USA > Colorado > El Paso County > The Indians of the Pike's peak region > Part 8
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In the council held at Denver, White Antelope said : "We [the Cheyennes] took two prisoners west of Kearney and destroyed the trains." This was one of the most destructive and bloody raids of the war. Again, Neva (Left Hand's brother) said: "The Comanches, Kiowas, and Sioux have done much more harm than we have."
The entire report of this council shows that the Indians had been at war, and had been "guilty of acts of hostility and depredations."
As showing more fully the status and disposition of these Indians, I call your attention to the following extract from the report of Major Wynkoop, published
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in the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1864, page 234, and a letter from Major Colley, their agent; same report, page 230. Also statement of Robert North; same report, page 224:
"FORT LYON, COLORADO, Sept. 18, 1864.
"SIR:
" . . . Taking with me under strict guard the Indians I had in my possession, I reached my destination and was confronted by from six to eight hundred Indian warriors, drawn up in line of battle and prepared to fight.
"Putting on as bold a front as I could under the circumstances I formed my command in as good order as possible for the purpose of acting on the offensive or defensive, as might be necessary, and advanced towards them, at the same time sending forward one of the Indians I had with me, as an emissary, to state that I had come for the purpose of holding a consul- tation with the chiefs of the Arapahoes and Chey- ennes, to come to an understanding which might result in mutual benefit; that I had not come de- siring strife, but was prepared for it if necessary, and advised them to listen to what I had to say, previous to making any more warlike demonstrations.
"They consented to meet me in council, and I then proposed to them that if they desired peace to give me palpable evidence of their sincerity by delivering into my hands their white prisoners. I told them that I was not authorized to conclude terms of peace with them, but if they acceded to my proposition I would take what chiefs they might choose to select to the Governor of Colorado Territory, state the circum-
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stances to him, and that I believed it would result in what it was their desire to accomplish-'peace with their white brothers.' I had reference particu- larly to the Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes.
"The council was divided-undecided-and could not come to an understanding among themselves. I told them that I would march to a certain locality, distant twelve miles, and await a given time for their action in the matter. I took a strong position in the locality named, and remained three days. In the in- terval they brought in and turned over four white prisoners, all that was possible for them at the time being to turn over, the balance of the seven being (as they stated) with another band far to the north- ward.
"I have the principal chiefs of the two tribes with me, and propose starting immediately to Denver, to put into effect the aforementioned proposition made by me to them.
"They agree to deliver up the balance of the prisoners as soon as it is possible to procure them, which can be done better from Denver City than from this point.
"I have the honor, Governor, to be your obedient servant,
"E. W. WYNKOOP, "Major First Col. Cav. Com'd'g Fort Lyon, C. T.
"His Excellency, JOHN EVANS,
"Governor of Colorado, Denver, C. T."
"FORT LYON, COLORADO TERRITORY, July 26, 1864. "SIR:
"When I last wrote you, I was in hopes that our
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Indian troubles were at an end. Colonel Chivington has just arrived from Larned and gives a sad account of affairs at that post. They have killed some ten men from a train, and run off all the stock from the post.
"As near as they can learn, all the tribes were engaged in it. The colonel will give you the particu- lars. There is no dependence to be put in any of them. I have done everything in my power to keep the peace; I now think a little powder and lead is the best food for them.
"Respectfully, your obedient servant, "S. G. COLLEY,
United States Indian Agent.
"Hon. JOHN EVANS,
"Governor and Superintendent Indian Affairs."
The following statement by Robert North was made to me:
"November 10, 1863.
"Having recovered an Arapahoe prisoner (a squaw) from the Utes, I obtained the confidence of the In- dians completely. I have lived with them from a boy and my wife is an Arapahoe.
"In honor of my exploit in recovering the prisoner, the Indians recently gave me a 'big medicine dance' about fifty miles below Fort Lyon, on the Arkansas River, at which the leading chiefs and warriors of several of the tribes of the plains met.
