Sand Creek Massacre: Black Kettle and Left Hand (and a Giveaway)

Across the last several months, I’ve shared the history of The Sand Creek Massacre, as well as further details of some of the historical figures in my latest release—Sand Creek Serenade. Today, I’m sharing the last two historical figures—the Native American chiefs.

Black Kettle—Chief of the Southern Cheyenne

Chief Black Kettle

Around 1803, Black Kettle was born in the Black Hills of what is now South Dakota. He was originally from the Northern Cheyenne tribe but married into the Southern band where he rose to prominence. It is hard to know what his young life was like since Native American culture didn’t keep written records. It isn’t until the late 1840s or early 1850s when Black Kettle’s life was first chronicled.

In 1851, a peace treaty between the United States and eight Native American Indian tribes was signed. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 guaranteed that the Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Crow, Hidatsa, Mandan, and Sioux Nations would be given a large parcel of land, broken down into specific territories for each group, and they would receive a $50,000 annuity from the American government across the next 50 years. In return, the tribes would allow the government to build forts in their territory, allow settlers to travel the Oregon Trail unmolested, and other such arrangements. It also guaranteed peace between the eight tribes, as some were known to war between themselves.

Territory Map of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851

The treaty did its job for a short time, but by 1859, gold was discovered in the Pike’s Peak region of Colorado, and white settlers came in droves through the treaty lands in order to reach the newest goldfields. The gold seekers traipsed over Native American lands, they hunted the tribes’ game, they used their water, with no thought to the treaty or its promises. As you might expect, the tribes grew angry until finally, violence broke out. For a few years, the Indians raided settlements and wagon trains, and whites retaliated in kind. 

However, not all Indians sought violence. Black Kettle, by now a chief in the Southern Cheyenne band, had the foresight to see that nothing would stop the white man from coming, and the only hope of his people’s survival was to find ways to make peace. So came the Treaty of Fort Wise in 1861, which faltered quickly. He made his next move in 1864. Knowing that the Northern Cheyenne and some other bands of the Southern Cheyenne tribe had taken seven white captives, he approached Major Wynkoop at Fort Lyon with a proposal. He would broker the release of the white captives in exchange for further peace talks. If you’ve been following my series of blog posts these last several months, you know what happened. Wynkoop took Black Kettle and other chiefs to Denver to negotiate peace with the territorial governor and Colonel John Chivington. They were promised peace but told to camp along the banks of Sand Creek and wait for the army to come with final word of the peace agreement…and at dawn on November 29, 1864, the Army attacked a sleeping village who’d done nothing but hope for better times.

So what happened to Black Kettle in and after the massacre? During the massacre, he frantically called for his people to come to his tent and stand under the American flag and white flag in a show of surrender. The Army was not interested in their surrender that day, and very soon, everyone ran. Black Kettle and his wife raced for the river, but she was shot nine times in the attempt. Despite her injuries, both survived.

After the massacre, Black Kettle lost much respect among his people. He continued to advocate for peace, but other Cheyenne factions sought war. The militant parties got their wish. War erupted between the Cheyenne and whites. Black Kettle attempted to sign the Medicine Lodge Treaty in 1867, but this again led to his people losing land and being forced to move to Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma), which only further angered them. Tiring of the raids and battles, the Army stepped in. On November 27, 1868, almost exactly four years after the Sand Creek Massacre, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s 7^thCavalry attacked Black Kettle’s camp at dawn along the banks of the Washita River. This time, both Black Kettle and his wife were killed as they fled for safety.

Left Hand—Chief of the Arapaho Tribe

Chief Left Hand

Chief Niwot, or Left Hand, of the Southern Arapaho tribe, was born around 1825 near modern-day Boulder, Colorado. Just as the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush began in 1859, he and some of his fellow tribesmen came across one of the early settlers to the area. Left Hand greeted them in a friendly manner, but quickly told them to leave, that they were in traditional Arapaho lands. Stories vary on how that situation truly played out, but they all agree that tensions ran high for days between the two groups. However, one of the Arapaho shamans had a dream in which he saw a great flood cover the earth and sweep away the Arapaho people while the white men remained. Left Hand astutely interpreted the dream to mean that a flood of white men was coming and to survive it, the Arapaho must seek peace with them.

Left Hand sold out to peace then. He did all he could to learn English and other languages of the White Man. He went out of his way to greet the incoming settlers and extend friendship. And the settlers showed their appreciation with gifts, as well as naming counties and streets after the tribe.

