The Sand Creek Massacre (November 29th 1864) took place in Colorado, then a western territory of the US, now a state. US Army Colonel John Chivington had at least 105 women and children and 28 men killed. Some of Chivington’s men had cut out the private parts of females and stretched them over their hats.
The massacre was part of the genocide of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in Colorado.
In 1858 gold was discovered in Colorado. White miners came. Then came White traders and farmers to sell to them. Then came White soldiers to protect them. Thus Denver and White Colorado were born.
In 1862 President Lincoln appointed John Evans governor of the territory. Colonel John Chivington, a former Christian minister and Sunday school teacher, was the territory’s top military commander. He was famous for stopping Texas from taking over New Mexico for the Confederacy (of southern slave states).
In 1864 Evans said Whites could kill any Natives they found who were not on reservation land. Most were not. Chivington, meanwhile, gave a speech in Denver saying that all Natives should be killed and scalped, even babies: “Nits make lice!”
Black Kettle led a band of 600 or so Southern Cheyennes and Arapahos. After speaking with Evans and Chivington, he was able to get his people safely to the reservation at Sand Creek. The commander of nearby Fort Lyon, Major Scott J. Anthony, promised his protection.
On the morning of November 29th, when most of Black Kettle’s men were away hunting, Chivington arrived at Sand Creek with 700 soldiers, some from Fort Lyon itself.
Black Kettle flew his US flag, a big garrison flag with 34 stars, a gift he received when he visited President Lincoln the year before. He was very proud of it. When Colonel Greenwood presented it to him, he said no soldier would fire on him so long as he flew the flag.
Black Kettle told his people they would be safe under the US flag. Hundreds of women and children gathered. He flew a white flag too.
Chivington’s men fired on them.
Chivington intended to kill everyone at Sand Creek, but Colorado’s best soldiers had been sent east to fight the Civil War. Many of his men were not well trained, some were drunk – and some, from Fort Lyon, which had promised Black Kettle its protection, considered it murder and dishonour and shot only in self-defence.
The fighting lasted till nightfall.
The living fled across the plains and walked all night through the icy winds to the hunting camp. In the war that followed, Cheyennes and Arapahos lost eastern Colorado.
Whites in Colorado considered the Sand Creek Massacre a great victory. It made the news across the US. Whites back east were shocked and sickened. The Army distanced itself from Chivington, who quit to avoid a court martial. The Senate held hearings. Even though the facts were well known, no one was punished. Most US high school history books remain silent about it.
Sources: Mainly “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” (1970) by Dee Brown and “American Indian History” (2004) by Robert W. Venables.
See also:
^^^ !!! WordPress is recommending James Holmes, the Batman shooter, as a Related Link, along with Wade Michael Page (Sikh Temple shooter) and Trujillo (Parsley Massacre).
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What was Lincoln’s reaction to the massacre?
Also, I thought this massacre was linked to the Transcontinental Railroad. Is that wrong?
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SHAME
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I was about to rejoice thinking that Abagond posted about Muslim massacre of Christians in Kenya. It’s a shame that any of you could belong to the barbaric ideology of Islam.
“Al-Shabab massacres non-Muslims at Kenya quarry”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30288137
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@ jethro
I have at least three posts on Muslim slaughter of Christians:
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@ Jefe
Nothing I read brought up the Transcontinental Railroad or Lincoln’s reaction. That is not to say they had nothing to do with it.
Lincoln did not force out Governor Evans over the massacre, as Johnson later did. True, Lincoln died only five months later. On the other hand, Evans was a friend of his.
Lincoln had a more direct part in the Dakota War in Minnesota where he ordered the largest mass execution in US history: 38 Sioux men, chosen at random, no trial, no hearing, in order to put down an uprising of starving Sioux in Minnesota.
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@ George
I will do Cahokia too.
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I would love to read a post about Eskimos
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@ Abagond,
I am just trying to understand the Federal Government stance on all of this and how these events affected what happened in Washington. That is why I asked about Lincoln. It would be interesting to note how Johnson differed from Lincoln on those points.
Also, I had previously read this article which seemed to link the Sand Creek Massacre to the Transcontinental Railroad
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-tribes/)
In particular, this article makes a direct connection:
(http://railroad.lindahall.org/essays/cultural-impacts.html)
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Maybe this is the link between the two:
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/tcrr-timeline/)
I also wonder if this was the confrontation depicted in the movie “How the West Was Won” (1962). That movie made NO MENTION of the Sand Creek Massacre, so maybe white Americans watching it had no context in which to interpret the attacks.
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@ Jefe
Denver was way beyond the edge of the White frontier – think Laura Ingalls – especially during the Civil War when the frontier moved eastward because there were not enough soldiers to protect Whites. In the war that followed the massacre it became unsafe to travel to Denver. Food prices in Denver went through the roof. On the other hand, as you know, the wagon trails and rail lines were destroying the bison herds that Natives depended on. Thus the “savage” Indian attacks you see in Hollywood films on stage coaches and so on.
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@ Jefe
As far as I can tell, most people in the US do not know about Sand Creek.
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I did not know about Sand Creek. Horrifying and sad. Thank you abagond for the post.
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So, this is how civilized cultures earn their wealth. Amazing.
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“Lincoln had a more direct part in the Dakota War in Minnesota where he ordered the largest mass execution in US history: 38 Sioux men, chosen at random, no trial, no hearing, in order to put down an uprising of starving Sioux in Minnesota.”
I really appreciate your blog, but I disagree about Lincoln’s response to the Dakota uprising. 38 Sioux men were executed, but they were not chosen at random. 303 Sioux prisoners were tried and convicted by military commissions. They were sham proceedings because some only lasted 5 minutes and the Sioux were not represented and evidently did not have interpreters to explain the proceedings to them.
Lincoln was under a great deal of political pressure to permit the execution of all 303 men. Lincoln reviewed the trial transcripts and commuted the sentences of all but 38 men who were then executed in the largest mass execution in US history. The Republicans lost votes in Minnesota in subsequent elections in 1863 or 1864 because of Lincoln’s action, but he said he could not or would not hang men for votes.
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If I remember correctly Sand Creek was more of an idea of local white guys than part of a bigger genocide programme that was going on. Black Kettle was, in the eyes of the federal state, “peaceful” and he had surrendered. The locals were hot, though, and as they marched back to their towns in victory parades showing off their trophies which included male and female genitalia, allegledy one victor had pinned female genitalia on his hat, and heads and legs and arms, the majority cheered them and applauded. Makes one think.
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@ sam
Some White scholars and writers try to downplay it like that, like Theda Purdue or James Michener in his fictionalized version in “Centennial” (1974). But Chivington was in fact the top military commander of Colorado. His actions were not out of step with his own words or with what the governor wanted, whose intentions were genocidal. They had the support of White Colorado, but not of Whites back east.
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[…] The Sand Creek Massacre (November 29th 1864) took place in Colorado, then a western territory of the US, now a state. US Army Colonel John Chivington had at least 105 women and children and 28 men … […]
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[…] of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in Southeastern Colorado Territory? On November 29, 1864, Colonel John Chivington led a group to do just that, resulting in the deaths of over two hundred men, women and children. […]
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[…] The Sand Creek Massacre (November 29th 1864) took place in Colorado, then a western territory of the US, now a state. US Army Colonel John Chivington had at least 105 women and children and 28 men … […]
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[…] Source: abagond.wordpress.com […]
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