Sand Creek Massacre Research Paper

Most Americans have at least some vague image of the Trail of Tears, but not very many know of the events that led to that tragic removal of several thousand Indians from their homeland. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government, and Indians had to agree to removal to preserve their identity as tribes. Trail of Tears is an excellent snapshot of a particular situation and will be eye opening to those who are not familiar with the story of the southern tribes and their interactions with the burgeoning American population. The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that signifies the callousness of American policy makers toward American Indians in 1839 and 1839.

On the day of September 11, 1857, an emigrant party camped at Mountain Meadows was brutally killed by the Mormon militia aided by Indians. This essay examines two viewpoints regarding the massacre found in Sally Denton’s “American Massacre” and in “Massacre at Mountain Meadows” by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Turley.

It held many struggles and disagreements, which lead to many retaliations, from both the Indians and the settlers. The Indians had been alliances with the white men until the massacre, which stated the settlers betrayal to all tribes.

The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Massacre at Wounded Knee were both significant and terrible events that took place in American history during the 1800’s. These two eyewitness documents provide information and details about two important Indian battles against American troops. These events occurred 14 years apart but both were the result of the Sioux Indians being unsatisfied with their freedom taken from them.

Although The Sand Creek Massacre is known for occurring on November 29, 1864 there are specific reasons this incident happened and they all take place before 1864. It all started during the 1850’s, where the the gold and silver rush brought many white settlers near the Rocky Mountains and the surrounding foothills. This event is known as the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1658 which angered many people known as the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians. They soon began attacking the white men which caused the number of soldier to decrease this then led to the Colorado War of 1863-1865.The battle began to get out of hand that territorial governor John Evans sent a Militia Commander known as John M. Chivington. Now this man was very well known for his passion of extinguishing all of the Indians once he was let in the clergy. The Civil War raged in the east in the spring of 1864 where Chivington launched a violent campaign against the Cheyenne and their allies. The troops attacked any and all Indians and their villages, but the Cheyenne were joined by Arapaho, Sioux, Comanche, and Kiowa in Colorado and Kansas, went on a defensive warpath. Evans and Chivington then raised the Third Colorado Cavalry which was a reinforced militia of short term volunteers who went by the name of “hundred Dazers.” It was a summer of scattered clashes and small raids, but the Cheyenne and Arapaho were finally ready for peace. The Indian representatives then met with Evans and Chevington on September 28, 1864 at

The government tried to make the Indians happy by signing treaties at Fort Laramie in 1851 and Fort Atkinson in 1853 with Chiefs of Tribes, so that they would retreat, and let the whites have their lands. The problem with this was the whites thought that the chiefs represented all the Indians in that tribe, but most of the Native Americans didn’t recognize authorities outside of their families. In the treaties, they promised Indians they wouldn’t be bothered if they moved into small reservations, such as Dakota Territory. They were also promised food, clothing, and other supplies, if they would surrender their lands. The problems Indians had after moving into the reservations, were some of the Indian agents were corrupt, and would only give them moth eaten blankets, spoiled beef, and other defective provisions. One of the acts of cruelty against Indians happened, “In 1864, at Sand Creek, Colorado, Colonial J. M. Chivington’s militia massacred in cold blood some four hundred Indians who apparently thought they had been promised unity” (576). In other words, J.M Chivington’s militia brutally murdered and tortured about four hundred peaceful Indians, just to make sure they wouldn’t cause any trouble. Another act of cruelty against Indians happened at the Battle of Little Bighorn. The Battle of Little Bighorn, began because Colonel George Custer, found gold in Black Hills of South

Most Americans have at least some vague understanding of the Trail of Tears, but not many know about the events that led to that tragic removal of thousands of Indians from their homeland. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government. The Indians had to agree to removal to maintain their tribe identities. Trail of Tears is an excellent example of a particular situation and will be eye opening to those who are not familiar with the story of the southern tribes and their interactions with the rapidly growing American population. The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that indicates the callousness, insensitivity, and cruelty of American government toward American Indians in 1839 and 1839.

