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View Full Version : Good Morning...U.S. Gubmint Re-thinks "Indian Problem"



Okla-homey
11/12/2006, 11:35 AM
Nov. 12, 1867: U.S. reconsiders war with Plains Indians

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Fort Laramie, Wyoming.

135 years ago today, after more than a decade of ineffective military campaigns and infamous atrocities, a conference begins at Fort Laramie to discuss alternative solutions to the "Indian problem" and to initiate peace negotiations with the Sioux.

The United States had been fighting periodic battles with Sioux and Cheyenne tribes since the 1854. That year, the Grattan Massacre inspired loud calls for revenge, though largely unjustified, against the Plains Indians.

In 1854, at Sarpy’s point, eight miles east of Laramie, while a company of Mormons was passing a camp of Sioux of about one thousand lodges, a lame cow belonging to the company, became frightened and ran into the Indian camp where she was left.

Some of the Indians killed and ate her, which was reported at Fort Laramie. Lieutenant Grattan, with twenty-seven soldiers and an interpreter, responded to Sarpy’s point to arrest the Indian who killed the cow. That man refused to give himself up. Lt. Grattan then ordered his men to fire upon the Indians, which they did. The Indians counter-attacked and routed the soldiers, who were all killed but one…all this for the butchering and eating of an old and dried-up milk cow.

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Sioux Chief Conquering Bear. He was known as a reasonable man who was willing to negotiate with the Army and government representatives. He was instantly killed in the first artillery salvo fired by Grattan's troops. The enraged Sioux thereupon counter-attacked and killed Lt. Grattan's entire force.

Full-scale war erupted on the plains in 1864, leading to vicious fighting and the inexcusable Sand Creek Massacre, during which Colorado militiamen killed at least 105 Cheyenne women and children who were living peacefully at their winter camp.

The Sand Creek Massacre (also known as the Chivington Massacre or the Battle of Sand Creek) occurred on November 29, 1864 in the Colorado Territory against a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped on the territory's eastern plains.

The Colorado troops were led by Lt Col. John Chivington who had become popular in that state by widely and publicly declaring that Indians were incapable of living peacefully and would breach any treaty made with them. He further declared, the only answer was genocide.

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John Chivington

The attack was initially reported in the press as a victory against a bravely-fought opponent. Within weeks, however, a controversy was raised about a possible massacre. Several investigations were conducted, two by the military; and one by the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, who 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 [sic] 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 inapprehension and defenceless [sic] 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, and then returned to Denver and boasted of the brave deed he and the men under his command had performed.
Excerpted from the Official Enquiry

After hours of fighting, the Colorado volunteers had lost only 9 men in the process of murdering between 200 and 400 Cheyenne, most of them women and children. After the slaughter, they scalped and sexually mutilated many of the bodies, later exhibiting their trophies to cheering crowds in Denver.

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Chief Iron Kettle. He died at Sand Creek with his people, while clinging to a flagpole bearing the American flag in front of his tipi.

By 1867, the cost of the war against the Plains Indians, the Army's failure to achieve decisive results, and news of atrocities like those at Sand Creek turned the American public and U.S. Congress against the Army's aggressive military solution to the "Indian problem."

Concluding that peaceful negotiations were preferable to war, the attendees at the Fort Laramie conference initiated talks with the Sioux. The talks bore results the following year when U.S. negotiators agreed to abandon American forts on the Bozeman Trail in Wyoming and Montana, leaving the territory in the hands of the Sioux.

However, the promise of peace on the central plains was fleeting. Concern about wars between the different Indian tribes led the U.S. to renege on its promise to provide guns to the Cheyenne, and the angry Indians took revenge on Kansas settlements by killing 15 men and raping five women.

By late 1868, with the Civil War over, American soldiers were again preparing for war on the Plains. It just so happened that a Civil War cavalry officer named George Custer was available to come West and take part in the fun.
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Harry Beanbag
11/12/2006, 11:49 AM
I dig the foreshadowing at the end. :)

OhU1
11/12/2006, 12:04 PM
Homey, I just wanted to drop you a note that I enjoy your daily history posts. I think it would be cool if this site archived these posts somewhere. The topics are well varied and give a lot of food for thought. Keep up the good work.

Okla-homey
11/12/2006, 12:53 PM
Homey, I just wanted to drop you a note that I enjoy your daily history posts. I think it would be cool if this site archived these posts somewhere. The topics are well varied and give a lot of food for thought. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, but its really nothing. Just a bit of editing of other folks writing, and insertion and captioning of photos or quotations, etc.. They are all still out there. You can use the "advanced search" function to look up any date. Just search for posts by "Okla-homey" on any date you want. All the posts have "Good morning" in the title. Sometimes I recycle on a given date, especially if nothing else that interests me happened on that date. When I recycle, I try to add new material so it's still kinda fresh.

Rogue
11/12/2006, 05:29 PM
Finally, someone else joins the campaign to archive Homey's history posts and Homey, ever the humble historian, sabotages the momentum! Kudos for another informative post Homey and 30 lashes with wet pasta to you sir for undermining the will of the people!

Okla-homey
11/12/2006, 07:01 PM
Finally, someone else joins the campaign to archive Homey's history posts and Homey, ever the humble historian, sabotages the momentum! Kudos for another informative post Homey and 30 lashes with wet pasta to you sir for undermining the will of the people!

While I appreciate the sentiments, here's the dealio. Most of this carp is copyrighted. There aren't enough research librarians in Oklahoma to catalogue all the sources I've lifted and either a) get their permission, or b) figure out how to pay them. Sure, a lot of the pics are in the "public domain," nevertheless, much of the text isn't, and I ain't about to re-write a couple years worth of daily posts in order to enable some kind of publication.

The only way we get away with this here is the fact no one, especially moi, is making any money on it.

That's "intellectual property" in a nutshell. <shivver>:eek:

Rogue
11/12/2006, 07:05 PM
Makes sense. So, in an effort to learn this, would archiving them into a little forum or something give the appearance that people were joining sf.co, a free site unless you voluntarily pay sponsor dues, because of that forum?

Okla-homey
11/12/2006, 07:27 PM
Makes sense. So, in an effort to learn this, would archiving them into a little forum or something give the appearance that people were joining sf.co, a free site unless you voluntarily pay sponsor dues, because of that forum?

I don't know without researching it. Suffice to say, they are all there and "searchable." Anyway, the mods are busy enough without asking them to partition off a little folder just for the history carp.;)

Frozen Sooner
11/12/2006, 07:31 PM
Good, interesting stuff.

Rogue
11/12/2006, 07:33 PM
Good enough, Homey.
Buzzkiller. ;)

Okla-homey
11/12/2006, 07:54 PM
BTW, John Chivington, supra, looked a lot like Yermom.:eek:

picasso
11/12/2006, 11:20 PM
Chivington was one of the worst I've ever read about.

also, Iron Kettle = Black Kettle and he died in Oklahoma at the hands of Custer at the Wa*hita. he led his band of peacefuls into western Oklahoma after the Sand Creek massacre. he thought he would be safe.:(

tbl
11/12/2006, 11:51 PM
I've long been an advocate of the good morning history installments. The little witticisms you add to them rock.