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Essay on Sand Creek massacre
Critical Essay Outline of sand creek massacre
Critical Essay Outline of sand creek massacre
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Battle or Massacre Although the tragedy of Sand Creek is most commonly recognized as a massacre there are those critics and even some books that acknowledge this traumatic event as a battle. This is a part of our history that no one wants to take responsibility for and admit their wrong, instead decided to call it a battle in order to try and justify their actions. Another example is an event that happened just shortly after the Sand Creek Massacre to the Cheyenne tribe was the Battle of Washita River, which also has some controversy on how this should be recognized. What actually determines what a battle is and should these events be recognized as a battle or a massacre? The Sand Creek Massacre was a devastating and unnecessary tragedy …show more content…
that happened to the Cheyenne tribe on a cold, snowy morning, in Colorado, on November 29, 1864. Earlier in the week thirteen of the warriors and the Cheyenne chief had gone into town and spoke with the colonial who had guaranteed the tribe their safety and that no soldiers would invade on to the tribe’s camp. The warriors had seen the soldiers in the distance while doing a perimeter check but didn’t think much of it because of the promise of peace they were given just a week previously. The warriors dismissed these soldiers as no threat and headed back for camp. At daybreak hundreds armed troops from Fort Lyon stormed into the Sand Creek village.
Soldiers on horseback came stampeding in, recklessly shooting hundreds of innocent men, women, and children. At the sound of gunfire and screams the Cheyenne began to flee in all directions, men began desperately but unsuccessfully trying to fight back as woman and children ran into the river and down the river banks. Here at the river, as quoted in The Sand Creek Massacre “the Indians frantically began digging in the loose sand with their hands to make holes in which to hide”. Soldiers on horseback rode downstream “pot shooting” the unarmed women and children that were hiding in the holes. The Calvary burned teepees, killed over five hundred horses, and two hundred Cheyenne with only a small percentage of those being warriors. This horrifying and cowardly pursuit by the soldiers finally came to a halt by three o’clock that afternoon, “and the soldiers began straggling back into the village”. After the soldiers had left, the surviving Cheyenne had headed south towards Kansas and Oklahoma only to endure another tragic event four years …show more content…
later. The Battle of Washita River took place November 27, 1868 and in a very similar way as the Sand Creek Massacre.
Yet again a troop of soldiers, this time being Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s seventh Calvary, marched in on the Cheyenne village and began slaughtering them to the tune of “Garry Owen”. Custer being quote “unpopular with a poor record” located a large village of Cheyenne encamped near the Washita River and without even attempting to identify which group of Cheyenne was in the village he sought blood. If Custer’s arrogance hadn’t consumed him, he would have discovered that they were peaceful people and that their village was on reservation soil, where the commander of Fort Cobb had assured them safety. A white flag was even seen flying from a large lodge pole symbolling peace and “that the tribe was actively avoiding conflict”. Custer had his troops surround the peaceful Cheyenne village the night before and once again soldiers charged into a sleeping village. With the village being asleep, caught off guard, and outnumbered the seventh Calvary was able to kill dozens of Cheyenne just in the first few minutes of this so called “battle”. Only a few of the warriors were able to run to the tree line for cover and return fire on the Calvary. However, within just a few hours Custer and his Calvary had managed to completely destroy an entire village killing over a hundred Cheyenne, most were women and
children. What these men had did was unjustifiable, cowardly, and dishonorable. A battle is defined as a fight between armed forces, a combat between two persons or armies, and with recognition. The Cheyenne tribe was not armed in their sleep and did not recognize a conflict since they were supposedly “guaranteed” safety in both these events. So how could these events even be remotely considered a battle? The Cheyenne tribe sought peace with the white men numerous times and were lied to, mislead, and inhumanly attacked numerous times. But in June of 1876 Custer’s poor habit of charging Indian camps eventually lead him to his death at the Battle of Little Bighorn. To this day the modern Cheyenne consider these events massacres and are campaigning to change the of the historical site to reflect that view.
