American
West: A comprehensive encyclopedia of the American West. So far
there are sections on Biographies: American (198 entries), Biographies:
Native Americans (18), Events and Issues (64), Trails and Places (10),
Native American Tribes (26), Forts, Towns and Cities (28), Guns, Clothes
and Equipment (20), Animals and Wild Life (20). Most entries contain
a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The text within each
entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia.
In this way it is possible to research individual people and events
in great detail.
Native
American Tribes: Excellent website on Native American tribes.
Each entry includes sections on the origin of the tribal name, language,
history, culture and landmarks. Tribes covered include Apache, Caddo,
Cherokee, Cheyenne-Arapaho, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Comanche, Creek, Delaware,
Kickapoo, Kiowa, Miami, Modoc, Osage, Otoe-Missouri, Ottawa, Pawnee,
Peoria, Ponca, Quapaw, Seminole, Seneca-Cayuga, Shawnee, Tonkawa,
Wichita, Wyandotte and Yuchi.
The
American West: In the 19th century Americans were fascinated with
the stories which Harper's Weekly brought to life with articles and
illustrations. The editorials and commentary describe a life which
many readers could barely imagine. This website preserves a unique
documentation of life west of the Mississippi. The website includes
articles on the Frontier, Buffalo, Farming & Agriculture, Wagon
Trains, Gold, Railroads, Life on the Plains and Indians.
The
American West: Primary sources (memoirs, journals, letters and
photos) and lesson plans on the American West. These materials are
designed for middle and high school students, although extension suggestions
may help you modify them for younger students. Each lesson plan provides
objectives, standards correlations, background information, web links,
procedures, extension suggestions, and assessment recommendations.
Lessons include: The Transcontinental Railroad, Mark Twain and the
American West, African-Americans in the American West, Images of the
West, Making Myths: The West in Public and Private Writings, Water
Use: Tragedy in the Owens River Valley, Infectious Disease and Natural
Disasters.
Gold
Fever: The 1890s in America were desperate times. Economic depression
caused bank and business failures and forced millions of men and women
from their jobs. When gold was discovered in the frozen unsettled
territory between Canada and Alaska, 100,000 people made the treacherous
journey in search of riches. This website, based on the television
documentary of the same name, tells the personal stories of a handful
of city dwellers who, in January 1898, traveled to the Klondike determined
to strike gold.
North
American Indian History: This site lists thousands of historical
events (on a day-by-day basis) which happened to or affected the indigenous
peoples of North America. It also has Tribal name meanings and alternative
tribal names, Indian "moon" names (calendar information),
almost 1,000 photos of ancient ruins, and links to over 8,000 other
related sites.
Native
North Americans: In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in what
Europeans called the 'New World'. Columbus 'found' a land with around
two million inhabitants. He thought he had found a new route to the
East, so he mistakenly called these people 'Indians'. These people,
correctly known as Native North Americans, must have been shocked
at the arrival of Columbus. Within a hundred years, Europeans were
trying to settle in America. This website examines what happened between
these early European settlers and the Native Americans. Using primary
source evidence students can investigate what the early contact was
like.
Navajo
Code Talkers: Early
in 1942 Philip Johnson, met Major
General Clayton B. Vogel, the commanding general of Amphibious Corps,
Pacific Fleet, and suggested
that the U.S.
Marines used
the Navajo language as a secret code. Johnson,
who had grown up on an Navajo Reservation, argued that because
it of its complex syntax, tonal qualities and dialect, the Japanese
cryptographers would find it impossible to decipher. He also pointed
out that Navajo was not a written language and less than 30
non-Navajos understood
it. Vogel
was convinced by Johnson's arguments and it was decided to establish
a Navajo code programme at Camp Pendleton at Oceanside, California.
