Sand Creek Massacre, 1864: Tragedy on the Big Sandy

Ummm Roman Nose wasn’t Arapaho he was Cheyenne

The army carried out what would now be considered atrocious war crimes. The indians carried out similar atrocities in rebellion against the occupiers. Both sides felt righteous. Neither side was right.

U have done a great job with your presentation, thank you. :) Many decades ago I was a State utility worker and lived close by this site, way before it was developed, and I would go there frequently to walk the fort area and battle area. I remember at the fort if I kicked the soil artifacts from the fort would be visible, they clearly were not very deep. I remember one early summer night, fairly cloudy sky partial moon and I was walking the battlefield, being parked at the monument and had wandered a ways away when all of a sudden the hair on my neck and arms rose up, I felt a sense of dread and chills and had a feeling of being watched and felt a presence and great anxiety, I quickly and with haste made it back to my utility vehicle and never again visited that location at any time other than full day light. It is a special place.

The only means to sovereignty is territory. Denying a peoples' sovereignty is usually not taken lying down.

I’m learning more about the Indian wars from Your channel then I ever did anywhere else. Keep up the good work

Been looking for a chanel like this one, thank you.

When I first came across this story I was about 10 years old reading, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." I was sickened and outraged. I subsequently came across other accounts of the Sand Creek Massacre as it has been long dubbed. From all of the accounts that I have in recollection, Chivington's assault took place at dawn as a surprise attack as outlined here. However, my recollection was that it had been described as a surprise attack that lasted less than an hour. Although oppositional fighting was cited as to have occurred, the "battle" was described in detail as very one sided, with very little resistance from fighting warriors from Black Kettle's band. But rather a full scale slaughter of mostly women, children and elderly men. Detailed in great measure were the gruesome accounts of rape and mutilation of the women. In particular, the decidedly wretched and ghoulish recitation of women's breasts being cut off and paraded on the ends of bayonets, torture, and sickening accounts of mass rape and the slaughter of babies were also cited. This is the first account that I have ever run across that attempts to, in any way, advocate for, or provide a differing account of the accepted historical narrative of the Sand Creek ordeal. One thing is for certain: With very few historical exceptions, peoples or groups who have been ravaged savagely tend to reciprocate that same savagery back onto their assailants or others in the same manner in which they themselves had been previously victimized given the opportunity. And, given that the most galling and salacious recitation of the savagery exacted upon the Black Kettle band are in fact accurate and true, they do not at all exceed in any way the very same depredations enacted upon the white settlers and others as a deliberate and common practice in an ongoing campaign carried out by the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Commanche and other tribes upon the whites and other native enemies at that time or previous to it. The vast depredations described in this account and accepted by the vast majority of historians as accurate, as gruesome and inhumane as they surely are, do not rise above the level of the disgusting brutality and debased savagery commonly practiced by plains tribes and others in all reality. And so, sadly, to assign a moral high ground and higher level of victimization to the Native Americans here and in others instances is in fact a hypocrisy and a denial of true history.

I lived only a couple of miles from the sand creek massacre site! When I was about fourteen. I hunted all of that country, with 22s and a old 410 shotgun. Over the years I was caught having to cross the site in the late evening, about dusk. I always found that walking through this site, would make your skin crawl. My father was the manager of the Kiowa County Grazing Ass.

My Great great grandfather Charles Hall was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Colorado Calvary and served in the action at Sand Creek. Later, Chipeta wife of Ouray of the Ute, gave a young white girl child to Charles and Mary Hall at their Ranch in South Park. That was my Great great Aunt Mildred Hall later Mildred McQuade, she passed on the family ranch in 1947.

All this happened back in the dark days before Dale Carnegine wrote his best seller, "How to win friends and influence people'

Appreciate your efforts. Raised in Franktown learned of this entire event as a child from grandma. 30 some years later purchased a dry land farm close to sight on the big sandy. I understand skepticism but I’m pretty sure that land is haunted or something, very odd feeling amongst the grove and down in one of the gullies. The history of man is complicated business.

This telling makes the most sense to me. A real logical accounting!

Excellent videos!

Thank you for covering this incident in its proper context! THIS is an example of the stuff that "they don't teach you in school"!

It was a pleasant surprise to get a reasoned and fair account of the events that took place at Sand Creek.

Fast becoming one of my favorite YT channels. Keep up the great work!

Good video. Thanks

Awesome work !

As a european this is highly interesting, as we never learned anything about the native americans.

The truth of tit for tat violence is too much for some people to wrap their head around. Things aren’t always black and white