"Remembering the Sand Creek Massacre" Topic

"November 29 marked the 150th anniversary of one of the most violent episodes in American history—a massacre of Native Americans so horrific that it prompted two Congressional investigations; forced the resignation of two leaders—Colonel John M. Chivington and the governor of Colorado Territory, John Evans—and launched years of battle with the Plains Indians following the Civil War.

The Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 was the topic of a November presentation by Ned Blackhawk at the Radcliffe Institute, held in partnership with the Harvard University Native American Program. Blackhawk, a Western Shoshone, is a professor of history, American studies, and ethnicity, race, and migration at Yale University, where he is also faculty coordinator of the Yale Group for the Study of Native America.

In his introduction of Blackhawk, Daniel Carpenter, the director of the social sciences program in Radcliffe's Academic Ventures and the Allie S. Freed Professor of Government in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said, "A university is a conversation—a highly bureaucratized conversation, to be sure—but a vital dialogue nonetheless. And it is vital to the future of Harvard—and in deep consistency with Harvard's Native past—that the voice of Native American and indigenous people be amplified and strengthened."
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Amicalement
Armand

Largely forgotten sadly because it took place during the Civil War.

Yes.
Sad.
Were there a movie about it?

Amicalement
Armand

Soldier Blue wasn't it?

Yes, Soldier Blue was based on Sand Creek. The village that was destroyed was that of Black Kettle, who escaped. In 1868 he was killed when Custer's regiment hit his village at the Washita, portrayed in Little Big Man.

Chivington had previously wiped out the Confederate supply train at Glorietta Pass in 1862. He was good at carving up groups of poorly armed folks.

….it's a part also of the Tv mini Series "Centennial".. and "Into the West" and a lot of movies in fact !
wikipedia is our friend !
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I've watched "Soldier Blue" a few days ago !! a great movie !

What's strange is that the Cheyennes appear in many American History's events but it seems that they are forgotten by the manufacturers… Am I wrong ?

The Country's Most Revealing Memorial to the Sand Creek Massacre Used to Celebrate the Killings

"Last weekend, members of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Sand Creek massacre in southeast Colorado, where hundreds of Indians were brutally murdered. But in Denver, a statue stood largely unnoticed in front of the Colorado state capitol. It, too, tells the story of the Sand Creek massacre—and also of the way modern Americans' perception of the Indian wars has changed dramatically over the last 150 years.

My wife likes to tour state capitals, and we visited Colorado's capitol building in Denver in 2006. "That looks like a civil war soldier," she said, as we gazed up at the imposing statue that stands before the steps leading up to the entrance. I insisted it must be a miner—Colorado hadn't been a state during the Civil War, and I could never remember any civil war battles being fought in the Rocky Mountains—but upon closer inspection, my wife turned out to be right. It was a Civil War cavalryman, dismounted, with rifle in hand.

The plaque at the base of the statue recounted how Colorado's First and Third Cavalry during the Civil War had staged a "surprise attack" against "Chief Black Kettle's peaceful camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians on the banks of Sand Creek," in which "soldiers killed more than 150 of the village's inhabitants. Most of the victims were elderly men, women, and children." Why, we wondered, have a statue commemorating the soldiers who perpetrated the massacre?…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

Hi Sam – most of the foundry range would do as Cheyenne; northern Cheyenne at least. Apparently the northern branch very much adopted Sioux fashion except for the war bonnets which stayed the upright near cylindrical style, which the foundry figures are wearing.Apart from the bonnets and avoiding heavy fur braids round the hair I think they looked much of a muchness with other plains tribes. If I recall correctly even John Wayne tendd to identify tribes by the markings on their arrows…

And theyre just awesome figures.

Did all peacefull indian camp have fresh scalps?

Orginial documents -

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Dont think there were ever "peaceful" indian camps in the way we understand it. Bands would always be raiding enemy tribes and the temptation to lift horses and/or scalps from any source even when "at peace" could be overwhelming.
Of course not all indians are the same even though white contemporaries were often keen to treat them as such.There are incidences of parties who had committed depredations being tracked to friendly camps who had given them hospitality without knowing the circumstances.
Of course in those circumstances it made sense to white men that they must belong to that village, which must be hostile.

Chivingtons men had real incentive to "prove" that the cheyenne were hostile, given the atrocities commited and the fact that Cheyenne, Arapaho etc went on the rampage when the news of sand creek spread. Certainly Black Kettle seems to have thought he was at peace.

Tango, not quite in the Rockies but close enough link it is where Chivington first found his knack of wiping out non-combat personnel.