150 Years Later, Two Universities Answer for Their Founder's Role in the Sand Creek Massacre
Published on Friday, June 12, 2015
by YES! Magazine
150 Years Later, Two Universities Answer for Their Founder's Role in the Sand Creek Massacre
Under pressure from students and community members, Northwestern University and University of Denver take the first steps towards righting historic wrongs.
by Ned Blackhawk
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Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. (Photo: Jessica Lamirand/flickr/cc)
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November 29, 2014, was the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre, one of the most violent days in American Indian history. On that fateful morning, a force of American cavalry officers, led by Colonel John Chivington, and settler militia forces mounted an attack in southeastern Colorado. Through the day, into the night, and again the next morning, nearly 700 soldiers raped, mutilated, and killed peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians allied under the leadership of Black Kettle. Accounts at the time noted the brutality of the attack, with soldiers taking scalps and body parts as trophies. At least 163 community members perished, accelerating a process of ethnic cleansing that ultimately cleared all equestrian Indians from the eastern half of the state. A territory that held few English-speaking communities in 1850 would, by 1870, become dominated by them.
In the lead-up to the 150th anniversary, both Northwestern University and the University of Denver issued detailed reports on Sand Creek. Those investigations were inspired by the demands of students and community members that the universities examine the role of John Evans, Colorado’s second governor. Evans helped found Northwestern before moving to Colorado, where he subsequently founded the University of Denver.
Evans had ordered the recruitment of his territory’s volunteer militia and had fanned the flames of racial hatred in the region beforehand. A Methodist doctor from Illinois, Evans became territorial governor shortly after the election of his close friend Abraham Lincoln, whose administration worked to expand the Republican Party’s influence in the West. Evans had hoped to bring the Colorado Territory into the Union as a free state, and the University of Denver became one of the first universities established in the West. His name figures prominently across each institution as well as their respective metropolitan areas. Northwestern has the John Evans Alumni Center. Endowed professorships carry his name. Evanston, Illinois, home of Northwestern, as well as Colorado’s Mt. Evans are named after him.
Both universities lack Native American Studies programs, which may partly explain why they were so unprepared for student and community concerns. Neither institution had ever recognized Evans’ involvement with the massacre. University leaders were unaware of their founder’s ties to Native American massacre and dispossession, and few American Indian history or studies courses have ever been offered at either school.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/06/12/150-years-later-two-universities-answer-their-founders-role-sand-creek-massacre
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Carol Berry
A carrier of the eagle staff for the annual Sand Creek Massacre Memorial Run in 2013 took a moment to reflect at the
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site near Eads, Colorado, where ceremony was conducted before young
runners started out on their three-day journey to the state capitol.
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6 More Insights Into the People and Times of the Sand Creek Massacre
Konnie LeMay
11/27/14
This month, 150 years ago, more than 600 troops—temporary militia in the Third Colorado Cavalry and professional soldiers in the First Colorado Cavalry—converged above the camps of mainly Cheyenne and Arapaho people beside Sand Creek in the Colorado Territory. In the quiet, slightly snow-sprinkled morning, the troops executed the most horrifying massacre of as many as 200 people—mainly women, children and elder men. This inhuman killing and subsequent mutilation of even children’s bodies happened at the location where chiefs—Black Kettle, White Antelope, Left Hand and others—were sent to await word on peace negotiations with the U.S. military and Colorado government.
Immediately afterward, Col. John Chivington, leader of the unprovoked attack, extolled the “battle” to his superiors, but it soon became evident through letters of other officers and the bloody scene itself that this was nothing less than mass murder, a finding confirmed by federal investigations. The massacre outraged even some of the Civil War-hardened politicians and military men of the time and it likely set in motion the years-long wars between tribes and the U.S. government that followed. Trust had been broken beyond repair, making peaceful negotiations between the clashing cultures more difficult. In remembrance of this event, here are six selected insights into the times and short introductions to some key people involved.
Capt. Silas Soule Tried to Stop the Attack
Capt. Silas Soule, who refused to attack the people at Sand Creek, actually tried to stop the massacre in advance. Days before November 29, Soule encountered Col. John Chivington and the hundred-days men while on patrol. Chivington asked about the Sand Creek camp and Soule reminded him that these chiefs and their people were sent there after peace discussions with the colonel himself. Hearing conversations about Chivington’s men, Soule recognized their murderous intentions.
He first approached officers, chiding anyone who would take part in an attack on a peaceful community as “cowardly sons of bitches,” but some officers reported him to Chivington. He next approached Maj. Scott Anthony, the military head of the region who had assured Chief Black Kettle that he would continue protection given by his predecessor, Maj. Ned Wynkoop. Rather than helping to stop the attack, Anthony told Soule that he was only bidding time until he could gather a large enough force to kill all the Indians.
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Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle survived one massacre only to become the victim of another. (Oklahoma Historical Society)
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Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/11/27/6-more-insights-people-and-times-sand-creek-massacre-158017
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Sand Creek Massacre
The Sand Creek Massacre summary: On November 29, 1864, seven hundred members of the Colorado Territory militia embarked on an attack of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian villages. The militia was led by U.S. Army Col. John Chivington, a Methodist preacher, as well as a freemason. After a night of heavy drinking by the soldiers, Chivington ordered the massacre of the Indians. Over two-thirds of the slaughtered and maimed were women and children. This atrocity has been known as the Sand Creek Massacre ever since.
For years, the United States had been engaged in conflict with several Indian tribes over territory. The Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 had given the Indians extensive territory, but the Pikes Peak gold rush in 1858 and other factors had persuaded the U.S. to renegotiate the terms of the treaty. In 1861, the Treaty of Fort Wise was signed by Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs. The treaty took from the Indians much of the land given to them by the earlier treaty, reducing the size of their reservation land to about 1/13th of the original amount.
Although the peace seeking chiefs signed the treaty to ensure the safety of their people, not all of the tribes were happy with the decision. In particular, a group of Indians known as the Dog Soldiers, made up of Cheyenne and Lakota, were vehemently opposed to having white settlers on what the Indians still referred to as their land.
In 1864, a group of Civil War soldiers under commander Colonel John Chivington, with the blessing of Colorado governor John Evans, began to attack several Cheyanne camps in Colorado. Another attack on Cheyanne camps occurred in Kansas by forces under the command of Lieutenant George S. Eayre. The Cheyanne retaliated for the attack, furthering the aggression of the U.S. forces.
More:
http://www.historynet.com/sand-creek-massacre
