American Indian Wars Last Longer?

This is something that I've been pondering for several months and, since I just recently stopped lurking and began to post on this site, I was wondering if I could get some input on this.

How could the wars between the United States and the Native Americans have lasted longer, potentially well into the twentieth century? I'm aware of the small-scale skirmishes that happened up through 1923, but I'm thinking on a larger scale.

I'd also prefer if this could be done without any outside PODs...so no huge wars between the United States and a foreign power, and no independent Confederate States. Could a different result to the Battle of Little Bighorn have had some profound effect?

Thank you for any input you may have!
 
I suspect Little Bighorn is too late for a very substantial extension of the Indian Wars, although having it end in more of a messy draw would certainly have all sorts of interesting effects. One more doable PoD would be an uglier end to the war of 1812 that involves the British continuing to back Native Americans in the upper Midwest, but that's probably too much outside involvement for you.
 
This is something that I've been pondering for several months and, since I just recently stopped lurking and began to post on this site, I was wondering if I could get some input on this.

How could the wars between the United States and the Native Americans have lasted longer, potentially well into the twentieth century? I'm aware of the small-scale skirmishes that happened up through 1923, but I'm thinking on a larger scale.

I'd also prefer if this could be done without any outside PODs...so no huge wars between the United States and a foreign power, and no independent Confederate States. Could a different result to the Battle of Little Bighorn have had some profound effect?

Thank you for any input you may have!

It would take something big like disease immunity to alter OTL.
 
It would take something big like disease immunity to alter OTL.

The end result maybe, but the natives in the old Northwest and the great plains were only defeated after real military campaigns, and could certainly have held out longer and made the defeat bloodier.

As for the OP, a more decentralized U.S. where the militias are the ones responsible for the Indian campaigns would certainly drag it out longer, although that's a state of affairs that can't last forever.

A long-lasting and more violent Reconstruction would probably delay any post-civil war campaigns if the manpowers needed occupying the south.
 
Keep America under the Articles of Confederation. :D

That's one PoD that will ensure that America doesn't have strength to wipe out/control natives for a long, long time.
 
The best POD is to have the Indians do better under Tecumseh in the War of 1812, derailing US expansion for one, perhaps two generations. That will definitely prolong the Indian Wars. ;)
 
The best POD is to have the Indians do better under Tecumseh in the War of 1812, derailing US expansion for one, perhaps two generations. That will definitely prolong the Indian Wars. ;)

That, and Britain somehow managing to get the US to agree to Indian buffer states at the treaty of Ghent.
 
I wonder how somehow avoiding the Civil War would delay the end of the Indian Wars. On the one hand the Civil War killed one heck of a lot of US citizens, which took some of the population pressure off. On the other hand it gave the US a lot of people with military experience and a taste for war, along with helping industrialize the country. It probably spurred adoption of fast-loading rifles, at least in the US.

Of course avoiding the Civil War would take some considerable doing. The idea of popular vote deciding if Kansas was free or slave led to violence that radicalized a lot of people and got them used to the idea of killing fellow Americans over slavery. Not sure if avoid the civil war is doable.

Another option: somehow delay the advent of rapid-firing rifles and machine guns. The tribes could usually get guns, but in times of war tended to run low on ammunition. Going up against muzzle-loaders with light bow-armed cavalry, which is what most Plains Indians were, was sort of feasible. Up against rapid-fire rifles they needed rapid-fire rifles of their own to remain competitive, and that made them dependent on outsiders for munitions.
 
Or... Some groups, parts of the USA HELP indians, somehow. ASB, and why, but...


Mormon 'heretical' sect branch, like Nation of Gods and Earths to NOI, one who consider the Indians blessed peoples?
 
Or... Some groups, parts of the USA HELP indians, somehow. ASB, and why, but...


Mormon 'heretical' sect branch, like Nation of Gods and Earths to NOI, one who consider the Indians blessed peoples?

Why is it always the Mormons who form terrorist groups and fight the US in Utah?
 
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