american horse was the cheyenne leader whose village was attacked by american soldiers at sand creek.
american horse was the cheyenne leader whose village was attacked by american soldiers at sand creek.
who was the cheyenne leader whose village was attacked by american soldiers at sand creek?
american horse
tappan returned to colorado in november 1864 and was laid up at fort lyon, colorado territory with a broken foot incurred on the eve of his arrival. this was two days before elements of the first colorado cavalry, together with the 100 day soldiers of the third colorado cavalry, under the command of colonel chivington, initiated an attack on a peaceful encampment of southern cheyenne and arapaho indians at sand creek. the attack, involving 675 cavalry troopers, originated at daybreak on november 29, 1864, who departed from fort lyon at 8 pm on november 28 following an argument between chivington and some of the officers at the fort who tried to dissuade chivington from making the attack. there was a general understanding with the cheyenne and arapaho indians encamped on sand creek that they were under the protection of the federal troops at fort lyon pursuant to an agreement reached that fall with the then commander of the fort, major edward w. wynkoop. it is not known if tappan played any part in the discussions with chivington at fort lyon on november 28 before the attack. the federal troopers under chivington's command attacked the indian villages at first light and killed 150-200 indians, two-thirds of whom were women and children. the federal troops lost ten soldiers and had 38 wounded (of whom four later died while at ft. lyon), some of the casualties apparently arising from friendly fire and disorder among the cooperating units. some of the victorious troopers mutilated the bodies of their indian victims and returned to denver where these grisly battle souvenirs were proudly and publicly displayed to the citizens of denver. the action at sand creek was greeted by citizens of denver as a justifiable military victory which helped to avenge the murders of plains settlers such as the hungate family. however it eventually began to be seen in the nation at-large as an unjustifiable massacre of peaceful indians under peace chiefs such as chief black kettle of the southern cheyenne tribe.
samuel f. tappan
the sand creek massacre of november 29, 1864, besides causing a heavy loss of life and material possessions by the cheyenne and arapaho bands present at sand creek, also devastated the cheyenne's traditional government, due to the deaths at sand creek of eight of 44 members of the council of forty-four, including white antelope, one eye, yellow wolf, big man, bear man, war bonnet, spotted crow, and bear robe, as well as headmen of some of the cheyenne's military societies. among the chiefs killed were most of those who had advocated peace with white settlers and the u.s. government. the effect of this on cheyenne society was to exacerbate the social and political rift between the traditional council chiefs and their followers on the one hand and the dog soldiers on the other. to the dog soldiers, the sand creek massacre illustrated the folly of the peace chiefs' policy of accommodating the whites through the signing of treaties such as the first treaty of fort laramie and the treaty of fort wise and vindicated the dog soldiers' own militant posture towards the whites. the traditional cheyenne clan system, upon which the system of choosing chiefs for the council of forty-four depended, was seriously undermined by the events at sand creek. the moral authority of traditional council chiefs to moderate the behavior of the tribe's young men and to treat with whites was severely hampered by these events as well as the ascendancy of the dog soldiers' militant policies.
council of forty-four