Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle
by Linda Wommack

A monthly history
column
November 2000

About the author

Linda Wommack
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Linda Wommack is a Colorado native, and has enjoyed Colorado History since childhood. A distant relative to Bob Womack, of Cripple Creek gold fame, Linda has written of early Colorado history across the state in publications for the past ten years, and spends much of her time giving speeches and tours throughout Colorado, and also reviews books of historical nature for local and national publications.

Her most recent project, completing three years of research, is her fourth book, Published in the Fall of 1998, with an astonishing reprint in March of 1999, by Caxton Press.

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Other books
by Linda Wommack

Colorado History
For Kids

Written in 1992, this book has been recommended two years in a row by the National Teachers Association as the history book of choice for the state of Colorado. It is currently in it's 5th printing.

Wommack's first book, Colorado Gambling: A History of the Early Days, was published in conjunction with legalized gambling, in 1991.

Cripple Creek Tailings
A Centennial Reading, 1891-1991

Cripple Creek Tailings

As Black Kettle rode in solitude across the wind blown prairie of Eastern Colorado, his expression revealed the concern and worry of the elder Indian chief. In the crisp autumn air of 1864, Black Kettle reflected on the bloody summer which had witnessed terror and murder across the plains. Roving bands of young Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors had raided eastern Colorado and western Kansas, causing alarm and rage with the white settlers. Finally, Territorial Governor, John Evans called for a military militia to end the Indian problem. The influential press, led by William N. Byers of the Denver Rocky Mountain News, called for the immediate extinction of the Cheyenne. Falling to the pressure, Governor Evans enlisted Colonel John M. Chivington to organize the 100 Day Volunteers. Governor Evans further issued orders to all Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians to lay down their arms, release their hostages, and return to the lands as set forth in the Treaty of 1861.

Black Kettle knew from experience this new militia would set out on a full-scale war and would not relent, even to the peace-seeking Black Kettle and his Cheyenne people. Among the Indian tribes of the plains, Black Kettle was widely respected as a fierce adversary of the Pawnee and Kiowa, yet he believed in peace with the white man. In 1861 he had signed the peace treaty at Fort Wise, promising to remain in the vicinity of the Arkansas River and not to interfere with the emigrants along the Smoky Hill Trail. In 1863, he and Lean Bear had traveled to Washington, D.C. to see the Great White Father, President Abraham Lincoln. It quite possibly could have been during this visit that Black Kettle realized the great magnitude of the white population, and realized that all-out warfare with the white man would mean the annihilation of his own people.

For the next three years, the Indians began to complain that the dry lands near the Arkansas River held little wild life and the white settlers removed much of the timber in the area. The prime buffalo hunting grounds near the foothills were now lost to the Indians, being accessed by the migration of gold seekers. In short, Black Kettles people were not only facing a surge of miners, also an increasing number of homesteaders on the plains, as promoter, William N. Byers and his Rocky Mountain News helped to bring agricultural development to the Colorado Territory. The young Cheyenne warriors refused to obey the Treaty of Fort Wise and launched raids among the white people, running off livestock, disabling mail routes and destroying freight carriers, causing major supply shortages in Denver and elsewhere. The raids culminated with the murder of the Nathan Hungate family thirty miles south of Denver. When the scalped and horribly mutilated bodies were brought to Denver and displayed before the public, mass hysteria gripped the town and the entire territory.

Governor Evans issued a general proclamation dispatched to the Indian camps by messengers, ordering all peaceful Indians to assemble at Fort Lyon. Those Indians who did not comply with the order would be killed. The order authorized the citizens of Colorado Territory to go in pursuit of all hostile Indians of the plains... kill and destroy, as enemies of the country, wherever the Indians may be found. Colonel Chivington responded in kind. In a Denver speech, in August of 1864, Chivington is quoted as saying, ...kill and scalp all, little and big... nits make lice. He was applauded, and the phrase became the slogan among his fighting regiment.

When Black Kettle responded to the governors demands at Fort Lyon, Major Scott J. Anthony instructed Black Kettle and White Antelope to move their people to Sand Creek, some forty miles from the fort. Anthony told Black Kettle his people would be safe and the game would be more plentiful. Anthony even presented a white flag to Black Kettle, a sign of his intentions to protect the Indians.

Now, as Black Kettle gravely rode toward his camp, his mind was filled with events of the past summer and worry over the coming winter. When the winds brought the snow, would there be enough game to feed his people, and timber to warm the teepees?

On the early morning of November 29, 1864, Chivingtons troops, led by the old mountain man, Jim Beckwourth, moved into position near Black Kettles camp along Sand Creek. They were soon joined by over a hundred men of the Colorado First Regiment, followed by troops from Fort Lyon, led by Major Anthony. Rounding out the armed troops were four twin-gun howitzers. A hasty camp was made amid the two-foot snow drifts. No fire burned as the troopers hunkered down to a quick meal of maggot-infested hardtack. The men were tired, saddle sore, cold, nervous, and hungry.

