The Cheyennes dutifully encamped at Sand
Creek as requested. As a further sign of sub-
mission, Black Kettle flew a large American
flag and a white flag over his tent in friend-
ship. However, Chivington, a bible-thumping
Indian hater, had intended to attack the tribe
all along. On the morning of November 29,
1864, his Colorado militia came streaming out
of the nearby woods, guns blazing. Black Ket-
tle, convinced the assault was a mistake, con-
tinued waving the American flag until his wife
was shot down beside him. Leaving her for
dead, he narrowly escaped as the soldiers
mercilessly shot and bayoneted every inhabi-
tant of the camp they encountered. By the
time they finished, more than 200 Cheyenne—
men, women, and children alike—had been
murdered. Chivington had thus chastised the
Indians, but white settlers would pay heavily
for his indiscretion. Once word of the Sand
Creek Massacre filtered back to other tribes,
they went on a vengeful rampage across the
Southern Plains, killing hundreds. It was not
until 1867 that peace could be restored with
the vengeful Cheyenne Dog Soldiers.
Black Kettle secretly returned to camp that
night to secure his wife’s body, only to dis-
cover her still alive. Chivington’s men had
vengefully shot her nine times—but she sur-
vived. Such wanton brutality would have
hardened the hearts of most men, but Black
Kettle remained determined to fulfill his role
as peace chief. When the American govern-
ment eventually came forward with an apol-
ogy and reparations, he readily embraced the
possible end to hostilities. “My shame is as big
as the earth,” he told treaty commissioners.
“Although wrongs have been done me I live in
hopes.” But Black Kettle took this stance at
extreme danger to his life, for the Dog Sol-
diers despised whites more than ever and
considered him a traitor. At one point 300 of
these restless, young warriors surrounded his
lodge and threatened to steal his horses as a
sign of contempt. Nevertheless, Black Kettle
prevailed, and a new treaty was concluded in
October 1867. Peace had been restored, but
the Cheyennes were also required to surren-
der their traditional hunting grounds for relo-
cation to new homes in Kansas.
For nearly a year an uneasy truce prevailed
between the whites and Indians, but in the
wake of a railroad being built through prime
buffalo land—a violation of the treaty—minor
skirmishes escalated into open warfare by- This time, the Cheyennes faced a deter-
mined, three-pronged offensive led by Gen.
Philip H. Sheridan, who was determined to
break the spirit of the Plains Indians once and
for all. Realizing he could not control the Dog
Soldiers, Black Kettle hastily relocated his
band near Fort Cobb and sought assurances
from the local commander that they would
not be attacked. This was given, and Black
Kettle settled his people along the neighbor-
ing Washita River to await the outcome of
events. On November 27, 1868, the Cheyenne
camp was discovered by a cavalry column
under Col. George A. Custer. That officer,
fresh from a successful Civil War career and
eager to garner new laurels as an Indian
fighter, hastily launched an attack on the set-
tlement without pausing to ascertain whether
or not these Cheyennes were hostile. Black
Kettle, surprised for a second time, desper-
ately rode out to parley with the soldiers, but
he and his wife were shot down and killed. By
the time the rampaging ceased, the camp had
been destroyed and 100 Indians, mostly
women and children, were dead. Custer won
his victory and was publicly applauded by
Sheridan. But Black Kettle, to his lasting repu-
tation, died unyielding to the notion of peace-
ful coexistence.
Bibliography
Berthong, Donald J. The Southern Cheyenne.Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1963; Epple, Jess C.
Custer’s Battle of the Washita and a History of the
Plains Indian Tribes.New York: Exposition Press,
1970; Gage, Duane. “Black Kettle: A Noble Savage?”
Chronicles of Oklahoma45 (1967): 244–251; Hoig,
Stan. The Battle of the Washita: The Sheridan-
Custer Campaign of 1867–69.Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, 1976; Hoig, Stan.The Peace Chiefs of theBLACKKETTLE