USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 47
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 47
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 47
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Here, however, they met with an unexpected rebuff. It appeared from their own report that the majority of their people were still at war, as well as the Kiowas, Comanches, Apaches, and fourteen different bands of the powerful Sioux nation, including those from Minnesota. A peace made with them would not be binding on the others, as the governor explained to them. He reminded them also of their refusal to meet him in council in the previous autumn, and of their neglect to avail themselves of the protection offered in his proclamation, since which time they had been concerned in the most atrocions crimes, besides destroying a large amount of property. The war was still going on ; and while they might surrender to the military authorities, which he advised them to do, he could not make a treaty with them until peace was restored, they being for the present accountable to the war department.
This opinion was not indorsed by the commissioner of Indian affairs, who could not help believing that very much of the difficulty on the plains might have been avoided if a spirit of conciliation had been exer- cised by the military and others. What the feeling
HIST. NEV. 30
466
INDIAN WARS.
of the military was at this time appears in a despatch of Major-general S. R. Curtis, commanding the department, to Colonel Chivington, in which he says: "I want no peace until the Indians have suffered more. ... I fear the agent of the interior depart- ment will be ready to make presents too soon. It is better to chastise before giving anything but a little tobacco to talk over. No peace must be made with- out my directions." Following the advice of Governor Evans, about 400 of the Cheyennes and Arapahoes from the Cheyenne valley surrendered at Fort Lyon to Major Wynkoop, and were rationed at that post. Not long after Major Scott J. Anthony succeeded to the command, and after feeding the Indians for a short time, restored to them a portion of their arms, and ordered them to remove to the region of Sand creek, forty miles distant, where they could hunt, removed from any contact with white people passing along the road.
On the 27th of November Colonel Chivington, with a force of 900 men, attacked this camp, treating it as hostile, and killing 131 persons, men, women, and children, with a loss on his part of 50 killed and wounded. That the attack was premeditated, and intended as a part of the further suffering which Gen- eral Curtis had said must be inflicted before peace could be made with the hostile Indians, those con- cerned in it have never denied. But about its moral and political aspect there has been much controversy. A commission was appointed in Washington to inves- tigate the conduct of Chivington, and testimony was taken on both sides. It was called a massacre by the Indian department, and is so called by a large portion of the people of Colorado to this day. Another class would justify Chivington to the fullest extent, a reso- lution of thanks being passed in his favor by the Col- orado legislature.4
4 The facts seem to be that Curtis was urging Chivington to punish the Indians. Winter was coming on, before which it was desirable to strike a
467
THE SAND CREEK AFFAIR.
In the spring of 1865 the plains Indians renewed hostilities with all the more fervor that now they had a real grievance, and many persons were killed upon the roads leading from the Missouri westward, and on the Platte; in consequence of which the head of the military department instructed General James H. Ford, commanding the district of the upper Arkansas, to proceed with all his forces against them, and to pay no attention to any peace propositions. But in
blow. It was sufficient excuse, whether true or false, the report that some of the hostile Indians visited the camp of the non-combatants, and shared with them the spoils taken from the white people. It made no difference that these Indians were professedly peaceable, and under the protection of the U. S. flag. Chivington organized an expedition of 650 of Col Shoup's 3d Colorado, or 100-days' men, 175 of the Ist Colorado, and a detachment of New Mexico infantry then at Fort Lyon. He moved secretly and rapidly to the fort, taking care that word should not be carried to the Indian camp. He sur- prised Le camp at sunrise. The Indians, not knowing who they were or what the purpose of an armed force at this hour, sprang to arms, and fired the first shot. The butchery then began, and lasted until 2 o'clock, the Ind- ians being driven up the creek several miles. They fought valiantly, and considering the odds in numbers, killed and wounded about as many as the troops-all of their killing being of fighting men, while the greater part of those killed by the troops were old men, women, and children.
