Sand Creek Massacre

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The site of the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado and other fighting between 1850 and 1865

The Sand Creek Massacre , also known as Chivington Massacre , on November 29, 1864, was a massacre of Cheyenne and some members of the Arapaho who were in winter camp in what was then the Colorado Territory . It was perpetrated by approximately 600 members of the 3rd and 1st Cavalry Regiments of the Colorado National Guard under Col. John M. Chivington . 133 Indians were killed during the massacre ; most of the victims were women and children.

The massacre led to extensive investigations by the US Department of War and the US Congress . Chivington is identified therein as a war criminal: "He intentionally planned and carried out a vicious and vicious massacre that would have dishonored the most vicious savages among those who became his victims."

background

Chief Black Kettle survived the Sand Creek Massacre. He was murdered four years later in another massacre on the Washita River .

During the Civil War , the regular troops of the US Army had been withdrawn from the western United States. In their place, cavalry formations consisting of at least 90-day volunteers were set up. These short servants often lacked both training and discipline. John M. Chivington was a Methodist preacher and militia officer. In 1862 he was on the Union side in the defense of the Confederate New Mexico campaign in the battle of Glorieta Pass , in which he led the decisive attack on the Confederate entourage. He was promoted to colonel for this and appointed commander of the Colorado Defense District. Also in 1862 the Indian Wars escalated in the Great Plains , which is why more and more Plains Indians were pushed west. This increased the pressure on the areas in the High Plains east of the Rocky Mountains . The city of Denver was founded there as part of a gold rush . In their environment there were several conflicts between the invading settlers and the Indians, especially the Cheyenne. In 1863, fighting on the prairies cut stagecoach links to Denver, causing the prices of all goods to rise.

The Cheyenne and some Arapaho did not move to their traditional winter camps because of the particularly harsh winter of 1864, but first settled at Fort Lyon . When they were driven from there due to new orders, they moved under the chief Black Kettle , who was involved in peace negotiations and who was well acquainted with the army, some 60 km north to Big Sandy Creek , a tributary of Arkansas .

procedure

On the morning of November 29, 1864, the unit, which initially consisted of the 3rd Colorado Cavalry Regiment including two mountain howitzers and was reinforced in Fort Lyon by a company of the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment, attacked the Indian village. Captain Silas Soule, the company commander from Fort Lyon, refused to obey Chivington's orders and did not take part with his company in the massacre of the Indians. Chivington later stated that between 400 and 500 Indians were killed in the massacre. That was an exaggeration. A census carried out after the massacre showed that 28 men and 105 women and children had been killed. Among the dead were the chiefs White Antelope , Standing in the Water, and War Bonnet . One of the survivors on the Cheyenne side was George Bent , a mestizo who stayed only briefly in the camp. On the side of the attackers, nine soldiers died and 38 were wounded, most of them from self- fire .

Eyewitness accounts of the massacre

Drawing by Howling Wolf (Cheyenne), eyewitness to the massacre, from around 1875

The war ministry investigation brought eyewitness reports from various stakeholders and survivors to the public. Despite many contradictions, the overall picture emerged.

At dawn the cavalry approached the camp at a fast trot , whereupon the indigenous people woke up and a great many left the camp in chaotic flight in all directions. At the time of the attack there were about 700 people in the camp, but only about three dozen of them were warriors, the vast majority of whom were men on the hunt. Chief Black Kettle immediately and clearly hoisted the American flag in front of his wigwam , because Colonel Alfred B. Greenwood had assured him during the previous peace negotiations that no soldier would shoot Indians who would gather under this banner . A few hundred women and children followed this advice. Black Kettle also hoisted a white flag to show the peacefulness of his intention. The 75-year-old White Antelope ran towards the riders with outstretched arms and called in clearly audible English: “Stop! Stop! ”He was hit by several bullets and bled to death.

Numerous women and children then sought protection behind an earth wall, as a sign of their peaceful intentions they sent a girl of about six with a white flag. The child was shot down immediately, and the same thing happened to all unarmed people behind the earth wall. Some women were cut up with sabers and left to die slowly. The dying and dead were scalped , genitals removed with knives - the murderers made tobacco pouches from the skin of severed breasts (eyewitness report Robert Bent), some militia officers stretched vaginas over their saddle knobs or over their hats (eyewitness report of a lieutenant, presumably Silas Soule). Some of the women were raped before they were murdered . Bent added that the attackers were drunk and that there were many survivors because the marksman's accuracy was poor.

