Area 4: The United States During the Civil War (1850s-1860s)
Question: How did the Civil War fundamentally alter the nation?
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Lesson Plan Developed By
Michael Redman, St. Stephens Indian School, St. Stephens, Wyo.
Grade Level
6-12
Content Area(s)
Social Studies
English
Learning Objective(s)
- Students will gain a fuller understanding of the clashes between Native Americans and Euro-American newcomers to North America, from the early 1600s to the late 1800s.
- Using maps showing Native territories from early times to the present, students will understand how much land natives lost during that time.
- Students will consider larger questions: Were the Indian Wars necessary? Who won? Could they have been avoided? Why or why not?
Standards
Wyoming Social Studies Standards, with 2018 Additions
Click here to see a spreadsheet aligning Wyoming State Social Studies and Common Core Standards for this and other digital toolkits of Wyoming History.
We will update the standards spreadsheet as more lesson plans are developed.
Length
One 90-Minute class period or
two 45-minute class periods
Materials Required
Maps:
- Tribal Nations Map, North America: with pre-European-contact contact names of tribes and locations for them .
- Wyoming Student Atlas: Map of Indigenous Tribes of Wyoming: Tribal territories as defined by 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
- Wyoming Student Atlas: Present Day Native Lands: Present-day reservations in and around Wyoming.
Readings:
- American-Indian Wars, History.com. A brief overview.
- American Indian Wars, Wikipedia. A much more thorough article. Students should read the introductory paragraphs, the introduction to “West of the Mississippi (1811-1924)” and, time permitting, the sections titled “Background,” “Great Basin,” “Great Plains,” “Colorado War, Sand Creek Massacre and the Sioux War of 1865,” and “Black Hills War.”