Lesson 3: Massacres, Military Leaders, Indian Retaliations, & More Gold
Persons and events studied in this lesson are Generals Sibley and Sully who continue their advance against the Sioux; General James Carleton’s attack on the Apache; Colonel Kit Carson overpowers the Navahos; Kiowa Chief Satank’s shootout; and Chivington, Black Kettle, and the Sand Creek Massacre. In addition, to be studied are the attacks on whites by the Cheyenne, Arapahos, Sioux, Kiowas, and Comanches; George Armstrong Custer’s Civil War days; Generals Pope and Grant; and Red Cloud and the forts on the Bozeman Trail, the Fetterman Massacre, and Wagon Box Attack.
Introduction
In 1863 General Sibley marched, with nineteen hundred infantry and cavalry, to North Dakota. He was chasing the Eastern Sioux before him while General Sully advanced up the Missouri River. They planned to trap the Sioux between them but Sully was delayed and Sibley reached their rendezvous a month ahead of him. Sibley’s forces did surprise a large group of Sioux whose numbers included Inkapduta, the leader of a 1856 massacre at Spirit Lake in Iowa. Sibley involved the Indians in three skirmishes before the Sioux escaped across the river.
Sibley had already retreated towards home when Sully’s scattered troops arrived. Inkpaduata’s warriors trapped one battalion but Sully rescued them, resulting in three hundred dead Sioux and twenty-one whites.
The following year Sully resumed the chase, saw to the building of Fort Rice near present-day Bismarck, then moved on to the badlands where he again tangled with the Sioux. While Sully was making his moves General James Carleton attacked the Apaches and Navahos in the Southwest. Carleton believed that New Mexico and Arizona were rich with gold, just waiting to be discovered once the Indians were cleared out.
Colonel Christopher ‘Kit’ Carson
Earlier that year, Colonel Kit Carson and his troops had surprised the Navahos in their stronghold. This brief battle persuaded twenty-four hundred Indians to surrender. Soon after, the defeated Navahos were marched away to the hated reservation Bosque Redondo, where eventually some six thousand Indians were confined.
One year earlier, on a frigid January day in 1863, Patrick Connor’s Californians had attacked a village of Bannocks and Shoshonis near the Utah-Idaho border. Two hundred and twenty-four Indians were killed and many prisoners were taken. But on the Plains the Cheyenne and Arapahos were proving harder to control.
Throughout that year, the Cheyenne and Arapahos attacked stations on the main roads up the Platte, Smoky Hill, and Arkansas Rivers. Often, Sioux to the north, as well as Kiowas and Comanches, joined them. Between attacks these Indians continued to collect guns and ammunition from agents and traders. They claimed they were needed for hunting.
In western Kansas and eastern Colorado settlers were being scalped and mutilated. White women were kidnapped and violated while ranches were burned. When nothing else could be done, the U.S. Army retaliated when they could by destroying the Indians’ villages, including all household goods and food needed for winter. The Indian attacks caused severe delays of freight delivery to Denver and mail often had to be rerouted by way of San Francisco.
A Colorado Homestead
During these times it was near impossible to distinguish peaceful bands from hostile ones. But it was clear who caused some of the turmoil. At Fort Lyons in Colorado, Chief Satank of the Kiowas got into a shooting scrape with a sentry, resulting in the post’s horse herd being stampeded. The Indians involved fled with them to the Texas Panhandle.
It was during this time, with the Central and Southern Plains aflame, that the band under Peace Chief of the Cheyennes, Black Kettle, was directed to camp on Sand Creek.
Kit Carson was a well-known mountain man and fur trapper. Have you ever wondered how some of these western people got their start? Here's a link to an article that gives just that answer to Kit Carson's start in a western life.
KIT CARSON: The Runaway Boy By Mary Trotter Kion http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/grea...
The source for this section is:
David Lavender. The Great West.