Reactions to the massacre

When the public in the American East heard the eyewitness reports, it was extremely shocked. Newspapers reported extensively about the massacre for weeks and some media subsequently started their own investigations. In response to popular and press reactions, the United States Department of War decided to investigate Chivington's role in this context. Lieutenant Silas Soule agreed to testify against Chivington. Shortly after his extensive, very incriminating testimony, Soule was murdered by a participant in the massacre. There was no evidence of Chivington's involvement. Chivington was found to have made significant false statements in the investigation and was ultimately identified as the main culprit for the mass murder. However, since his service ended during these investigations, he entered civilian life with impunity and was never later brought to justice in a court of law.

After the massacre, survivors of the massacre, as well as other members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, decided to launch a campaign of revenge known as the Julesburg Raids . These were reinforced by the Sioux , especially by the Oglala and Brulé -Lakota peoples. At the beginning of January about 1000 warriors of the combined peoples reached Fort Ratkin and the Julesburg stagecoach station in the far north-east of Colorado. They ambushed the fort's soldiers and killed about 45 of them. In the middle of the month, around 500 warriors roamed the South Platte River area , raiding ranches , post offices, wagon trains and destroying the telegraph line . On January 28th they raided and sacked the town of Julesburg, on February 2nd around 1000 warriors gathered again for a raid on Fort Rankin. When this failed, they moved to Julesburg again, plundered the settlement again and set the houses on fire.

Commemoration

Plaque on the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site

The Sand Creek Massacre is considered one of the most brutal of the Indian Wars . In 2000, the United States Congress initiated the establishment of a memorial at the site of the massacre. It was not until 2007 that the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site could be formally dedicated under the administration of the National Park Service . So far the memorial has only rudimentary facilities. There is a contact point manned by rangers , but no visitor center and no tourist infrastructure.

media

literature

  • Ari Kelman: A Misplaced Massacre: Struggling Over the Memory of Sand Creek . Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts), USA 2014, ISBN 978-0-674-50378-6 .
  • Stan Hoig: The Battle of the Washita . (= Bison Book ). Lincoln University of Nebraska Print, Lincoln, NE 1979, ISBN 0-8032-7204-9 .
  • Shelby Foote : The Civil War, a narrative: Red River to Appomattox . Random House, New York 1974, ISBN 0-394-74622-8 , pp. 725-727 .
  • Hans Dollinger : Black Book of World History. 5000 years man is the enemy of man. Pawlak, Herrsching 1973, ISBN 3-88199-030-5 . (updated NA: Area, Erfstadt 2004, ISBN 3-89996-253-2 )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved January 20, 2015 .
  2. ^ A b c d Foote: Red River to Appomattox . 1974, p. 726 .
  3. ^ National Park Service: Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site - History & Culture , cited from congressional papers.
  4. ↑ Duane A. Smith: Chivington, John Milton. In: David S. Heidler, Jeanne T. Heidler: Encyclopedia of the Civil War, Volume IA-C . ABC Clio, 2000, ISBN 1-57607-066-2 , pp. 434 f.
  5. ↑ Dee Brown: Bury my heart at the bend of the river ("Bury my heart at Wounded Knee"). Verlag Knaur, Munich 1972, ISBN 3-426-62804-X , pp. 97-98.
  6. ^ Hans Dollinger: Black Book of World History. 5000 years man is the enemy of man. License issue. Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft, Herrsching 1973, ISBN 3-88199-030-5 , pp. 387-388.
  7. ^ Julesburg Raids. In: William B. Kessel, Robert Wooster: Encyclopedia of Native American Wars and Warfare . Facts on File, 2005, ISBN 0-8160-3337-4 , p. 173.
  8. ↑ battle or annihilation. In: FAZ . December 10, 2014, p. N3.

Coordinates: 38 ° 32 ′ 52 "  N , 102 ° 30 ′ 23"  W.