Sand Creek Massacre

1864

The Sand Creek Massacre was one of the most horrific atrocities committed against Native Americans during the period of America's Westward Expansion. A band of peaceful Cheyenne, under the leadership of Chief Black Kettle who was born around 1803 and was a Cheyenne leader who unsuccessfully attempted to resist white settlement from Kansas and Colorado territories were encamped on the banks of Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado. Sent there by the territorial governor John Evans, they trusted they were in safe territory. However safe they felt around 400 Cheyenne and Arapaho lost their lives when they were attacked, unarmed, in the early morning hours on that cold day November 29, 1864. Initially reported in the press and celebrated as a great military victory, a national scandal erupted following the findings of a Congressional inquiry.

Many women, children, and elderly were killed as a result of this engagement, which created a feeling of indignation so strong in the East that it prompted a congressional investigation. As a result, Dr. John Evans lost his federal appointment as governor and Chivington's enlistment had already expired that September so he could not be dishonorably discharged. In addition, Colorado's statehood was delayed, a circumstance that became the dominate aspect of Colorado politics in the years following Sand Creek.

A little history Lesson...
In 1849, gold seekers bound for the California Gold Rush panned small amounts of gold from the streams of the South Platte River Valley at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in then western Kansas Territory. In the summer of 1857, a party of Spanish-speaking gold seekers from the New Mexico Territory worked a placer deposit along the South Platte River about 5 miles from the Cherry Creek area