Sand Creek Massacre

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Mountains, marking the beginning of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. This caused a considerable number of immigrants to come to Colorado. Although the U.S. government had the money and means to stop the intrusion on Indian land, they chose to do nothing. This made the Indians living in Colorado furious, and caused them to create much chaos among miners in Colorado. The Indians vandalized, stole and terrorized the white miners (New World Encyclopedia). To make things worse, six Indian tribe leaders decided to sign the Treaty of Fort Wise in 1861. Signing this treaty caused the amount of land that was Indian controlled to be reduced to one fifteenth of what it was in Colorado and Kansas. In return, the Indians received a few luxuries from the government such as a yearly sum of money to pay for upkeep on the reservation. This enraged many Arapahoes and Cheyennes claiming that the treaty was signed by only a small minority of Indian leaders without the consent of the rest of the population ...

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they had conveyed to Chivington that they had become unaggressive by peacefully camping near army posts. Shortly after the “peace talks”, Chivington was sent a telegram from his supervisor, General Samuel Curtis, saying “I want no peace till the Indians suffer more...No peace must be made without my directions" (Legends of America). Chivington, who was loyal to his commanding officer, immediately decided that the Indians needed to be further punished. The Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes were completely unaware of the telegram and believed that peace had been made when they settled at Sand Creek with little defense. Meanwhile, Chivington, knowing very well that the Indians had surrendered, led ...

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