John Chivington - Sand Creek

Sand Creek

Black Kettle, chief of a group of around 800 mostly Southern Cheyenne, reported to Fort Lyon to surrender and establish peace for his band. After having done so, he and his band, along with some Arapaho under Chief Niwot, or Left Hand, set up camp at nearby Sand Creek, less than 40 miles north, having been assured that by doing so his people would be considered friendly by the government. The Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, who had aggressively led battles against the whites, were not part of this encampment. Assured by the U.S. government's promises of peace, Black Kettle sent most of his warriors to hunt, leaving only 60 men in the village, most of them too old or too young to hunt. A U.S. flag was flown over Black Kettle's lodge, since he had been told "as long as he flew the American flag, he and his people would be safe from U.S. soldiers".

The governor of Colorado had received permission to raise a force to go against the Cheyenne, who had been attacking emigrant settlers. The Third Colorado Cavalry were essentially militia, volunteers who signed up for 100 days. They were put under Chivington's command and he felt pressure to use them before their terms expired at the end of 1864.

After Black Kettle and his band resettled, the commanding officer changed at Fort Lyon to one who was an ally of Chivington. In November, setting out from Fort Lyon, Colonel Chivington and his 800 troops of the First Colorado Cavalry, Third Colorado Cavalry and a company of First New Mexico Volunteers marched nearly to the reservation. On the night of November 28, after camping, soldiers and militia drank heavily and celebrated the anticipated fight. On the morning of November 29, 1864, Chivington ordered his troops to attack. One officer, Captain Silas Soule, believing the Indians to be peaceful, refused to follow Chivington's order and told his men to hold fire. Other soldiers in Chivington's force, however, immediately attacked the village. Ignoring the U.S. flag, and a white flag they raised shortly after the soldiers began firing, Chivington's soldiers massacred the majority of the mostly unarmed Cheyenne. The attack became known as the Sand Creek Massacre.

The U.S. forces lost 15 killed and more than 50 wounded, mostly due to friendly fire (likely caused by their heavy drinking). Between 150 and 200 Indians were estimated dead, nearly all women and children. (Chivington testified before a Congressional committee that his forces had killed 500–600 Indians and that few of them were women or children. Others testified against him.) A prominent mixed-race Cheyenne witness named Edmond Guerrier, said that about 53 men and 110 women and children were killed.

With Chivington's declaring his forces had won a battle against hostile Cheyenne, the action was initially celebrated as a victory. Some soldiers displayed Indian body parts as trophies in Denver saloons. However, the testimony of Soule and his men resulted in a U.S. Congressional investigation into the incident, which concluded that Chivington had acted wrongly.

Soule and some of the men whom he commanded testified against Chivington at his U.S. Army court martial. Chivington denounced Soule as a liar. Soule was later murdered by a soldier who had been under Chivington's command at Sand Creek. Some believed Chivington may have been involved.

Chivington was condemned for his part in the massacre, but he had already resigned from the Army. The general post-Civil War amnesty meant that criminal charges could not be filed against him. An Army judge publicly stated that the Sand Creek massacre was "a cowardly and cold-blooded slaughter, sufficient to cover its perpetrators with indelible infamy, and the face of every American with shame and indignation." Public outrage at the brutality of the massacre, particularly considering the mutilation of corpses, was intense. It was believed to have contributed to public pressure to change Indian policy. The U.S. Congress later rejected the idea of a general war against the Indians of the Midwest.

The panel of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War declared:

As to Colonel Chivington, your committee can hardly find fitting terms to describe his conduct. Wearing the uniform of the United States, which should be the emblem of justice and humanity; holding the important position of commander of a military district, and therefore having the honor of the government to that extent in his keeping, he deliberately planned and executed a foul and dastardly massacre which would have disgraced the verist savage among those who were the victims of his cruelty. Having full knowledge of their friendly character, having himself been instrumental to some extent in placing them in their position of fancied security, he took advantage of their in-apprehension and defenceless condition to gratify the worst passions that ever cursed the heart of man. Whatever influence this may have had upon Colonel Chivington, the truth is that he surprised and murdered, in cold blood, the unsuspecting men, women, and children on Sand creek, who had every reason to believe they were under the protection of the United States authorities.

Because of Chivington's position as a lay preacher, in 1996 the General conference of the United Methodist Church expressed regret for the Sand Creek massacre. It issued an apology to the Southern Cheyenne for the "actions of a prominent Methodist".