Panzeri, Peter. 1995. Little Big Horn 1876: Custer's Last Stand. 8th Ed. New York, NY: Osprey Publishing.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn is a tragic military battle where a commander’s overconfidence, refusal to listen to advisors, and lack of foresight, led to the sacrifice of over 265 Soldiers. Many leaders within the regiment and Soldiers underneath LTC Custer were not convinced of his leadership and often time doubted his decision-making abilities. Yet despite a blatant outburst that saw him temporarily removed as regimental commander by President Grant, LTC Custer moved forward to command the regiment and ultimately met his demise at the Battle of Little Big Horn. LTC Custer routinely showed a careless disregard for the operations process and his recklessness led to his downfall.
In 1858, warriors from the Spokane, Palouse, and Coeur d’Alene tribes routed an expeditionary force commanded by Colonel Edward Steptoe. The running battle resulted in seven soldiers dead, two soldiers missing, two howitzer cannons buried, the complete loss of the pack train, and three interpreters killed. Colonel Steptoe and his command escaped in the middle of the night nearly out of ammunition and in desperate condition. The mounted infantry known as Dragoons rode through the next day covering approximately seventy miles to the relative safety of the Snake River.
On June 25, 1876, The Battle of Little Bighorn took place near the Black Hills in Montana. This was one of the most controversial battles of the 20th century and the line between good guys and bad guys was grey at best. Gen. George Armstrong Custer (reduced to LTC after the civil war) had 366 men of the 7thU.S. Cavalry under his command that day. Sitting Bull (A Medicine Man) led 2000 braves of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes (Klos, 2013). At the conclusion of the battle, the stories of the Indians savagery were used to demonize their culture and there were no survivors from the 7thcavalry to tell what really happened.
During the Colorado Coal Strike from 1913 to 1914, one of the largest losses of life was the Ludlow Massacre, or sometimes referred to as the Battle of Ludlow, on April 20, 1914. Colorado was the epicenter for mine-related violence in the West. From 1913 to 1918, the United Mine Workers of America launched a full-scale unionization campaign by sending forty-two organizers to the Trinidad coal mine located in Ludlow, Colorado. Ludlow was the largest tent colony in Colorado and a major source of tension during the Colorado Coal Strike. Strikers were asking for better wages and pay for “dead work” (unpaid work necessary for maintaining workable conditions), an eight-hour workday, the right to elect their own checkweighmen, the right to choose what resources they buy and use, and the enforcement of the Colorado Mining Laws. Consequently, hundreds of mine
Although the work is 40 years old, “Custer Died for Your Sins” is still relevant and valuable in explaining the history and problems that Indians face in the United States. Deloria’s book reveals the White view of Indians as false compared to the reality of how Indians are in real life. The forceful intrusion of the U.S. Government and Christian missionaries have had the most oppressing and damaging affect on Indians. There is hope in Delorias words though. He believes that as more tribes become more politically active and capable, they will be able to become more economically independent for future generations. He feels much hope in the 1960’s generation of college age Indians returning to take ownership of their tribes problems and build a better future for their children.
On the 29th o April, 1977 Captain Cook, commander of a British fleet, landed on the eastern shore of Australia, in an attempt to claim the land under the name of Britain. The land was to be claimed by Britain as a land where the British government could send convicts; in an attempt to ease the struggle in the over flowing prisons. Upon Cooks arrival, he was ordered to follow three rules of claiming a foreign land. They were;
The journey of exploration to the western territories brought the white man many great things, but they did face some opposition. The US government made plans to explore the Black Hills, after hearing of the gold it contained. This was not an easy task. The Sioux, with strong force, were not giving up their sacred land easily. The only way to gain the territory of the Black Hills was to wage war against the Sioux. The Battle of the Little Big Horn was one battle that the US will never forget. General George Custer led an army of men to take out the Sioux, one of the battalions was completely wiped out including Custer. The Sioux were very strong, but US had a lot more power and technology. Why did we get massacred? This question has been a mystery to many people throughout the years. Sergeant Windolph, of Benteen’s cavalry, and John F. Finerty, from General Crooks cavalry, bring us some personal accounts and memories of this tragedy.
Have you ever heard the term, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid?” or “You have drank the Kool-Aid.”? Well, ”Drinking the Kool-Aid” means you have done something that others have told you to do or did yourself. This saying comes from the cult society led by Reverend Jim Jones, named Jonestown. Jonestown was a small community in the jungle of Guyana, South America. After getting word of people coming to investigate the society, Jones had committed a mass suicide by poisoning Kool-Aid and giving it to the people of Jonestown.
