the
Speaker 1: Native people, they claimed that such uncivilized and savage peoples
Speaker 1: were incapable of managing it well. They didn't stop and
Speaker 1: remember that the tribes had managed perfectly well for thousands
Speaker 1: of years before the first Europeans ever set foot in
Speaker 1: North America. So the new United States government granted themselves
Speaker 1: the right to supervise Native American land in seventeen eighty six.
Speaker 1: They offered reservations granting the Indigenous people who chose to
Speaker 1: move there and live on them the ability to govern
Speaker 1: the land as an independent nation decline, and while there
Speaker 1: would be conflict, greed for more and more land pretty
Speaker 1: much guaranteed that even the newest treaties wouldn't last. Americans
Speaker 1: kept pushing westward, forcing more Native Americans off their land
Speaker 1: as they expanded, and although President James Monroe expressed concern
Speaker 1: for the plights of Indigenous people, his administration continued to
Speaker 1: remove those living in states north of Ohio, often with
Speaker 1: bloody and devastating results. Some pushed back Chief dacumsa of
Speaker 1: the Shawnee tribe tried to control the number of settlers
Speaker 1: taking over his people's ancestral territory, but military officer William
Speaker 1: Henry Harrison forced them north. When the War of eighteen
Speaker 1: twelve broke out, Tacumsa and the Shawnee naturally sided with
Speaker 1: the British, and they weren't alone, but the American military
Speaker 1: played dirty. They would specifically seek out tribes that were
Speaker 1: at war with each other and then become allies with
Speaker 1: one of the sides to help them decimate the other.
Speaker 1: It wasn't about finding allies, though, it was about lowering
Speaker 1: the overall Native American population to prevent them from resisting colonization,
Speaker 1: and all along the United States continued to make treaties
Speaker 1: with Native Americans in an effort to appear peaceful, but
Speaker 1: conflicts and the ever present threat of violence between Indigenous
Speaker 1: people and settlers remained a regular occurrence. Given their dwindling
Speaker 1: populations any increasing number of settlers with ample weapons, some
Speaker 1: tribes felt that they had no choice but to accept.
Speaker 1: If they rejected these offers, they would be attacked. At
Speaker 1: least in acceptance, there was a chance they might find
Speaker 1: some safety for their people. Unfortunately, those promises weren't worth much.
Speaker 1: The US Senate refused to ratify treaties, leaving most tribes
Speaker 1: without a voice or recourse to prevent their removal or eradication.
Speaker 1: Seeing no viable way to avoid deadly attacks on their people,
Speaker 1: many tribes reluctantly gave in. The Cherokee, however, did not.
Speaker 1: The Cherokee language has some similarities to tribes who once
Speaker 1: lived in the Great Lakes region. They spoken the Iroquoian
Speaker 1: family of languages, indicating that they might have once lived
Speaker 1: in northern areas. Harmony and balance with nature were essential
Speaker 1: to the Cherokee. To them all, life possessed a great
Speaker 1: and intelligent spirit. When they hunted, they asked for the
Speaker 1: animal's forgiveness. When they harvested plants, they took only what
Speaker 1: they needed, often leaving three of every four plants. They
Speaker 1: settled in the hills that make up the modern American
Speaker 1: states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina, and
Speaker 1: when a few Europeans began settling in that same area,
Speaker 1: the Cherokee accepted their new neighbors, but the shift in
Speaker 1: power between colonists and the British changed that relationship. The
Speaker 1: Cherokee started to notice how the white settlers began treating
Speaker 1: other tribes. The destruction and genocide they witnessed prompted them
Speaker 1: to try a different approach to their survival. By adopting
Speaker 1: more European practices and ingratiating themselves with their new neighbors,
Speaker 1: The Cherokee hoped to find peace. Their life and their
Speaker 1: land depended on striking a balance between their own heritage
Speaker 1: and this new European culture. During the War of eighteen twelve,
Speaker 1: they even offered their warriors to fight against the British,
Speaker 1: and their assistance proved highly beneficial to General Andrew Jackson's success.
Speaker 1: Friendship and and bravery, though wouldn't be enough to save
Speaker 1: the Cherokee people. Their new allies would soon betray them.
