Sand Creek Massacre

Essay by Mehmood February 2009

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AbstractIn this paper the researcher, Tahir Mehmood, will discuss the major causes, which led towards the Sand creek massacre, and the actual facts and figures related to this event of the history. Further, the important personalities involved in this event will be discussed. All related research sources would be provided in MLA format.

OutlineI. IntroductionII. Charley BentIII. John ChivingtonIV. John EvansV. Black KettleVI. ConclusionIntroductionThe day after taking command at Fort Lyon, Major Anthony persuaded the Indians that they would be safe if they camped at the big bend of Sand Creek, about 40 miles northeast. Anthony was also impatient, unable to wait until guilty Indians were separated from the innocent. Begging for a fight, he again wrote Curtis that when reinforcements arrived, he intended to attack the Indians. The Sand Creek camp was a classic set-up created by Anthony. The Indians had to leave the fort by orders of General Curtis.

That Wynkoop and Evans thought the Indians surrendered was irrelevant. George Grinnell concluded that Anthony selected the Sand Creek site because it placed the Indians within easy reach when he decided to attack. Sand Creek was dry in November except for some scattered pools. Seven hundred Indians occupied the camp--200 men and 500 women and children. Prominent among the Arapaho leaders in camp were White Antelope and Left Hand (Brissett, pp70-78).

On 13 November, Chivington ordered the 3rd Colorado to camp at Booneville on the Arkansas River. First, Chivington had not been in a battle since Glorieta Pass. That void, together with the 3rd Colorado's reputation as the "bloodless Third," hastened his fading popularity. Second, in 1862, five members of a robber band, the so-called Reynolds gang, were caught and sent by Chivington from Denver to Fort Lyon under an army escort of 100 men. Chivington bragged...