But as we well know by now, that peace didn’t last. Just as with the Cheyenne tribe above, tensions grew. Communications degraded. Promises were broken. And in retaliation for the whites encroaching too much on their territory and way of life, the more warlike factions started raiding.

When Left Hand’s Cheyenne friend, Black Kettle, approached Major Wynkoop with the idea of peace, Left Hand was quick to agree that his people also wanted it. He participated in the peace talks in Denver and camped at Sand Creek when the army and the territorial governor said a treaty was coming.

When the massacre began on that fateful November morning, Left Hand raced from his lodge to see the attack in full swing. He was so set on peace that he would not lift a hand against the soldiers to defend himself or anyone else. Instead, he held his head high, sang his death song, and died at the hands of the Army who’d falsely promised peace…

It’s Your Turn: Both Black Kettle and Left Hand believed so strongly in peace with the White Man that they risked ridicule by their tribes and lost favor in the eyes of their people. In your opinion, were they visionaries seeing a future of peace with the incoming culture, or were they foolish for holding out for peace when they’d seen so many treaties break down already? Leave your email address along with your answer to be entered in a drawing for an autographed paperback copy of Sand Creek Serenade.

Jennifer Uhlarikdiscovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Now Available

Sand Creek Serenade

Dr. Sadie Hoppner is no stranger to adversity. She’s fought to be taken seriously since childhood when her father began training her in the healing arts. Finding acceptance and respect proves especially difficult at Fort Lyon, where she’s come to practice medicine under her brother’s watchful eye.

Cheyenne brave Five Kills wouldn’t knowingly jeopardize the peace treaty recently negotiated between his people and the Army. But a chance encounter with the female doctor ignites memories of his upbringing among the whites. Too intrigued to stay away, tension erupts with the soldiers, and Five Kills is injured.

As he recuperates under the tender care of the pretty healer, an unlikely bond forms. However, their fledgling love is put to the test when each realizes that a much greater danger awaits—a danger they are wholly unable to stop and one which neither may survive.

Sand Creek Massacre: Major Ned Wynkoop

Next month, my first full-length novel, Sand Creek Serenade releases. For the last several months, I’ve been telling you the history of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and some of the historical figures from the attack who make appearances in my novel. Today, I want to focus on Major Edward “Ned” Wynkoop, the fort commander at Fort Lyon in Southeastern Colorado Territory.

Major Ned Wynkoop

Ned Wynkoop was born in Pennsylvania, the youngest of seven children, on June 19, 1836. His father died during Ned’s first year of life, so his childhood was a difficult one. However, between his mother and older siblings—many who were nearly adults when Ned was born—they instilled in the boy a love of country, a sense of duty, a deep hunger for learning, and an appreciation of literature and the arts. With these qualities, he seemed destined to lead from an early age. In 1856, twenty-year-old Ned headed to Kansas to make his fortune in the West. Life in the new state was far different than he’d known in Pennsylvania, and he quickly learned he must stay armed and learn self-defense skills, or he might be overrun by the conflicts that arose between those on either side of the slavery debate.

He quickly made friends with those well-connected in the area, and he and some of his siblings became some of the founders of Denver, Colorado. Through these connections, Ned Wynkoop was made the first Sheriff of Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory, in 1858. It was a position that was largely ceremonial rather than a true law-enforcement position, which frustrated the man. However, he did the job to the best of his ability. He met Louise Wakely, a British-born actress, in 1859, and began courting her. Over time, opposition arose to Wynkoop as Sheriff. During the next election cycle, Ned was defeated and lost the position.

Very soon after, the Civil War broke out, and by July 31, 1861, he enlisted as a second lieutenant. Soon after his enlistment, he married Louise Wakely, and within short order, attracted the attention of the higher-ranked officers who elevated him to Captain and put him in charge of building the fighting force in Colorado. During the Battle of Glorietta Pass, Wynkoop distinguished himself and received a field promotion to the rank of major. Across the next several years, Major Wynkoop helped assure that the rebel forces from Texas didn’t infiltrate the Colorado Territory. Once that threat was largely neutralized, his focus shifted to the escalating tensions between the Indian tribes and white settlers. 

Louise Wynkoop

On May 9, 1864, Wynkoop took command of Fort Lyon in southeastern Colorado Territory. Between May and August of that year, tensions escalated dramatically between the Indians and whites. Each side traded blows—the Indians raiding settlements or attacking travelers on the known paths, and the settlers responding in retaliation. But in September of 1864, something happened to turn the tide. Chief Black Kettle, leader of the Southern Cheyenne, approached Wynkoop with an offer. He would negotiate the release of seven white captives, mostly women and children, in exchange for Wynkoop granting a peace treaty.

