Post Civil War America

The period of time following the Civil War to 1900 brought major changes in the West and the South. Within the West, events such as: the buffalo slaughter, cattle kingdom, railroad expansion, cheap land, different types of agriculture, mining, and Indian treatment were significant in shaping the way the West was growing. At the same time, the South was changing, and the rise of the “New South” was occurring. During the rise, many changes took place and the treatment of whites and blacks had also changed.

During this post Civil War time period, the West was experiencing severe buffalo slaughter on the Great Plains. Prior, Indians had lived on the Great Plains and relied on the vast amount of buffalo there to survive. They didn’t waste a single piece of the buffalo, finding a use for each piece. But, the whites (Americans) started migrating past the App. Mountains and the Mississippi river toward the Great Plains. The whites saw all the buffalo as money makers, and they started hunting them to sell off various parts of their bodies. They also hunted the buffalo just for the fun, supposedly shooting at them as they passed through the Plains in railroad cars traveling from East to West. This caused a great decline in the buffalo population hindering the Indians greatly because of their dependence on the animals. The Indians were then forced to move off the Great Plains and find other places with the resources they needed to survive and continue on. This slaughter helped Americans migrate and settle further West of the App. mountains and the Mississippi river.

Due to the help of the buffalo slaughter, Americans rapidly started moving West onto the Plains. Then, many of the migrated Americans took part in the cattle industry which later became known as the “Cattle Kingdom”. In this industry, many profited. They were able to gather cattle, send them off to be package, then finally they were sent off to be sold East and West. During the cattle kingdom, cowboys...