04. Cheyenne Indians, Chivington Massacre, Fear, Fake News
Chivington Massacre (Sand Creek Massacre)
Setting the Stage
* 1849 at the discovery of gold in California
* Drove mass settlers across the great plains in search for riches and a better life.
* When the US government realized the mass of settlers moving through the great plains and traveling through territory occupied by native American tribes, the government decided it would be in their best interest and the interests of the settlers to cut a deal with the native tribes to ensure that they would limit or prevent harassment of new settlers traveling through and allow safe passage for settlers through high risk lands.
* The government held a gathering and Fort Laramie, Wyoming
1. To this day, you can visit the historic Fort Laramie. It was an important stop on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails, as well as a staging point for various military excursions and treaty signings.
* In 1851 many of the great plains tribal chiefs were convinced by the government to sign a treaty to protect the settlers and allow for safe passage through tribal lands.
* The agreement allowed safe passage through the lands with the conditions that the settlers would not stop and attempt to seize tribal lands.
* The Problems Begin:
1. Although the intention of the treaty signing was good, a vast number or tribes did not sign the treaty and therefore did not agree to such terms and conditions.
2. The settlers were driving away migratory animals and buffalo which was a staple for many of the great plains tribes.
3. The settlers were disturbing the lands and using up natural resources and contaminating water sources
4. They brought new diseases from the East which ended up killing large swaths of native population through contact with settlers
5. Gold was discovered in the winter of 1858-1859 in Colorado which lay upon a portion of the tribal lands acknowledged as a no go area for settlers due to the treaty agreement; however, settlers began flooding the area in search for gold, all the while unregulated and therefore breaking the treaty conditions set forth by not settling on tribal lands.
6. The lands given to them expanse between modern day most of Eastern Colorado, to Western Kansas, South Eastern Wyoming, and South Western Nebraska
* These lands were designated as Cheyenne and Arapaho lands
7. Modern cities like Boulder and Denver, Colorado began as mining camps because of the gold that was found in the surrounding area
* The root of the problem began as the taking of tribal lands by the increasing amount of settlers in the area, breaching the original treaty the US government insisted upon.
1. Thus began a systematic problem of retaliation between settlers and tribal people. They began as small isolated incidents but over time the frequency and aggressive nature of the retaliation started the slow boil which would eventually reach a critical point.
2. The US government was aware of this settling of the tribal lands and yet there was no plan prepared to alleviate problems and equip the people on both sides to coexist with one another
* In 1861 this new influx of settlers in Colorado put pressure on the government to find a way to extract more tribal lands thus providing more safety for the settlers; as well as, increase their likelihood of finding more natural resources through the settlers who were essentially on the front lines of excavating what the government was not able to do.
1. In a sense, there was a unspoken agreement between the settlers and the government for the settlers to act as contracted prospectors. Once the natural resources were discovered it provided incentive for the government to increase the lands acquisitions in those areas.
* In 1861, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs which was the government office overseeing the relationship with the Indian tribes
1. Was sent to negotiate a revised treaty
2. The treaty was signed at Fort Wise in 1861 was a treaty entered into between the United States and six chiefs of the Southern Cheyenne and four of the Southern Arapaho Indian tribes.
3. These chiefs were convinced to give up most of their lands that had now been taken over by settlers
4. This was over 90% of their lands they were relinquishing and were accepting terms to settle on a reserve in Eastern Colorado.
5. Most of them understood that they were signing a treaty for peace but they didn’t know that the condition of peace was to giving up their lands.
6. Many of the other tribes who did not sign the treaty were out of their minds that the few tribes had made a blanket agreement with the US government giving up their lands.
7. The treaty was never approved by the Council of 44, Traditional Cheyenne society was organized into 10 major bands governed by a council of 44 chiefs and 7 military societies; the Dog Soldiers were the most powerful and aggressive of the military groups. There were also social, dance, medicine, and shamanistic societies; a given society was generally open to either male or female members but not to both.
* So as a Cheyenne and Arapaho Nation refused to abide by the terms of the new treaty because of how slanted and sacrificial it was.
* The settlers and US government said that because the treaty was signed and completed that the government now had legal ability to take the lands from the tribes and allow settlers to established wherever they pleased.
