US History- Jackson Grelier

Jackson Grelier

October 28, 2014

Sand Creek Massacre

The removal of Native Americans from their homeland was an awful and very controversial subject during the 1800’s. To take them out of the place they have been living for a much longer time than Americans seems against much of the rights America was founded on. There were many awful things done to the Native Americans purely out of hate, in the process of moving them out of their land. One event that stands above most others was the Sand Creek Massacre. The Americans basically told a large group of indians they could be protected if they stay at Fort Lyon. The Americans gathered an army and slaughtered a majority of the Indians, including women and children, and many of the soldiers thought nothing of it. The event that happened at Sand Creek was a tragedy, mainly because of the many Native Americans that were killed and how unsympathetic the soldiers were, but it was not a portrayal of how everyone in America felt, in fact, for many it was almost the exact opposite.

The leader of the attack was Colonel Chivington, and he led the small army of soldiers to murder many innocent Indians that only wanted peace. One fact to show how real and brutal the massacre was, is that only nine of Chivington’s men died, while 148 indians died that day. The news about the event that happened at Sand Creek soon spread across the nation, primarily because of two soldiers that did not believe in what Chivington and the other men did. Captain John S. Soule and Lieutenant Joseph A. Cramer were the men that wrote letters to their former commander Major Wynkoop about how awful the massacre was. “I tell you Ned it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out men professing to be civilized.” Said Soule in his letter to Wynkoop. “[...] Only that I think the Officer in command should be hung, and I know when the truth is known it will cashier him.” said Cramer in his letter to Wynkoop. These quote show how passionately these two soldiers felt about what they had seen and how they wanted to do something about it. The documents were found in the year 2000, just in time to help congress pass legislation to establish the Sand Creek National Historic Site. Chivington also proceeded to call Soule and other officers that did not participate in the murdering cowards and was publicized saying that. The men fighting under Soule spoke out in defense for their leader which helped start an investigation of Chivington and his actions

It was not only some of the soldiers that were against it, but most of American citizens were against the idea as well. Many newspapers soon published the story and it was apparent they were greatly against it. “No attempt was made by the officers to restrain the savage cruelty of the men under their command [...]” This was one of the quotes published in the Santa Fe newspaper on January 10, 1865. This is not the only first hand example of people’s resentment towards the idea. “The bodies[...] were brought to town this morning[...] the general remark of the hundreds of spectators was that those that perpetrate such unnatural, brutal butchery as this, ought to be hunted to the farthest bounds of these plains and burned at the stake alive.” Was one of the lines in the Denver Commonwealth, on June 15th, 1864. The use of words like “unprovoked”, “ peaceful”, when referring to the Native Americans really help further depict how they wanted nothing to do with a fight that day. Other words used to describe the soldiers include, “brutal”, “cruelty”, and other words of that kind. This shows how the people during that time period understood that the massacre was an awful event, and it shows by their many writings in newspapers and letters.

Basic History of Sand Creek

First hand Manuscripts

Primary Sources: Letters

Chivington & NY Tribune

Denver Commonwealth

Quotes on subject