Westward People
Native Americans
There were many different tribes of Native Americans that were living during the time the Westward Expansion. The tribes are Inuit, Kwakiutl, Sioux, Pueblo, and Iroquois. The Inuit Native Americans lived in Alaska and Northern Canada, which was an Arctic area. The temperature was below freezing most of the year there. They lived in snow or stone houses, called igloos, in the winter, and tents made of animal skins in the summer. Their natural resources and food consisted of seals, fish, whales, and caribou. They got around by means of walking on foot, kayaks, and dog sleds. Kwakiutl Native Americans lived in the Pacific Northwest Coast, which was a rainy, mild climate. They lived in longhouses made of wood, and their food and natural resources were made up of fish, deer, berries, roots, and wood. They got around by walking and canoeing. Sioux Natives lived in the Great Plains, a dry grassland area. They lived in teepees made of animal skins. Their natural resources and food consisted of buffalo, corn, and beans. They got around by walking, horseback riding, and canoeing. The Pueblo Native Americans lived in the Southwest United States, which is in present-day New Mexico and Arizona This was a desert area, and they lived in areas that bordered cliffs and mountains. They lived in adobes made of dried mud or clay, and their food and natural resources were corn, beans, squash, and clay. They got around by means of foot and horseback. The Iroquois Natives lived in Northeast North America in the Eastern woodlands, which was made up of many forests. Like the Kwakiutl, they lived in longhouses made of wood. Their natural resources and food consisted of corn, beans, deer, and wood. They walked and paddled around in canoes to get around.
Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid was a teenage outlaw who died at the age of twenty-one. It is said he took the lives of twenty-one men, one for each year of his short life. He supposedly killed his first man when he was only twelve years old. He killed people not because he had a reason, but because he liked to see his victims squirm. Billy the Kid was not the cold-blooded killer he was portrayed as. He was just a young man who lived in a violent world, where knowing how to use a gun decided whether you lived or died.
Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett was born August 17th, 1786 in Tennessee. He was the fifth of nine children born to John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett. The Crockett family was a self-sufficient and independent family. Davy Crockett stands for Spirit of the American Frontier, and he's a celebrated hero, warrior, and backwoods statesman. Davy Crockett was licensed to marry Margaret Elder in 1805, but they never married. Instead, he married Mary Polly Finley in 1806, right after his twentieth birthday. Mary's nickname was Polly. While she preferred to be called Polly, her Christian name was Mary Finley Crockett. They had three children: John Wesley Crockett, William Finley Crockett, and Margaret Finley (Polly) Crockett. John and William were born in a small cabin near the rest of the Crockett family. Polly Finley died in 1815. After that, Davy remarried a widow named Elizabeth Patton, who blessed the family with Rebecca Elvira Crockett, Robert Patton Crockett, and Matilda Crockett.
Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill was born in Iowa in 1846. His birth name was William F. Cody. In Kansas, when he was 22, he was rechristened as Buffalo Bill. He used to be known as a trapper, a Colorado "Fifty-Niner", a bullwhacker, a Pony Express rider (1860), a wagon master, a Civil War soldier, a stagecoach driver, even a hotel manager! He got his nickname, Buffalo Bill, because of his skill while he was supplying Kansas Pacific Railroad workers with buffalo meat. From 1868 to 1872, Buffalo Bill was employed by the United States Army. Being employed in the Army was a hazardous and uncertain scouting profession.
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. President, was born on March 15th, 1767. His parents were Scots-Irish. His father, Andrew, died in a logging accident weeks before the new Andrew was born. His mother, Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson, also called Betty, was a very strong and independent woman. After her husband died, she raised three sons in her sister's home in South Carolina. Andrew Jackson was nine years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed. He joined the Continental Army when he was thirteen. All of the Jackson sons were active in the army, and Andrew's brother, Hugh, died after the battle of Stono Ferry, in South Carolina in 1779. Andrew and his other brother, Robert, were taken prisoner for a few weeks in April 1781. While they were in captivity, a British soldier ordered the boys to clean his boots. After refusing, they were struck with a sword. Andrew's hand was cut right to the bone, and because of this ill treatment, Andrew resented the British until he died.