Over
the next three years over 400 Navajos agents were trained to use the
code and around 300 saw action in the field. Speaking Navajo and using
an additional code within that, they were able to convey information
and orders among Marine units and Navy warships and aircraft. This
website provides an overview of the subject plus links to other related
resources including a
Navajo Code Talker Lesson, a Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary, a Navajo
Code Cipher Simulation and the Windtalkers film.
History
of the Cherokee: This outstanding website has been created by
Ken Martin, a Cherokee of mixed-blood and a tribal member of the Cherokee
Nation of Oklahoma. There are sections on: Before the Europeans (In
the Beginning, The Legend of the Keetoowahs, A View of Traditional
Cherokee Law); First Contacts with Europeans (Fire in the Mountains,
First European Contact, Initial Contacts with English Colonists, 1700
through the Revolutionary War); The New United States (The Chickamauga,
The Arkansas Cherokee, Pictures of Our Nobler Selves) The Removal
(The Trail of Tears); Between Two Fires (From Neutrality to the Alliance
with the Confederate States of America, Physical Appearance, Medical
Personnel for Cherokee Troops, The Thomas Legion of North Carolina).
Donner
Party Online: The Donner Party wagon train of some twenty vehicles
and about 100 men, women and children, left Independence, Missouri
in April 1846. Badly organized, with overloaded wagons and a late
start, they struggled over the Oregon Trial to Fort Bridger, where
they decided to take the little-known Hastings Cutoff route. The party
was caught by early snowfalls in the Sierra Nevada mountains and forced
to camp at Truckee Lake. By the time the ordeal was finally over more
than half the Donner Party had perished. Tom March's excellent website
provides some good ideas of how to use the Internet to study this
dramatic subject in the classroom.
Eyewitnesses
to History: The Old West: This website, produced by Ibis Communications,
provides what it calls a "ringside seat to history" by publishing
eyewitness accounts of past events. The Old West section includes
Buffalo Hunt (1846), Crossing the Plains (1865), Battle with the Apache
(1872), Custer's Last Stand (1876), Death of Billy the Kid (1881),
A Cowboy in Dodge City (1882), Massacre at Wounded Knee (1890), Dalton
Gang's Last Raid (1892) and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1899).
Native
American Rhymes: The main motivation behind this website is to
promote a series of books about Native Americans by Sam Rhodes. However
the website also includes sections on Native American Regions and
the Great Chiefs. Native American Fun is a collection of games, crossword
and word search puzzles that can be used in the classroom.
Billy
the Kid: Legend says that Billy the Kid killed twenty-one men
in his twenty-one years of life. That is probably an exaggeration
but he was sentenced to death for killing Sheriff Brady. Before the
planned execution on 15th July 1881, Billy escaped by shooting dead
the two deputies guarding him. Despite his violent record Billy was
said to be a likeable youth. This website provides the testimony of
15 people who knew Billy the Kid.
Gunfight
at the OK Corral: On 26th October, 1881, Marshal Virgil Earp and
his brothers Wyatt and Morgan, joined by Doc Holliday, exchanged gunfire
with four local cowboys. The gunfight lasted about thirty seconds
and when the shooting finished Billy
Clanton, Tom McLaury
and
Frank McLaury were dead and Virgil and Morgan Earp were seriously
wounded. This website looks at the background of these events in Tombstone,
Arizona and explores the consequences for all the main figures involved
in the most notorious
shoot-out in the history of the West.
Old
Wild West: This ever-growing site features stories of the Old
West gleaned from Abilene Reporter-News archives, the Grady McWhiney
Research Foundation resources and other historical documents. The
website includes material on the Alamo, Sam Houston, Yellow Rose of
Texas, Fort Phantom Hill, Dale Evans and the Texas Rangers. The Legends
section includes articles on Billy the Kid, Pancho Villa and Davy
Crockett.
