Buffalo were a main component in the lives of Native Americans. They were used for food, their dung for fuel, and their hide for clothing, lariats, and harnesses. After the Civil War, over 15 million still roamed the plains. With the building of the railroads, their numbers soon declined as they were hunted by workers for hides, select cuts of meat, or just for sport (many were killed by rednecks hunting from the train.) By 1885, only a thousand or so buffalo were still alive.
General awareness to the plight of the Native Americans grew in the 1880's. Helen Hunt wrote two books - A Century of Dishonor and Ramona on the treatment of Native Americans that raised awareness and were widely read. Christian reformers sought to bring Christianize the Native Americans but sometimes resorted to extreme measures.
A hard line was taken towards the Native americans when their Sacred Sun Dance was forbidden. When the Ghost Dance cult spread to the Sioux in 1890, the army stamped it out at the Battle of Wounded Knee where 200 Native americans and 29 soldiers were killed.
The Dawes Act of 1887 dissolved many tribes as legal entities, got rid of tribal ownership of land, and set up individual Indian family heads with 160 acres of land. It also promised them citizenship in 25 years if they behaved well. Proceeds gained from the selling of the land taken from the Native Americans was used to educate and civilize the native people. This act showed the hard line taken by the government towards Native americans until 1934 with the Indian Reorganization Act that restored the tribal basis of native life.
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