George L. Shoup was colonel of the 3d cav. William L. Allen, farmer and stock-raiser, who came to Colorado in 1859, was one of the 100-days' men. David H. Nichols was captain of a company. He was a member of the legislature of 1864-5, and sheriff of Boulder co. previous to his election to the legislature. He was again sent to the legislature in 1873, and in 1878 was one of the penitentiary commissioners. O. H. P. Baxter of Pueblo was at Sand creek as captain of a company. He was also a member of the legis- lature the following winter, and a member of the council at the 2 following sessions. He came to Colorado in 1858, and was one of the first locators of the town of Pueblo. Martin Brumbly of Canon City, who came to Colorado in 1859, was a private at Sand creek. Azor A. Smith, a graduate of Rush medical college, removed to Colorado in 1859, and was appointed surgeon of the Ist Colorado. He has since occupied various public positions, and was elected to the legislature in 1876. In 1878 he was appointed postmaster of Leadville. Irving Howbert, born in Ind. in 1846, and son of William How- bert, the pioneer preacher in southern Colorado, who died in 1871, was in the Sand creek affair. He has furnished me a manuscript on Indian Troubles in Colorado. I have drawn from his notes some valuable hints of the early set- tlement of El Paso and Park counties. A Woman's Experience in Colorado, MS., by Mrs W. R. Fowler, also contains incidents of the Indian war, of alarms that were well-founded, and others that were exaggerated by fear. Further authorities are The Sand Creek Affair, MS., by Byers; correspondence be- tween Mr Byers and Mrs Jackson in N. Y. Tribune of Feb. 5 and 22, and Mar. 3, 1880; Ind. Aff. Rept, 1865, app., 515, 527; Id., 1867, app .; Speech of Chivington, in Hett's Tales of Colorado Pioneers, 88-92; Mcclure's Three Thousand Miles, 358-95; Elbert's Public Men and Measures, MS., 6-7; How- bert's Indian Troubles, MS., 8; Gilpin's Pioneer of 1842, MS., 8; Dixon's New America, 49-51; Townshend's Ten Thousand Miles, 142; Beckwith's Rept, 44; Cong. Globe, 1864-5, 250-6; Newlin's Proposed Indian Policy; Council Jour. Colo, 1865, 2; Gen. Laws Colo, 1864, 259; and many brief allusions by varions writers.
468
INDIAN WARS.
May a committee consisting of United States Senator J. R. Doolittle, L. F. S. Foster, and L. W. Ross were, at their own solicitation, appointed to negotiate with the hostile tribes, and an order was issued to suspend the campaign against them. The Indians, however, could not so suddenly be brought to enter- tain the idea of peace. In the mean time the com- mand of the district of the upper Arkansas was given to General Sanborn, who, with Leavenworth, agent for the lower Arkansas, in the course of the summer, obtained the consent of the Kiowas, Comanches, Arapahoes, and Cheyennes to meet in council early in October at Bluff creek, forty miles south of the Little Arkansas, any commissioners the president might appoint. At this council treaties were entered into between these tribes and the United States. The proposition of Sanborn, as chairman of the com- mission-Harney, Murphy, Carson,5 Bent, Leaven- worth, and Steele being the other members-was to make reparation for the injury done the Indians at Sand creek, by repudiating the action of the Colorado cavalry, and restoring the property captured or its equivalent, and giving to each of the chiefs to hold in his own right 320 acres of land, and to each of the widows and orphans, made such by that affair, 160 acres, besides allowing them all the money and annuities forfeited by going to war. The amount appropriated as indemnity for the Indian losses at Sand creek was $39,050. A treaty was affected with the southern bands of Cheyennes and Arapahoes, and with the Kiowas and Comanches, by which they consented to allow the president to select a reserva- tion away from contact with white people, a conces- sion which led to their removal to the Indian Terri- tory, where they have since remained, the govern-
5 Carson, who figured prominently on the Indian side in the investigation, died at Boggsville, Colorado, in August 1868. In Nov. his remains, with those of his wife, were removed to Taos, N. M., where they were honored with a masonic funeral. Bozeman Avant Courier, March 24, 1876. He was a colonel in the volunteer U. S. service in New Mexico during the civil war, and was Indian agent before that in N. M.
469
THE CHEYENNES AND ARAPAHOES.
ment paying them at the rate of $40 per capita, or $112,000 annually, for forty years. A treaty was also effected with the Apaches who were confederated with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes on the same terms.