"The Comanches, Apaches, Kiowas, the northern band of Arapahoes, and all of the Cheyennes, with the Sioux, have pledged one another to go to war with the whites as soon as they can procure ammunition in
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the spring. I have heard them discuss the matter often, and the few of them who opposed it were forced to be quiet, and were really in danger of their lives. I saw the principal chiefs pledge to each other that they would be friendly and shake hands with the whites until they procured ammunition and guns, so as to be ready when they strike. Plundering to get means has already commenced; and the plan is to commence the war at several points in the sparse settlements early in the spring. They wanted me to join them in the war, saying that they would take a great many white women and children prisoners, and get a heap of property, blankets, etc .; but while I am connected with them by marriage, and live with them, I am yet a white man, and wish to avoid bloodshed. There are many Mexicans with the Comanche and Apache Indians, all of whom urge on the war, promising to help the Indians themselves, and that a great many more Mexicans would come up from New Mexico for the purpose in the spring."
In addition to the statement showing that all the Cheyennes were in the alliance, I desire to add the fol- lowing frank admission from the Indians in the council :
"Governor Evans explained that smoking the war- pipe was a figurative term, but their conduct had been such as to show that they had an understanding with other tribes.
"Several Indians: We acknowledge that our ac- tions have given you reason to believe this."
In addition to all this, I refer to the statement of Mrs. Ewbanks. She is one of the prisoners that Black Kettle, in the council, said they had. Instead,
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of purchasing her, they first captured her on the Little Blue, and then sold her to the Sioux.
Mrs. Martin, another rescued prisoner, was cap- tured by the Cheyennes on Plum Creek, west of Kearney, with a boy nine years old. These were the prisoners of which White Antelope said, in the council, "We took two prisoners west of Kearney, and destroyed the trains." In her published state- ment she says the party who captured her and the boy killed eleven men and destroyed the trains and were mostly Cheyennes.
Thus I have proved by the Indian chiefs named in the report, by Agent Colley and Major Wynkoop, to whom they refer to sustain their assertion to the contrary, that these Indians had "been at war, and had committed acts of hostility and depredations."
In regard to their status prior to their council at Denver, the foregoing public documents which I have cited show how utterly devoid of truth or foundation is the assertion that these Indians "had been friendly to the whites, and had not been guilty of any acts of hostility or depredations."
The next paragraph of the report is as follows:
"A northern band of Cheyennes, known as the 'Dog Soldiers,' had been guilty of acts of hostility; but all the testimony goes to prove that they had no connection with Black Kettle's band, and acted in spite of his authority and influence. Black Kettle and his band denied all connection with, or responsi- bility for, the Dog Soldiers, and Left Hand and his band were equally friendly."
The committee and the public will be surprised to learn the fact that these Dog Soldiers, on which the committee throws the slight blame for acts of hos-
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tility, were really among Black Kettle's and White Antelope's own warriors, in the "friendly". camp to which Major Wynkoop made his expedition, and their head man, Bull Bear, was one of the prominent men of the deputation brought in to see me at Denver. By reference to the report of the council with the chiefs, to which I referred the committee, it will be observed that Black Kettle and all present based their propositions to make peace upon the assent of their bands, and that these Dog Soldiers were especially referred to.
The report continues :
"These Indians, at the suggestion of Governor Evans and Colonel Chivington, repaired to Fort Lyon and placed themselves under the protection of Major Wynkoop, etc."
The connection of my name in this is again wrong. I simply left them in the hands of the military authorities, where I found them, and my action was approved by the Indian Bureau.
The following extracts from the report of the coun- cil will prove this conclusively. I stated to the Indians:
. Another reason that I am not in a condition to make a treaty is, that the war is begun, and the power to make a treaty of peace has passed from me to the great war chief."
I also said: "Again, whatever peace they may make must be with the soldiers and not with me."
