GO rD hIllDuring the War, many First Nations attempted to remain “neutral”
in the South, although some promises by the Confederacy for land stimu-
lated some First Nations to side with the South. But “neutrality” is not the
same as passive; Native peoples continued their own resistance to coloni-
zation. From 1861–63 the Apaches led by Cochise and Mangas Colorado
fought occupation forces, a resistance that would continue until 1886 when
Geronimo was captured. The Santee also engaged the U.S. military from
1862–63 led by Little Crow. In 1863–64, this war would shift to North Da-
kota under the Teton. In 1863, the Western Shoshone fought settlers and
attacked military patrols and supply routes in Utah and Idaho. That same
year, the Navajo rebelled in New Mexico and Arizona.
With the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, set-
tlement of the West increased rapidly. The militarization from the Civil
War, and the ability to supply and facilitate large-scale military opera-
tions, opened up the final period in the “Indian Wars”. In the post-Civil
War period, the genocidal process of colonization was to enter a new
phase, even at the price of thousands of U.S. troops dead and wound-
ed, and each dead Indian coming at the price of $1 million. By 1885,
the last great herd of buffalo would be slaughtered by Euro-American
hunters—this also forming a part of the counter-insurgency strategy of
depriving the Plains Indians of their primary food source. Five years
later, 350 Lakotas would be massacred at Chankpe Opi Wakpala, the
creek called Wounded Knee.