War and retribution
In May of that year, at their summer buffalo hunting camp at Big Bushes, two Cheyenne chiefs, Lean Bear, and Star, while attempting to convey their peaceful intentions, were shot and killed as they approached Lieutenant George S. Eayre’s forces. The killing of the chiefs in cold blood led to a retaliatory war by the Cheyenne in Kansas. The Dog Soldiers embarked on a campaign of attacks on rail stations, wagon trains, and white settlements.
On June 11, 1864, four Arapaho warriors murdered Nathan Hungate, his wife and two young daughters at a ranch in Elder Creek, twenty-five miles east of Denver. The owner of the ranch brought their badly mutilated bodies into Denver and put them on public display. Colorado Governor John Evans repeatedly requested reinforcements from General Samuel R. Curtis to help protect Denver from an imminent Indian attack. Curtis eventually granted Evans’ request and the Third Colorado Volunteer Cavalry Regiment under Colonel John Chivington’s command were enlisted for one hundred days.
Chivington was a former Methodist preacher, who had served as colonel in the United States Volunteers in the Colorado War and the New Mexico Campaigns of the Civil War. He had gained the title of the “Fighting Parson” as a result. Both Evans and Chivington had political aspirations. Evans was a proponent of statehood for Colorado and intended to run for senator before eventually withdrawing. Chivington ran for Congress but failed to be elected. Chivington felt that a “heroic” Indian war would help his future political career.
On June 27, 1864, Evans sent out a circular to the Plains Indians, informing them that in order to guarantee their safety, all “friendly” Indians of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes should go to Major Colley, U.S. Indian agent at Fort Lyon, “who will give them provisions and show them a place of safety.” All Indians who did not do so would be deemed hostile and therefore at war with the United States.
Efforts for a peaceful resolution came in the form of a council at Smoky Hill on September 10, where the commander of Fort Lyon, Major Edward Wynkoop, met with Black Kettle and other chiefs, including Arapaho chief Left Hand, and Bull Bear, leader of the Dog Soldiers. As a sign of good faith and to show that they were sincere in the efforts to achieve peace, Black Kettle and Left Hand returned four child hostages taken by the Dog Soldiers and the Sioux in their raids on the Little Blue River in August 1864.
Wynkoop and Captain Silas Soule then invited Black Kettle and other Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders to Camp Weld in Denver to meet with Governor Evans, who was also the Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Evans reiterated what he had mentioned in the circular sent out in June, and advised Black Kettle and the other chiefs to go with Wynkoop to Fort Lyon where they would be under the protection of the armed forces until an official peace treaty could be established.
Chivington stated at the council that “his rule of fighting white men or Indians was to fight them until they lay down their arms and submit to military authority.” He then added that Black Kettle and the other Indians should go to Fort Lyon with Major Wynkoop.