committee’s final report is a scathing indictment of
the conduct of the soldiers responsible, reserving
particularly harsh words for their commander, Colo-
nel John M. Chivington. Although the committee
recommends that Chivington and his troops be pun-
ished, no action will ever be taken against them.
January to February
Plains Indians avenge the Sand Creek
Massacre.
News of the Sand Creek Massacre (see entry for
NOVEMBER 29, 1864) spreads through the Plains,
leading to a new rash of violence. Lakota Sioux,
Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors attack whites along
the South Platte River, raiding livestock herds, char-
ring wagon trains, and sacking the Colorado town of
Julesburg twice. Despite their ferocity, most of the
Indians soon decide to abandon the confrontations
with whites and move to live with northern kin.
Spring
Thousands of U.S. troops are sent to
the Plains.
Prompted by the violent attacks by Plains Indians
early in the year (see entry for JANUARY TO FEB-
RUARY 1864), the United States launches a massive
offensive led by General John Pope, one of the most
ardent supporters of a military solution to unrest on
the Plains. Under his command, more than 6,000
troops are sent into the area to protect trade and
travel routes from Indian warriors. The campaign
will later be deemed a failure: The soldiers prove
difficult to manage, their provisions are hugely
expensive to purchase and transport, and many
troops, exhausted from fighting the Civil War, des-
ert their posts.
Spring
Henry Berry Lowry heads a band of
Lumbee outlaws.
As the Confederacy faces defeat, the already tense
relationship between whites and Lumbee Indians
in Robeson County, North Carolina, turns violent.
After a group of whites kills his father and brother,
a Lumbee named Henry Berry Lowry leads a small
band of relatives and friends in looting and killing
to avenge their deaths. Lowry’s spree will continue
for 10 years, during which he will kill or drive from
the county all of his kinsmen’s murderers. Never
captured or killed by his pursuers, Lowry will be-
come a revered folk hero among the Lumbee.April 9Seneca Ely S. Parker records the
Appomattox surrender.
As the military secretary to General Ulysses S.
Grant, Ely S. Parker, a Seneca lawyer and engineer,
is present at the Appomattox Court House when
the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, rep-
resented by General Robert E. Lee, surrenders to
the Union, thus ending the Civil War. Parker is
entrusted with writing out the final copies of the
surrender terms. Introduced to Parker, Lee quips,
“I’m glad to see one real American.” Parker replies,
“We are all Americans.” (See also entries for 1869
and 1871.)June 23Cherokee general Stand Watie surrenders.
Two months after the surrender of Robert E. Lee,
Cherokee leader Stand Watie becomes the last Con-
federate general to surrender to the United States.
The only Indian to attain the rank of general in
the Confederate army, Watie had been in charge of
protecting the Cherokee Nation from invasion by
Union troops (see entry for SUMMER 1862).July 14The Civil War ends in Indian Territory.
With the surrender of the Cherokee and Caddo,
the Civil War ends in Indian Territory. The war has
taken a tremendous toll on the Indians of the re-
gion. Among the Confederate-allied tribes, as many
as 10,000 people have been killed. Hardest hit have