Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] : White Flag Slaughter http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9000/Wellesley/Native/sandcreek.html Sand Creek Many have heard of the unjust slaughter of Indian men, women and children at Wounded Knee, but few know of the equally unjust slaughter of men, women and children at Sand Creek. The Sand Creek Massacre took place the dawn of November 29, 1864 on the Sand Creek reservation in South Eastern Colorado. More than two hundred Cheyenne men, women and children were killed on a reservation where they were told they would be safe. 1851--The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, guaranteed the Cheyenne a large area of Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado. In 1859 Gold was discovered in Boulder Colorado, beginning the Pike's Peak gold rush. The discovery of gold brought an estimated 100,000 gold seekers to the to the Rockies. This led to serious white encroachments on Cheyenne lands. Rather than protect the Cheyenne from the whites as the Fort Larmie Treaty of 1851 said it would do, the Government sought to resolve the problem by demanding that the Cheyenne give up all of their lands with the exception of the small Sand Creek Reservation. A small band Southern Cheyenne of about three hundred were sectioned into an area known as the Sand Creek Reservation. Located in Southeastern Colorado. This band of Southern Cheyenne were led by thier chief Black Kettle. Black Kettle believed that white and red could co-exist with each other. Though many broken promises and attacks on his life, he still believed that his tribe could obtain peace with honor and co-exisit with the white man. In 1861 fearing that overwhelming U.S. military power might result in an even less favorable settlement, Black Kettle agreed to a new treaty and did what he could to see that the Cheyenne obeyed its provisions. The lands given as the Sand Creek reservation could not feed and clothe the tribe. The barren land was unsuitable for growing crops or supporting enough wildlife to feed the tribe. It was a breeding ground for epidemic diseases which soon swept through the Cheyenne encampments. By 1862 the nearest herd of Buffalo was over 200 miles away. Many of the young men began leaving the reservation, looking for a way to care for their families. They began to prey upon cattle of local settlers and passing wagon trains. One such raid so angered the Whites that they sent the Military to investigate and patrol the area. A hunting party of Cheyenne saw the military approching and rode up to meet them when the military opened fire on the band of Cheyenne. None of the Indians in this band had participated in the raid, This incident touched off an uncoordinated Indian uprising across the Great Plains, as Indian tribes from the Comanche in the South to the Lakota in the North took advantage of the army's involvement in the Civil War by striking back at those who had settled upon their lands. Black Kettle, however, understood white military too well to support the cause of war. He spoke with the local military commander at Fort Weld in Colorado and believed he had secured a promise of safety in exchange for leading his band back to the Sand Creek reservation. On the morning of November 29, 1864 Colonel John Chivington, leader of the Third Colorado Volunteers discourged by the fact that his troops had been unsuccessful in finding a Cheyenne band to fight, learned that Black Kettle had returned to Sand Creek. He attacked the unsuspecting encampment while the peaceful tribe slept.. Over two hundred Cheyenne died in the ensuing massacre, many of them women and children, and after the slaughter, Chivington's men sexually mutilated and scalped many of the dead, later exhibiting their trophies to cheering crowds in Denver. Black Kettle survived the raid, even after returning to resuce his seriously injured wife. He still believed peace was possible between the white man and his people. In 1868 almost 4 years to the day of the Sand Creek Massacre three columns of troops met to launch a winter campaign against the Cheyenne. With the Seventh Calvery, commanded by George Armstrong Custer selected to led the attack. Custer following the tracks of a small hunting party through the snow located an encampment of Cheyenne, and attacked at dawn. This encampment was Black Kettle's village. Setting well within the Cheyenne reservation boundries and with a white flag flying from his teepee. On November 27, 1868 Custer's troop charged the village, women and children running for their lives. Black Kettle along with his wife fell near the rivers edge their bodies riddled with bullets, and the 7th Calvery rode right over top of their bodies, pausing long enough to take the scalp of the man who always preached peace and believed that white and red could live together. Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 The United States and representatives of the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Crow, Arikara, Assiniboin, Mandan, Gros Ventre and other tribes sign the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, intended to insure peace on the plains. The treaty comes as increasing numbers of whites -- gold seekers, settlers and traders -- make the way westward, and as Native American Indians react to this invasion by attacking wagon trains and, more often, warring against one another for territorial advantage. The treaty divides the plains into separate tracts assigned to each tribe, who agree to remain on their own land, to cease their attacks on each other and on white migrants and to recognize the right of the United States to establish roads and military outposts within their territories. In return, the United States pledges that each tribe will retain possession of its assigned lands forever, that they will be protected by U.S. troops from white intruders and that they will each receive $50,000 in supplies and provisions annually for the next fifty years. Both sides agree to settle any future disputes, whether between tribes or between Indians and whites, through restitution. Unfortunately, the chiefs who sign the Fort Laramie Treaty do not have the authority over their tribes that the United States negotiators assume, and the negotiators themselves cannot deliver the protections and fair treatment they promise. promise. The Sand Creek Papers Editorial #1 from the Rocky Mountain News -1864 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9000/Wellesley/Native/sanded1.html Editorial #2 from the Rocky Mountain News - 1864 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9000/Wellesley/Native/sanded2.html Congressional Testimony by eyewitness John S. Smith http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9000/Wellesley/Native/sandtest.html Deposition by John M. Chivington (1865) http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/9000/Wellesley/Native/sandchiv.html TERMS OF TREATY of 1851: [excerpt] ratified by US Senate and signed by President: "Article 5. . . . . The territory of the Siou or dacotah Nation commencing the mouth of the White River, on the Missouri river; thence in a southwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte River to a point known as the red Butte, or where the road leaves the river; ...Black Hills, to the headwaters of Heart River; then down Heart River to its mouth; and thence down the Missouri River to the place of beginning. The territory of the Assiniboin Nation, commencing at the mouth of the Yellowstone River; thence from the mouth of the Muscle-shell River in a southeasterly direction until it strikes the headwaters of Big Dry Creek; thence down that creek to where it empties into the Yellowstone, nearly opposite the mouth of the Powder River, and then down the Yellowstone to the place of beginning. The territory of the Blackfoot Nation commencing at the mouth of the Muscle-shell River; thence up the Missouri River to its source; thence along the main range of the Rocky Mountains, in a southerly direction, to the head-waters of the northern source of the Yellowstone River; thence down the Yellowstone River to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard Creek; thence across to the head-waters of the Muscle-shell River, and thence down to Muscle-shell River to the place of beginning. The territory of the Crow Nation, commencing at the mouth of Powder River on the Yellowstone; thence up Powder River to its source; thence along the main range of the Black Hills and Wind River Mountains to the headwaters of the Yellowstone River; thence down the Yellowstone to the mouth of Twenty-five Yard Creek; thence to the head-waters of the Muscle-shell River to its mouth; thence to the head-waters of Big Dry Creek and thence to its mouth. The territory of the Cheyennes and Arrapahoes, commencing at the Red Butte, or the place where the road leaves the north fork of the Platte River; thence up the north fork of the Platte River to its source; then along the main range of the Rocky Mountains to the head-waters of the Arkansas River; thence down the Arkansas River to the crossing of the Santa Fe Road; thence in a northwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte River, and thence up the Platte River to the place of beginning. So the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, for instance, "own" Denver! Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<> Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ <><<<<<>>>>><><<<<>
