At the Sand Creek Massacre

Source: Howling Wolf, "Depiction of the Sandcreek Massacre," 1875, Pen, ink, and watercolor on ledger paper, Evans Gallery, Duke Unviersity, https://digitalcommons.du.edu/evansgallery/1/.

Date: c. 1874

Text/Transcription:

On November 29, 1864, the Third Colorado Cavalry attacked and destroyed a village, Sand Creek, of the Tsistsistas and Hinono'ei (Cheyenne and Arapaho) nations, resulting in the killings of between 150-600 Indigenous people, two-thirds of which were women and children. The massacre was the result of rising hostilities that began due to the U.S. government's failure to keep the promises of both the Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) and the Treaty of Fort Wise (1861). Both treaties ceded increased indigenous land to the government. They forced the Tsistsistass and Hinono'eis onto reservations as more and more settlers moved to the Colorado Territory after the gold rush of the 1840s. Ho-na-nist-to (Howling Wolf) was a leader in Tsistsistas society and a resistance fighter who was present at Sand Creek. His ledger drawings, created on ruled paper from account books used at Western Territory outposts, depicted battles with the U.S. government and the local militias, Tsistsistas and Hinono'ei ceremonies, and hunting scenes. He was imprisoned from 1875-1878 for his part in retaliation against the U.S.