THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE -- A PROFOUND TRAGEDY

by Pam North

John Chivington (1821-1894) is one of the most controversial figures in
Colorado history.  Born in Ohio, he worked on his family's farm while
growing up, then operated a small timber business and married.  He was
ordained a Methodist minister in 1844.  He moved to Illinois, then
Missouri, establishing congregations, supervising the building of
churches, and serving as a de facto law officer.  He was part of a
Methodist missionary expedition to the Wyandot Indians in Kansas in
1853.  He became known for his contempt of slavery and favor of
secession, attitudes which led to his being threatened if he didn't
cease preaching.  His reaction was to ascend the pulpit with two pistols
and a vow to continue sermonizing,  earning him the nickname, the
"Fighting Parson."  He was sent shortly thereafter to Nebraska, then to
Denver to found a congregation and build a church.  When the Civil War
broke out, Chivington was offered an Army commission as a chaplain, but
declined the praying role in favor of a fighting position.   As a major
in the first Colorado Volunteer Regiment, he became a military hero at
Glorietta Pass, in eastern New Mexico, by leading his troops in a sound
defeat of Confederate forces.  Returning to Denver afterward, Chivington
became an advocate for speedy statehood for Colorado, and entertained
political ambitions to be the Republican candidate for the state's first
Congressional seat.

Discoveries of gold on the South Platte River in 1858 and 1859 had drawn
large numbers of fortune-seekers into the buffalo hunting grounds of the
plains Indian tribes, with the Kansas-to-Colorado trail running directly
through Cheyenne and Arapaho territory.  Growing tension between white
settlers and the Cheyenne Indians was contributing to a dangerous public
mood that was even espousing eliminating the Indians altogether.
Chivington confronted the territorial governor and others who were in
favor of peace and treaty-making with the Cheyenne, and publicly aired
his view that the Indians needed at least to be soundly whipped, if not
completely wiped out.

The Indians refused to relocate to reservations in 1861, and Cheyenne
chiefs such as Black Kettle and White Antelope turned their efforts
toward trying to achieve peace, even journeying to Washington to discuss
this topic with President Lincoln, who presented Black Kettle with a
large American flag, and White Antelope with a peace medal.  In 1864,
Black Kettle and other Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs traveled to Denver to
meet with Governor Evans and Colonel John Chivington.  On the day of the
"peace" talk, however, Chivington had been notified by a telegram from
General Samuel Curtis, his superior officer, not to make any peace with
the Indians until they "had suffered more."  Black Kettle and the
others, believing peace had been made and their protection guaranteed,
returned south to set up winter camp at Sand Creek, about 40 miles from
Fort Lyon.

Chivington's genocidal aspirations were fulfilled when he led a regiment
of Colorado Volunteers to Sand Creek at dawn on November 29, 1864.
Under orders to take no prisoners, the soldiers advanced on the Indian
camp.  Black Kettle, still believing in peace, raised President
Lincoln's American flag and a large white flag of truce on a tall lodge
pole in front of his tipi.  The troops' response was to open fire, and
an indiscriminate and brutal assault began.  White Antelope, his arms
folded, died in front of his tipi, singing his death song.  Most of the
Indians fled toward the dry creek bed, attempting to dig into its sandy
banks for protection.  Defenseless Indians were mercilessly slaughtered
even as they screamed for mercy after having surrendered.  After hours
of fighting the Colorado Volunteers had murdered between 200 and 400
Cheyenne, most of them women and children; the militia had lost only a
few of its own men.  The troops scalped and sexually mutilated many of
the bodies after the massacre, later exhibiting their gory souvenirs to
cheering crowds in Denver.  Black Kettle, who was among those who
survived, died four years later in another attack, by troops under Lt.
Col. George A. Custer at the Washita River in Oklahoma.

At first Chivington was regarded with respect and was praised for the
Sand Creek "battle," and he was even honored with a parade through the
streets of Denver.  Disturbing rumors soon surfaced and began to
circulate, however, when six of his soldiers were arrested by Chivington
on the charge of cowardice in battle; the militia members, in reality,
had refused to participate in the massacre, and had spoken publicly of
the senseless carnage they had witnessed.  The six men were released,
and a formal investigation eventually took place.  Chivington was
court-martialed for his involvement in the massacre, and denounced as a
coward and a butcher, but because he was no longer in the U.S. Army, he
could not be criminally charged or punished.  The only justice he
received was his forced resignation from the Colorado militia, and his
mandatory withdrawal from politics and the campaign for Colorado
statehood.  He moved to Nebraska to work as a freight hauler, lived
briefly in California, then moved to Ohio to farm and edit a small
newspaper.  Charges of his guilt in the Sand Creek massacre followed him
when he attempted to re-enter politics in 1883 to campaign for a state
legisture seat, forcing his withdrawal, so he returned to Denver to work
as a deputy sheriff until his death in 1892.

The site of the Sand Creek massacre, after having been in dispute for
over a century, due to faulty historical maps, conflicting information
and scarcity of evidence, was finally pinpointed.  While the Cheyenne
have always known the location from their own oral history, no
verification was made until recent years.   With the support of Colorado
senator, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a bill was signed into law in 1998
mandating archaeological surveys to locate the site, focusing on the
Dawson's Bend section of the creek.  The site was found a mile to the
north of where historical evidence and oral tradition had suggested it
might be.  Investigation determined that there was little evidence of
any defensive fighting in and around the camp, supporting the concept
that there had been a surprise attack and massacre.  The inquiry proved
the accuracy of Native Americans' oral history, passed down through
several tribal generations, and its value in archaeological research.