How the West Was Lost

This is the story of Geronimo and Victorio, two Apache leaders who repeatedly struck out against, and were victorious over, the white men who tried to oppress their people and force them to live on a hot, barren, malarial flat on the Gila River in Arizona, called the San Carlos Reservation. For years, US and Mexican troops attacked Victorio and Geronimo and eventually won their surrender only to find that the two had escaped once again from the reservation and had resumed the battle. In 1886, with Victorio now dead, Geronimo formally surrendered to General Nelson Miles. In this episode viewers will meet direct descendants of Geronimo and Victorio and other Apache.

No Native American tribes suffered more than the Cheyenne and the Arapaho when Union soldiers from the Civil War spilled over into the West and attacked these groups and others. In 1861 the Cheyenne and Arapaho accepted, in exchange for the vast land they once occupied, a small reservation in Southeastern Colorado, the Sand Creek Reserve. There were few buffalo on the reservation and without them, the Indians could not survive. A series of battles broke out, with Black Kettle leading his Cheyenne against the ambitious Col. John Chivington, his rival and enemy. This episode visits Sand Creek and other battlefields from the conflict and talks to ancestors of the warriors.

The 1865 Montana gold rush pitted white prospectors against Lakotas of the Great Sioux Nation, and Northern Cheyenne, whose hunting ground had to be crossed to get to the gold. The white treasure hunters blazed the Boseman Trail through sacred Lakota ground. For the next two years, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and the Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife fought anyone who tried to use the Boseman Trail. In 1868 peace was reached. In 1874, more gold in South Dakota started the battles again. This time General Custer was involved and met his fate at the Battle of Little Bighorn. This episode explores the greatest Indian triumph in American history.

This episode tells the story of the final battles for Indian land - the battle at Wounded Knee. Within a year of the Indian's triumph over General Custer at Little Big Horn, most of Custer's defeaters had surrendered to reservations. The white government continued to impose restrictions on the remaining Native Americans, giving them less hospitable land. Out of their need for spiritual uplifting, the Indians developed the Ghost Dance to ward off whites. The government banned the dance and murdered Sitting Bull. When the smoke cleared, Big Foot and 350 followers were also dead. The rest were taken to reservations where they remained, spirits broken.