With the close of the civil war the volunteer regi- ments were disbanded and the regular army sent to take their place. Notwithstanding the treaties, four infantry and two cavalry companies were stationed at Fort Lyon ; two infantry and two cavalry companies at Fort Garland; one cavalry and two infantry com- panies at Fort Morgan, in Weld county ; at other posts in the district of the upper Arkansas twenty- one companies of mixed infantry and cavalry ; and in the district of New Mexico thirty-three companies; all these being in the territory formerly roamed over by the treaty Indians. Nor were they suffered to rust in garrison ; for between the Sioux and the other plains tribes they were pretty constantly employed. Hostilities were renewed in 1866, and in the winter of that year, as related in my histories of Montana and Wyoming, occurred the defeat of Fettermann's com- mand at Fort Philip Kearny, by the Sioux. In the spring of 1867 a systematic war was begun along the Platte, in which the Cheyennes and Arapahoes were implicated with the Sioux. About the first of Septem- ber, 1868, Colorado was visited by a party of seventy- five Cheyennes and Arapahoes with passes from forts Larned and Wallace. They went through Colorado City and the Ute Pass, killing a party of Utes, and returning by an unfrequented trail, stampeded and captured a herd of 120 horses. This act being re- garded as a declaration of war, the stockade erected in 1864 was hastily repaired, and arms collected for defence. Meanwhile a company of scouts pursued to recover, if possible, the property taken, but were sur- rounded by the Indians, and only escaped by the arrival of a party from Denver, at whose appearance the Indians fled, their swift horses distancing those of
470
INDIAN WARS.
the volunteers. A few days afterwards a war party appeared in the valley of Monument creek, killing three persons, wounding two others, and driving off all the stock they could gather up. North of here they killed four other persons, and burned one resi- dence. This was the last foray of the plains Indians in the Colorado territory. Two years longer war raged upon the plains. Every mile of the Union Pa- cific and Kansas Pacific railroads was disputed. But with their completion came peace; for against the despotism of steam and electricity there is no power in the Indian to defend himself.
The Utes, occupying the country west of the Rocky mountains, had taken no part in the hostilities thus far recorded, but rejoiced in whatever punish- ment was inflicted on their hereditary enemies, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. Of this people there were seven bands loosely confederated, but having each a chief and council. The most powerful of these occupied the north-west portion of Colorado, and have been most commonly known as the White River Utes. Their chief was Nevava. Their territory bordered on that of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, with whom, whenever they met, courtesies were ex- changed in the form of scalps and horses to the vic- tors. South of the White River Utes were the Uncompahgre Utes, whose chief was Ouray; and south of these were the southern Utes, whose chief was Ignacio. These three bands belonged in Colo- rado. In New Mexico were three bands, known as the Mowaches, Tabaquaches, and Wemiquaches. In Utah, west of the White River Utes, dwelt the Uintah Utes.
In 1861 the Colorado superintendent of Indian af- fairs sent Lafayette Head, an experienced agent, to reside at Conejos in charge of the Tabaquache Utes, and to distribute presents to other bands, in order to gain their confidence. In 1862 several chiefs, includ-
471
THE UTES.
ing Ouray of the Uncompahgres, were induced to visit Washington with Agent Head, where they wit- nessed the movements of troops, the action of artil- lery, and other impressive demonstrations. But in 1863 the Utes were somewhat troublesome, having been engaged in several raids, which they said were against the Sioux, but in which they carried off con- siderable property of the white people. To counter- act the hostile tendency, agents were appointed to the other bands of Utes, Simeon Whitely being appointed to the northern agency established in Middle park. A council was held with the Tabaquaches, who relin- quished their claim to the lands the government de- sired to purchase ; namely, the San Luis valley and mountains, and that portion of the country west of the Rocky mountains in which settlements had already been made. From this time there were no serious troubles between the Colorado Utes and the white population, although depredations were occasionally committed by the New Mexico bands in the southern counties.