Speaker 1: In eighteen twenty eight, General Andrew Jackson rose to the presidency. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: that same year, settlers discovered gold on Cherokee land in Delanaga, Georgia,
Speaker 1: and it would be the Cherokee people's demise. They'd be
Speaker 1: wrong if they expected President Jackson to be thankful for
Speaker 1: their help. In his rise to the presidency, Jackson and
Speaker 1: the administration ignored signed treaties American officials, held lotteries and
Speaker 1: gave away ancestral land to white prospectors, all without the
Speaker 1: Cherokee people's consent, and then the State of Georgia stripped
Speaker 1: away the Cherokee people's rights. After June first of eighteen thirty,
Speaker 1: the government forbade them to conduct tribal business. The Cherokee
Speaker 1: could no longer mine on their own land, and the
Speaker 1: state deemed any and all laws pertaining to the Cherokee
Speaker 1: nation were null and void, even denying them the right
Speaker 1: to testify in American court. John Ross wouldn't let his
Speaker 1: people be silenced, nor would he allow the government to
Speaker 1: take his people's homeland. Although not fully Cherokee, Ross had
Speaker 1: affluents that most Cherokee did not. His father had provided
Speaker 1: his children with excellent schooling, hiring a teacher before sending
Speaker 1: them to other schools and academies. He never forgot his roots, though,
Speaker 1: while he wore American clothing, Ross celebrated his native heritage
Speaker 1: and grew up with traditional Cherokee customs thanks to his
Speaker 1: mother and grandmother. His father had been a Scottish trader,
Speaker 1: and Ross had followed in his footsteps. Owning a trading
Speaker 1: post helped Ross become more successful than most men, regardless
Speaker 1: of his race. The experience made Ross a good businessman.
Speaker 1: He and other Cherokee men who helped the Americans fight
Speaker 1: against the British in the War of eighteen twelve had
Speaker 1: done so without pay, not out of choice, but because
Speaker 1: the military only paid white soldiers. The settlers may have
Speaker 1: considered Ross a lesser American, but the Cherokee people welcomed
Speaker 1: his mixed heritage. Ross's education, his business experience, and his
Speaker 1: familiarity with the tribe earn him a spot as the
Speaker 1: tribe's negotiator with the US government. President Jackson's address to
Speaker 1: the public in eighteen thirty came as a blow to
Speaker 1: the Cherokee. He and his administration made it clear that
Speaker 1: they intended to remove Indigenous people from their ancestral land.
Speaker 1: Jackson insisted that removing Native Americans was an act of
Speaker 1: generosity and kindness because it would prevent further conflicts with settlers.
Speaker 1: The president stated that the government would be generous enough
Speaker 1: to give the Cherokee people large amounts of territory, not
Speaker 1: where they already lived, though, but elsewhere. He also added
Speaker 1: that their removal would finally give the Indigenous people happiness
Speaker 1: and suggested that perhaps they might also give up their
Speaker 1: savage habits and become more Christian. Jefferson even claimed that
Speaker 1: he envied the Cherokee that away from white civilization, they'd
Speaker 1: be permitted to purchase land. Ultimately, it didn't matter that
Speaker 1: the Chairoerocke already had large amounts of land and were
Speaker 1: perfectly happy living there before it was stolen from them.
Speaker 1: Of course, Ross had heard enough. He traveled to Washington,
Speaker 1: hoping to stop the government from stealing the land his
Speaker 1: people rightfully owned. What happened next, though, has left a
Speaker 1: permanent stain on American history. John Ross thought about how
Speaker 1: to handle the situation. What he hadn't considered was opposition
Speaker 1: from a former ally, Major Ridge. Together they had shared
Speaker 1: a lot of history, working together to build a stronger
Speaker 1: bond between settlers and the Cherokee nation. But now Ridge
Speaker 1: had begun urging the Cherokee to pack up and leave.