And again, in reply to White Antelope's inquiry, "How can we be protected from the soldiers on the plains?" I said: "You must make that arrange- ment with the military chief."
The morning after this council, I addressed the
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following letter to the agent of these Indians, which is published in the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1864, page 220:
"COLORADO SUPERINTENDENCY INDIAN AFFAIRS,
DENVER, September 29, 1864.
"SIR:
"The chiefs brought in by Major Wynkoop have been heard. I have declined to make any peace with them, lest it might embarrass the military operations against the hostile Indians on the plains. The Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians being now at war with the United States Government, must make peace with the military authorities. Of course this arrangement relieves the Indian Bureau of their care until peace is declared with them; and as these tribes are yet scattered, and all except Friday's band are at war, it is not probable that it will be done immediately. You will be particular to impress upon these chiefs the fact that my talk with them was for the purpose of ascertaining their views, and not to offer them anything whatever. They must deal with the military authorities until peace, in which case, alone, they will be in proper position to treat with the government in relation to the future.
"I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
" JOHN EVANS, "Governor Colorado Territory and
"ex-officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs. " MAJOR S. G. COLLEY,
"United States Indian Agent, Upper Arkansas."
It will thus be seen that I had, with the approval
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of the Indian Bureau, turned the adjustment of difficulties with the hostile Indians entirely over to the military authorities; that I had instructed Agent Colley, at Fort Lyon, that this would relieve the Bu- reau of further care of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, until peace was made, and having had no notice of such peace, or instructions to change the arrange- ment, the status of these Indians was in no respect within my jurisdiction, or under my official inspec- tion.
It may be proper for me to say further, that it will appear in evidence that I had no intimation of the direction in which the campaign against the hostile Indians was to move, or against what bands it was to be made, when I left the Territory last fall, and that I was absent from Colorado when the Sand Creek battle occurred.
The report continues :
"It is true that there seems to have been excited among the people inhabiting that region of country a hostile feeling towards the Indians. Some had committed acts of hostility towards the whites, but no effort seems to have been made by the authorities there to prevent these hostilities, other than by the commission of even worse acts."
"Some had committed acts of hostility towards the whites!" Hear the facts: In the fall of 1863 a general alliance of the Indians of the plains was effected with the Sioux, and in the language of Bull Bear, in the report of the council, "Their plan is to clean out all this country."
The war opened early in the spring of 1864. The people of the East, absorbed in the greater interest of the rebellion, know but little of its history. Stock
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was stolen, ranches destroyed, houses burned, freight trains plundered, and their contents carried away or scattered upon the plains; settlers in the frontier counties murdered, or forced to seek safety for them- selves and families in blockhouses and interior towns; emigrants to our Territory were surprised in their camps, children were slain, and wives taken prisoners; our trade and travel with the States were cut off; the necessities of life were at starvation prices; the in- terests of the Territory were being damaged to the extent of millions; every species of atrocity and barbarity which characterizes savage warfare was committed. This is no fancy sketch, but a plain statement of facts of which the committee seem to have had no proper realization. All this history of war and blood-all this history of rapine and ruin -all this story of outrage and suffering on the part of our people-is summed up by the committee, and given to the public in one mild sentence, " Some had committed acts of hostility against the whites."
The committee not only ignore the general and terrible character of our Indian war, and the great sufferings of our people, but make the grave charge that "no effort seems to have been made by the authorities there to prevent all these hostilities."
