Whitman's adult life was framed by two of the defining events in
nineteenth-century Native American history—the infamous "Trail
of Tears" in 1838 and 1839, when Whitman was twenty, and the
Wounded Knee Massacre at the end of 1890, just over a year
before his death. During Whitman's teenage years, the Choctaws,
the Creeks, the Chickasaws, and finally the Cherokees were moved
across the Mississippi and into the Oklahoma territory. During
the formative years of Leaves of Grass, many of the most
explosive Western battles between natives and whites occurred,
including the Pueblo uprising in 1847, the Grattan fight in
1854, and the Rains fight in 1855. As Leaves of Grass grew
through its various editions, countless battles and skirmishes
took place, and their names entered American memory: Birch
Coulee, Canyon de Chelly, Rosebud, Warbonnet Creek, Sand Creek.
By the time of Whitman's death, Wounded Knee had underscored the
fact that active, armed Native American resistance to the United
States was at an end. Whitman