* Now you might be wandering what else was happening during this time between 1859 and 1861:
1. James Buchanan (D-Pennsylvania) was the president until March 4th, 1861
2. Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) is elected president March 4th, 1861
* January 3 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the Union.
* January 9 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union, preceding the American Civil War.
* January 10 – American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.
* January 11 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the Union.
* January 12 – American Civil War: Florida state troops demand surrender of Fort Pickens.[1]
* January 18 – American Civil War: Georgia secedes from the Union.
* January 21 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. Ordinance of Secession is ratified.
* January 26 – American Civil War: Louisiana secedes from the Union.
* January 29 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state (see History of Kansas).
* February 1 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the Union.
* February 4 – American Civil War: Delegates from six seceded states meet at the Montgomery Convention in Montgomery, Alabama.
* February 8 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America adopts the Provisional Confederate States Constitution.
* February 9 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is elected the Provisional President of the Confederate States of America by the Weed Convention at Montgomery, Alabama.
* February 11 – American Civil War: The U.S. House unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any state.
* February 18 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.
* February 23 – President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, D.C. after an assassination attempt in Baltimore.
* February 28 – Colorado Territory is organized.
* March 2 – Nevada Territory and Dakota Territory are organized.
* March 4
* Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as the 16th President of the United States.
* American Civil War: The Stars and Bars is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
* March 11 – American Civil War: The Confederate States Constitution is adopted.
* All of these things are taking place in the East and what happens, the politicians in Washington, especially James Buchanan, takes advantage of the chaos that is ensuing between the war effort, states leaving the union, slavery, and an assassination on president Lincoln’s life to acquire 90% of the Great Plains territories before he is removed from office.
1. And as we read prior both the Colorado, Nevada and Dakota territories are organized into the American territories in the beginning of 1861.
2. The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing before it’s too late and by then what’s done is done.
* The tension began increasing in 1863 because not enough provisions were given to the Indian tribes when all the best lands were taken and the settlers were butted up against the tribes.
1. The rubbing and the friction began to turn into a slow burn and sparks especially exacerbated by starvation and being taken advantage by new settlers.
2. If tribal members were found outside of the reservation boundaries they were freely allowed to be attacked or ransacked thus placing additional fuel to a potential explosion if the friction continued at such a frequent and alarming rte.
* In 1864, government contractors contracted to provide beef to the United States military for the civil war effort, claimed that unidentified Indians attacked and stole their cattle.
1. The local tribes denied the alleged accusation
2. Some historians believe that it’s possible that some of the herders lost the heads of cattle and decided to blame the shortage on the local Indian tribes to be made whole by the government for their carelessness
3. This was not an uncommon tactic for settlers or government contractors to claim knowing they had a high likelihood to be made whole or salvage potential losses from occurring throughout the territories.
4. The reality is that no one really knows what happened.
* What we know:
1. We do know that this was the event which triggers the first of two major hostilities against the settlers and Indian tribes living in the territories.
2. Some historians point to the skirmish at Freemont’s Orchard as the beginning of the 1864 Indian War in the Colorado Territory. While the incident was foreshadowing things to come, hostilities between Union Soldiers and the Native tribes had in reality been brewing ever since the 1862 Sioux uprising in Minnesota.
3. By April 1864, a full scale war was inevitable and many peaceful tribes and settlers would soon pay with their deaths.
4. The incident at Fremont’s Orchard in April 12, 1864 remains a subject of controversy, for both the Union Soldiers and tribes involved as to who initiated the fighting.
5. Fremont’s orchard was located a few miles north of Denver, Colorado mining camp and South East of Camp Collins in the Colorado Territory.
* Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies:
1. “The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Vol. XXXIV, Part I.
Page 883 Chapter XLVI. SKIRMISH NEAR FREMONT'S ORCHARD, COLO.
APRIL 12, 1864. - Skirmish near Fremont's Orchard, Colo.
REPORTS.
Numbers 1. - Captain George L. Sanborn, First Colorado Cavalry.
Numbers 2. - Lieutenant Clark Dunn, First Colorado Cavalry.
Numbers 1. Reports of Captain George L. Sanborn, First Colorado Cavalry.
CAMP SANBORN, April 12, 1864.
