|
|
|
|
The Sand Creek Massacre was very similar to the Holocaust during World War II . The Nazis wanted to exterminate the Jews .The three men responsible for the Massacre at Sand Creek wanted to get rid of the Indians. |
|
| A number of events led up to the Sand Creek Massacre .In 1858 and 1859,gold was discovered no the South Platte River in Colorado .Some trails ran through the Cheyenne and Arapaho territory .In 1861 ,the government wanted the Indians to move away from the trails but they refused .In 1861, Black Kettle and White Antelope went to Washington D.C. to argue their case for peace to the President .They were not getting to keep their land and the government kept moving them .President Lincoln gave Black Kettle an American flag ,and he gave a peace medal to White Antelope. | 
White Antelope is 2nd from the left on the bottom row. |
| The mining and people coming in upset the indians . The Cheyenne and Arapahos started attacking mining camps and wagon trains . On June 11,1864, the mutilated bodies of the Hungate family were brought into Denver and were put on display for the people to see . The townspeople were both afraid and angry and started to panic . | |
| In the last part of September 1864, Black Kettle, White Antelope and other chiefs went to Denver for peace talks with Governor John Evans and Colonel Chivington. While the peace talks were going on, Chivington received a telegram from General Samuel Curtis. General Curtis said '' I want no peace till the Indians suffer more ." General Curtis believed that the people who dealt with the Indians were being too nice. After Black Kettle admitted he couldn't control the young warriors, he agreed to take the Cheyenne and Arapaho indians who didn't want a war went to Fort Lyon, in eastern Colorado Black Kettle and the other believed there was a place agreement, but Colonal Chivington and General Curtis did not plan to honor the agreement. |
Colonel John Chivington |
| The indians went to Fort Lyon. The new commander at
Fort Lyon said he was waiting on orders from General Curtis, so he
told Black Kettle to camp at Sand Creek, about 40 miles from Fort
Lyon. At dawn on on November 29, 1864, Chivington and his 700 troops
attacked a camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women, and children as they
slept in their lodges along Sand Creek .
|
|
| Black Kettle raised the American flag from President Lincoln
and a white peace flag to show he was peaceful and to reassure his own
people. Chivington knew Black Kettle had already surrendered,
but he wanted the Indians to be extinct. Chivington said, " The
Cheyennes will have to be soundly wipped before they will be quiet.
If any of them are caught in your vicinity kill them, as that is the only
way." Chivington ordered, "Kill and scap all, big and little;
nits make lice."
|
Close-up of Chief Black Kettle
|
| George Bent, a Southern Cheyenne Indian who was there said, " I heard him [ Black Kettle] call to the people not to be afraid, that the soldiers would not hurt them; then the troops opened fire." Major Scott Anthony ,of the U.S. Army , said, "There was one little child, probably three years old, just big enough to walk through the sand ... I saw one man get off his horse... and draw up his rifle and fire, he missed the child, another man up and said " Let me try the son of a bitch; I can hit him ...but he missed him. A third man came up and made a similar remark ,and fired ,and the little fellow dropped." White Antelope was killed in front of his tipi ,and he was wearing the peace medal that President Lincoln gave him. | |
| Most of the Indians ran to the dry creek bed and started to dig pits in its bank for protection .Warriors who managed to grab weapons fought and killed 8 and wounded 38 of their attackers .One hundred fifty Indians ,including 8 chiefs were killed .Some sources say up to 500 were killed .The soldiers then went through and killed the wounded and mutilated the bodies. Then they went through and burned the teepees and they took the horses. | |
| After the massacre, the volunteer soldiers went back to
Denver with scalps .The massacre was celebrated as a great deed. But after
the truth came out, an army judge advocate general said it was "a
cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter."
|
|
| The survivors went to the camp of the Cheyenne War Dogs for
protection. The survivors spread the word about the massacre and
said that peace was not possible. Chief Black Kettle said, "I
once thought that I was the only man that persevered to be the friend of
the white man, but since they have come and cleaned out our lodges, horses
,and everything else, it is hard for me to believe white men
anymore."
|
Chief Black Kettle
|
| There was a congressional investigation. Chivington
was forced to resign ,but no one was ever punished. The West was being torn
by new Indian wars. There was no peace for twenty-five years.
|
|
| The Sand Creek Massacre was similar to the Holocaust except fewer people died. They were both genocides .The Nazis and most of the soldiers both wanted complete extermination of a race .The U.S. Army should be a symbol of protection, respect dignity. What Colonel John Chivington did was disgraceful to the army and the United States. No one should be killed or persecuted because they are different. |
|
|
Hannah Goolsby 8th American History Rossville Jr. High Plains History Project 2004 |
|