Wynkoop didn’t have such authority, but he didn’t let that stop him. In a gutsy move, he agreed to the terms. Upon receiving several of the captives back—with promise of the rest being released by the Northern Cheyenne at a later time—Wynkoop took an envoy of soldiers and the Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs to Denver to meet with Colonel John Chivington and the governor of the territory. Across the next days, Wynkoop and his second in command, Captain Silas Soule, helped to broker the peace talks between the two sides. All looked and sounded promising. Colonel Chivington told the Cheyenne and Arapaho to camp at Sand Creek and await the final peace treaty. In addition, the Indians were told that if they flew the American flag and the white flag of surrender over their tents, they would be protected by the military. So Wynkoop led the group home, feeling he’d done a great thing.

Col. John Chivington

Unfortunately, Chivington and the governor were angry with Wynkoop for acting outside his authority, and Chivington opened an investigation against Wynkoop for abandoning his post without permission. By early November, Major Scott Anthony arrived at Fort Lyon, relieved Wynkoop of his duty, and once Wynkoop moved on to his next assignment at Fort Reilly, Colonel Chivington rode in with hundreds of soldiers and launched an all-out massacre against the sleeping camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children on the morning of November 29, 1864.

Due to his travels, word didn’t reach Ned Wynkoop of the massacre until early January 1865 when he arrived at Fort Reilly. Heartsick at the news of his friends being slaughtered when they’d been promised peace, Wynkoop began fighting for a resolution to the investigation against him. When it came, he was exonerated of wrongdoing, andhe was placed in charge of the Congressional investigation against Chivington and his men. Of course, if you’ve followed this blog series on the massacre, you know that due to the short-term contract which Chivington’s men had signed, none of them paid a price for the great atrocities they’d committed, despite the public outcry for justice.

After the investigation was complete, Wynkoop felt his chance to help the Cheyenne and Arapaho people was notby working with the army. Instead, he mustered out and instead, took a job as an Indian agent with the Bureau of Indian affairs. But tensions were still high, and within four years (almost to the day!) of the massacre at Sand Creek, Wynkoop saw yet another such attack fall against the Indian people he’d come to respect—the Battle of Washita, where Black Kettle and his peaceful band of Cheyenne were again attacked and murdered without provocation. Wynkoop resigned as Indian agent in disgust.

It’s Your Turn: Ned Wynkoop hadn’t always acted on the “right side” in circumstances he faced. One of those could be seen as his bold decision to attempt to broker peace with the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, despite not having such authority. Do you feel he made the right decision, particularly given how things turned out? Why or why not? 

Jennifer Uhlarikdiscovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Available March 14, 2019:

Sand Creek Serenade

 

Dr. Sadie Hoppner is no stranger to adversity. She’s fought to be taken seriously since childhood, when her father began training her in the healing arts. Finding acceptance and respect proves especially difficult at Fort Lyon, where she’s come to practice medicine under her brother’s watchful eye.

Cheyenne brave Five Kills wouldn’t knowingly jeopardize the peace treaty recently negotiated between his people and the Army. But a chance encounter with the female doctor ignites memories of his upbringing among the whites. Too intrigued to stay away, tension erupts with the soldiers, and Five Kills is injured.

As he recuperates under the tender care of the pretty healer, an unlikely bond forms. However, their fledgling love is put to the test when each realizes that a much greater danger awaits—a danger they are wholly unable to stop, and one which neither may survive.

Sand Creek Massacre: Colonel John Chivington

Hello HHH fans! I hope your holiday season was a good one and your new year has gotten off to a wonderful start.

In November, I wrote about the Sand Creek Massacre—the event I based my upcoming March release on. But I didn’t really delve into the backgrounds and personalities of the major players in the event. There were many historical figures, and every one of them is interesting in his own way. So for the next couple of months, I’d like to tell you about some of them.

Col. John Chivington

The first is John Chivington—the colonel who led the attack against the Cheyenne and Arapaho camp.

