Sand Creek Massacre, 1864: Tragedy on the Big Sandy

Video

Credit to Paul I. Wellman: Death on the Prairie, 1934

This video attempts to provide the context leading up to the massacre of the Cheyenne village in the winter of 1864. The settlers of Colorado endured two summers of Indian raids from Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Sioux, Ute, Apache, and even Comanche warbands. Local Coloradan government sought negotiation with the peace chiefs of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, only to be thwarted by warlike Dog Soldier faction in Cheyenne inter-tribal politics. Firmly under the influence of the Dog Soldiers, Cheyenne and Arapaho raids increased in the summer and autumn of 1864. Colorado retaliated on November 29th, against a Cheyenne village on Big Sandy Creek.