Had the committee taken the trouble, as they certainly should have done before making so grave a charge, to have read the public documents of the government, examined the record and files of the Indian Bureau, of the War Department, and of this superintendency, instead of adopting the language of some hostile and irresponsible witness, as they appear to have done, they would have found that the most earnest and persistent efforts had been made on my
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part to prevent hostilities. The records show that early in the spring of 1863, United States Indian Agent Loree, of the Upper Platte Agency, reported to me in person that the Sioux under his agency, and the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, were negotiating an alliance for war on the whites. I immediately wrote an urgent appeal for authority to avert the danger, and sent Agent Loree as special messenger with the dispatch to Washington. In response authority was given, and an earnest effort was made to collect the Indians in council. The following admission, in the report of the council, explains the result :
"Governor Evans: ' . . . Hearing last fall that they were dissatisfied, the Great Father at Washington sent me out on the plains to talk with you and make it all right. I sent messengers out to tell you that I had presents, and would make you a feast; but you sent word to me that you did not want to have anything to do with me, and to the Great Father at Washington that you could get along without him. Bull Bear wanted to come in to see me, at the head of the Republican, but his people held a council and would not let him come.'
"Black Kettle: 'That is true.'
"Governor Evans: 'I was under the necessity, after all my trouble, and all the expense I was at, of returning home without seeing them. Instead of this, your people went away and smoked the war- pipe with our enemies.'"
Notwithstanding these unsuccessful efforts, I still hoped to preserve peace.
The records of these offices also show that, in the autumn of 1863; I was reliably advised from various sources that nearly all the Indians of the plains had
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formed an alliance for the purpose of going to war in the spring, and I immediately commenced my efforts to avert the imminent danger. From that time for- ward, by letter, by telegram, and personal represen- tation to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the Secretary of War, the commanders of the department and district; by traveling for weeks in the wilderness of the plains; by distribution of annuities and pres- ents; by sending notice to the Indians to leave the hostile alliance; by every means within my power, I endeavored to preserve peace and protect the inter- ests of the people of the Territory. And in the face of all this, which the records abundantly show, the committee say: "No effort seems to have been made by the authorities there to prevent these hostilities, other than by the commission of even worse acts."
They do not point out any of these acts, unless the continuation of the paragraph is intended to do so. It proceeds :
"The hatred of the whites to the Indians would seem to have been inflamed and excited to the ut- most. The bodies of persons killed at a distance- whether by Indians or not is not certain-were brought to the capital of the Territory and exposed to the public gaze, for the purpose of inflaming still more the already excited feelings of the people."
There is no mention in this of anything that was done by authority, but it is so full of misrepresenta- tion, in apology for the Indians, and unjust reflection on a people who have a right from their birth, educa- tion, and ties of sympathy with the people they so recently left behind them, to have at least a just consideration. The bodies referred to were those of the Hungate family, who were brutally murdered
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by the Indians, within twenty-five miles of Denver. No one here ever doubted that the Indians did it, and it was admitted by the Indians in the council. This was early in the summer, and before the notice sent in June to the friendly Indians. Their mangled bodies were brought to Denver for decent burial. Many of our people went to see them, as any people would have done. It did produce excitement and consternation, and where are the people who could have witnessed it without emotion? Would the committee have the people shut their eyes to such scenes at their very doors?
The next sentence, equally unjust and unfair, refers to my proclamation, issued two months after this occurrence, and four months before the "attack" they were investigating, and having no connection with it or with the troops engaged in it. It is as follows:
"The cupidity was appealed to, for the Governor, in a proclamation, calls upon all, either individually, or in such parties as they may organize, to kill and destroy as enemies of the country, wherever they may be found, all such hostile Indians; authorizing them to hold, to their own use and benefit, all the property of said hostile Indians they may capture. What Indians he would ever term friendly, it is impossible to tell."
I offer the following statement of the circumstan- ces under which this proclamation was issued by the Hon. D. A. Chever. It is as follows:
"EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, COLORADO TERRITORY,
August 21, 1865.