First
Nations Histories: Brief descriptions of different Native American
groups. This includes the following: Abenaki, Acolapissa, Algonkin,
Bayougoula, Beothuk, Catawba, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Chitimacha, Comanche,
Delaware, Houma, Huron, Illinois, Iroquois, Kickapoo, Mahican, Mascouten,
Massachusett, Mattabesic, Menominee, Metoac, Miami, Micmac, Mohegan,
Montagnais, Narragansett, Nauset, Neutrals, Niantic, Nipissing, Nipmuc,
Ojibwe, Ottawa, Pennacook, Pequot, Pocumtuc, Potawatomi, Sauk and
Fox, Shawnee, Susquehannock, Tionontati, Tsalagi, Wampanoag, Wappinger
and Winnebago.
Mountain
Men and the Fur Trade: The primary purpose this website is to
provide a virtual research center for Western Fur Trade History. The
emphasis is on the Mountain Men in the United States Rocky Mountain
region in the period from 1800-50. The first priority has been to
provide an e-text collection of the most important historical source
materials available. This includes the writings of William Ashley,
Thomas Beall, William Becknell, Henry Brackenridge, George Catlin,
James Clyman, Anthony Dudgeon, Warren Ferris, Washington Irving, Zenas
Leonard, Stephen Meek, Robert Newell, Peter Ogden, Daniel Potts, Eliza
Spalding and Nathaniel Wyeth.
Wild
Bill Hickok: By the 1860s Wild Bill Hickok had developed a reputation
as a cold-blooded killer. Apparently, he became concerned that these
stories would get back to his mother in Illinois. He therefore persuaded
a journalist, George Ward Nichols, to write an article about him.
The article appeared in the February, 1867, edition of Harper's New
Monthly Magazine. Newspapers such as the Leavenworth Daily Conservative,
Kansas Daily Commonwealth, Springfield Patriot and the Atchison Daily
Champion quickly pointed out that the article was full of inaccuracies
and that Hickok was lying when he claimed he had killed "hundreds
of men". This website includes extracts from these articles and
might make a good case-study on the creation of a myth in history.
NativeWeb
is an international, nonprofit, educational organization dedicated
to using telecommunications including computer technology and the
Internet to disseminate information from and about indigenous nations,
peoples, and organizations around the world; to foster communication
between native and non-native peoples; to conduct research involving
indigenous peoples' usage of technology and the Internet; and to provide
resources, mentoring, and services to facilitate indigenous peoples'
use of this technology. NativeWeb is concerned with indigenous literature
and art, legal and economic issues, land claims and new ventures in
self-determination.
Kansas
Gunfighters: This website is concerned with gunfighters who operated
in Kansas during the second-half of the 19th century. This includes
short biographies of Sam Bass, William Bonney (Billy the Kid), William
"Billy" L. Brooks, Henry Brown, Henderson Brumley, William
F. Cody, the Dalton Gang, William "Bill" M. Doolin, Wyatt
Earp, Pat Garrett, John Wesley Hardin, Wild Bill Hickok, John "Doc"
Holliday, Tom Horn, the Jesse James Gang, Bat Masterson, George Newcomb,
Jim Riley, Luke Short, Ben Thompson, Henry Clay White and the Younger
Gang.
Trail
of Tears: The Cherokees originally occupied vast areas of what
are now the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee,
Georgia and Alabama. In 1835 a minority of the Cherokee tribe, ceded
all their traditional lands to the United States and provided land
for them in what became known as the Indian Territory. The majority
of Cherokees opposed this policy but were forced to make the trek
West by General Winfield Scott and his soldiers. This website tells
the story of what happened to the 15,000 Cherokees who took this 800
mile journey in the winter of 1838.
Oregon
Trail Archive: The Trail archive is our growing collection of
full-text period documents. This includes Diaries (firsthand
accounts of the Trail experience written during the journey); Memoirs
(firsthand accounts of the Oregon Trail journey written many years
after the fact) and Period Books (full-text of books written during
the overland period). Most of the books included were guides designed
to help future travelers.
