TIL the near-extinction of the American bison was a deliberate plan by the US Army to starve Native Americans into submission. One colonel told a hunter who felt guilty shooting 30 bulls in one trip, "Kill every buffalo you can! Every buffalo dead is an Indian gone.”

submitted by magnora7 from (theatlantic.com)

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[–]NeighingGoofs 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Interesting! The impression I'd gotten from watching Dances With Wolves in my history class was that it was simply waste and short-sightedness.

Still, the article does offer another explanation as well.

In 1870, a bull hide sold for $3.50. One frontiersman, Frank Mayer, figured if he spent 25 cents on each round of ammo, then “every time I fired one I got my investment back twelve times over.”

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Wow, that's quite a return. I wonder if the government was also subsidizing the buying of buffalo hides to encourage this activity?