Colorado Simmers

The mining towns and ranches in Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming and Montana Territories were still growing during the Civil War days, with the added influx of those dodging the army.  The whites wanted land and freedom - a piece of the western bonanza.  They didn't much care about Indian rights, or the survival of buffalo, the Indian food source.

The result of the government's inability or unwillingness to stop the whites' disrespect was predictable.  Indians, hungry and fearful of losing what little land they had left would certainly fight to retain their heritage.  The older chiefs had begun to lose the influence they had to the younger braves, and the Civil War was the beginning of the last and bloodiest Indian war in the West.  It was a war of small battles, one after the other, that didn't end until the tribes had nothing left.

The Arapaho and Cheyenne had signed over most of their hunting grounds shortly before the Civil War, something that angered the young braves.  In 1863, a band of Cheyenne warriors raided several small Colorado settlements.  In 1864 a family was murdered on their Colorado ranch, with their bodies placed on display in Denver by whites. (??)  Indian raids closed down the main road to the east, leaving Denver isolated and scared.

Rumors flew of wild attacks planned by the Indians throughout the city.  Cries of vengeance grew.  Volunteer riffraff under Col. John Chivington were just waiting for a fight.  Chivington was actually a former minister, hero of Glorieta Pass (See previous post) and had a great taste for battle - especially against the heathen Indians.  When his superior, Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis declared, "I want no peace until the Indians suffer more," Chivington was more than happy to oblige. 

Next time...Sand Creek
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Today in Pioneer History: "On December 11, 1872, Buffalo Bill Cody, already appearing as a well-known figure of the Wild West in popular dime novels,  makes his first stage appearance in a Chicago-based production of "The Scouts of the Prairie".