SIR: Receiving information from W. D. Ripley, of the Bijou, that the Indians had been taking stock and committing depredations on the
ranchmen on that creek, I this morning sent Lieutenant Dunn, with 40 men of Companies H and C, to recover the stock, also to take
from them their fire-arms and bring the depredators to this camp. This evening an expressman arrived from Lieutenant Dunn, who
states that after a hard ride they came up with a party of some 15 or 20 Indians, who, on seeing the soldiers approach, drew up in line
of battle and made all preparations for a fight, but finally sent forward one of their party to shake hands, and at the same time began to
drive their stock back into the bluffs. They soon all came up and wished to shake hands. Lieutenant Dunn then demanded the stock
and commenced disarming the Indians, when they turned and ran, turning and firing, wounding 4 of Lieutenant Dunn's party, 2
mortally and 2 severely. Lieutenant Dunn had previously divided his party, sending a part of them across the country to intercept the
Indians, and at the time of the skirmish had with him but 15 men. This much I have learned from the messenger verbally.
The skirmish occurred on the north side of the Platte, 3 miles below Fremont's Orchard. The Indians were going north. It will be well to
telegraph to Laramie that they may be ready, for this may be the signal of the uprising. Excuse my suggestion; will send an
expressman with further news as soon as we get it.
Lieutenant Dunn has just arrived and reports that none of the men were killed; several of the Indians were seen to fall from their
horses, but being freshly mounted, succeeded in getting them away, as the horses ridden by Lieutenant Dunn's men were tired by
their long hunt after the Indians, having traveled nearly 80 miles. Lieutenants Dunn and Chase will proceed in the morning on their
trail. I have sent for Gerry to act as guide, also to McWade to hurry forward our arms. These Indians were armed with a riffle, a Colt
revolver, and bows and arrows each, and were evidently on the war-path, as they did not talk anything but fight. Send down at least
8,000 more cartridges for the carbines for this command.
Major Downing was here when the information was received and fully concurs in the action taken.
I am, sir, in haste, yours, respectfully,
GEO. L. SANBORN,
Captain, First Colorado Cavalry, Commanding.
Colonel JOHN M. CHIVINGTON,
Commanding District of Colorado.
P. S. - Lieutenant Dunn says they represented themselves (the Indians) to be Cheyennes; they also had carbine pistols.
G. L. S.
2. Numbers 2. Report of Lieutenant Clark Dunn, First Colorado Cavalry.
CAMP SANBORN, Colo. Ten., April 18, 1864.
In pursuance of Special Orders, Numbers 9, dated headquarters Camp Sanborn, April 12, 1864, to take from the Indians stock
consisting of horses stolen by them from ranchmen in the vicinity of Camp Sanborn, & c., started at daylight, crossing the Platte,
dividing my command, and searching the bluffs on the south side a greater part of the day, till about 3 p. m. I discovered their trail
running in northwesterly direction toward the Platte River, when, about 4 p. m., on coming out of the sand hills, I discovered the Indians
on the north side of the river, evidently intending to steal a herd of horses and mules grazing near Fremont's Orchard, which belonged
to the quartermaster at Denver. Though during the day my command had marched about 75 miles over sandy hills, deep ravines, and
most of the time without water, the whole country being an arid waste, I immediately ordered the gallop and soon intercepted them
from the herd, when, upon approaching them, I discovered a herd of horses, which they detached men to drive into the sand hills
toward the north, and placed themselves in a threatening attitude. When near enough to speak to them, Mr. Ripley, a ranchman, who
had lost all the stock he had, and who had informed us of their depredations, said that they were the Indians, and pointing to the herd
said there was his stock. Feeling the great responsibility that was resting upon me, and not desiring to bring about an Indian was by
being the first aggressor, I dismounted, walked forward to meet their chief, and tried to obtain the stock without any resort to violence.
After requesting the chief to return the stock, who replied only by a scorn
Page 885 Chapter XLVI. EXPEDITION UP MATAGORDA BAY, TEX.
full laugh, I told him I would be compelled to disarm his party, at the same time reaching forward as if to take the arms from one of the
Indians, when they immediately commenced firing. I ordered my men to return the fire, and after a short time they fled, and I pursued
them about 15 miles, when, finding that my horses would soon be worthless in the pursuit, I started toward Camp Sanborn, which I
reached toward midnight, when, obtaining fresh horses and Mr. Gerry for a guide, whose experience for twenty-five years with the
Indians we deemed invaluable, I started again at daylight, following the trail till about noon, when it commenced storming violently,
snowing and blowing, till the hills appeared to be wrapped in one volume of dust; still I pursued the trail. Though before the storm it
had become almost obliterated, it now soon became totally so, when, being unable to discover any further indication of their course, by
the advice of my guide I turned toward, about sunset, and reached camp before daylight the next morning.
