Black Kettle
From Freepedia
Chief Black Kettle (died November 27, 1868) was a Cheyenne Indian.
Black Kettle was an notable advocate for peace, keeping his word despite a series of great and horrific challenges to his people, and eventual opposition from some within his tribe. The very real possibility of extinction loomed for the Cheyenne, with rapidly diminishing numbers and little experience in the settled ways, technology or commerce of the migrating pioneer society that displaced them. Although desperate to survive, not everyone agreed peace was the answer.
Among those who chose to fight back were young men among the ultra-loyal Dog Soldiers. The Dog Soldiers ceased trusting the parlay process after several treaty failures and unjust attacks. These occurred despite the intentions of the federal peace commission that had been formed as a result of the congressional inquiry following the Sand Creek Massacre. Black Kettle and his band continued to be respected among the Cheyenne, but grew further isolated.
What Black Kettle may have trusted were his own traditions. As a Peace Chief following pipe tradition, he would have been taught the four central tenets of faith, truth, humility and respect. Black Kettle is remembered as much for how he lived as how he died.
The Dog Soldiers were accused of raiding frontier settlements in Kansas and killing pioneers. In retaliation, General "little Phil" Sheridan, a seasoned "total war" veteran of the Civil War, responded with orders to hunt down the perpetrators of the raids, holding that "punishment must follow crime". The attack against a winter camp was intended to exploit the vulnerability of the Cheyenne, when hypothermia and lack of food made for a stationary and unsuspecting target. It remains a controversy whether the raiders were associated with Black Kettle's camp. The Osage scouts, enemies of the Chyenne, and scout Joe Milner (a.k. "California Joe" or "Drunken Joe" Milner) are credited with identifying the camp.
Leading to the attack at Washita were a series of tragic events and miscommunications, culminating in Black Kettle's attempt to surrender his band to General Hazen at Fort Cobb earlier that November. General Hazen refused. Aware there were troops in the field, as a subordinate Hazen could not countermand Sheridan's orders. He may not have wished to offer protection when troops had attacked the Cheyenne under similar conditions at Sand Creek, despite being under the protection of the military.
At dawn on the morning of November 27, 1868, Chief Black Kettle, along with other members of his village, were camped on the banks of the Washita River two miles west of present day Cheyenne, Oklahoma. The evening before the attack Black Kettle's wife, Medicine Women Later (her name a reference to "vision") having been wounded nine times in the butchery at Sand creek, warned the men to move the camp in the dark of night. The men in council considered the cold, dangers from moving in the dark, the potential for chaos among the villagers as well as the harsh winter, and confusion that might occur with troops in the field. The decision was made to wait until dawn. Dawn would be too late.
The seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, attacked just before sunrise. The band signaled the start of the attack by attempting to play "Gary Owen" on their frozen instruments.
In the quick of the attack, soldiers fired at figures rushing out of lodges and across the snow. Part of a four-prong attack from each of the cardinal directions, Lieutenant Cook's sharpshooters were positioned north bank of the river to fire on those attempting to cross. Red Bird Black would later say the river ran red with the blood of those cut by the ice on the river.
Among the men women and children fleeing, were the elder Chief Black Kettle and his wife, Medicine Woman Later, who with the horse they were mounting fell dead in the creek in a hail of bullets. Although some soldiers took scalps, accounts written in the aftermath credit the Osage scouts with taking Black Kettle’s. According to Red Shin, troopers rode their mounts over the bodies in crossing the river.
"Warriors" according to the orders from Sheridan to Custer, were any males over the age of twelve. Most all of the Cheyenne men who did not escape were killed at the Battle of Washita River by the 7th U.S. Cavalry. During a similar attack by Colorado 100-day volunteers at Sand Creek, Chief Black Kettle as a sign of submission flew the the flag bearing the colors of the United States and a white flag above his own tipi.
Of the fifty one lodges, the Cheyennes reported approximately forty killed - two-thirds of whom were women and children. Upon hearing that women and children were being killed - and as fearing the outrage from another Sand Creek, Sheridan's orders had forbid this - Custer ordered the killing of women and children halted. Custer later reported 103 warriors killed.
The camp was secured within twenty minutes of the first shots fired. Eight to nine hundred horses and mules were slaughtered, and food, clothes, blankets and lodges burned to remove any potential for hostile use. This action also made survival by traditional means nearly impossible. Black Kettle's camp had diminished steadily over the years, and would cease to exist even after the captives were freed the following June, with those remaining finding places separately with other bands.
Camped downstream from Black Kettle's camp were 6,000 to 8,000 Arapaho, Kiowa and Cheyenne. Warriors from these camps responded to the gunfire. Upon realizing this, Custer feinted towards the downstream camps as the sun set and escaped North under cover of dark with 53 women and children as hostages. Though successful here and using similar tactics, attempting this feat at Little Bighorn would be fatally less successful. Custer lost 22 soldiers, and his reputation suffered from not learning the fate of Major Joel Elliot and his men before leaving.
A central irony of Black Kettle's life is that the attack on his camp at Washita would forver alter the lifeways for all Indians despite the fact that he and many of those in his band struggled for peace. In the aftermath of military strikes at Sand Creek (dying nearly four years to the day after that attack) and Pawnee Fork, he and his followers were out of favor with the vigilant Dog Soldier and other warrior societies grouped in the downstream camps. Although there would be other incidents, the traditional nomadic life for Indians on the Southern Plains would end as a result of this attack. In a few short years many were forced to accept reservation life.
Indian Agent Wynkoop, a great admirer of Black Kettle's, would resign in frustration following Washita. The use of the term "battlefield" in reference to the attack causes continuing disgreement.
Washita has been featured in many films and on television. Black Kettle was an inspiration to many in the peace movement, and was recently portrayed in the television series "The West".
Black Kettle lived in western Kansas and eastern Colorado on land guaranteed to the Cheyenne under the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851).
"Fightin' Preacher" John Chivington's attempt to kill Black Kettle in 1864, failed, but resulted in the Sand Creek Massacre.
Black Kettle signed the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867.
External links
Categories: Cleanup from September 2005 | 1868 deaths | Cheyenne tribe | Native American leaders | People from Oklahoma | Murdered Native Americans
