American Indian Wars Timeline

The Tuscarora War began when the Tuscarora attacked colonial settlements in North Carolina after years of encroachment and mistreatment. Colonial forces with allied Native tribes defeated the Tuscarora, many of whom migrated north to join the Iroquois Confederacy as its sixth nation.

Image source: Tuscarora War

The Yamasee War erupted when the Yamasee and other tribes, angered by trade abuses and land loss, attacked South Carolina colonists. The conflict nearly destroyed the colony but ended with a colonial victory that shifted the balance of power toward the British in the Southeast.

Also known as Father Rale's War, this conflict saw Wabanaki Confederacy tribes, supported by New France, battle British settlers along the Maine frontier. The war ended with a treaty confirming British control over much of present-day Maine.

Image source: Dummer's War

Virginia militia under Lord Dunmore clashed with the Shawnee and Mingo over lands south of the Ohio River. The decisive Battle of Point Pleasant forced the Shawnee to cede hunting grounds in Kentucky, intensifying tensions on the frontier.

Image source: Lord Dunmore's War

During and after the American Revolution, the Cherokee, divided between pro-British and pro-American factions, fought frontier settlers across the Southeast. American punitive expeditions devastated Cherokee towns, forcing major land cessions by the mid-1790s.

Image source: Cherokee–American wars

A confederation of Great Lakes tribes under Little Turtle and Blue Jacket defeated two American armies before being crushed by General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The resulting Treaty of Greenville ceded most of present-day Ohio to the United States.

Image source: Northwest Indian War

Governor William Henry Harrison led U.S. forces against Prophetstown, the village of Shawnee leader Tenskwatawa (the Prophet) and his brother Tecumseh. Though tactically inconclusive, the battle weakened Tecumseh's confederacy ahead of the War of 1812.

Image source: Battle of Tippecanoe

Red Stick Creek warriors, influenced by Tecumseh's movement, attacked Fort Mims and battled American forces and rival Creeks. Andrew Jackson's decisive victory at Horseshoe Bend forced the Creek to cede vast territories in Alabama and Georgia.

Image source: Creek War

General Andrew Jackson led U.S. troops into Spanish Florida against Seminole raiders and escaped slaves harbored there. Jackson seized Pensacola and executed two British subjects, pressuring Spain to cede Florida to the United States in 1819.

Image source: Seminole Wars

Sauk leader Black Hawk led a band of followers back into Illinois to reclaim ancestral lands, prompting panic among settlers. Militia and regular army forces pursued and defeated them at the Battle of Bad Axe, ending armed Native resistance east of the Mississippi.

Image source: Black Hawk War

Triggered by Seminole resistance to removal under the Treaty of Payne's Landing, this was the longest and costliest of the Seminole Wars. Led by Osceola, who died in captivity after capture under a flag of truce, the Seminoles waged guerrilla warfare until most were forced west; some remained in Florida.

Image source: Second Seminole War

Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the U.S. Army forcibly removed approximately 16,000 Cherokee from their homelands in the Southeast, marching them to Indian Territory. Thousands died from disease, exposure, and starvation along the route.

Image source: Trail of Tears

Often called the first western Plains Indian war, this conflict arose when Arikara warriors attacked fur traders on the upper Missouri River. Colonel Henry Leavenworth led a punitive expedition with Sioux allies against the Arikara villages, marking the first U.S. Army campaign against Plains tribes.

Image source: Arikara War

Colorado militia under Colonel John Chivington attacked a peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho village at Sand Creek, killing roughly 150 people, mostly women, children, and elders. The massacre ignited years of warfare across the Plains and shocked the nation.

Image source: Sand Creek massacre

Lakota chief Red Cloud led a successful campaign against U.S. forts along the Bozeman Trail in Wyoming and Montana. The Fetterman Fight of 1866 wiped out an entire U.S. detachment, and Red Cloud's victory forced the United States to abandon the forts and sign the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868.

Image source: Red Cloud's War

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer led the 7th Cavalry in a dawn attack on Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne village on the Washita River in Indian Territory. The attack killed Black Kettle and dozens of others, part of the winter campaign against the Plains tribes.

Image source: Battle of the Washita River

Sparked by gold seekers invading the Black Hills, the Great Sioux War pitted the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne against the U.S. Army. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse won stunning victories at Rosebud and Little Bighorn before relentless campaigns forced the tribes onto reservations.

Image source: Great Sioux War of 1876

Lt. Col. George Custer's 7th Cavalry attacked a massive gathering of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho along the Little Bighorn River. Custer and more than 260 of his men were killed in one of the worst defeats the U.S. Army suffered in the Indian Wars.

Image source: Battle of the Little Bighorn

U.S. soldiers of the 7th Cavalry opened fire on Lakota Ghost Dancers near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, killing around 250 men, women, and children. The massacre, following Sitting Bull's death, is widely regarded as the last major engagement of the American Indian Wars.

Image source: Wounded Knee Massacre