A council was held with the Utes in Middle park in 1866. There was the usual dissatisfaction because a treaty had been concluded with one band and not with the others. There was also a very just dissatis-
6 In 1865 a council was held at Fort Garland to settle the troubles between the Utes and the Mexican population, and a peace concluded by a mutual indemnity. In 1867 a chief of one of the New Mexico bands, Kaneache, had a quarrel with a United States officer, in which threatening language was used on both sides. A collision was averted by the sagacity of L. B. Max- well. But Kaneache's heart became bad toward the white race, and he made a raid upon the cornfields of the Purgatoire valley, claiming the soil and the crops, which so exasperated the Mexican planters that retaliatory measures were resorted to. The troops from Fort Stephens, a camp at the foot of the Spanish peaks, interfered, and met with a slight loss. Kaneache now took the war-path in earnest, raiding up the Purgatoire, around the Spanish peaks, over the Cucharas, and up the Huerfano. Couriers were sent to invite the Tabaquaches and Ouray to join him. Instead of joining him, however, Ouray placed all his people under the surveillance of Fort Garland, commanded by Col Carson, and repaired to the Purgatoire to warn the set- tlers. The enemy was met by a small force of Tabaquaches, under Shawno, one of their chiefs, whom Carson sent to bring in Kaneache, dead or alive .. The order was obeyed, Kaneache and another hostile leader being captured and taken to Fort Union. Five white men were killed during the raid, and much property taken or destroyed. But for the exertions of Ouray, many more lives would have been lost,
472
INDIAN WARS.
faction on the part of the Tabaquaches on account of the character of the annuity goods furnished them, which were disgracefully worthless, rotten, and dis- gusting, and might reasonably have been made the ground of revocation of the treaty. In 1868 another treaty was made with all the Colorado Utes, in which some of the provisions of the former were confirmed, but important modifications made. The bounds of the reserved lands were the southern limit of Colo- rado on the south, the 107th meridian on the east, the 40th parallel on the north, and the territory of Utah on the west. The government was pledged to expend annually for the Utes a sum not to exceed $30,000 in clothing, blankets, and other articles of utility ; and $30,000 in provisions until such time as these Indians should be found capable of self-support. Among themselves there were certain causes of difference. The United States had insisted that there should be a head chief over all the confederate tribes, through whom business could be transacted without the tedious council in which they delighted to exhibit their eloquence and their obstinacy. Nevava had passed away, and his sons, of whom he had several, each claimed the inheritance of the chieftainship of the White River Utes. There were many in this tribe who would gladly have accepted this distinction -Antelope, Douglas, Johnson, Colorow, Jack, Schwitz, and Bennett. But in their stead was appoined Ouray, of the Uncompahgre band chief over all, with a salary of $1,000 a year; and the lesser chiefs were forced to content themselves with such a following as their individual qualities could command. There was much jealousy. The White River Utes who thought the head chief should have been chosen from among themselves, began conspiring against Ouray as early as 1875, and talked openly of killing him. The neglect of the government in sometimes failing to deliver the annuities was charged against the head chief, who was said to be in collusion with
473
OURAY.
certain white men in depriving them of their goods, a suspicion to which the greater wealth, dignity, and prosperity of Ouray gave some coloring, for Ouray, like Lawyer of the Nez Percés, was far above his contemporaries in shrewdness and intelligence. But the attempts to unseat Ouray amounted to nothing.
The effect of this dissatisfaction was to culminate in disasters more serious and important than the over- throw of the head chief. In 1876 the White River Utes began burning over the country north and east of their reservation, claimed by them, although prop- erly belonging to the Arapahoe lands, which had been purchased. The following year a chief known as Jack made overtures to their traditional foes, the Chey- ennes and Arapahoes, with whom he appointed a ren- dezvous in western Wyoming. Here he found con- genial sympathizers, who filled his ears with stories of the excitement and glory of war. The southern Ute agency was at Los Pinos on the Uncompahgre river, a few miles from the present town of Ouray, where the head chief had his residence. The agency of the White River Utes had been removed to the southern bank of that stream. Early in 1879 the venerable N. C. Meeker, first president of the union colony, was appointed to the charge of the White River Utes. He undertook to carry out the designs of the department, by selecting agricultural lands and opening a farm at the new agency, by encouraging the Indians to build log houses, and by opening a school which was taught by his daughter. He found himself opposed from the outset by the Indians, some
7 Ouray was brought up in part under the influences of the Mexicans, and was made much of afterward by Agent Head. Evans appointed him inter- preter at the Conejos agency, paying him $500 a year. He assisted in dis- tributing the sheep and cattle presented to the Utes after the treaty of 1863. Keeping his own, he bought others with his money, and in the course of time was able to employ Mexican herders. He erected a good dwelling, well fur- nished, near where the town of Ouray is located, where he lived in comfort until his death in 1880. Evans' Interview, MS., 13-15; Dead Men's Gulch, MS., 1-11; Ingersoll's Knocking Around the Rockies, 96-106; Denver Tribune, Aug. 28, 1880; Colorado Mining Camps, MS., 12-15; Sturgis' Ute War, 7-8; Treaties with Indians, MS., 11.
