Remembering the Sand Creek Massacre
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
(EADS, Colo.) — Two and a half hours from Colorado Springs, a grassy valley was witness to one of the worst tragedies of the American West.
The Central Plains, which stretch from the Missouri River to the Rockies, were home to thousands of Plains Indians, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Lakota, and others. They adopted the horse for hunting buffalo, the main source of their material culture and food. In winter, certain locales along creeks and rivers offered firewood, shelter from bitter winds, and drinking water.
Big Sandy Creek was one such place. People of many tribes paused there while traveling the Smoky Hill Lodgepole Trail. In 1821, European Americans began to cross the Central Plains in greater numbers, first on the Santa Fe Trail, which followed the Arkansas River, and later along the Oregon Trail, which followed the Platte River. Some tribes saw the newcomers as trespassers in their hunting territories.
Tension and violence arose. The U.S. government sought peace through treaties that acknowledged the tribes as “dependent, domestic nations.” The 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty defined the Plains tribes’ territory, and promised them protection and annuities (provisions) in return for safe passage by travelers through Indian lands.
The treaty did to achieve lasting peace. In the late 1850s, prospectors struck gold in the Rocky Mountains. Realizing that Indian lands might include rich mineral resources, the U.S. government reneged on the 1851 treaty. A new Fort Wise Treaty required the Cheyenne and Arapaho to cede all their previously agreed territory except a small reservation. Six Cheyenne and four Arapaho chiefs signed. Many more refused. Despite the discord, Congress created the Colorado Territory in 1861.
Only a few months later, the Civil War began. The U.S. Army withdrew most of its regulars from the frontier for service back east. In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead and Pacific Railway Acts, which eventually led to more westward migration. Col. John Chivington commanded the troops of the Colorado Military District. Chivington, who had political aspirations, reportedly said, “It is right or honorable to use any means under God’s heaven to kill Indians…”
In Spring 1864, he ordered attacks on four Cheyenne villages. When his regiment killed Peace Chief Lean Bear, Plains warriors retaliated. Some Indian leaders appealed for peace in a conference at Camp Weld, near Denver, with Territorial Governor John Evans and Chivington. Those Indians desiring peace were told to report to Fort Lyon. Many did and then encamped at Sand Creek.
On November 29, 1864, Chivington led the attack at Sand Creek. Although an Army judge condemned the “cowardly cold-blooded slaughter,” the colonel was never formally charged nor tried. Evans was forced to resign in 1865.
The Sand Creek Massacre is not only a tragic historical event, its legacy is alive and present in the memories, lineages, and stories, and in the trauma and healing, of its Cheyenne and Arapaho descendants. Memorialization of the massacre has significance, too, for many descendants of its U.S. military participants as well as those who come to pay respects.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho have always had a sacred and spiritual way of life. They believe that all of creation has a spiritual connection, the land, plants, animals, wind, water, and people. The tribes believe that even speaking of the massacre is sacred; they consider the massacre site forever hallowed because the spirits and blood of the victims are intermingled with the earth.
Today, Cheyenne and Arapaho return to their homeland to repatriate remains of the massacre found in museums and private collections. The tribes provide respectful, traditionally appropriate burials to assure the victims can be at rest and never forgotten.
Cheyenne and Arapaho representatives, descendants, ceremonial leaders, and youth conduct an annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run from the massacre site to the steps of the Colorado State Capitol. Prayers and offerings by tribal and non-tribal participants are given for the land, for the spirits of those who perished, for living generations, and for those to come–all to put to rest the torment of the past.
Through these acts of remembrance and healing, the landscape of the Sand Creek Massacre remains a living, sacred place–the past forever interconnected with the present and the future.
FOX21 News reached out to the Governor of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes who provided us with the following statement.
The Sand Creek Massacre disrupted the progress of the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations. We lost warriors, chiefs, and our young and old. If not for the massacre, we would have continued with our progress, and our nations would have excelled. The leaders would have continued to lead, and the young would have become leaders. Nothing was the same after that attack. Greed possessed man. But today, we stand firm with more than 15,600 tribal citizens living worldwide and across the country contributing to our local communities and areas.
Gov. Reggie Wassana
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX21 News Colorado.
