Since Lewis and Clark ventured to the Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the nineteenth century the white man has believed that it was his “manifest destiny” to control all of the new land between the Atlantic and the Pacific. This caused conflicts with the Indians that already inhabited this land. The U.S. Government decided they had three choices: they could assimilate, segregate, or eliminate the American Plains Indians. Bury My Heart at Wounded …showed first 75 words of 899 total…

…showed last 75 words of 899 total…for their land but had no idea how to resolve the conflict. The U.S Army had clear goals with a strategic plan on how to achieve and attain these goals. They knew destruction of the Indians was the only way to gain all of the land they desired. “They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they never kept but one; they promised to take our land, and they took it” (449).