Hardships faced by the Ingalls family (natural, political, social)’-chapter 23

Hardships faced by the Ingalls family (natural, political, social)’- chapter 23 Indian War Cry

• A major hardship faced by the Ingalls' family is that of the threat of hostility displayed by Indians towards them which is a recurring theme throughout the novel 
• Sentiments such as those by Mr and Mrs Scott that the 'only good Indian is a dead Indian'.
•  the 'Minnesota massacres' which took place in 1862 and involved members of the Sioux tribe killing around 500 white settlers. 
• In this chapter, after surviving the prairie fire in chapter 22, fear builds as 'there was an uneasiness about the Indians' with Pa beginning to make lots of bullets. This intensifies when 'out in the night the drums were beating and the Indians were wildly yelling' which Laura is told upon speculation is an 'Indian war-cry'. 
• Pa Ingalls ultimately decides to leave after this interaction with the Indians as he believes that white settlers will be removed from the land by the government. In reality the Indians are moved on in 1870 by the Drum Creek Treaty to allow the land to be settled by white people and to make way for the railways 
• 'They must have left in between then and the date of this meeting, and Pa must have been pretty sure it was going to come out the other way. Had he waited a couple of weeks, the family would not have had to leave their little house on the prairie.' significant hardship
• in other accounts the same hardship is faced by similar families - on the Oregon Trail- emigrants worried a great deal about possible Native American attacks, but very few were ever actually killed by the native tribes.'