The Sand Creek massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre, the battle of Sand Creek or the massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of the Third Colorado Cavalry under the command of U.S. Volunteers Colonel John Chivington attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory,Smiley, B. "Sand Creek Massacre" , Archeology magazine. Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved February 8, 2010. killing and mutilating an estimated 70 to over 600 Native American people. Chivington claimed 500 to 600 warriors were killed. However, most sources estimate around 150 people were killed, about two-thirds of whom were women and children.Reilly, H.J. (2011). Bound to have blood: Frontier newspapers and the Plains Indian wars. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press p. 21Rajtar, Steve, Indian War Sites: A Guidebook to Battlefields, Monuments, and Memorials, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1999 p. 51 The location has been designated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service. The massacre is considered part of a series of events known as the Colorado Wars.
Background
Treaty of Fort Laramie By the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 between the United States and seven Native American nations, including the Cheyenne and Arapaho,"Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, Etc., 1851." 11 Stats. 749, Sept. 17, 1851. the United States recognized that the Cheyenne and Arapaho held a vast territory encompassing the lands between the North Platte River and the Arkansas River, and eastward from the Rocky Mountains to western Kansas. This area included present-day southeastern Wyoming, southwestern Nebraska, most of eastern Colorado, and the westernmost portions of Kansas. Greene 2004, p. 27.
In November 1858, however, the discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado,Hoig 1980, p. 61. then part of the Kansas Territory,Greene 2004, p. 12. brought on the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. European immigrants flooded across Cheyenne and Arapaho lands. They competed for resources, and some settlers tried to stay. Colorado territorial officials pressured federal authorities to redefine the extent of Native American lands in the territory, and in the fall of 1860, A.B. Greenwood, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, arrived at Bent's New Fort, along the Arkansas River, to negotiate a new treaty.
Native lands restricted On February 18, 1861, six chiefs of the Southern Cheyenne and four of the Arapaho signed the Treaty of Fort Wise with the United States,"Treaty with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, 1861" (Treaty of Fort Wise). 12 Stat. 1163, Feb. 15, 1861, p. 810. in which they ceded most of the lands designated to them by the Fort Laramie treaty. The Cheyenne chiefs included Black Kettle, White Antelope (Vó'kaa'e Ohvó'komaestse), Lean Bear, Little Wolf, and Tall Bear; the Arapaho chiefs included Little Raven, Storm, Shave-Head, Big Mouth, and Niwot, or Left Hand. The Cheyenne warriors denounced the chiefs who signed the treaty and even threatened them with death if they attempted to carry out the treaty's provisions.Dunn, Jacob P. Jr., Massacres of the Mountains, Harper and Bhers, New York, 1886.
The new reserve, less than 1/13 the size of the territory recognized in the 1851 treaty, was located in eastern Colorado, between the Arkansas River and Sand Creek. Most bands of the Cheyenne, including the Dog Soldiers, a militaristic band of Cheyenne and Lakota that had originated in the late 1830s, were angry at the chiefs who had signed the treaty. They disavowed the treaty—which never received the blessing of the Council of 44, the supreme tribal authority—and refused to abide by its constraints.Greene 2004, pp. 12–13. They continued to live and hunt in the bison-rich lands of what's now eastern Colorado and western Kansas, and became increasingly belligerent over the tide of white migration across their lands. Tensions were high, particularly in the Smoky Hill River country of Kansas, along which whites had opened a new trail to the gold fields.Hoig 1980, p. 62. Cheyenne who opposed the treaty said it had been signed by a small minority of the chiefs without the consent or approval of the rest of the tribe, that the signatories had not understood what they signed, and that they had been bribed to sign by a large distribution of gifts. Officials took the position that Indians who refused to abide by it were hostile and planning a war.Hyde 1968, p. 118. The Cheyenne started committing minor offenses in 1861. These offenses went unpunished and, subsequently, became more significant. The desire for war was so strong with the Cheyenne that Agent Lorey urged Governor John Evans to treat the Cheyenne anew in 1863. As agreed, Governor Evans went out to meet with the chiefs, but they did not show up to the appointed place. The governor sent his guide, Elbridge Gerry, out to try to find the chiefs. Gerry returned two weeks later saying that a council had been held wherein the chiefs decided not to meet with Governor Evans. Bull Bear offered to meet with the governor, but his warriors would not allow it.
Escalation of hostilities At the end of 1863 and in the beginning of 1864, word was received that a coalition was to be formed among the plains tribes to "drive the whites out of the country." In the spring and summer of 1864, the Sioux, Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos were engaged in active hostilities which led to the murder of numerous civilians, the destruction of livestock and crops, supplies to the region being cut off, and the Colorado settlers in danger of starvation or murder at the hands of the plains tribes.