John Chivington was born in Ohio on January 27, 1821, and at the age of 23 became a Methodist minister. After being ordained, he was sent from Ohio to Illinois, where he served for a decade. As his time in Illinois came to a close, he moved on to Kansas, where he served as a missionary to the Huron tribe in 1853. Unfortunately for Chivington, his long-held abolitionist views led to conflicts there during the ever-increasing volatility between the “Broder Ruffians” (pro-slavery people) and “Free-Staters” (anti-slavery people). Because his beliefs put him in danger, a group Chivington’s friends suggested he might be better served to head to Nebraska, which he did. After serving for a year at the Omaha Parish, he moved on and eventually made it to Denver, Colorado. There, he served as the Presiding Elder over the Rocky Mountain District, but his troubles continued. Within two years, they chose not to re-elected him to the position, and history shows that he was “located”—or retired—from ministry. One history even goes so far as to say that Chivington’s demeanor wasn’t the best suited for ministerial work, and it left his friends scrambling to keep his reputation intact.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Chivington was offered a commission as a chaplain in the Union army. He refused so that, instead, he could bear arms. He was given a commission as a major in the 1^st Colorado Volunteers and by 1862, found himself in the New Mexico and Arizona Territories, fighting off invading Confederates. In March of that year, Chivington and the detachment he led surprised several hundred Confederates, of which, they captured seventy-five. It was later said by one of the captured chaplains that Chivington had a dark side—he threatened to kill the prisoners, though he never followed through on the threat.

With that victory in hand, Chivington and his men were sent to circle around behind the enemy at Glorietta Pass. The men waited for the agreed-upon sign to engage, but when it didn’t come, the men stumbled upon the Confederate supply wagons at a nearby ranch. Chivington’s detachment left their post and went to burn the supplies. By the time they returned, the Battle of Glorietta Pass was over. The Union forces had lost. This might have turned out very badly for Chivington except that, without the supplies Chivington’s men had just burned, the Confederate forces were unable to continue. Instead, they stole back into Texas and weren’t heard from again in that area. So Chivington’s mistake ended up being celebrated as a great victory, and the following month, he was elevated to the rank of Colonel in the 1^stColorado Cavalry.

Gov. John Evans

By 1864, John Chivington had been promoted to command the District of Colorado forces. He and ^rdColorado Cavalry, a special unit of volunteers who were contracted for just 100 days.

Governor John Evans both wanted to make names for themselves and further their military or political careers. Thus, they had been sowing seeds of fear among the settlers in Denver and surrounding areas of the brewing troubles with the Cheyenne and Arapaho people. There had been trouble with the Native American people—but far fewer troubles than Chivington and Evans were reporting. And most of the troubles were hundreds of miles away, not near Denver. With their false accounts as fodder, Evans asked the U.S. War Department for an Indian fighting force and was given permission to assemble the 3^rd Colorado Cavalry, a special unit of volunteers who were contracted for just 100 days.

It was around this same time that Major Ned Wynkoop began brokering a peace deal with Chiefs Black Kettle and Left Hand. I’m sure it came as a surprise to have the major of Fort Lyon show up in Denver with a contingent of Cheyenne and Arapaho, requesting peace talks! In order to save face, Chivington and Governor Evans agreed to the talks, but they never intended to follow through. Instead, they made a show of the talks, then sent the Indians back to await further word from the Army about their peace treaty. 

Time was ticking for the 100-day contracts of the 3^rd Colorado Cavalry, and Chivington was intent upon giving the men a chance to prove themselves in battle. So he and 550 of his men set out from Denver, made it to Fort Lyon on the morning of November 28. Gathering the 150 or so troops at Fort Lyon, the now-700-man force rode out later that evening to slaughter the encampment of Indians to which they’d promised a peace treaty. You can read further details of the attack here.

So what happened to Colonel Chivington after the massacre? At first, he returned to Denver a hero, but many of the troops from Fort Lyon who had been forced to participate against their wills in this gruesome attack reported the wrongdoing. Very soon, the tables turned. A Congressional investigation was opened on the matter, and survivors and participants of the attack were called to testify. It was found that Chivington acted wrongly, and he was condemned for the episode. However, due to the fact that he’d already resigned from the Army, he could not be prosecuted. Also, the men of the 3^rdColorado Cavalry could not be touched since their 100-day contracts had expired. So no one ever directly paid a price for the slaughter of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people at Sand Creek.

After his resignation from the Army, Chivington’s adult son Thomas died in Nebraska. Upon his son’s death, Chivington returned to Omaha to oversee the details of his estate and ended up seducing, then marrying his daughter-in-law, Sarah. Within a handful of years, she filed for a divorce, stating the separation was due to non-support and that she didn’t wish to be married to a criminal. The shadow of Chivington’s past deeds at Sand Creek followed him, and he failed at being a freight hauler, kept him out of public office, and at least at times, left him seeking to beg and borrow money from family and friends. To his dying day, he continued to state that the Sand Creek campaign was a great success.

