Date

Name

Description

November 6, 1811

Battle of Tippecanoe

The Prophet, brother of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, attacked Governor William Henry Harrison’s force at dawn near the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers in Indiana Territory. After hand-to-hand combat, the natives fled.

August 15, 1812

Fort Dearborn Massacre

American settlers and soldiers are killed in ambush near Fort Dearborn, at the present-day site of Chicago, Illinois.

January 22, 1813

Battle of Frenchtown

Also known as the River Raisin Massacre, it was a severe defeat for the Americans during the War of 1812, when they attempted to retake Detroit.

August 18, 1813

Dilbone Massacre

Three settlers killed in Miami County, Ohio.

August 30, 1813

Fort Mims Massacre

Following defeat at the Battle of Burnt Corn, a band of Red Sticks sack Fort Mims, Alabama, killing 400 civilians and taking 250 scalps. This action precipitates the Creek War.

Sept 19 – Oct 21, 1813

Peoria War

Armed conflict between the U. S. Army and the Potawatomi and the Kickapoo that took place in the Peoria County, Illinois area.

1814 

Creek War

Militiamen under Andrew Jackson broke the power of Creek raiders in Georgia and Alabama after the Creek had  attacked Fort Mims and massacred settlers. They relinquished a vast land tract.

1816-18

First Seminole War

The Seminole, defending runaway slaves and their land in Florida, fought Andrew Jackson’s force. Jackson failed to subdue them, but forced Spain to relinquish the territory.

Spring, 1817

Battle of Claremore Mound

Cherokee Indians wipe out Osage Indians led by Chief Clermont at Claremore Mound, Indian Territory.

April 22, 1818

Chehaw Affair

U.S. troops attack a non-hostile village during the First Seminole War, killing an estimated 10 to 50 men, women and children.

June 2, 1823

Arikara War

Occurring near the Missouri River in present day South Dakota, Arikara warriors attacked a trapping expedition and the U.S. Army retaliated. It was the first  military conflict between the United States and the western Native Americans.

1827

Winnebago War

Also referred as the Le Fèvre Indian War, this armed conflict  took place in Wisconsin between the Winnebago and military forces.  Losses of lives were minimal, but the war was a precedent to the much larger Black Hawk War.

1832

Black Hawk War

Occurring in northern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin, it was the last native conflict in the area. Led by Chief Black Hawk, the Sac and Fox tribes made an unsuccessful attempt to move back to their homeland.

May 20, 1832

Indian Creek Massacre

Potawatomi Indians, kidnap two girls and kill fifteen men, women and children north of Ottawa, Illinois.

August 1, 1832

Battle of Bad Axe

Around 300 Indian men, women and children are killed in Wisconsin by white soldiers.

Spring, 1833

Cutthroat Gap Massacre

Osage Indians wiped out a Kiowa Indian village in Indian Territory.

1835-42

Second Seminole War

Under Chief Osceola, the Seminole resumed fighting for their land in the Florida Everglades. Osceola was captured and they were nearly eliminated.

1836-1875

Comanche Wars

On the southern plains, primarily in the Texas Republic. The U.S. Military instituted official campaigns against the Comanche in 1867

1836

Creek War of 1836

Though most Creeks ad been forced to Indian Territory, those that remained rebelled when the state moved to abolish tribal governments and extend state laws over the Creeks.

May 19, 1836

Fort Parker Massacre

Six men killed by a mixed Indian group in Limestone County, Texas.

1837

Osage Indian War

A number of skirmishes with the Osage Indians in Missouri.

November 10, 1837

Battle of Stone Houses

A Texas Ranger Company pursued a band of raiding Kichai Indians up the Brazos River, where they battled near the present day city of  Windthorst, Texas.

October 5, 1838

Killough Massacre

Indians massacre eighteen members and relatives of the Killough family in Texas.

1839

Cherokee War

This war was a culmination of friction between the Cherokee, Kickapoo, and Shawnee Indians and the white settlers in Northeast Texas.

July, 1839

Battle of the Neches

The principal engagement of the Cherokee War, the battle culminated after the Cherokee refused to leave Texas.

1840

Great Raid of 1840

The largest raid ever mounted by Native Americans on white cities. Following the Council House Fight, Comanche War Chief Buffalo Hump raised a huge war party and raided deep into white-settled areas of Southeast Texas.

March 19, 1840

Council House Fight

A conflict between Republic of Texas officials and a Comanche peace delegation in San Antonio, Texas. When terms could not be agreed on, a conflict erupted resulting in the death of 30 Comanche leaders who had come to San Antonio under a flag of truce.

August 11, 1840

Battle of Plum Creek

The Penateka Comanche were so angry after the Council House Fight, they retaliated in the summer of 1840 by conducting multiple raids in the Guadalupe Valley. The raids culminated in a battle between the Indians and the Texas volunteer army along with the Texas Rangers near the present day city of Lockhart, Texas. For two days they battled and the Comanche were defeated.

November 29, 1847

Whitman Massacre

The murder of missionaries Dr Marcus Whitman, Mrs Narcissa Whitman and twelve others at Walla Walla, Washington by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians, triggering the Cayuse War.

June 17, 1848

Battle of Coon Creek

When a company of about 140 soldiers were on their way to left join the Santa Fe battalion in Chihuahua, Mexico, they were attacked near the present town of Kinsley, Kansas by some 200 Comanche and Apache Indians.

1848–1855

Cayuse War

Occurring in Oregon Territory and Washington Territory, the conflict between the Cayuse and white settlers was caused in part by the influx of disease, and resulting in the Whitman Massacre and the Cayuse War.

1849-63

Navajo Conflicts

Persistent fighting between the Navajo and the U.S. Army in Arizona and New Mexico led to their expulsion and incarceration on an inhospitable reservation far from their homelands.

1850-1851

Mariposa War

Spawned by the flood of miners rushing onto their lands after the California Gold Rush, some tribes fought back including the Paiute and the Yokut.

Spring, 1850

Bloody Island Massacre

The murder of up to 200 Pomo people on an island near Upper Lake, California by Nathaniel Lyon and his U. S. Army detachment, in retaliation for the killing of two Clear Lake settlers who had been abusing and murdering Pomo people.

1851-1853

Utah Indian Wars

Numerous skirmishes throughout Utah which finally lead to the Walker War.

October 21, 1853

Gunnison Massacre

In Millard County, Utah, a band of Ute Indians massacred Captain John W. Gunnison’s Pacific Railroad Survey party of seven men.

1853

Walker War

When the Mormons began to settle on the hunting grounds of the Ute Indians of Utah, they were at first friendly, then fought back.

1854-90

Sioux Wars

As white settlers moved across the Mississippi River into Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming, the Sioux under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse resisted to keep their hunting grounds.

August 17, 1854

Kaibai Creek Massacre

Forty-two Winnemem Wintu men, women and children are killed by white settlers at Kaibai Creek, California.

August 20, 1854

Ward Massacre

Eighteen of the 20 members of the Alexander Ward party were killed by Shoshone Indians while traveling on the Oregon Trail in western Idaho.