P
southeastern Colorado Territory, Black Kettle of
the Southern Cheyenne accompanies Wynkoop
to Camp Weld in Denver. There he meets with
Colonel John M. Chivington and John Evans,
the territory’s military commander and gover-
nor. After hours of debate, Chivington tells Black
Kettle that the only way his followers can live in
peace is by surrendering to Wynkoop at Fort Lyon.
Black Kettle leaves the meeting believing that
the territorial officials have promised not to at-
tack his people as long as they camp close to the
fort. Neither Chivington nor Evans, however,
are interested in a peaceful coexistence between
Colorado whites and the Southern Cheyenne.
Politically ambitious, both are sensitive to pub-
lic pressure to drive the Indians from the territory
(see entry for AUGUST 13, 1864). On the very day
of his meeting with Black Kettle, Evans writes
General Samuel R. Curtis, “I want no peace til
the Indians suffer more.”
November 25
Kit Carson’s troops attack Comanche and
Kiowa at Adobe Walls.
The First New Mexico Cavalry, led by Colonel
Christopher “Kit” Carson, descends on a winter
camp of Kiowa, who have been threatening forts
in present-day New Mexico. Hearing of the attack,
several thousand Kiowa and Comanche in the area
rush to join the battle. Armed with two howitzers,
the soldiers hold off the Indian forces and manage
to kill some 100 warriors before retreating the next
day. (See also entry for JUNE 17, 1874.)
November 29
The Colorado cavalry murders hundreds of
Indians in the Sand Creek Massacre.
At dawn, led by Colonel John M. Chivington, the
700 soldiers of the Third Colorado Cavalry (see
entry for AUGUST 13, 1864) ride into the camp
of Black Kettle’s Southern Cheyenne followers on
the Sand Creek near Fort Lyon. Based on conver-
sations with the territorial governor two months
earlier, Black Kettle believes he has established a
peace with the United States (see entry for SEP-
TEMBER 28, 1864). Accordingly, an American
flag and a white flag of surrender are raised on a
pole outside his tipi.
Angry that they have been castigated in the
press as the “Bloodless Third” for not battling
the Colorado Indians, the cavalrymen ignore the
promises made to Black Kettle and open fire on
the camp, determined to take no prisoners. As
the Southern Cheyenne and visiting Southern
Arapaho emerge from their tipis, the troops mow
them down. Southern Cheyenne leader White
Antelope, wearing a peace medal given to him by
President Abraham Lincoln, is among the first to
be killed. Those who survive the cavalry’s initial
attack rush toward the sandy creekbed, where
they frantically try to cover themselves with sand
to evade the relentless killers. Hours later, when
the cavalry rides away, approximately 200 Indi-
ans, two-thirds of them women and children, lie
dead. Many of the corpses are scalped or other-
wise grotesquely mutilated.“That night will never be forgot-
ten as long as any of us who went
through it are alive.... Many
who had lost wives, husbands,
and children, or friends, went
back down the creek and crept
over the battleground among
the naked and mutilated bod-
ies of the dead. Few were found
alive, for the soldiers had done
their work thoroughly.”
—Southern Cheyenne George
Bent on the Sand Creek MassacreWhen news of the massacre is reported, non-
Indians in the area—terrified by the violent raids of