The Forgotten West

The Forgotten West ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !Take-Home Midterm Essay! ! ! !Courtney Maness! ! ! !History 365Professor BrunoFebruary 20, 2014The American West has long held the imaginations and fascinations of Americans. Asksomeone what they think when they hear the term "the West", and they would likely saycowboys and Indians, ranches, the open prairie, and covered wagons. Sure these things are partof Western history and culture, but have you ever thought about it on a deeper level? Who werethe first groups of people to live in what is now America? Were Americans in the right to justmove west of the Mississippi River without any thought as to the fact that there might already bepeople settled on the land? Is the way we remember events in the history of the west correct, ordo we have a flawed or even biased view of what really happened? We never give much thoughtto these questions, we simply take the common view of events such as the battle at the Alamo,and the Indian wars, and accept that as being the final say in what happened. It is my intention topeel back the layers of three major pieces of the history of the American West, Cahokia, nowforgotten but at one time the largest city in ancient North America, and its fall from greatness;the battle at the Alamo and why it is so romanticized; and the Dakota Wars, in which Dakotatribes challenged Americans' idea of manifest destiny. How are some of these events nevermentioned in modern history lessons, while some have become larger than life?Beginning with some of the earliest days of civilization within the Mississippi Riverregion, we first arrive upon the...Monk's Mound a Pre-Columbian Mississippian culture...