My command with me and engaged in the skirmish with the Indians numbered only 15 men, of whom 4 men were wounded, 2
mortally and 2 severely. My men were armed with the Whitney pistol, caliber.36, and sabers. The Indians were about 25 strong when
the skirmish commenced and were re-enforce by about 20 more. They were all well armed with rifles, navy and dragoon pistols, and
the carbine pistol, carrying an ounce ball, besides their bows and arrows. My men during the engagement behaved with great
coolness, and evinced a degree of courage deserving more than ordinary credit. If my horses had been fresh, I am confident that this
band would never again have troubled the settlers in this vicinity.
I have not yet been able to learn to what tribe these Indians belong, though their lances, shields, bows, and arrows which were left
upon the field are said by those most intimate with the Indians' character to be such as are used by the Cheyennes, though their
peculiar method of traveling is not at all like them. We omitted to mention that we killed some 8 or 10 of the Indians and wounded
about 12 or 15 more.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
CLARK DUNN,
Second Lieutenant, First Colorado Cavalry, Commanding Detach.
* The perspective of the Tribal Leaders of the Cheyenne
1. A group of Cheyenne warrior tribes, The Dog Soldiers, were on their way to raide their tribal enemy, The Crow Tribe, and on their way they found four stray mules.
2. That night a white settler approached the Dog Soldiers camp and said that those were his mules. They Cheyenne said they would return them but that they required a gift for having found them for him.
3. The settler refuses to give them a gift and upon not being able to acquire his alleged stolen mules, the settler approached his grievance to the Union soldiers stationed at Camp Collins.
4. Dunn demanded that the mules be given back
5. Dunn’s biggest mistake was trying to disarm the tribes by taking their rifles, pistols and native weapons away.
* This, from the tribes perspective was interpreted as an act of aggression.
6. There were rumors and fake reports being circulated by telegraph and print media outlets around the territory and throughout the Americas that these same Dog Soldiers attacked and killed the rancher who alleged had his mules stolen but under investigation there was no evidence to support this allegation.
7. These news outlets and rumor spreading was created to stir up excitement and hysteria to eventually gain enough political and popular public opinion to eventually pave the way for the Chivington Massacre.
* Enter John Evans
1. John Evans, (born March 9, 1814, Waynesville, Ohio, governor of Colorado Territory, 1862–65, founder of Northwestern University(Evanston, Ill.), physician, and railroad promoter.
2. A graduate of Lynn Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio (1838), Evans practiced medicine in Indiana, where he helped establish a state hospital for the insane and served as its first superintendent (Indianapolis, 1845–48). While serving as professor of obstetrics at Rush Medical College, Chicago (from 1848), he and Orrington Lunt founded Northwestern University (1851). He went to the Colorado Territory as its second governor in 1862. In 1864 he founded the Colorado Seminary (Methodist), which later became the University of Denver. The Denver Pacific, South Park, and Denver and New Orleans railways were organized and partly financed by Evans.
* Colorado Governor John Evans warns that all peaceful Indians in the region must report to the Sand Creek reservation or risk being attacked, creating the conditions that will lead to the infamous Sand Creek Massacre.
* Evans’ offer of sanctuary was at best halfhearted. His primary goal in 1864 was to eliminate all Native American activity in eastern Colorado Territory, an accomplishment he hoped would increase his popularity and eventually win him a U.S. Senate seat. Immediately after ordering the peaceful Indians to the reservation, Evans issued a second proclamation that invited white settlers to indiscriminately “kill and destroy all…hostile Indians.” At the same time, Evans began creating a temporary 100-day militia force to wage war on the Indians. He placed the new regiment under the command of Colonel John Chivington, another ambitious man who hoped to gain high political office by fighting Indians.