The massacres were both ambushes. John Chivington ambushed the Native Americans and massacred the Cheyenne tribe. The Native Americans ambushed William J. Fetterman's troops. While these were both ambushes, they have a large difference. John Chivington raided the camp and killed non-threatening Native Americans. John Chivington had a natural distrust against Native Americans because his parents were killed by a Native American tribe. The Fetterman massacre was led by Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse ambushed Fetterman’s troops, and eliminated his unit. John Chivington killed men, women, and children. Crazy Horse killed a hostile force in his region. John Chivington killed innocent civilians, while Crazy Horse killed his
The Wounded Knee Massacre was final result of the growing problems between the Lakota Sioux and the American Government. After the Civil War tension began to escalate and ended on December 29, 1890. When the government took over most of the Lakota land and forced them into reservations the Indian way of life was destroyed and the large bison herds were hunted until they were endangered. The life in reservations was also difficult since many of the promises made by the government remained unfulfilled: “Promises to increase rations, made by U.S. officials in 1889 in order to secure signatures to reduce Sioux treaty lands by half, and to create six separate reservations, had proved false. Instead, rations had been cut precipitously, and the people were nearly starving.” (Robertson 1). Treaties which were signed to protect the reservations from outsiders were also ignored by the government. There were also other factors which led to the killing such as the Ghost Dance, Murder of Chief Sitting Bull, and the struggle with evolved into a massacre.
I wonder if the waters at the Little Bighorn River was as red as the hillsides in Montana after one of the most tragic events in American history took place. How could a bunch of savages defeat a highly trained and highly mobile cavalry officer and his command? On June 25, 1876, Col. George A. Custer and the 7th cavalry disobeyed orders and attacked Chiefs Crazy Horse and Chief Sitting Bull and his Indian warriors. Was it Col. Custer’s larger than life attitude that lead him and his men to their deaths? Was it a heroic last stand? What do we know about the troopers of the 7th Cavalry? Were they the crack troopers of legend? Did it even happen the way the history books tell us? The Grandfather of Joe Medicine Crow said that there were panic
The Natives faced challenges, and the themes differ with each other in many different ways.Two of the conflicts are Man vs Society and Man vs Nature. Man vs Society is when you are fighting against society and no one is listening. Man vs Nature is when you are fighting against nature and no one is listening. Man vs Society starts with soldiers. Not a soldier was left alive. This was the fight the men called the Fetterman Massacre. The Indians called it the Battle Of the Hundred Slain. Spotted Tail sent for Red Cloud, but the Oglala Chief again declined sending Man-Afraid-Of-His-Horses to represent him. Someone shouted a command and then Private William Gentles a soldier guard following behind them thrust his bayonet deep into Crazy Horse’s abdomen. There were multiple deaths in Saga of the Sioux. Some were of the Sioux and some were of the enemies. Crazy Horse died that night, September 5, 1877, at the age of 35. At dawn the next day, the soldiers presented the dead chief to his father and mother.
The Jonestown Massacre is among the most brutal cult slayings in the history of America. However, what exactly occurred at Jonestown is ambiguous. Did the members of the People’s Temple unanimously agree to commit suicide by cyanide poisoning or were they forced with guns to give up their lives by drinking poison and receiving lethal injections? “The Black Hole of Guyana- The Untold Story of the Jonestown Massacre” by researcher, John Judge, and A Thousand Lives by journalist and nonfiction writer, Julia Scheeres, both thoroughly discuss the events of Jonestown using empirical evidence. Evidence shows that the Jonestown Massacre was not a mass suicide, like it was portrayed by the United States government, but a diabolical plan to murder its
The Chief was tied to a tree and beaten to death by the miners. This wasn’t the first of these kind of situations to take place. Throughout the West Americans were constantly breaking their treaty with the Apache, which led to them revolting. The Apache mainly did kidnappings, cattle killings, and raids against the U.S military. Fighting mainly took place in the Midwest. The war resulted in a victory for the United States, the Chiricahua losing their leader and increased hostilities between the U.S and the Apache. There were other major wars related to the “Apache Wars” which was the Texas Indian Wars.