By Mike Bowen, co-author, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site
Four months before Sand Creek on July 14, 1864, a teenage boy, Robert McGee, was scalped by Sioux Indians when they attacked a wagon train.
The Indians camped with Black Kettle at Sand Creek were Cheyenne and Arapaho. However, “Sioux and Cheyennes have been living together for over 100 years,” George Bent said (Bent to Hyde, 8-16-1911). He said they fought together and were one and the same. So, it’s possible there could have been Sioux mixed with Cheyenne at Sand Creek.
“The two persons that were scalped alive I saw a few days after this occurred. Though it occurred within sight of Fort Zarah, the officer commanding considered his command entirely inadequate to render any assistance. But we think we have related enough to satisfy the most incredulous of the determined hostility of these Indians; suffice it to say that during the spring, summer, and fall such atrocious acts were of almost daily occurrence along the Platte and Arkansas routes, till the Indians becoming so bold that a family, consisting of a man, woman, and two children, by the name of Hungate, were brutally murdered and scalped within fifteen miles of Denver, the bodies being brought to Denver for interment. After seeing which, any person who could for a moment believe that these Indians were friendly, to say the least, must have strange ideas of their habits. We could not see it in that light,” Colonel John Chivington said in his testimony following Sand Creek in 1865 (Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War 1865, Thirty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, Congress Of The United States, In The House Of Representatives, January 10, 1865).
“In the matter of Robert McGee, I, Hulbert H. Clark, M. D., a resident of Santa Cruz, Cal., hereby certify that while in the United States service as acting assistant surgeon, being stationed at Fort Larned, Kans., as post surgeon, did, on or about the 16th day of July, 1864, receive into the United States post hospital Robert McGee, a boy about 16 years old, who had been wounded in numerous places, including the almost complete (entire) removal of the scalp, his wounds and injuries being inflicted by the Brule Sioux Indians, led by Chief Little Turtle, in their attack upon a Government supply train, then en route westward, being on the day of the attack which, I believe, was July 14, 1864, at or near the Great Bend of the Arkansas River, from which point the wounded reached Fort Larned two days later. The said Robert McGee remained in my charge about three months, during which time he was visited by General Curtis, who instructed me to give him special care; also gave McGee an order on the quartermaster for such clothing as was necessary for his comfort” (52D Congress, 2d Session Senate, Report No. 1230, in the Senate of the United States, January, 1893).
Robert was traveling with his parents on a wagon train in 1864. They were killed which left him orphaned as a teenager. His age at the time of the attack is unknown. The document above states he was about 16. According to ancestry records, he was born about 1849. The only known photograph of him was taken in 1890.
“When he left the hospital he was very weak, and fully two-thirds of the surface of the skull was not healed, being covered by a very delicate coat of granulation and which bled upon the slightest friction; also a wound of the left elbow and in left groin was still open. How he survived is unaccountable. When he reached the hospital he was unconscious from shock, loss of blood, and want of food. It was several days before he could whisper so as to be understood. He was handled by raising him in the sheet, his many wounds, some fourteen in number, about chest, arms, and abdomen, prevented us grasping in the ordinary manner. I have not seen him since he left Fort Larned” (52D Congress, 2d Session Senate, Report No. 1230, in the Senate of the United States, January, 1893).
It’s interesting that General Curtis is the General that gave the orders to Colonel Chivington for Sand Creek. General Curtis saw firsthand this brutality perpetrated by the Indians when he visited McGee and gave the surgeon instructions to care for him—he was well aware of the atrocities committed by the Indians on the plains.
Accounts like McGee are too often trampled on and regarded as having no significance. It is among the many events that were a leading cause for General Curtis to order soldiers to Sand Creek.
It’s been said that Sand Creek was a random attack, but Black Kettle harbored violent warriors who committed many attacks on wagon trains, killed and scalped innocent settlers including young children, and took white captives.
We’re certainly not defending the story that claims soldiers attacked a peaceful village of women, children and elderly. We’re debunking it. If that story were true, the area below the bluff at the National Park Service Sand Creek site would have been littered with bullets, arrowheads, cannonball shell fragments, kettle fragments, and many other village and battle related artifacts. No period artifacts were found below that bluff.
Chuck and Sheri Bowen found the real location of Black Kettle’s village and Sand Creek battle areas. According to over 4,000 artifacts they found on the Bowen family ranch, the events at Sand Creek took place over several miles and in multiple directions. This shows that the Sand Creek event was a running battle, and without prior warning of the soldiers coming, women, children and elderly would certainly not be able to run over two miles up the creek from the village while getting away from soldiers on horseback.
The reality is, the Indians had an advanced warning when Little Bear saw the approaching soldiers as a long black line on the horizon, which gave the Indians a head start to flee the village. To be seen as a long black line would mean the soldiers were at least two miles away, if not further. According to primary source documents, the cannons were in the lead, so the soldiers would be behind them keeping that pace. It’s also important to note the soldiers rode all night long for 40 miles, per Lant Williams. See more in our book.
The truth about Sand Creek has been suppressed, and that’s what we’re about, telling the truth. When the truth is understood, it will be clear how the false Sand Creek massacre story is being used today—it’s used to destroy patriotism. When we see a Sand Creek display depicting the event as a massacre, the end goal is to leave feeling ashamed of our white American ancestors. But the truth isn’t being told.
Truth matters, and truth wins!
Read about General Curtis giving orders for Sand Creek here: GeneralCurtis
There’s even more in our book.
Learn more about Sand Creek and the discovery of over 4,000 artifacts in our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site. Click the Buy the Book tab at the top of the page.
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