* The Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe Indians of eastern Colorado were unaware of these duplicitous political maneuverings. Although some bands had violently resisted white settlers in years past, by the autumn of 1864 many Indians were becoming more receptive to Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle’s argument that they must make peace. Black Kettle had recently returned from a visit to Washington, D.C., where President Abraham Lincoln had given him a huge American flag of which Black Kettle was very proud. He had seen the vast numbers of the white people and their powerful machines. The Indians, Black Kettle argued, must make peace or be crushed.
1. When word of Governor Evans’ June 24 offer of sanctuary reached the Indians, however, most of the Indians remained distrustful and were unwilling to give up the fight. Only Black Kettle and a few lesser chiefs took Evans up on his offer of amnesty. In truth, Evans and Chivington were reluctant to see hostilities further abate before they had won a glorious victory, but they grudgingly promised Black Kettle his people would be safe if they came to Fort Lyon in eastern Colorado. In November 1864, the Indians reported to the fort as requested. Major Edward Wynkoop, the commanding federal officer, told Black Kettle to settle his band about 40 miles away on Sand Creek, where he promised they would be safe.
2. Wynkoop, however, could not control John Chivington. By November, the 100-day enlistment of the soldiers in his Colorado militia was nearly up, and Chivington had seen no action. His political stock was rapidly falling, and he seems to have become almost insane in his desire to kill Indians. “I long to be wading in gore!” he is said to have proclaimed at a dinner party. In this demented state, Chivington apparently concluded that it did not matter whether he killed peaceful or hostile Indians. In his mind, Black Kettle’s village on Sand Creek became a legitimate and easy target.
3. At daybreak on November 29, 1864, Chivington led 700 men, many of them drunk, in a savage assault on Black Kettle’s peaceful village. Most of the Cheyenne warriors were away hunting. In the awful hours that followed, Chivington and his men brutally slaughtered 105 women and children and killed 28 men. The soldiers scalped and mutilated the corpses, carrying body parts back to display in Denver as trophies. Amazingly, Black Kettle and a number of other Cheyenne managed to escape.
4. In the following months, the nation learned of Chivington’s treachery at Sand Creek, and many Americans reacted with horror and disgust. By then, Chivington and his soldiers had left the military and were beyond reach of a court-martial. Chivington’s political ambitions, however, were ruined, and he spent the rest of his inconsequential life wandering the West. The scandal over Sand Creek also forced Evans to resign and dashed his hopes of holding political office. Evans did, however, go on to a successful and lucrative career building and operating Colorado railroads.
So what does all this have to do with the price of tea in China, you might be asking?
* Fear and Hysteria lead to life-changing decisions
* We are witnessing this similar sort of hysteria and cultural public opinion being shoved down our throats by the mainstream media and radical political parties and politicians.
* The push for gun control in America is being fueled by fear, hatred, shootings in public places
* And ultimately, it is my view that these same tactics used by individuals like John Evans to strip and exterminate the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes during the Sand Creek Massacre will be the same tactics used to disarm law abiding citizens across the country and ultimately strip Americans of their individual freedoms and freedom of religion.
Mark my words:
* If the weapons we have now are successfully stripped from us just like they were stripped from the Cheyenne and the Arapaho tribes the next phase of the plan will, in fact be, stripping people of their freedoms of speech and religion for the sake of a more peaceful society with the promise of protection. The very same promise made to these tribes of the Sand Creek Massacre.
* And because of Sand Creek we can now be aware of how something within a culture can generate increasing friction among differing people groups, rumors can be spread to increase popular opinion of events, and percolate individuals seeking to better their political aims to the point where they are actively seeking the appropriate opportunity to assimilate their version of a world view to the ret of society and actively engage in stripping the land and rights away from individuals who have come into that people groups crosshairs.
* We have reached a point in our American society that has friction at every edge. Whether is be the right to keep and bare arms, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, the right for our viewpoints to be heard, and the right to worship Jesus Christ.
* Just by publishing this podcast I’m putting a target on my back by those who have a differing viewpoint.
* We have to realize that we are seeing first-hand the effects of fake news, outrage culture, gender and sexual identification and qualification and the right to have a differing viewpoint in social media but if you decide to share that viewpoint openly you are attacked; verbally or sometimes physically and in most cases labeled as a bigot, a racist, homophobic , a conspiracy theorist, or a radical.