Camped in the ravine were some six hundred Indians, primarily women and children, along with Lone Bear, White Antelope, Left Hand and Black Kettle. Chivington knew where Black Kettles village was. Chivington, along with Governor Evans and Major Anthony had sent them there. He knew they were friendly and would not suspect a thing. He knew his force was larger, better armed and better equipped. Chivington, in all probability, planned his attack back in September, when Anthony told Black Kettle where to take his people. In this way, the forces at Fort Lyon would keep an eye on the Indians. In any case, Major Anthony had done his part; for better or worse. A victory would put Chivington in the forefront of any political ambitions he may have had. The mass hysteria of Denver, and favorable coverage by the Rocky Mountain News, supported any action Chivington was about to take.

The attack came at dawn. Take no prisoners, Chivington ordered, adding his own slogan, nits make lice. The attack lasted over eight hours, becoming one of the worst acts of savagery that exists in records of Colorado history. When the first shots were fired by the troops, less than a hundred warriors ran up the creek bed and hastily dug pits to established a line of defense. As a military operation, the battle was a horrible bungle. The surprised warriors, ill-armed, managed to hold their own and keep the soldiers at bay for nearly eight hours. Meanwhile, nearly five hundred Indians managed to escape across the prairie, including Black Kettle. Command was lost early in the day, fighting was confused, as soldiers were caught in their own crossfire.

Those Indians who could not flee the bloody insanity, died on the spot. Eye-witness testimony estimated the number just under two hundred, while Chivington would boast six hundred hostiles killed. Two thirds of the dead were women and children. White Antelope was among the first killed in the military fire. Once the firing began, he left his lodge with arms extended, in the traditional sign of peace. He was shot down in a single round of fire.

Black Kettle immediately flew the American flag, as well as the white flag given him by Major Anthony. The sign of peace ignored, the military onslaught continued. Black Kettle eventually took his wife and fled toward the prairie. His wife was shot, and as troopers rode near, they put eight more bullets in her body. Black Kettle returned for his wife, and seeing her alive, threw her over his shoulder and ran. He later extracted the bullets, and his wife lived.

A three-old Indian toddler, perfectly naked, toddled out toward the dry creek bed. Three troopers dismounted some seventy yards from the child, and assumed the cavalry kneeling position for fire. One carbine shot hit the sand at the childs feet. Let me try... the second trooper demanded. He also missed. Hell, spat the third trooper, as he raised his carbine and fired. The child dropped in the sand. One nit that would never become lice.

By late afternoon the battle was over, and Chivington would receive a heros welcome in Denver. The Rocky Mountain News reported ...all Cheyenne chiefs, Black Kettle, White Antelope, Little Robe, Left Hand, Knock Knee, and One Eye were killed. In no single battle in North America, we believe, have so many Indians been slain. Colorado soldiers have again covered themselves with glory. The news account, obviously erroneous, would also prove to be disingenuous.

It would be three years before a Congressional inquest would renounce Chivington and his actions. The hearing, lasting seventy-two days, left the government repudiating Chivingtons actions and labeled the episode as a massacre that ...scarcely had its parallel in the records of Indian barbarity. (Joint Committee on the Conduct of War, 38th Congress, Washington, D.C.)

In the meantime, the Cheyenne and Arapaho would again raid and pillage during most of 1865, in retaliation of the massacre at Sand Creek. Black Kettle was not among them. While he was widely blamed for the massacre by his own people, he continued to work for peace and asked his people not to retaliate. In 1867, Black Kettle signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge. Promising peace, the Indians gave up their land along the Arkansas River, in exchange, receiving land on the Indian reservation in todays Oklahoma. Promises of provisions were not kept by the army and the government. The following summer a young Cheyenne, Roman Nose, led a series of attacks on farmers and white settlers, despite Black Kettles peace agreement.

By the autumn of 1868, a forlorn and defeated Black Kettle settled with some two thousand warriors in the valley of the Washita River in Indian Territory. Black Kettle instructed his people to live in peace with the White man. As autumn settled into winter, Black Kettle again wondered what the cold months would bring to his people.

An Indian War campaign was launched in November of 1868. Led by George Armstrong Custer, the military militia, hampered by a severe snowstorm, moved toward the Washita River. Eager for an Indian fight, it mattered not to Custer that the camp he located was peaceful and on government Indian land. On the morning of November 27, 1868, almost four years to the day of the Sand Creek Massacre, Custer ordered his men to open fire on the sleepy Indian village. The slaughter of innocent Indians was completed by 10 a.m..

The ever-boastful Custer later reported over a hundred Indians killed, the capture of women and children, and much destruction.

Among those killed were Black Kettle and his wife, Maiyuna. Again, Black Kettle witnessed the slaughter of his people before finally fleeing by horseback with his wife. They were shot dead and fell on the bank of the river.

On the Washita, the Cheyenne hope of peace and independence died along with their people. Black Kettle the man, the Indian chief, the advocate of peace, died at the hands of those he trusted, sought peace with, and believed in.

Copyright © 2000 Linda Wommack. All rights reserved