Timeline of Key Dates in American Indian History 

1824

 Bureau of Indian Affairs established 

1830

The Indian Removal Act is passed

1835

Seminoles reject forced removal to the West, begin 7-year war.
Cherokee agree to removal to the West

1851

The Fort Laramie Treaty gives lands to tribes

1862

Most tribes join Confederacy

1868

The Medicine Lodge Treaty restricts tribes to reservations in Oklahoma.

Colonel George Armstrong Custer attacks Cheyenne village and kills more than 100 men, women, children.

1871

Congress dissolves status of tribes as nations

1872

Apache Chief Cochise agrees to reservation in Arizona

1876

Custer's Last Stand or the Battle of Little Big Horn

1881

Sitting Bull surrenders

1886

Geronimo surrenders

1890

Lakota Chief Big Foot and 350 followers are massacred at Wounded Knee

1924

 Congress grants U.S. citizenship to American Indians