The Battle of Sand Creek

_______On November 29, 1864, a force of Colorado Volunteers under the command of Col. John M. Chivington attacked a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. The Indians were encamped just outside the boundary of Sand Creek Reservation. They were there at the instructions of the Commander of Fort Lyon, who had promised them protection until a formal peace settlement could be negotiated with the military commander of the Department of Kansas. Although the troops claimed a great victory against a large force of hostile Indian warriors, word soon got out that they had in fact attacked a peaceful village of no more than 600 souls, containing numerous prominent older chiefs and a large percentage of women and children. About two thirds of the village managed to escape. Approximately 150 Indians lost their lives, two thirds of these being women and children were slaughtered in a most brutal manner and bodies of the dead were scalped and mutilated. The Sand Creek Massacre would have remained just an ugly incident in the history of the Plains Indian wars, had it not been for the oppurtunities it provided to settle old scores and satisfy personal ambitions. Furthermore, although not sanctioned by official military policy, the massacre soon turned into a symbol of what was wrong with U.S. Indian policy. As military strategy, Sand Creek proved an utter failure, ushering in years of bloody warfare on the plains. The massacre site is located just north of present day Chivington (north of Lamar between Eads and Brandon) on a bend of Big Sandy Creek. The artist's rendering of the scene is misleading. The creek bed is bordered by bluffs set among the beautiful rolling plants of Eastern Colorado.