Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Sand Creek Massacre 1864

More history you didn't learn in school.  

On November 29, 1864, nearly 700 volunteer soldiers from the Third Colorado Cavalry under the command of Colonel John Chivington attacked peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing anywhere between 69-600 people, mostly women and children.

The 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie between the US and seven Native American nations gave the tribes land that included southeastern Wyoming, southwestern Nebraska, most of eastern Colorado, and western Kansas.  However, when gold was discovered in Colorado in November 1858, the US pushed the Treaty of Fort Wise on the local tribes, substantially reducing the amount of land given to the tribes. 

This led to much dissension among the tribes, but in 1864, a coalition of Sioux, Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos engaged in hostilities to drive the whites out of their country.  But since the American Civil War was going on, the US government was more concerned with defeating the Confederates. Native Americans continued to attack.

In September 1864, the Cheyenne met with Governor John Evans at his invitation.  He told them that this was not to secure peace, but to offer protection to Native Americans who were friendly.  

Chief Black Kettle, led Southern Cheyenne and some Arapahos to Fort Lyon in compliance with a peace parley held in Denver in September 1864.  But they were told to relocate to Big Sandy Creek about 40 miles away. Black Kettle flew a US flag with a white flag underneath it to show he was friendly and hope to forestall any attack by Colorado soldiers. 

On November 29, 1864, Col. Chivington, despite being warned to attack a peaceful camp, gave the order to attack.  Captain Silas Soule and Lt Joseph Cramer refused to obey and told their men to hold fire.  Chivington's men ignored the white flag and murdered as many Native Americans they could find, including women, children, and infants.

Celebrating Native American Heritage: The Washita River Massacre 1868

The Washita River Massacre (also the Battle of the Washita River) happened on November 27, 1868 in Indian Territory, near present-day Cheyenne, Oklahoma. The 7th US Calvary attacked a Cheyenne camp, killing men, women, and children, and taking many captives.  

In October 1867, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes had to relocate from Kansas and Colorado to Indian Territory, by the Medicine Lodge Treaty from the US Congress.  It forced them to move from their traditional hunting grounds where buffalo were plentiful, to the western Oklahoma plains, where buffalo were scarce and the land was infertile.

In November 1868, Black Kettle, a leader of the Cheyenne tribe, had camped with other tribes along the Washita River, which they called Lodgepole River, after the local pine trees.  Black Kettle and other leaders had been pleading for peace between their people and the US Government. However, the younger warriors seemed pleased that peace had not been made. They claimed that the Lakota and other northern bands would come down the following spring to "clean out the entire country." 

Colonel William Hazen, who had been involved in the negotiations, took the young warriors seriously and requested two more companies of the 10th Cavalry to Fort Cobb. Other generals such as Philip Sheridan and George Custer considered the Cheyenne and Arapaho to be "hostile" and planned a winter campaign against the tribes.

On the night of November 26, 1868, Custer divided his force into four parts, surrounding Black Kettle's village.  They attacked at daybreak, catching the village unawares.  The conflict was soon over but Custer had to quell remaining resistance which took longer.  

Black Kettle and his wife Medicine Woman were shot in the back while fleeing.

Estimates of the Cheyenne casualties range from 13 to 150 killed, with dozens of women and children captured.

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Juanita Howling Buffalo, first woman chair of Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes

Juanita Howling Buffalo, born September 6, 1930 in Canton, Oklahoma, became the first woman to chair the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes. After finishing her education she served in the Women's Army Corps where she met John W. Learned, whom she married and had 10 children with.

In 1965, she was a write-in candidate for the Cheyenne-Arapaho Business Committee and was not elected.  She obtained an injunction and was successful. A new election was held in 1966, and she and two other women won council seats. 

She became the first woman to serve as tribal chair in 1982.  During her term, she led protest against closing of the Concho Indian School and managed to obtain an injunction, but the school closed in 1983. 

Learned went to Washington DC with other tribal leaders in 1990 to reclaim the land and facilities of Fort Reno (near El Reno, Oklahoma) which had been vacated by the military in 1948 and transferred to the Dept. of Agriculture. In 1991, she helped reorganize the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

She passed away in Oklahoma City in 1996.