Sand Creek massacre

Sand Creek massacre
Part of the Colorado War, American Indian Wars, American Civil War

A depiction of one scene at Sand Creek by witness Howling Wolf
DateNovember 29, 1864
Location
Colorado Territory
Present-day Kiowa County, Colorado
38°32′58″N 102°30′41″W / 38.54944°N 102.51139°W / 38.54944; -102.51139
Result See Aftermath
Belligerents
 United States (Union) Cheyenne
Arapaho
Commanders and leaders
John Chivington Black Kettle
Strength
700[1] 70–200
Casualties and losses
24 killed
52 wounded[2]		 70–600 (mostly women and children) killed[2][3][4]

The Sand Creek massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre, the battle of Sand Creek or the massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of the Third Colorado Cavalry[5] under the command of U.S. Volunteers Colonel John Chivington attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory,[6] killing and mutilating an estimated 70 to over 600 Native American people. Chivington claimed 500 to 600 warriors were killed. However, most sources estimate around 150 people were killed, about two-thirds of whom were women and children.[4][2][7][3] The location has been designated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service. The massacre is considered part of a series of events known as the Colorado Wars.

  1. ^ Gwynne, S.C., Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, Scribner, New York, 2010, p.220 ISBN 978-1-4165-9105-4
  2. ^ a b c Michno, Battle at Sand Creek, p. 241
  3. ^ a b Rajtar, Steve, Indian War Sites: A Guidebook to Battlefields, Monuments, and Memorials, McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina, 1999 p. 51
  4. ^ a b Reilly, H.J. (2011). Bound to have blood: Frontier newspapers and the Plains Indian wars. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press p. 21
  5. ^ "CONDITION OF THE INDIAN TRIBES, REPORT OF THE JOINT SPECIAL COMMITTEE, APPOINTED UNDER JOINT RESOLUTION OF MARCH 3, 1865". Senate of the United States. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  6. ^ Smiley, B. "Sand Creek Massacre" Archived November 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Archeology magazine. Archaeological Institute of America. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
  7. ^ Pauls, Elizabeth Prine. "Native American". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved November 30, 2019.