NOV 29: Massacre at Sand Creek
On this date in 1864, volunteer militia under the command of Col. John Chivington massacre 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho people, mostly women and children, at a peaceful village on reservation land in the southeastern Colorado Territory, in what is later called the Sand Creek Massacre.
The lead up began shortly after gold was discovered in the territory in 1858. White migration had flooded into the area and reached a point “where the Cheyenne and Arapaho people native to the region found themselves outnumbered three-to-one in their own homeland,” according to National Park Service Ranger John Launius. Attempts by the U.S government to manage the tensions between the tribes and the settlers proved unsuccessful.
“By the time 1864 rolls round, the Cheyenne and Arapaho had watched as their life had all but collapsed around them, “Launius explained. “And the settlers, thanks to rumor and false newspaper reports, believe a massive Indian war is just on the horizon. Colorado had become a powder keg and they didn’t have to wait long for a spark.”
In May, Cheyenne chief Lean Bear, an advocate for peace, was shot and killed by U.S. troops in western Kansas, setting off retaliatory attacks by Indians against white settlers.
In June, a ranching family, the Hungates, was killed approximately 20 miles outside Denver City, triggering the1864 Indian Wars.
Tribal leaders, according to Launius, knew they couldn’t win a war with the US. government, so they tried to end the fighting, Cheyenne leaders met in September with Territorial Governor John Evans and Colonel Chivington, commander of Colorado Military District. They were promised they would not be attacked if they surrendered to the U.S. Army.
They reported to Fort Lyons on Arkansas River, where a village of 750 people gathered along Big Sandy Creek. “They’re just looking to just stay out of the way,” Launius stated.
Peace held until November 29, when Chivington arrived at the camp in the morning with 675 U.S. Colorado Volunteer soldiers and four cannons. For the next nine hours, Chivington’s troops chased Cheyenne and Arapaho as far as 10 miles and killed 230 men, women, children and elderly people.
Today, Sand Creek Massacre remains one of the darkest days in the history of the West. The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site is located near Eads, Colorado, about 185 miles southeast of Denver.
Robert Lindeneaux’s illustration of the Sand Creek Massacre. (Credit: History Colorado)
Col. John Chivington. (Credit: Colorado History Museum)