The
Oregon Trail: Francis
Parkman is one of America's most important historians. Parkman suffered
from poor health and gradually lost his sight. It is said that he
was only able to write for a few minutes at a time. Parkman once wrote:
"Faithfulness to the truth of history involves far more than
a research, however patient and scrupulous, into special facts. The
narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the
time." This is reflected in his work and this website provides
you with the full text of the book The Oregon Trial (1849).
Museum
of Sutter's Fort: In
1841 John Sutter purchasing 49,000 acres in California. This site
dominated three important routes: the inland waterways from San Francisco,
the trail to California across the Sierra Nevada and the Oregon-California
road. Sutter now decided to build a frontier trading post. Completed
in 1843 Sutter Fort had adobe walls eighteen feet high. The fort had
shops, houses, mills and warehouses. This
Virtual Museum of Sutter's Fort was developed for the Schools of California
Online Resources for Educators (SCORE) Project, funded by the California
Technology Assistance Program (CTAP). This virtual museum is to acquaint
students with John Sutter and his fort and the part both played in
history.
The
Indian Project has been written by Susan Liening and Judy Schurman
for Germantown Elementary Third Grade Social Studies. The website
has sections on Native Americans, the Northwest Culture, the Five
Cultures, the California-Intermountain Culture, Indian Shelters, the
Plains Culture, Indian Legends, the Southwest Culture and the Woodlands
Culture.
Woman
Spirit: Julia C. White was born in North Carolina of Cherokee/Sioux
heritage and is a contributing writer for the international magazine,
Connecting Link, with a column of historical information on Native
American Nations. On her website she has produced a series of biographies
of Native American women. This includes Hanging Cloud (Ojibwa), Dahteste
(Mescalero Apache), Nancy Ward (Cherokee); Juana Maria (Chumash),
Coosaponakeesa (Creek), Kateri Tekakwitha (Mohawk), Tocmetone (Paiute),
Sacajawea (Shoshoni), Pocahontas (Powhatan), Susan La Flesche (Omaha)
and Kaitchkona Winema (Modoc).
American
Art: This website provides details of artists working in America
between 1750 and 1865. This includes Karl Bodmer, Gilbert Stuart,
George Catlin, Thomas Cole, Fitz Hugh Lane, William Sydney Mount,
John Trumbull, John Vanderlyn, John Faed, George Inness, Thomas Sully,
George Caleb Bingham, John Frederick Kensett, John James Audubon,
Samuel Finley Breese Morse, Asher Brown Durand, Charles Willson Peale,
Raphael Peale and Rembrandt Peale.
American
West Text Archive: The History Text Archive publishes high quality
articles, books, essays, documents, historical photos, and links,
screened for content, for a broad range of historical subjects. This
site is dynamic with regular additions to its contents and its link
collection. The site is divided into three sections: articles, e-books,
and links. The article section contains the articles, documents, essays,
and photographs. This section deals with the American West.
Native
American Chiefs: This website produced by Marie Thiers in Sweden
includes photographs and articles about Native American Chiefs. People
covered include Chief Joseph (Nez Percé), Sitting Bull (Hunkpapa
Sioux), Quanah Parker (Kwahadi Comanche), Kicking Bear (Minniconjou
Sioux), Red Cloud (Lakota), American Horse (Oglala Sioux), Spotted
Tail (Brulé Sioux) and Turning Bear (Brulé Sioux).
Texas
Online: The Handbook of Texas Online is a joint project of The
General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas
State Historical Association. The online Handbook offers a full-text
searchable version of the complete text of the six-volume print edition,
all corrections incorporated in the second printing, and approximately
400 articles not included in the print edition due to space limitations.
Subsequent developments will include additional corrections and updates,
new articles, illustrations, and audio-video media.
Texas
Rangers: When Stephen Austin was colonizing the Spanish province
of Texas with Anglo-Americans, he hired a band of horsemen to range
over the country to scout the movements of hostile Native Americans.