Speaker 1: To him, getting something for the tribe was better than
Speaker 1: getting nothing. But it wasn't the path forward that Ross
Speaker 1: had envisioned for his people. Other politicians chimed in, of course,
Speaker 1: all wanting the same thing, the removal of the chaerity Muskogee, Seminole, Choctaws,
Speaker 1: and other tribes from the land that the white settlers wanted,
Speaker 1: and in the spring of eighteen thirty, Congress announced that
Speaker 1: this theft was necessary and that staying would be detrimental
Speaker 1: to their well being. Officials claimed that removal was a
Speaker 1: good thing instead of what it really was, a not
Speaker 1: so thinly veiled threat. One New York representative even claimed
Speaker 1: that he was in full support of the bill, offering
Speaker 1: refuge to Native Americans leaving of their own free will.
Speaker 1: The Cherokee and other tribes, of course, had no choice
Speaker 1: or free will. Compatriot David Crockett voiced his opinion that
Speaker 1: the removal was unjust and wicked, but when he staunchly
Speaker 1: opposed the bill, his colleagues warned him that supporting the
Speaker 1: Native Americans would ruin him and his career. Ross also
Speaker 1: arrived to speak his own mind. In his Washington speech
Speaker 1: to officials, He stated that if all men were created equal,
Speaker 1: then his people and other tribes should have an equal voice.
Speaker 1: But Congress made their answer to Ross's question of equality
Speaker 1: crystal clear when they passed the Indian Removal Act on
Speaker 1: May twenty sixth of eighteen thirty in Georgia, white settlers celebrated.
Speaker 1: The Cherokee and others, however, were left in tears. Although
Speaker 1: the politicians had dismissed his arguments and please, John Ross
Speaker 1: continued to advocate for his people. Instead, Congress went back
Speaker 1: on their word from previous treaties, and they also refused
Speaker 1: to pay the Cherokee Nation for the land they intended
Speaker 1: to take. So Ross took the Cherokee people's plight to
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court and at persistence, almost paid off. On
Speaker 1: March third of eighteen thirty two, the Court's ruled that
Speaker 1: according to the prior treaties, Georgia had no authority regarding
Speaker 1: Cherokee land. As you might expect, the Georgians, who were
Speaker 1: looking to take over the valuable territory were outraged. Ross's
Speaker 1: former ally, Major Ridge, continued to work behind his back.
Speaker 1: He began treating to gushiations with the Jackson administration without
Speaker 1: approval from the Cherokee Nation. In fact, when it was
Speaker 1: all said and done, not one tribal official had been
Speaker 1: allowed to sign Ridge's treaty. Six years later, in eighteen
Speaker 1: thirty eight, over fifteen thousand Cherokee petitioned the document by then,
Speaker 1: many settlers had begun to sympathize with their Native American neighbors.
Speaker 1: Ralph Waldo Emerson appealed to the administration, urging them to
Speaker 1: prevent an outrage against the Cherokee people. Many empathetic settlers
Speaker 1: recalled how one of the Cherokee, a man named Junalusca,
Speaker 1: had saved Andrew Jackson's life during the War of eighteen twelve.
Speaker 1: They reminded Jackson of how he had declared his friendship
Speaker 1: toward that Cherokee for and I quote as long as
Speaker 1: the sun shines and the grass grows. Instead, Jackson sent
Speaker 1: General John E. Wool to recruit thousands of volunteers to
Speaker 1: forcibly remove the Cherokee, But during Wull's time with the tribe,
Speaker 1: he realized the government had misled the American people regarding
Speaker 1: the treaty. Wool began to fear the worst. He would
Speaker 1: be forced to remove the people that he had come
Speaker 1: to care about from their own homes by gunpoints if necessary.
Speaker 1: When he expressed his concerns for the Cherokee people, Wool
Speaker 1: was promptly relieved of his post. The annihilation of the
Speaker 1: Cherokee people came in eighteen thirty eight. US troops stormed
Speaker 1: into homes during the evening meal, shoving bayonets at anyone
Speaker 1: who defied them. Troops took anything of value they could carry,
Speaker 1: and those who resisted were beaten. Soldiers herded the Cherokee people,
Speaker 1: children at play and adults at work in the fields,
Speaker 1: and forced them like cattle into holding camps. If anyone
Speaker 1: tried to flee, the troops shot and killed them. Civilians
Speaker 1: followed the example of the soldiers, too, ransacking homes and
Speaker 1: taking whatever the soldiers might have missed. They stole their
Speaker 1: horses in livestock and then went into the fields with shovels,
Speaker 1: digging up Native American graves to rob the dead of valuables,
Speaker 1: and those holding camps were filthy. Dysentery spread among the prisoners.