In an interesting turn of events, The General Conference of the Methodist Church issued a formal apology to the Southern Cheyenne in 1996 due to the actions of a “prominent Methodist.”

It’s Your Turn: Do you enjoy learning the “behind the scenes” stories of historical figures, even when they are the villains of a historical episode such as the Sand Creek Massacre?

Jennifer Uhlarikdiscovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Coming March 14, 2019

Sand Creek Serenade

Dr. Sadie Hoppner is no stranger to adversity. She’s fought to be taken seriously since childhood, when her father began training her in the healing arts. Finding acceptance and respect proves especially difficult at Fort Lyon, where she’s come to practice medicine under her brother’s watchful eye.

Cheyenne brave Five Kills wouldn’t knowingly jeopardize the peace treaty recently negotiated between his people and the Army. But a chance encounter with the female doctor ignites memories of his upbringing among the whites. Too intrigued to stay away, tension erupts with the soldiers, and Five Kills is injured.

As he recuperates under the tender care of the pretty healer, an unlikely bond forms. However, their fledgling love is put to the test when each realizes that a much greater danger awaits—a danger they are wholly unable to stop, and one which neither may survive.

The Sand Creek Massacre

Happy November, HHH fans! This year has flown by, and I’m shocked we’re nearly to December.

So—I’ve been waiting a while to write this post. On November 29, just four days from now, history will mark the 154^thanniversary of the event my upcoming novel, Sand Creek Serenade, centers on—the Sand Creek Massacre.

What was the Sand Creek Massacre? Well, it was a dreadful episode on the American frontier. But to truly understand what happened and why, we need to back up a bunch of years. The trouble starts long before 1864.

The Sand Creek Massacre--a depiction drawn by Howling Wolf

I’m sure you all know how the California Gold Rush brought white settlers pouring across the western frontier in 1848 and later. In 1851, a treaty was signed between the United States and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, giving a large area of land (including portions of present-day Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas) to these two tribes. However, in 1858, gold was discovered in Colorado—and with a new influx of settlers coming to dig treasure out of the Rocky Mountains, the United States felt they must act.

Seeing that the land once given to the Cheyenne and Arapaho had new and lucrative purpose, a different treaty was proposed in 1861. In it, the Indians were asked to give up much of the land they’d received a decade earlier. A group of peaceful chiefs led by Black Kettle of the Cheyenne and Left Hand of the Arapaho agreed to the terms, despite the treaty cutting their land down to 1/13 the previous size. The agreement angered the tribes, which hadn’t been consulted. Most rejected it, choosing instead to live and hunt on the lands given them in the previous treaty. But as wave after wave of settlers came, passing right through their lands, tension smoldered on both sides.

As the Civil War broke out in our country, many men joined the army, ready to do their part for the cause. However, once the Union forces in Colorado repelled an attempt at a Confederate take-over at the Battle of Glorieta Pass (in New Mexico), the war was pretty much over in that area of the country. Oh, it still raged elsewhere, but the most action those soldiers saw was standing guard at various remote outposts to be sure no more Confederate soldiers attempted another infiltration. So, with many bodies and little real work, the focus shifted to guarding the home front from Indian attacks, since the settlers had made complaints that the Indians were stealing livestock.

The Army began attacking various Cheyenne camps in the Spring of 1864. No word was given to the Cheyenne that they were under attack—the army would just show up and begin shooting. In mid-May of the same year, Lt. Eayre took troops into Kansas and found the Cheyenne at their summer hunting grounds. While Chiefs Lean Bear and Star rode out to talk peace with the army, they were gunned down.

Things were spiraling out of control, and it looked as if a war with the Indians couldn’t be avoided. However, something unusual happened. Major Ned Wynkoop—the commander of Fort Lyon, located in southeastern Colorado—got word that several Cheyenne wished to talk of peace. Not only that, but they were willing to give up several white captives in order to grease the wheels of the peace talks. Wynkoop, who had been just as avid for war with the Indians as those above him, suddenly saw things differently. He worked with Black Kettle to elicit the release of several white captives—including a couple of women and several young children. In working so closely with the chief of the Southern Cheyenne band, he realized that there was a great opportunity for peace. In September 1864, he and several of his trusted officers at Fort Lyon left their post to take a contingent of Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs to Denver to meet with Colonel John Chivington and the territorial governor, John Evans.