"I, David A. Chever, Clerk in the office of the Governor of the territory of Colorado, do solemnly
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swear that the people of said territory, from the Purgatoire to the Cache la Poudre rivers, a distance of over two hundred miles, and for a like distance along the Platte river, being the whole of our settle- ments on the plains, were thrown into the greatest alarm and consternation by numerous and almost simultaneous attacks and depredations by hostile Indians early last summer; that they left their un- reaped crops, and collecting into communities built blockhouses and stockades for protection at central points throughout the long line of settlements; that those living in the vicinity of Denver City fled to it, and that the people of said city were in great fear of sharing the fate of New Ulm, Minnesota; that the threatened loss of crops, and the interruption of communication with the states by the combined hostilities, threatened the very existence of the whole people; that this feeling of danger was universal; that a flood of petitions and deputations poured into this office, from the people of all parts of the territory, praying for protection, and for arms and authority to protect themselves; that the defects of the militia law and the want of means to provide for defense was proved by the failure of this department, after the utmost endeavors, to secure an effective organiza- tion under it; that reliable reports of the presence of a large body of hostile warriors at no great distance east of this place were received, which reports were afterwards proved to be true, by the statement of Elbridge Gerry (page 232, Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1864); that repeated and urgent applications to the War Department for protection and authority to raise troops for the purpose had failed; that urgent applications to department and
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district commanders had failed to bring any prospect of relief, and that in the midst of this terrible conster- nation and apparently defenseless condition, it had been announced to this office, from district head- quarters, that all the Colorado troops in the service of the United States had been peremptorily ordered away, and nearly all of them had marched to the Arkansas River, to be in position to repel the threat- ened invasion of the rebels into Kansas and Missouri; that reliable reports of depredations and murders by the Indians, from all parts of our extended lines of ex- posed settlements, became daily more numerous, until the simultaneous attacks on trains along the overland stage line were reported by telegraph, on the 8th of August, described in the letter of George K. Otis, superintendent of overland stage line, published on page 254 of Report of Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1864. Under these circumstances, on the IIth of August, the Governor issued his proclamation to the people, calling upon them to defend their homes and families from the savage foe; that it prevented anarchy ; that several militia companies immediately organized under it, and aided in inspiring confidence; that under its authority no act of impropriety has been reported, and I do not believe that any occurred; that it had no reference to or connection with the third regiment of one-hundred-days men that was subsequently raised by authority of the War Department, under a different proclamation, calling for volunteers, or with any of the troops engaged in the Sand Creek Affair, and that the reference to it in such connection in the report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War is a per- version of the history and facts in the case.
"DAVID A. CHEVER."
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" Territory of Colorado, Arapahoe County, City of Denver, SS .: Subscribed and sworn to before me this 21st day of August, A.D. 1865. ELI M. ASHLEY, Notary Public."
I had appealed by telegraph, June 14th, to the War Department for authority to call the militia into the United States service, or to raise one-hundred-day troops; also had written to our delegate in Congress to see why I got no response, and had received his reply to the effect that he could learn nothing about it; had received a notice from the department com- mander, declining to take the responsibility of asking the militia for United States service, throwing the people entirely on the necessity of taking care of themselves.
It was under these circumstances of trial, suffering, and danger on the part of the people, and of fruitless appeal upon my part to the general government for aid, that I issued my proclamation of the IIth of August, 1864, of which the committee complains.
Without means to mount or pay militia, and failing to get government authority to raise forces, and under the withdrawal of the few troops in the Territory, could any other course be pursued?
The people were asked to fight on their own account -at their own expense-and in lieu of the protection the government failed to render. They were author- ized to kill only the Indians that were murdering and robbing them in hostility, and to keep the property captured from them. How the committee would have them fight these savages, and what other dis- position they would make of the property captured, the public will be curious to know. Would they
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fight without killing? Would they have the captured property turned over to the government, as if cap- tured by United States troops? Would they forbid such captures? Would they restore it to the hostile tribes?
The absurdity of the committee's saying that this was an "appeal to the cupidity, " is too palpable to require much comment. Would men leave high wages, mount and equip themselves at enormous expense, as some patriotically did, for the poor chance of capturing property, as a mere speculation, from the prowling bands of Indians that infested the settle- ments and were murdering their families? The thing is preposterous.
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