In the reading “Sand Creek The Morning After”, M. Annette Jaimes discusses the Battle of Sand Creek and how it should be viewed in the proper manner. Jaimes starts off very early in the article stating how the American colonization is not what it really seems to be. In the process of this colonization, many Native Americans were slaughtered in Colorado. They used the idea of further expansion as a reason to kill all these innocent people and Jaimes compared this act to other horrific genocides, the main one being Germany and the Holocaust.

The Myall Creek Massacre occurred in the early evening of Sunday the 10th June 1838. A group of eleven men, convicts and ex-convict stockmen, viscously slaughtered a group of around twenty eight Wirrayaraay Aboriginal people. They attacked men, women and children who were all either camped peacefully next to the station huts or, inside the station with the other settlers, enjoying dancing and a meal together (at the Myall Creek cattle station in northern New South Wales).

Mountain Meadows Massacre was staged on the Baker- Fancher wagon. The Massacre happened on September 11 ,1857. The Massacre was a huge deal for us in Arkansas. It was wrong on many levels and the people didn’t deserve it. Many things lead up to this tragic event, and many things happened during the this time.

Jonestown Massacre Everyone has heard the saying, “Drinking the Kool-Aid.” Its simple meaning is to blindly accept something, without any questioning (“Definition Of Drinking The Kool-Aid”). This saying comes from the world famous, Jonestown Massacre (“Definition Of Drinking The Kool-Aid”). The Jonestown Massacre resulted in 909 people dead, from cyanide poisoning ("The Jonestown Massacre”). Jim Jones, leader of the religious cult The People’s Temple, convinced his followers to participate in “revolutionary suicide” ("The Jonestown Massacre").

Countries across the globe have rich histories full of tradition a glories events. However, these countries always have a darker side to their history, one historians and the public may often cast aside. Being a powerful and extensive nation, the United States conforms to this theory. Many times, things like wars will be glorified in the country even though they brought about tremendous loss of life. Yet there are events worse than wars that many Americans would rather not dwell upon. Two such incidents are the Memphis riots and Sand Creek massacre. These two events illustrate a more sinister past to the United States. As they were both massacres, they have many similarities in what happened yet they remain distinctly unique. Overall, both catastrophes offer a glimpse at the stark reality of how Native Americans and African Americans have been mistreated in the United States and how differently the minorities had come to be treated by the government.

In the 1800’s, westward expansion in the United States was becoming a rampant concept--the romanticized idea of private self-governing in a expeditiously developing country. Many people came for reasons such as living on the open plains. Others, like General George Custer of the 7th cavalry, attempted to annex the west because of rumors of gold and to settle race differences with Indians, whom he thought did not belong on their land any longer. So, following the government’s orders and breaking United States’ Treaty of Fort Laramie, on a blazing day in June 1876, General George Custer led his army of 231 down the Bighorn River to their undetected but infallible deaths. This mass slaughtering

The Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 was a standout amongst the most severe occasions for Native Americans. Colonel Chivington and 700 troops butchered more than 500 Cheyenne and Arapahos who trusted they were under the security of the US Army. Most of the dead were ladies, youngsters, and elderly. (132) The United Methodist Church at long last recognized their part in the Massacre (Chivington was a Methodist clergyman), in 1996 and as the 150th commemoration of the Massacre approaches the congregation is concentrating on offering some kind of reparation to the Native individuals by making monetary commitments towards the tribes. (Blossom,

The 1870’s and 1880’s in America was marked with growing nativism towards the Chinese, accumulating to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (Yung 54). Competing immigrant laborers effected the entire country, including the Midwest, where people sought employment in coal mines. Animosity towards the Chinese was also largely uncontroversial in the territories, with the Wyoming Republican party declaring that the Chinese were an undesired group (Storti 98). There is no definitive date that hints at the beginning of the Rock Springs Massacre in 1885, where many Chinese miners were killed by white miners. However, origins of this conflict can be traced back to when the Chinese were first brought in as strikebreakers in 1875 unde the Union Pacific Coal