As Colorado grew, so to did the tension, distrust, and fear between settlers and native tribes.  The desire to quench a new territory’s need for land and wealth was confronted by nations who lived, hunted and traveled across the same land.  Negotiations between leaders – presidents, governors, agents, and officers on one-side, chiefs and headsmen on the other failed.  In 1861, a reservation set-aside in southeastern Colorado was insufficient for the nomadic Cheyenne and Arapaho.  The area was but a token of land to what had been promised ten years earlier. At that time, the United States had recognized these tribes as possessing a huge swath of land from the headwaters of the Platte and Arkansas eastward into Nebraska and Kansas.

In 1864, the murder of a Cheyenne named Lean Bear foreshadowed war.  Months earlier this venerable chieftain had visited the White House and President Abraham Lincoln. Old-time Cheyenne were adamant that the seeds of conflict began with the death of this Chief.  In addition, the burning of two Cheyenne camps by Colorado cavalrymen near the South Platte, and claims that troops had initiated armed conflict at a place known as Fremont’s Orchard exacerbated the situation.  

In June, the murder of a pioneer family named Hungate near Denver, and lingering fears of Indian attacks like those at New Ulm, Minnesota, which had claimed hundreds of lives in 1862, increased tension among Colorado’s settlers and military officials. Assurances of  amnesty for “friendly” tribesmen were tempered by a proclomation to “kill and destroy’ hostiles.  By summer, war would erupt across the plains of Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado.  In late September, Cheyenne and Arapaho Chiefs met with Governor Evans, Colonel Chivington and others at Camp Weld near Denver – little was accomplished.  Soon, the recruitment of volunteers began - farmers, printers, miners, clerks, gamblers, and even an actor heeded the call. In October, Cheyenne Chief Big Wolf was killed and his camped burned by some of these newly mustered Coloradoans – now, the Sand Creek Campaign was just days away.

For additional information about the Sand Creek Massacre NHS and the site’s dedication ceremony, please visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/sand/, or call the park at 719-383-5051.

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