474
INDIAN WARS.
of whom pretended that when the sod was once broken, it was no more Ute soil, the real difficulty being that Johnson, a brother-in-law of Ouray, wanted the land selected by Meeker for pasturing his numer- ous ponies. Several councils were held, and when the excitement was abated, Meeker resumed farming op- erations, when Johnson assaulted him, forcing the agent out of his own house, and beating him.
Meeker then wrote to the department that if he was to carry out his instructions, he must have troops. Assistance was promised. Orders were issued by the commander of the department, that a troop of colored cavalry from Fort Garland, under Captain Payne, should scout through the parks on the border of the reservation to protect the settlers and prevent arson, and join a command of 160 cavalry and infantry from Fort Fred Steele, under Captain Thornburg, ordered to repair to the reservation. When he was at Bear river, Indian runners brought the news to the agency, and in much excitement required the agent to write to Thornburg not to advance, but to send five officers to compromise the difficulties. Meeker wrote as re- quested, sending a courier with the letter, which left the matter to Thornburg's judgment. The decision of that officer was to advance, and to reach the agency September 30th, but to quiet the Indians by promis- ing to meet five of the Utes at Milk creek on the evening of the 29th.
On the morning of the 29th, a large number set off with the alleged object of having a hunt, taking their rifles and ammunition. The ordinary affairs were be- ing transacted with less than customary friction, ow- ing to the absence of so many turbulent spirits, when at about one o'clock the lightening fell out of a clear sky. A runner from Milk creek brought the news that a battle was going on between the troops and Indians at that place. This information was not im- parted to Meeker, but half an hour after it was re- ceived twenty armed Utes of Douglas' band attacked
475
SANGUINARY CONFLICT.
the agency. Twelve men and boys were quickly slaughtered. The agency buildings were robbed and burned. The gray headed philanthropist was dragged about the agency grounds by a log chain about his neck, and with a barrel stave driven down his throat. The women were seized and carried to the tepees of Douglas, Johnson, and Persune, to be subjected to their lusts.
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THORNBURG BATTLE GROUND.
At Milk creek were other deplorable scenes. The pretended hunting party had ambushed Thornburg at ten o'clock that morning, in a narrow pass at this place, and separated the troops from the supply train in the rear. Major Thornburg, in attempting to fall back, made a charge on the cordon of Indians, and was killed, with thirteen of his men. The command
Ft.Steele
5
North Platte R.
Windsor 6
476
INDIAN WARS.
then devolved on Captain Payne of the 5th cavalry, who reached the train with forty-two wounded, in- cluding every officer but one.
Trenches were dug, and breastworks erected out of the wagons and their contents, to which were added the carcasses of horses and mules, and even the bodies of dead soldiers, piled up and covered with earth. In the centre of the entrenchments a pit was dug, to be used as a hospital, where the wounded were placed, the surgeon himself being one of them. The Indians attempted to force the troops out of their in- trenchments by setting fire to the tall dry grass and brush in the defile, and nearly suffocating them ; but, although they had no water, they; put out the fire with blankets as it came near, and so conquered that peril. At sundown the Utes came up and were re- pulsed. That night a scout, named Rankin, stole ont of camp, and, finding a horse, mounted and rode to Rawlins, 160 miles, arriving on the morning of the 1st of October. It was not until the 9th of October that information was received, via the Uncompahgre agency, at Los Pinos, that the women and children were alive, in captivity. Troops were rapidly concen- trated for the relief of Payne. Meanwhile, on the third night after the attack, Captain Dodge, with the colored troop before mentioned, succeeded in eluding the Utes, and joined Payne in the entrenchment; but to very little use, as all the horses had been killed but two, and as this troop only added forty more to the loss sustained by the government, their dead bodies being soon added to the fleshy and rotting rampart by which they were surrounded. As the Indians gen- erally withdrew at night, some relief was obtained by dragging away and burying the decaying animals, and carrying water from a spring near at hand. In this manner were passed six days.
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