Speaker 1: Soldiers assaulted the women, starving, malnourished, and severely dehydrated. Those
Speaker 1: who survived in tournament were forced to march westward in
Speaker 1: June of eighteen thirty eight. Those who were transported by
Speaker 1: trains fared no better either, as they were overcrowded, allowing
Speaker 1: disease to spread quickly. The summer heat quickly became unbearable,
Speaker 1: and the Cherokee people begged the troops to wait until
Speaker 1: fall to continue the trek westward. The soldiers granted the request,
Speaker 1: although they continued to keep them in squalid conditions and
Speaker 1: interment camps. That fall, they walked through torrential rains and
Speaker 1: mud for nearly four months. There would be no stopping
Speaker 1: this time, and when winter came, the young and old
Speaker 1: alike were forced to continue on foot, despite the bitter
Speaker 1: cold and harsh blizzards. Every time they stopped there were burials.
Speaker 1: Clean water and food were in short supply. One Cherokee
Speaker 1: man lost a member of his family every day for
Speaker 1: five days straight, first his mother, then his father, finally
Speaker 1: his brothers and sisters. The Cherokee had once stood proud,
Speaker 1: Now along the trail to Oklahoma, they walked in a
Speaker 1: silence that was only broken by the whales of suffering women, children,
Speaker 1: and men. The government cared so little about the welfare
Speaker 1: of the indigenous people they were displacing that they didn't
Speaker 1: even count how many had died. Sadly, mortality was highest
Speaker 1: among the elderly and the children. According to one missionary
Speaker 1: doctor who traveled with them, twenty percent of those who
Speaker 1: set out that previous June never made it to Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: Although they had been forcibly relocated over one thousand miles
Speaker 1: from their home, those who survived were determined to rebuild.
Speaker 1: In August of eighteen thirty nine, the Cherokee elected Ross
Speaker 1: as their principal chief. He served his people faithfully for
Speaker 1: another twenty seven years. Life moved forward as best it could.
Speaker 1: The Cherokee people constructed new new schools, new homes, and
Speaker 1: even built a courthouse. But despite their new life, they
Speaker 1: never forgot the land of their ancestors. And as hard
Speaker 1: as it is to hear, the Cherokee weren't the only
Speaker 1: people group to suffer on the Trail of Tears. In
Speaker 1: eighteen forty, the government forced tens of thousands of other
Speaker 1: Native Americans off of their ancestral lands and move them
Speaker 1: out to Oklahoma. This time, of course, they promised to
Speaker 1: honor their treaty. This time, they said, all the tribes
Speaker 1: living there would do so forever undisturbed. But just as before,
Speaker 1: the indigenous people had no choice in the matter. They
Speaker 1: could fight and suffer greatly, or give in and suffer
Speaker 1: just slightly less. John Ross never stopped petitioning Washington, DC
Speaker 1: to pay the Cherokee for the land the government had stolen.
Speaker 1: Even when his health began to fail in eighteen sixty six,
Speaker 1: he continued to advocate for his people. He passed away
Speaker 1: on August first of that year, unsuccessful. Naturally, America continued
Speaker 1: to push westward. Eighteen oh seven that land in Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: the land that had been promised to the Native Americans
Speaker 1: as theirs forever undisturbed, was reduced to make room for
Speaker 1: more settlers. Some Cherokee did manage to stay behind on
Speaker 1: their original land, though those living in small areas in
Speaker 1: North Carolina, for example, There the mountains and hills weren't
Speaker 1: useful to cotton farmers and were overlooked or written off
Speaker 1: Further south. A few Seminole tribes also managed to evade
Speaker 1: the removal efforts, and some smaller groups within the Chickasaw
Speaker 1: and Choctaw nations stayed behind, but overall those that remained
Speaker 1: were definitely in the minority. All told, its estimated that
Speaker 1: approximately one hundred thousand Native Americans were forced from their
Speaker 1: land and relocated to Oklahoma, opening up a land grab
Speaker 1: for white settlers. In the winter of eighteen thirty one,
Speaker 1: the US Army threatened the Choctaw tribes with force if
Speaker 1: they weren't willing to surrender their homeland. When they resisted,
Speaker 1: soldiers swept in and removed them at gunpoint and in chains.