In 1835 this band of men became known as the Texas Rangers. They wore
no uniform, never drilled or saluted their officers, and accepted
a leader only if he proved the best during combat. This website provides
a detailed history of the Texas Rangers.
Henry
Flipper: The
son of slaves from Georgia, Henry Flipper became the first African
American to enter Went Point. In June, 1877, Flipper became the first
black officer in the United States army. He fought with distinction
in the Indian Wars but when Colonel William Rufus Shafter became commanding
officer of Fort Davis in 1881, he was immediately sacked Flipper as
quartermaster. Flipper suspected what he later called a systematic
plan of persecution, and is said to have been warned by civilians
at the post of a plot by white officers to force him from the army.
Soon afterwards he was accused
of embezzling $3,791.77 from commissary funds. A court-martial found
him not guilty of embezzlement but convicted him of conduct unbecoming
an officer and ordered him dismissed from the Army. In December 1976,
nearly 40 years after his death, he was granted a posthumous honorable
discharge. A few months later he was given a full military funeral
at Thomasville, Georgia. This website provides a copy of his autobiography.
Buffalo
Soldiers: During the Indian Wars the United States army established
the 9th and 10th Cavalry. These were two Afro-American regiments led
by white officers. Highly respected by the Native Americans these
men were called Buffalo Soldiers because their short curly hair resembled
that of the buffalo. They played an active role in the Indian Wars
and took part in campaigns against the Sioux,
Comanche and
Apache. Eleven of these soldiers received the Medal of Honor. This
comprehensive website provides detailed information about the Buffalo
Soldiers.
Battle
of Little Bighorn: On 8th July, 1876 the
New York Times reported: "The facts as now understood dispose
most people here to lay blame for the slaughter upon General Custer's
imprudence and probably disobedience of orders. But criticism is kindly
and charitable in tone, as it would not be had he not fallen with
his command in the thickest of the battle." Later that year the
popular novelist, Frederick Whittaker published his Life of General
George A. Custer. In an attempt to portray Custer as a hero Whittaker
invented interviews with so-called survivors of the battle. This website
looks at the evidence to discover what really happened at the Battle
of Little Bighorn.
Images
of Custer: "All history is contemporary. One of the most
famous moments in American history, Custer’s Last Stand, provides
compelling evidence for this idea. From the moment the battle ended
at the Little Big Horn, historians and poets began to retell the story
for their own purposes. It is fascinating to see how the images of
Custer and his Last Stand have radically changed in the last century,
not because of any new historical information, but because of the
contradictory needs of our national psyche. At first, Custer’s
Last Stand represented the struggle of Western civilization over savagery.
After the Depression, writers portrayed Custer as a rampant egomaniac.
During World War II, the Last Stand was an example of courage and
self-sacrifice. Since the 1960’s the Last Stand has been seen
as just retribution for America’s crimes against Native Americans."
So says the author of this fascinating website that began life as
a research paper for the history class at the Head-Royce School.
West
Point: In March 2002, the United States Military Academy at West
Point, New York, celebrated 200 years of producing leaders for the
United States Army - and also for American science, education, engineering,
exploration, public works, business, manufacturing, communications,
and transportation. This online bicentennial exhibition looks at the
lives of selected West Point graduates, some famous, others less well
known. All attended the Academy between 1802 and 1918. The stories
of the officers and their families blend into the US Army’s major
functions of 19th and early 20th century America: building the nation’s
infrastructure of roads, bridges, canals, and railroads; exploring
its territories from the Mississippi to the Pacific; and fighting
its wars - the role of the West Pointers in engineering, exploration,
and war.
Utah´s
American Indians: For the most part, the histories of Utah's American
Indian tribes have not been considered a viable and integral part
of the history of the state of Utah. They have been treated as addenda
or commentary rather than official textbook documentary. This website
quotes Will Numkena, "Non-Indian authors have traditionally been
the writers of Indian history. Therefore, it is their perceptions,
understandings and views reflected in those writings. The reader is
given a one-sided perspective without presentation of the Indian experience."
