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Subject: 1864 Killing Probed With Technology
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 12:37:17 EST
1864 Killing Probed With Technology
.c The Associated Press
By DENIS M. SEARLES
EADS, Colo. (AP) -- Somewhere amid the fallow grain fields that checker this
windy, high plains sage country, the Big Sandy Creek once ran red with the
blood of Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women and children.
Scores were killed, scalped and mutilated by volunteers of the Colorado
militia. Unknown to most Americans, the Sand Creek Massacre that cold morning
of Nov. 29, 1864, is as fresh as yesterday to the Cheyenne and Arapaho. No
one, however, is sure how many died or where the attack occurred.
Now the National Park Service is working with tribal advisers to pinpoint the
exact site so it can be nominated as a national park. The agency is using
high-tech tools, aerial photographs and oral histories of the tribes.
``Never has justice been done to satisfy the spirits'' of those slain, said
Robert Tabor, vice chairman of the Cheyenne-Arapaho in Oklahoma.
``Sand Creek itself defined the United States' relations to all Indian people.
It is time we set the ground aside and made it a national park,'' said state
historian David Halaas.
The bill to finance the Sand Creek study and search for the massacre site was
pushed through Congress last fall by Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Colorado
Republican who's part Cheyenne.
``The massacre was a shameful part of American history. The women and children
slaughtered there, many of whom were my ancestors, should respectfully be
remembered and honored,'' Campbell said last year.
In 1864, two cultures -- Indian hunters and pioneer farmers -- had collided on
the plains, with atrocities committed on both sides. Raids on wagon trains,
ranches and farms were increasing. Far to the East, the Civil War was raging,
leaving frontier Army posts lightly garrisoned and poorly equipped.
On that bitter November sunrise, the Colorado volunteers, led by Col. John M.
Chivington and supported by four howitzers, attacked the camp of Cheyenne
Chief Black Kettle and 500 or more Cheyenne and Arapaho along the creek, now
called Big Sandy.
Chivington and his volunteers had been spurred to action by the slaughter of
the Hungate family on a ranch southwest of Denver, an attack most believe was
unconnected to Black Kettle and his people.
Accounts of the day said the man was shot, the woman stabbed and ``violated.''
Both were scalped; their two young daughters were nearly decapitated. Their
bodies were put on display in Denver, rousing panic and vengeance in the
populace, and the calling up of the militia by Territorial Gov. John Evans.
The massacre toll at Sand Creek varies widely, from 63 to 500. Halaas believes
about 160 were killed.
Adding to the tragedy was Black Kettle's belief he had a peace agreement with
the U.S. Army. Historians say when the first shots were fired, Black Kettle
raised an American flag and a white cloth of truce.
It only drew more fire. Black Kettle escaped with many others.
If the slaughtered Hungate family was the battle cry of the Colorado
volunteers, Sand Creek became the rallying cry of the plains tribes.
Halaas said famously fierce Cheyenne Dog Soldiers united with Sioux and
Arapaho.
``About 2,000 warriors stayed together from January through October 1865.
Hundreds (of white settlers) were killed'' across the plains, Halaas said.
``The impact of Sand Creek ended 12 years later at the Little Big Horn,''
where Lt. Col. George Custer and his 7th Cavalry unit were massacred, he said.
The question of the site, long thought to be on the private property of James
Dawson northeast of Eads, arose recently when a search by the state Historical
Society failed to turn up conclusive evidence.
Laird Cometsevah, a chief of the Southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma, is the great-
grandson of a Cheyenne who escaped. ``We know where it is ... but according to
the National Park Service, they have to document ... the Sand Creek area,'' he
said. ``As far as the Cheyenne are concerned, the Dawson site was the main
camp area of Chief Black Kettle when they were attacked.''
Tabor is not so sure.
``Even nowadays you don't camp with the wind at your face.
``The site we located is south. I visited that location and there are bluffs
that would block the north wind, plenty of vegetation and water available,''
Tabor said. He has asked the park service to check that site.
Periodic flooding has washed away evidence over the last century, but
searchers are hoping to find tools, bone fragments or other relics by using
core samples, maps, metal detectors and other methods. The search committee --
Tabor, Cometsevah, Park Service coordinator Rick Frost and representatives of
the Northern Cheyenne, Northern Arapaho, landowners and the Colorado
Historical Society -- must report to Congress by August 2000.
Tabor said the final determination will be made by the old ways.
``We usually listen to the wind and watch the animals. There is a lot of eagle
sightings there,'' he said.
``Native Americans believe spirits come and visit'' their death site,
``especially when there's been sudden, unexpected or untimely deaths. The
spirits are not ready to rest. The creator has a time for each of us. There is
still a lot of unrest.''
AP-NY-02-20-99 1236EST
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP
news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
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