By Mike Bowen, co-author, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site
There were multiple events that led to Sand Creek and for the 100-day volunteer regiment, the Colorado 3rd Cavalry, to be formed. Some involved with Sand Creek were not from Colorado. What is the connection?
“I was in one of the largest villages on Solomon River of Cheyennes, Siouxs and Arapahoes in summer of 1864. I had just returned from my father’s ranch on Purgatoire River that summer. As I rode by each village I seen scalp dances in centre of these villages. War parties came in from all directions, bringing in lots of plunder. Cheyennes and Siouxs made raids on South Platte down to Little Blue River. I seen all kinds of stuff…Arapahoes made raids towards Denver” George Bent said (Bent to Hyde, 3-19-1906).
In the summer of 1864, Robert McGee, a teenage boy about 15, was scalped by Sioux Indians near Fort Zarah in Kansas. See our blog about him here: (RobertMcGee). This event would have been a catalyst for the formation of the Colorado 3rd Cavalry. Lant Williams, from Kansas, signed up to fight with the Colorado 3rd.
McGee was visited by General Curtis while in the hospital. Curtis is the General that ordered Sand Creek. Curtis saw firsthand the attacks from the Indians. George Bent even said the Sioux and Cheyenne were one and the same. The 3rd was organized after many pleas for help from Colorado Territory Governor John Evans (Howbert, Irving, The Indians of the Pikes Peak Region page 94).
This map shows how close multiple raids were from where Lant Williams lived at the time.
Colonel Chivington didn’t organize the Colorado 3rd or order Sand Creek—he was following orders from General Curtis.
September 28, 1864
Fort Leavenworth
“To Colonel Chivington:
I shall require the bad Indians delivered up; restoration of equal numbers of stock; also hostages to secure. I want no peace till the Indians suffer more…I fear the agent of the Interior Department will be ready to make presents too soon. It is better to chastise before giving anything but a little tobacco to talk over. No peace must be made without my directions.
S. R. Curtis, Major General.”
(Report on the Conduct of the War, 38th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1865).
Interestingly, during his testimony in the hearings, John Smith, who testified against Colonel John Chivington, said that he believed General Curtis gave the orders to Chivington for Sand Creek. It’s telling that someone who was motivated to get even with Chivington due to the loss of his buffalo robes at Sand Creek, acknowledged Chivington didn’t order Sand Creek (Thirty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, Congress of The United States, In The House of Representatives, January 10, 1865).
Multiple other attacks and raids took place in the Kansas/Nebraska area including the Eubank murders and captures, the Plum Creek Massacre, the Martin brothers shot by an arrow, and Robert McGee being scalped as a teenage boy, to name a few. All of these events were within about a 150 mile radius of where Lant was living at the time of Sand Creek, in Manhattan, KS. The Eubank family murders and captures took place near Oak, Nebraska on the Little Blue River. George Bent’s reference as quoted above, “Cheyennes and Siouxs made raids on South Platte down to Little Blue River,” would have covered an area from Colorado Territory to Kansas to Nebraska. See our Eubank blog: (Eubank).
The raid on the Martin brothers, Robert and Nathaniel (Nat), took place about three months before Sand Creek. Nat was the older of the two, at just 14 years old. In August of 1864, in Nebraska, only 148 miles from Lant’s home in Manhattan, KS, Indians were attempting to steal horses belonging to Robert and Nat’s father. An Indian shot an arrow at Nat that went entirely through his body and into the body of his little brother, while riding a horse. A newspaper article by The Bee: Omaha, in 1922, discussed him being shot by an arrow and his miraculous survival—he was still living at the time. Nat was born in 1848 and died in 1928. Robert was born in 1851 and died in 1899.
Lant along with many from Kansas, including General Curtis and Major Anthony would have been aware of these attacks. The settlers’ way of life, as protected by Manifest Destiny, was under attack. These attacks were plentiful in the summer of 1864.
Major Anthony, Fort Lyon commanding officer at the time of Sand Creek, previously served as commanding officer at Fort Larned in Kansas. He left that post to relieve Major Wynkoop of his duties at Fort Lyon, very early in November of 1864. From his time at Fort Larned, Major Anthony would have been aware of the atrocities the Indians were committing in Kansas. And as already detailed by Bent, the Dog Soldiers (warriors), in which he was one of them, made many raids in the area of the fort.
And as already mentioned above, General Curtis saw the aftermath of the barbaric acts committed by the Indians. He didn’t just blindly accept the claims from Colorado Territory Governor John Evans, he knew the severity of what was happening, and no doubt led to him ordering Sand Creek.
The Plum Creek Massacre—also a pivotal event to Sand Creek. This massacre took place near present-day Lexington, Nebraska on August 8, 1864. Two were captured and eleven were murdered. It was reported the attack was by Cheyenne Dog Soldiers and someone named Bent. It may have been George Bent. George wrote in his letters that he went on wagon train raids with warriors. “Northern Cheyennes also made raid on Plum Creek,” (Bent to Hyde 6-12-1906). See more about this in the introduction of our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site. See our Plum Creek blog: (PlumCreek).
During President Trump’s Inauguration Speech, he talked about Manifest Destiny and those settlers that moved westward for a better life, who endured “untamed wilderness,” among other things. The untamed wilderness Trump spoke of included attacks by Indians on settlers.
Sand Creek was not a starting point for any of the Indian wars and battles—it was fighting back against ruthless warriors that violently attacked settlers including young children. Check the index in our book for “Hungate.” It is arguably the biggest catalyst for Sand Creek. It is brought up multiple times in the hearings, and the bodies were put on display in Denver, months before Sand Creek. People were enraged by the Hungate family murders.
General Curtis, Major Anthony and the soldier, Lant Williams, are examples of people with intimate knowledge and experience of the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. Also, they all lived in Kansas, showing how extensive the Indian raids were from the same Cheyenne Dog Soldiers.
It’s difficult to make a case the Indians at Sand Creek were peaceful. There are multiple reports from eyewitnesses that white scalps were found in Black Kettle’s village. One that testified was a surgeon who examined many of the scalps. See that blog here: (WhiteScalps). Major Anthony also testified to seeing white scalps (Thirty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, Congress of The United States, In The House of Representatives, January 10, 1865).
We know from eyewitnesses that warriors were indeed in the village at Sand Creek. Soldier, Robert McFarland, was killed by a warrior in hand-to-hand combat. See our blog about McFarland: (PrivateMac:TheJamesCarrLetter).
Bent said, “men fought off the soldiers until the pits were ready to get into” (Bent to Hyde 4-30-1913). In sworn testimony, Major Anthony said, “We fought them about seven hours” (Thirty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, Congress of The United States, In The House of Representatives, January 10, 1865). He also testified there were warriors in the camp that fought the soldiers. Many soldiers said it was a hard-fought fight. For the event to go on for seven hours, it was most certainly a fight.
From the location Chuck Bowen found village and battle artifacts, it is clear that Sand Creek was a running battle. Battle artifacts were found scattered over several miles, in multiple directions, and found across the creek from the village. Very little action took place in the village, based on where village artifacts were found.
It is important to know the truth about Sand Creek. Knowledge is power.
Learn more in our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site.
Truth matters. Truth wins.
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