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Martell asked in Arts & HumanitiesHistory · 1 decade ago

Was it Pres. McKinnley who "ordered" the slaughter of the buffalo to eliminate Indians' primary food source?

If so--it was poetic justice--as he was assassinated in Buffalo, NY, in 1901.

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    No it wasn't. Gen. William T. Sherman was put in charge of dealing with the "Indian Problem", after the Civil War. A proponent of "total war", he advocated forcing them on to the reservations by not letting them rest and attacking their winter camps, and depriving them of their food source by slaughtering the buffalo herds. The Secretary of the Interior under Ulysses S. Grant, Columbus Delano, also advocated killing the buffalo as well.

    Also helping in the killing of the buffalo was the realization that the hides were good for clothing and the like, so many were killed.

    Source(s): http://www.tombstone1880.com/archives/buffalo_hide... - check out this picture!
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I really doubt it. The buffalo population was pretty much decimated just after the civil war. McKinley came around the turn of the century.

  • 1 decade ago

    Yes it was he. Poetic justice indeed.

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