In the 1830s, the U.S. Congress began developing Indian policy with the primary goal of eliminating all Native Indian tribes from any organized "state." The plan was to allow the Indians to settle west in "Indian Country" and never be disturbed again. However, the country's population continued to grow, the Civil War ended, freed slaves and those exhausted by the war began to demand new opportunities. The government felt that if America wanted to prosper economically, it needed to encourage the settlement of the West. The West promised vast resources, in timber, gold and farmland. As people began to migrate west, they began to encroach on Indian lands. As Indians were driven from their lands and emigrants depleted their resources, many tribes began to rebel and resort to violence. The Cheyennes are a Great Plains tribe that settled in Minnesota, then migrated to the Dakotas, and then spread into Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana. The Cheyenne people were once a sedentary people but converted to a nomadic lifestyle on the plains. Like many Plains Indians, their ...