On April 12, men of the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment attacked Cheyenne men near Frémont's Orchard without any first attempt at parley or peace.Hyde 1968, p. 122
On April 13, a herdsman working for Irving, Jackmann & Company reported that Cheyennes and Arapahos had driven off 60 oxen and 12 horses and mules from their camp south of Denver. George Bent (a half-Cheyenne, half-white man who survived the ensuing Sand Creek Massacre along with other members of his family and tribe) disputes this version of the story. According to Bent, "One day in April some Cheyennes from one of these camps were out hunting and found a number of oxen straying about among the sand hills. As they did not know to whom the animals belonged they drove them to camp, intending to keep them until someone could lay claim to them.... The Indians had no use for the oxen; there were plenty of buffalo on that range that winter, and the Indians never would eat "tame meat" when they could get buffalo."Hyde 1968, p. 124
A small contingent of soldiers, led by Lieutenant Clark Dunn, was sent to repossess the livestock. The ensuing confrontation resulted in the death of four of the soldiers, and the tribes maintained possession of the livestock.
Lieutenant George Eayre was also sent to find and demand return of the oxen. If the request to return the animals was refused, Eayre was to attack the camp. Without following the order to first parley, Eayre and his men burned and plundered Crow Chief's camp of seventy lodges, which they abandoned once they were alerted to the approach of Eayre's forces. Eayre's men then found, plundered, and burned Chief Coon's camp (which Coon's band had likewise fled after being alerted of Eayre's approach by their scouts).Hyde 1968, pp. 125-126
On May 16, less than 15 months after meeting President Lincoln in Washington, Lean Bear, Black Kettle, and others in the tribe were camping on their buffalo hunting grounds near Ash Creek. The 1st Colorado Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant George Eayre, approached the group. Positive that this would be a peaceful encounter, Lean Bear went alone to meet the militia to show his peaceful intentions. On his chest, Lean Bear proudly wore his peace medal that he had received on his trip to Washington D.C. in 1863. In his hand, he held an official document signed by Lincoln stating that he was peaceful and friendly with whites. What Lean Bear did not realize was that Eayre's troops were operating under orders from Colonel John Chivington to "kill Cheyennes whenever and wherever found." Eayre ordered his men to shoot Lean Bear, who was wounded and fell off his horse. He was then shot repeatedly by the soldiers as they rode past his body on the ground. Newspaper reports and books from the era report that Cheyenne warriors attacked settlers and committed a number of atrocities in the summer of 1864Howbert, Irving., "Indians of the Pike's Peak Region." The Knickerbocker Press, New York, 1914. including the June 11 Hungate massacre.
The beginning of the American Civil War in 1861 led to the organization of military forces in Colorado Territory. However, the attention of the federal government was firmly fixed on defeating the Confederates. As a result, there was no significant military protection of wagon trains, settlers, settlements, communication lines, and supply wagons in the region. By the summer of 1864, nearly every stage was being attacked, emigrants were being cut off, and settlements were being raided continually. The settlers abandoned their farms and ranches and began seeking refuge in the major settlements such as Denver. A coordinated attack was carried out on August 8, 1864, where all the existing stage lines in the region were attacked. Between August 11 and September 7, Governor Evans sent multiple letters to Secretary of War Edward Stanton in an attempt to furnish military aid, but Stanton was unable to pull the Second Colorado Volunteers, led by Colonel Ford, off of the eastern Civil War front. As a result of the repeated calls for aid, authorization was granted to call up "one-hundred-days' men" to form the Third Colorado Volunteers.
In 1864, before the events of the Massacre of Sand Creek, there were 32 Indian attacks on record. These resulted in the death of 96 settlers, 21 being wounded, and eight being captured. Between 250 and 300 head of livestock were stolen, 12 wagon trains and stagecoaches were attacked, robbed, or destroyed, and nine ranches and settlements were raided.Dunn, William R., I Stand By Sand Creek, The Old Army Press, Colorado, 1985 An exact number is unknown. It is likely higher. George Bent, a Dog Soldier in Black Kettle’s camp, wrote about going on wagon train raids. “Cheyennes made good many raids towards Denver” (Bent to Hyde 5-3-1905).
George Bent, a half-Cheyenne, who was a Dog Soldier (Warrior) in Black Kettle’s camp at Sand Creek, wrote letters to historians about the Cheyenne way of life and his experience at Sand Creek. He called Sand Creek a battle. “I went to different lodges to shake hands with Black Kettle, Little Robe, Bear Tongue, Red Moon and lot of my friends that I was with at battle of Sand Creek that were going back with Black Kettle (George Bent to George Hyde, 1/12/1906).
Warning of reckless violence by the U.S. volunteers On June 15, 1864, Major T.I. McKenny, Assistant Adjutant-General of the Department of Kansas warned his superior, General Samuel Ryan Curtis that a few more reckless murders of Native Americans by the Volunteers risked uniting the various tribes into a general war against the US Army:
Governor Evans promises war