In other words, until this time, Indian history has been written by
the conqueror, with little or no regard for those conquered. This
website attempts to redress the balance.
Diary
of William Becknell: In 1821 Becknell and four other men travelled
to Santa Fe with a large number of pack animals carrying cotton. The
trip was a great financial success as he was able to sell the cotton
at $3 a yard. The following year he headed a large wagon train carrying
$5,000 in merchandise. The party, including 30 drivers, left Missouri
on 4th August, 1822. Becknell
followed a new route that later became known as the Sante Fe Trail.
He
followed the Arkansas River until reaching Fort Dodge. After crossing
the Cimarron he headed for Sante Fe which the party reached on 16th
November, 1822. William Becknell kept a diary of these adventures
and these have now been put on the web.
Donner
Party: In
the years between 1840 and 1848 an estimated 2,735 people migrated
overland from Missouri to California. With good weather the 2,000
mile journey would take about five months. It has been estimated that
in 1846 around 250 wagons and 1,500 people assembled at Independence,
Missouri.
This was also the year of
the Donner Party, the worst disaster in wagon train history, when
forty-two emigrants and two Indian guides died on the journey. This
website uses the letters, diaries and memoirs of the people who took
part in this journey to tell this dramatic story of heroism, murder
and cannibalism.
America's
Western Frontier: Bennie J. McRae, the creator of this website,
quotes Art T. Burton, author of Black, Red and Deadly: "Regrettably,
many of the accomplishments and sagas of African Americans, Native
Americans, Mexican Americans and Asian Americans have never been told
in book form. There is a need for the total history of the American
West to be told so there will be a more complete picture. Members
of these groups played a crucial role in the development of our nation,
and the West is no exception". This website attempts to redress
the balance and provides a large number of links to resources on this
subject.
African-Americans
and the Old West: The saga of the Old West is filled with tales
of adventure with pioneers roving the plains seeking the unknown in
the vast territorial lands west of the Mississippi River. Among those
pioneers were identifiable contingents of African Americans who also
roamed the western plains and helped to establish what we know of
as the Old West. History books do trace and document the development
of the United States and its territorial expansion Westward, but very
little covers the inclusive part of African Americans as early pioneer
dwellers of the Old West. Records are now surfacing taken from facts
printed in primary resources, books, state and county documents, including
verbal ancestral accounts of the many places, and faces of the early
black settlers living in towns all across the Old West. This website
provides links to these resources.
The
Wisconsin Pioneer Experience is a digital collection of diaries,
letters, reminiscences, speeches and other writings of people who
settled and built Wisconsin during the 19th century. The project has
been made available through the partnership of the Council of University
of Wisconsin Libraries (CUWL) and the Wisconsin Historical Society
(WHS). Through these documents, students and non-students alike can
learn about life in the early days of Wisconsin from the words of
those who lived it. Whenever both a handwritten original and a typed
transcribed version were available, the project scanned both versions.
The electronic text can be searched and read by switching to the electronic
text version in the page-turning software used to access the document.
No editing was made to the electronic text, therefore the original
should always be consulted before citing the text.
Ghost
Towns: Daniel Ter-Nedden and Carola Schibli are two photographers
from Switzerland. However, they spend a great deal of time travelling
in the United States. Their website contains over 1300 photographs
of 174 ghost towns in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, California, and Arizona.
Each ghost town entry includes photographs, short captions, and a
brief history of the place. The website also provides a brief history
of the Gold Rush. A clickable map allows users to search different
geographical areas for individual ghost towns. You can purchase high-quality
prints of different photographs featured on the site.
Do you
want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so, send
a brief description (about 150 words) and the URL to spartacus@pavilion.co.uk.