Speaker 1: The Choctaw people were made to walk the Trail of
Speaker 1: Tears all the way to Oklahoma, and just like the
Speaker 1: Cherokee and others, they too receive barbaric treatment. The US
Speaker 1: government provided for their soldiers, of course, but not the Choctaw.
Speaker 1: They had to get food and water wherever they could
Speaker 1: along the way, and five years later, in eighteen thirty six,
Speaker 1: three thousand, five hundred of the fifteen thousand Creek people
Speaker 1: who were driven from their lands did not survive the
Speaker 1: journey to Oklahoma. The government also removed several tribes along
Speaker 1: the East Coast as a result. The historic Trail of
Speaker 1: Tiers covers over five thousand miles and spans several routes
Speaker 1: and nine states, and is now overseen by the National
Speaker 1: Park Service. Today, there are three bands of Cherokee tribes nationwide,
Speaker 1: the Eastern Band located in western North Carolina, the United
Speaker 1: Kitawa Band in Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation and Telequah, Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: For the most part, though the lives of Native Americans
Speaker 1: and the trail of tears have largely been forgotten, which
Speaker 1: is tragic because the situation is just as dire today,
Speaker 1: from education and employment to other basic human needs. Native
Speaker 1: peoples exist in what is called an asterisk nation, an
Speaker 1: abandoned population of human lives deemed to be invisible. The
Speaker 1: story of those who are forced to walk the trail
Speaker 1: of tears is a difficult one to hear, and I
Speaker 1: want to thank you for taking the time to revisit
Speaker 1: it with me today. A lot of history has the
Speaker 1: power to make us feel uncomfortable, but the solution is
Speaker 1: never to cover it up or avoid it. Shadows might
Speaker 1: be a guarantee given human nature's tendency toward evil, but shadows,
Speaker 1: as we all know, don't do so well when dragged
Speaker 1: out into the light. Sadly, there are plenty more shadows
Speaker 1: where that one came from, and we've pulled together one
Speaker 1: last story to demonstrate that stick around through this brief
Speaker 1: sponsored break, and my teammate Ali Stead will tell tell
Speaker 1: you all about it.
Speaker 2: Hardship was far from over for Native Americans. It was
Speaker 2: a perfect sunny day in late September eighteen seventy one.
Speaker 2: In fact, William Cody and a group of affluent New
Speaker 2: Yorkers standing on top of a grassy mound, rifles at
Speaker 2: the ready, thought the day was perfect for a hunt.
Speaker 2: Cody's reputation as an expert marksman and hunter preceded him.
Speaker 2: Their vantage point on the top of the hill gave
Speaker 2: them an advantage over the grazing bison, which they considered
Speaker 2: no more threatening than furry, lumbering cows. In the distance,
Speaker 2: six bison came into view. Cody knew the wind behind
Speaker 2: them would alert the beasts, but the fact did little
Speaker 2: to worry him. The men had the quickest horses around,
Speaker 2: not to mention the best guns. All were supplied by
Speaker 2: the US Army. While it might seem odd that the
Speaker 2: US Army would front horn, horses and weapons for what
Speaker 2: were essentially rich city slickers looking to shoot bison on
Speaker 2: a trophy hunting expedition, it really wasn't, you see. It
Speaker 2: wasn't about the bison at all. It was about the
Speaker 2: Native Americans whose very lives depended on these animals. Troops
Speaker 2: were told to kill the bison, every last one of them,
Speaker 2: because dead bison were dead Native Americans. At one time,
Speaker 2: tens of millions of the great beasts roamed the land.
Speaker 2: Standing at nearly six feet at the shoulder and weighing
Speaker 2: up to two thousand, four hundred pounds, Bison were made
Speaker 2: for survival. They can run at speeds of up to
Speaker 2: thirty five miles an hour. They protect their young, and
Speaker 2: during winters, their broad shoulders and strong necks can easily
Speaker 2: push snow aside to forage for food. And for the record,
Speaker 2: it is bison, not buffalo. Buffalo never roamed to the
Speaker 2: American West. Bison and buffalo are members of the same
Speaker 2: family bow, but they are distinctly different animals. For the Cheyenne, Lakota, Cree,
Speaker 2: and other Native American tribes, bison were everything. They provided food,
Speaker 2: and their hides could be used for shelters. The animals
Speaker 2: were never killed for sport, and Native Americans only hunted
Speaker 2: what they needed. They used every part of the bison.
