Van Dorn’s army confronts Union troops in
northwest Arkansas at the Battle of Pea Ridge, the
only Civil War battle in which a large number of
Indian soldiers will fight. They and their Confeder-
ate allies are forced to retreat when they run out of
ammunition. Despite the defeat, Cherokee leader
Stand Watie (see entries for OCTOBER 1861 and
SUMMER 1862) distinguishes himself in the battle.
He will later become the only Indian to rise to the
rank of general in the Confederate army (see entry
for JUNE 23, 1865).
May 20
Congress passes the Homestead Act.
The Homestead Act allows U.S. citizens to apply
for title to 160 acres of land in present-day Kan-
sas and Nebraska. Aside from a $10 registration
fee, the land is free to homesteaders who agree
to make certain improvements and live on their
tract for five years. Over the next 18 years, the
act will grant more than 100,000 whites title to
land formerly held by Indians. It will also influ-
ence the allotment of Indian land (see entry for
FEBRUARY 8, 1887), by establishing 160 acres
as a suitable amount of land for individual
homesteads.
Summer
Union troops invade the Cherokee
capital.
Federal soldiers, bolstered by pro-Union Indians,
march south from Kansas into northeastern Indian
Territory. When they reach the Cherokee capi-
tal of Tahelquah, they arrest Principal Chief John
Ross, who hesitantly agreed to sign a treaty of al-
legiance with the Confederacy in order to avert a
civil war within his tribe (see entry for OCTOBER
1861). Ross is sent first to Fort Leavenworth in
Kansas, then to Philadelphia, where he declares a
pro-Union stance. During his exile in the East, his
political rival Stand Watie will be elected the new
principal chief.
July 1The Pacific Railroad Act is passed.
The Pacific Railroad Act gives 174 million acres of
public land to transcontinental railroad companies.
Aside from making these companies the largest
landowners in the West, these land grants will allow
construction of nine major rail routes through the
region. These railroads will threaten Indian societies
by bringing a flood of whites into their territory and
disrupting the buffalo herds on which the Plains In-
dians rely for their survival.July 15Apache warriors attack U.S. troops at
Apache Pass.
In late 1861, troops led by Brigadier General James
H. Carleton were sent into the Southwest to guard
the southern route to California from Indian raiding
parties. To drive off the intruders, Mimbreno Apaches
led by Mangas Coloradas and Chiricahua Apaches
led by Cochise stage a surprise attack on an advance
party at Apache Pass, an abandoned mail station in
southern Arizona. Armed with howitzers and rifles,
the soldiers successfully defend themselves. Before the
Apaches’ retreat, Mangas Coloradas suffers a serious,
but not fatal, bullet wound in the chest.August 18 to September 23The Dakota Sioux wage war on white
settlers.
Pressured by whites moving onto their land, the
Dakota Sioux of Minnesota agreed to settle on a
reservation (see entry for MARCH 8 TO 9, 1857).
The U.S. government, however, has not honored
its promise to protect their lands from further en-
croachment. Adding to the Dakota’s desperation, it
also refuses to give them the rations guaranteed to
them by the treaty.
As the Dakota face starvation, four warriors
murder five white settlers. Although earlier an
advocate of making peace with the government,
Dakota leader Little Crow decides to escalate the