By Mike Bowen, co-author, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site
One of the claims about Sand Creek is the Cheyenne and Arapaho were under the protection of the US government and the American flag.
George Bent was present at Sand Creek, living as a Dog Soldier (warrior) in Black Kettle’s village. Major Anthony was also present at Sand Creek—he was the Commanding Officer at Fort Lyon and joined Colonel Chivington and soldiers going to Sand Creek.
George Bent was half-Cheyenne and lived as a Cheyenne Dog Soldier after fighting in the Civil War as a Confederate. About forty years after Sand Creek, while working as an Indian agent in Colony, OK, George wrote letters to historians, answering their questions about his Cheyenne life and time as a Dog Soldier in Black Kettle’s village. Bent’s handwritten letters were transcribed at Yale University and the typed versions were provided to Chuck Bowen years ago by former NPS Sand Creek ranger, Craig Moore. Bowen has over 400 pages of Bent’s letters in his archives. Bent wrote about going on wagon train raids where the Dog Soldiers would kill white settlers, take young mothers and small children captive, scalp white settlers, run off stock, attack soldiers, steal government horses, all during the spring and summer of 1864. You can read more about this and George Bent in our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site.
What did George Bent and Major Anthony say about the Cheyenne and Arapaho being under the protection of the US government?
The following information comes from George Bent’s letters and Major Anthony’s sworn testimony in the hearings following Sand Creek. Major Anthony replaced Major Wynkoop as Commanding Officer of Fort Lyon at the beginning of November 1864, just a few weeks before Sand Creek.
When Major Wynkoop was Commanding Officer of Fort Lyon, he held peace talks with Black Kettle and other chiefs. He did this without the authority of superior officers.
“Major Wynkoop, who had been in command at Fort Lyon, had had some difficulty with the Indians at that point. He had proposed terms of peace with the Indians, which action was not approved at the headquarters of the department or district,” Major Anthony testified (Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War 1865, Thirty-Eighth Congress, Second Session, Congress Of The United States, In The House Of Representatives, January 10, 1865).
Wynkoop was relieved of his duties, and Major Anthony became Commanding Officer at Fort Lyon near the first of November, 1864.
“My brother Robert told me that Maj Anthony told the Cheyennes he could not protect them if they moved in at the fort,” George Bent said (Bent to Hyde, 4-30-1906). Robert was compelled by Colonel Chivington to guide the soldiers from Fort Lyon to Sand Creek, according to George. Read about Robert’s efforts to thwart the attack in chapter five of our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site.
George said he went to Sand Creek three days before the “fight at Sand Creek” and “Chivington fight” (Bent to Hyde, 3-15-1905, Bent to Hyde, 4-25-1906), so he wasn’t with the Indians when Major Anthony told them he couldn’t provide them protection. George was at his father’s ranch, a few miles east of present-day Las Animas. He said the ranch was located “at the mouth of Purgatoire 25 miles above Fort Lyon” (Bent to Hyde, 1-18-1906). The soldiers arrived at Fort Lyon on the morning of November 28—they left for Sand Creek from there about 8:30 p.m. that night.
According to Major Anthony’s testimony, the Indians were not under the protection of the flag or US government. Major Anthony sent them away from the fort.
From Major Anthony’s testimony:
“They said they wanted to make peace; that they had no desire to fight against us any longer; that there had been difficulty between the whites and Indians there, and they had no desire to fight any longer. I told them I had no authority from department headquarters to make peace with them; that I could not permit them to visit the post and come within the lines; that when they had been permitted to do so at Fort Larned, while the squaws and children of the different tribes that visited that post were dancing in front of the officers’ quarters and on the parade ground, the Indians had made an attack on the post, fired on the guard, and run off the stock, and I was afraid the same thing might occur at Fort Lyon. I would not permit them to visit the post at all. I told them I could make no offers of peace to them until I heard from district headquarters. I told them, however, that they might go out and camp on Sand creek, and remain there if they chose to do so; but they should not camp in the vicinity of the post; and if I had authority to make peace with them I would go out and let them know of it,” Major Anthony testified.
He made it clear to the Indians that any terms of peace had to come from department headquarters. Neither he or Wynkoop had that authority. He also let them know if he received orders for peace, he would inform them. At Fort Larned, the Indians attacked the post, fired at the guard and run off the stock—there were concerns the same thing could happen at Fort Lyon, per Anthony’s testimony.
George Bent said that the Indians knew Major Anthony couldn’t provide any terms of peace—Anthony ordered them away from the fort and instructed them to camp on Sand Creek.
The commission asked Major Anthony if he was present at the Indian reserve at Sand Creek.
“It was not an Indian reserve. I was present at the time,” Major Anthony testified. It was a temporary camp, according to his testimony.
Anthony didn’t receive any orders from department headquarters. General Curtis sent orders to Colonel Chivington. The orders weren’t for peace.
Major General Curtis instructed Colonel Chivington on how he wanted to handle the Indians for attacking settlers, driving off stock, taking white captives, scalping white men, women and children during the spring and summer of 1864 in Colorado Territory. John Evans, Colorado Territory Governor, made many requests to the government for help. Read more about it following chapter 14 of our book, We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site.
“FORT LEAVENWORTH, Sept. 28, 1864.
To Col. Chivington:
I shall require the bad Indians delivered up: Restoration of equal numbers of stock also hostages to secure. I want no peace until the Indians suffer more. Left Hand is said to be a good chief of the Arapahoes, but Big Mouth is a rascal. I fear Agent of Interior Department will be ready to make presents too soon: it is better to chastise before giving anything but a little tobacco to talk over. No peace must be made without my directions.
S. R. CURTIS,
Major Gen’l Com’dg, Dept. Kansas” (Report on the Conduct of the War, 38th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1865).
Major General Curtis instructed Chivington that no peace could be made without his directions.
George Bent and Major Anthony both said protection couldn’t be promised to the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.
We only take information from eyewitness accounts. That’s the only way we can learn about Sand Creek, why the Third Colorado Cavalry was assembled, who ordered soldiers to Sand Creek, where the village was located and where the running battle took place.
Artifacts also prove the village location and the running battle areas.
Chuck and Sheri Bowen discovered the real location of Black Kettle’s village and running battle areas, located on the Bowen family ranch, starting nearly two miles up the creek from the NPS Sand Creek site bluff. No period artifacts have ever been found at the NPS’ alleged massacre location below that bluff. The Bowens discovered over 4,000 village and battle artifacts at the Lost Sand Creek Site, on the Bowen family ranch. A new location also changes the story—instead of the Indians camped below a bluff where they couldn’t see or hear an approaching enemy, they were camped where they could and did see the soldiers coming from miles away. Both soldiers and George Bent verify this—read about it in our book. The discovery also proves the village site and running battle areas are two separate locations—the running battle areas started on the opposite side of the creek from the village.
Read about this incredible discovery and the truth about Sand Creek in We Found the Lost Sand Creek Site. Click on the link. WeFoundTheLostSandCreekSite
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