After the Civil War, the US army wanted to further remove Native Americans to reservations. To hurt them even further, they sponsored and paid people to hunt buffalo. Native Americans needed the buffaloes for every facet of life. In eliminating the Buffalo and Bison populations, they would in effect, remove the Native Americans as well. This statistic I read from a college textbook is alarming ... In 1870, there were about 13 Million buffalo in the Dakotas ... by 1883, only about 200 were left. Buffalo Bill Cody became a hero for killing so many. People used to go onto the railroad cars, and shoot them for sport. What was left was a trail of bones on the frontier. A few people capitalized on these bones, turning them into fuel.