Major Ned Wynkoop (kneeling--front row left) and the contingent of Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs
he took to Denver for peace talks in September 1864.

Under Wynkoop’s leadership, peace talks between the territorial government, the Army, and the Indians took place, and Black Kettle and Left Hand were told to return home, to fly both a white flag of surrender and an American flag over the chief’s tent, and await peace. The chiefs followed their orders to the letter. And Major Wynkoop returned to Fort Lyon victorious.

Or so he thought.

What he didn’t know was that his unexpected maneuver to bring the Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs to Denver for peace talks was not met kindly by those above him. Chivington and Evans had no intentions of peace. For weeks, they allowed the Cheyenne and Arapaho bands to camp—first beside Fort Lyon, and later on the banks of Sand Creek—all while expecting the Army to arrive with news of a new treaty. Meanwhile, charges were leveled against Major Wynkoop and his officers for leaving their post without permission. Major Scott Anthony was sent to the fort to remove Wynkoop from his position and begin an investigation into his actions. It wasn’t long before Wynkoop was sent to a fort in Kansas while the investigation continued.

On November 28, 1864, just days after Wynkoop’s removal, Colonel Chivington rode to the fort with 550 of his men from Denver. They arrived at Fort Lyon that morning, and by dusk, those 550 men, plus the 150 or so soldiers already stationed at Fort Lyon marched out to travel to Sand Creek and the waiting Cheyenne. Throughout the bitterly cold night, many soldiers passed whiskey around in an attempt to keep warm. By the time they reached the Cheyenne encampment before dawn, many of the soldiers were drunk. Chivington’s men from Denver had a desire for blood and vengeance, while the Fort Lyon soldiers adamantly disapproved of what was about to come. However, they were forced to participate, or they would face disciplinary actions.

Colonel John Chivington

Moments before dawn, the order was given. Fire! Seven hundred guns emptied into the sleeping Cheyenne camp—a camp that housed mostly women, children, and the elderly. The fighting-aged men had gone to Smoky Hill to hunt buffalo for their winter stores. So as dawn broke on November 29, the Indian camp was awakened to an attack of monumental proportions. The Cheyenne and Arapaho people burst from their tents in various states of dress and were forced to run for their lives. Many died in the first moments. Those who were fortunate enough to make it to the sand dunes along the creek did their best to hide. But the army had brought several cannons with them, and the cannons were fired into the dunes. 

Eye-witness accounts say that the drunken soldiers used young toddlers who’d been separated from their families for target practice and others cut the unborn babies from expectant mothers’ wombs. The bodies of the dead Indians were mutilated—fingers and ears cut off to get to the rings/earrings they wore, as well as for trophies. 

Somewhere between 60 and 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho died that day, while only 52 soldiers suffered injuries. Many of the wounded were forced to hide until dark—in frigid temperatures while wearing either little-to-no clothing or wet clothing, since they waded through Sand Creek in their attempts to reach safety. Those who did survive traveled through the night in below-freezing temperatures on foot to Smoky Hill, a day’s travel away, to reach the men who had gone to hunt. Only then did they begin to get the medical help they desperately needed.

Colonel Chivington and his men returned to Fort Lyon and attempted to spin the massacre as vindication for the various attacks the Indians had committed against the settlers and Army. Chivington and his 550 men returned to Denver and paraded themselves through the streets as mighty victors. However, it didn’t take long before the truth began to leak out and the population of Colorado Territory and beyond grew horrified and angry at the atrocities committed against the defenseless camp.

Starting in January, I’ll tell you more about the individuals involved in this terrible event—who they were, where they came from, and where they ended up afterward, so please look for my future posts on the topic.

It’s Your Turn: Have you heard of the Sand Creek Massacre? Where did you learn about it—from school as a child or later in life?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

The Mail-Order Brides Collection

What kind of woman would answer an advertisement and marry a stranger?

Escape into the history of the American West along with nine couples whose relationships begin with advertisements for mail-order brides. Placing their dreams for new beginnings in the hands of a stranger, will each bride be disappointed, or will some find true love?

The Brigand and the Bride by Jennifer Uhlarik

(2018 Selah Award Winner—Western Category)
1876, Arizona
Jolie Hilliard weds a stranger to flee her outlaw family but discovers her groom is an escaped prisoner. Will she ever find happiness on the right side of the law?