ART AND HEALING
THE SAND CREEK MASSACRE 150 YEARS LATER
BY THERESA BARBARO IN
Two months before the Sand Creek massacre, Cheyenne and Arapaho chiefs gathered at Camp Weld for a peace council with the U.S. Army and Colorado Territory offi cials, including Gov. John Evans and militia commander John M. Chivington. The chiefs thought they had complied with peace terms; Evans and Chivington weren’t satisfi ed, but didn’t tell them so.
This photograph was taken at the council on Sept. 28, 1864. Some identifi cations are missing or uncertain; we follow a recent compilation by the Boulder History Museum. Top row, left to right, third from left is John Smith, interpreter, followed by Heap of Buffalo (Cheyenne) and Bosse (Cheyenne), Samuel Elbert, secretary of Colorado Territory and son-in-law of Gov. Evans, unidentifi ed soldier. Second row, seated, left to right, White Antelope (Cheyenne), Bull Bear (Cheyenne), Black Kettle (Cheyenne), Neva (Arapaho), Na-ta-nee (Arapaho).
Front row (kneeling): Left, Maj. Edward W. Wynkoop and, at right, Captain Silas S. Soule.
one of the worst atrocities in U.S. treatment of the American Indian, more than 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho people were massacred at Sand Creek, Colo., on Nov. 29, 1864 by Colorado militia under the command of Colonel John M.
Chivington, a Methodist Episcoal minister. In remembrance of the 150th
anniversary of that tragic day, Chey-
enne and Arapaho artists who are also descendants of the victims at Sand Creek are creating an exhibition, One November Morning: Art on Sand Creek by Cheyenne and Arapaho Artists. It will be shown in three locations in Denver, Colo., starting this November. Artists presenting work in the exhibition are Nathan Hart (Chey-
enne), Brent Learned (Arapaho), George Levi (Cheyenne), B.J. Stepp (Cheyenne) and Merlin Little Thunder (Cheyenne). Although they come to this task with heavy hearts, they focus on the remembrance, honor and strength of their ancestors and leaders. Hart explains: “I want to remember what happened and the generations that have gone before us, those here now, and who is going to come. The resilience that our leaders had is what really kept us together as people.”
PRELUDE TO THE MASSACRE
More than 100 tepees stood in a bend of Sand Creek, Colo., on a cold Nov. 29, 1864. Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle and Arapaho Chief Left Hand had gathered the families under what they thought was a peace agreement with the U.S. Army and offi cials of the Colorado Territory. Black Kettle, Left Hand and fi ve other chiefs had met these offi cials
at Camp Weld on September 28, and been photographed with them. The council was meant to end a summer of raids by young, uncon-
E SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 19
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