Indian Wars
For a
Slovak translation
by Margareta Sliwka
Indian Wars
is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between
White settlers or the federal government and the Indigenous population of North
America. The wars were the result of the arrival of European colonizers
who continuously expanded their territory pushing the Indigenous populations
westwards. The wars were spurred by ideologies such as the
Discovery Doctrine and Manifest Destiny that held that the United
States was destined to expand from coast to coast on the American continent, and
which resulted in the policy of Indian removal by which Indigenous peoples were
removed from the areas where Europeans were settling forcefully or by means of
voluntary exchange of territory through
treaties.
Often starting with the
Pequot War of 1637, Indian wars
raged throughout the 17th – 19th centuries, and ending
with the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.
The last two "official" United States Indian
Wars occurred in 19 January 1911,
Washoe County, Nevada, considered The Last Massacre. Twelve Shoshones were
killed by four ranchers and a posse). And then on
9 January 1918, at Bear Valley, in
southern Arizona, The Battle of Bear Valley was fought. United States Army
forces of the 10th Cavalry engaged and captured a band of Yaquis, after a brief
firefight.
Example of the Sand Creek Massacre
29
November 1864
|
Looking southwest, Sand Creek or
Chivington Massacre, 1864 |
The Sand Creek Massacre (also known as
the Chivington Massacre, the Battle of Sand Creek or the
Massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was an incident in the Indian Wars that
occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 800-man force of Colorado Territory
militia attacked and destroyed a village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho
encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated
160 Indians, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. The
location has been designated a National Historic Site and is administered by the
National Park Service.
"Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! . .
. . I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to
use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians." - Col. John
Milton Chivington, U.S. Army
|
U.S. Army Colonel John
Chivington's portrait.
Chivington was a Methodist
preacher and an opponent to
slavery |
1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie
- seven nations, including Arapaho and Cheyenne,
with their land between North Platte River and Arkansas River eastward to Rocky
Mountains to western Kansas (present-day southeastern Wyoming, southwestern
Nebraska, most of eastern Colorado and westernmost parts of Kansas.
1858 gold discovered
in Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak Gold Rush, flood of new immigrants,. and
pressure to re-define Indian lands, resulting in 1861 Treaty of Fort Wise.
Signed by only a few of the chiefs, including Black Kettle and White
Antelope, who may have been bribed with gifts to sign, and without consulting or
getting approval from the rest of the Cheyenne Council of 44 Chiefs and without
consent of Dog Soldiers. Most disavowed treaty agreement as it did not
represent their wishes. (to be repeated with Nez Perce War of 1877 and
Chief Joseph). Resulted in reservation 1/13 size of original lands,
located in eastern Colorado between Arkansas River and Sand Creek.
Hostilities between Indians and settlers resulted.
A group of Black Kettle and White Antelope "friendlys,"
some making their way to Fort Lyon tp establish their peaceful intentions, some
800 mostly Northern Cheyenne, camping near Sand Creek (their reservation
lands). Most men gone to hunt, leaving camp with about 60 men and
hundreds of elderly, women and children. Displayed American Flags
and white flags.
Fresh off a victory defeated a Confederate force
in New Mexico, Colonel Chivington and 800 troops marched on Black
Kettle's camp. Night before, militia drank heavily and anticipated
victory. On morning of November 29, 1864, Chivington orders attach. Two
officers and their companies refuse his orders and stay out of the fight.
But the unsought started.
An estimated 160 Indians were killed and
mutilated, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. There were
24 soldiers killed, primarily due to "friendly fire," as a large number of
the militia was drunk at the time of the attack.
I witness accounts:
I saw the bodies of those lying there cut all to
pieces, worse mutilated than any I ever saw before; the women cut all to pieces
... With knives; scalped; their brains knocked out; children two or three months
old; all ages lying there, from sucking infants up to warriors ... By whom were
they mutilated? By the United States troops ... - John S. Smith,
interpreter and trader in the camp at the time of the attack.
Congressional Testimony of Mr. John S. Smith, 1865
Fingers and ears were cut off the bodies for the
jewelry they carried. The body of White Antelope, lying solitarily in the creek
bed, was a prime target. Besides scalping him the soldiers cut off his nose,
ears, and testicles-the last for a tobacco pouch ... - Stan Hoig, noted
historian
Jis to think of that dog Chivington and his
dirty hounds, up thar at Sand Creek. His men shot down squaws, and blew the
brains out of little innocent children. You call sich soldiers Christians, do
ye? And Indians savages? What der yer 'spose our Heavenly Father, who made both
them and us, thinks of these things? I tell you what, I don't like a hostile red
skin any more than you do. And when they are hostile, I've fought 'em, hard as
any man. But I never yet drew a bead on a squaw or papoose, and I despise the
man who would. - Kit Carson, American frontiersmen (1809 - 1868)
Before Chivington and his men left the area,
they plundered the tipis and took the horses. After the smoke cleared,
Chivington's men came back and killed many of the wounded. They also scalped
many of the dead, regardless of whether they were women, children or infants.
Chivington and his men dressed their weapons, hats and gear with scalps and
other body parts, including human fetuses and male and female genitalia.
They also publicly displayed these battle trophies in Denver's Apollo Theater
and area saloons.
Update:
Cheyenne Spiritual Healing Run
for more information in the Indian Wars and the
Sand Creek Massacre, and sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Creek_massacre
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