Speaker 2: To the indigenous people, bison were life givers. When they thrived,
Speaker 2: the indigenous people thrived, and to Generals William T. Sherman
Speaker 2: and Philip Sheridan, that was the problem back East during
Speaker 2: the Civil War, they'd implemented scorched earth. When it came
Speaker 2: to the Native Americans, they intended to take it a
Speaker 2: step further. Gold had brought settlers from the east in
Speaker 2: large numbers. In fact, white settlers now outnumbered the indigenous
Speaker 2: people nearly three to one, and indigenous tribes were obstacles
Speaker 2: in conquering the west, finding gold, and settling on native
Speaker 2: land to farm. During the winter of eighteen sixty eight
Speaker 2: to eighteen sixty nine, Sheridan relentlessly destroyed the Cheyenne people's food, shelter,
Speaker 2: and live stock. He showed no mercy, killing the warriors
Speaker 2: and leaving the women and children to the whims of
Speaker 2: his soldiers. During an attack in November of eighteen sixty eight,
Speaker 2: nearly seven hundred men under the command of George Armstrong
Speaker 2: Custer were ordered to kill the men and their horses,
Speaker 2: torched the village, and bring back the women and children.
Speaker 2: During the Washita massacre, troops used women and children as
Speaker 2: human shields, and as terrible as that was, it wasn't
Speaker 2: even the worst part. Custer's men killed many of the
Speaker 2: survivors without a hint of remorse or mercy. The chief
Speaker 2: and his wife tried to flee, and soldiers shot them
Speaker 2: in the back while Custer, Sherman, and Sheridan continued their
Speaker 2: mission of genocide, Cody continued to slaughter the bison. Loads
Speaker 2: of hunters packed into cars heading west for sport hunts.
Speaker 2: Railroads advertised hunting by rail men aimed out the windows
Speaker 2: and shot the bison as the trains passed by the herds.
Speaker 2: Trains moved onwards, leaving dead or fatally injured bison to
Speaker 2: rot on the prairies, and the men on board they
Speaker 2: congratulated each other on the annihilation, perhaps of both the
Speaker 2: bison and the Native Americans. Hunter Orlando Brown boasted he'd
Speaker 2: brought down six thousand of the bison himself. Thankfully, the
Speaker 2: Texas legislature stepped in to protect the bison from extinction,
Speaker 2: though Sheridan opposed protective legislation, stating his men had done
Speaker 2: more to settle the vexed Indian question and had been
Speaker 2: instrumental in destroying Native Americans' commissary. Hunters continued their attempts
Speaker 2: to completely exterminate the American bison, photographing themselves on a
Speaker 2: mountain of bison's skulls. Bison numbers dwindled to three hundred
Speaker 2: or maybe a thousand at the most, and Native Americans
Speaker 2: were forced into treaties that were unfavorable and onto reservations.
Speaker 2: With the establishment of Yellowstone Park in eighteen seventy two,
Speaker 2: the park set out to protect the land and the
Speaker 2: animals living there. Today, through those protections, bison numbers have
Speaker 2: reached nearly two hundred thousand, and in twenty sixteen, the
Speaker 2: bison joined the bald Eagle as a national symbol. There's
Speaker 2: still work to be done to prepare what was nearly destroyed.
Speaker 1: Grim and Maud Presents the wild West was executive produced
Speaker 1: by me Aaron Manky and hosted by Aaron Mankey and
Speaker 1: Alexandra Steed. Writing for this season was provided by Michelle Mudo,
Speaker 1: with research by Alexandra Steed, Sam Alberty, Cassandra de Alba,
Speaker 1: and Harry Marx. Fact Checking was performed by Jamie Vargas,
Speaker 1: with sensitivity reading by Stacy Parshal Jensen. Production assistance was
Speaker 1: provided by Josh Thain, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
Speaker 1: To learn more about this and other shows from Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild and iHeartRadio, visit Grimandmild dot com.