Wild West Podcast
Welcome to the Wild West podcast, where fact and legend merge. We present the true accounts of individuals who settled in towns built out of hunger for money, regulated by fast guns, who walked on both sides of the law, patrolling, investing in, and regulating the brothels, saloons, and gambling houses. These are stories of the men who made the history of the Old West come alive - bringing with them the birth of legends, brought to order by a six-gun and laid to rest with their boots on. Join us as we take you back in history to the legends of the Wild West. You can support our show by subscribing to Exclusive access to premium content at Wild West Podcast + https://www.buzzsprout.com/64094/subscribe or just buy us a cup of coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/wildwestpodcast
Wild West Podcast
Beyond the Narrative: Jeff Broome Challenges What We Know About Sand Creek
Gold rushes change landscapes—both physical and human. When 100,000 settlers poured into Colorado Territory following the 1858 discovery of gold, they unknowingly set in motion a chain of events that would culminate in one of America's most controversial military actions. The newcomers' wagons followed water sources critical to both buffalo herds and the nomadic Plains Indians who depended on them for survival. As these resources vanished, tensions escalated into violence.
Historian Jeff Broome takes us deep into the complexities of the Sand Creek Massacre, challenging simplified narratives through meticulous primary source research. His account traces the growing conflict through 1864—from the killing of Cheyenne Chief Lean Bear to the Hungate family murders to the failed Camp Weld peace conference. Each incident represents a thread in a complex tapestry of cultural misunderstanding, economic pressure, and political maneuvering.
What makes Broome's perspective particularly valuable is his commitment to evidence over preconception. Despite discovering his own great-great-uncle fought with the 3rd Colorado Cavalry at Sand Creek, Broome maintains his dedication to letting archaeological findings and primary documents guide his conclusions. His willingness to revise established stories when evidence contradicts them—as with his discoveries at the Hungate massacre site—demonstrates true historical integrity. Most poignantly, Broome finds common ground with Native perspectives by acknowledging the profound cultural trauma of boarding schools that severed Indigenous peoples' connections to their ancestors by prohibiting their languages.
Don't miss Dr. Broome's upcoming presentation on October 4th at the Dodge City Library, where he'll continue exploring these complex historical narratives. For more on the American West, subscribe to our podcast on iTunes or visit wildwestpodcastbuzzsprout.com. Questions or comments? Reach us at wildwestpodcast@gmail.com.
Welcome to Wild West Podcast, where we delve into the historical complexities of the Wild West. Today we're honored to have historian Jeff Broome with us to discuss a deeply troubling and often misunderstood event in American history the Sand Creek Massacre. Broome is the author of several books on the Plains Indian Wars, including Indian Raids and Massacres Essays on the Central Plains Indian War. His unique perspective, which draws on extensive primary source research and a personal connection to the event, promises a compelling conversation. Jeff, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Well, let's start first with who's involved. It's Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians on the one side. It is a third Colorado cavalry, a militia group, on the other side, including two companies of the first Colorado cavalry and a company from New Mexico, soldiers from down there. Now that's who's involved, but the brief overview about what happened I suppose we should begin with the discovery of gold in late 1858, but really in 1859, by 1860, over 100,000 people came out to Colorado. Now they all had to come out on wagons. There were no trains until 1867 up in Cheyenne Wyoming. Nothing in Colorado until the 1870s, other than just passing through Julesburg. For the time you bet on the way to Cheyenne, so you had to come on wagons and wagons had to follow water sources and water sources where you find the buffalo and where you find the nomadic Plains Indians living and surviving in the winter and in the summer following the buffalo and eating the water. And these freighters that came in and these settlers and all these miners and merchants and all that just denuded the ground. It was actually the cause of the war, you could call it economic factors that just basically decimated the regular living of the Cheyenne and Arapaho and other Plains Indians because of the denuding of all of the resources necessary to survive. So that's what led to the tension.
Speaker 2:In early 1863, the second territorial governor, john Evans, had made a notation in his Commissioner of Indian Affairs report that the Lakota Indians up in Minnesota, where they had a violent outbreak killing as many as 900, but at least 700 men, women and children in a three-week period in August of 1862. Governor Evans learned from all of his places where the Indians got their annuities in Colorado territory that the rumor was that these Lakota had come down and were smoking the war pipe to go to war, as was up in Minnesota, and do it in the Central Plains and on the roads to Denver, and send everybody out on the way and return to the old ways that started in 1863. And by 1864, the story was they were going to, that is, the Indians. They were going to remain friendly and trade for guns and ammunition, primarily until they had enough to start an outbreak. Now, on the white side, this outbreak starts in the spring of 1864. And it's controversial on different narratives as to whether or not the Indians were responsible for this or whether they were innocent and the military was over-aggressive, producing incidents. And this went on even in Kansas where one of the chiefs, one of the high chiefs of the Cheyenne, was killed at Lean Bear in April of 1864. On the Indian side, trying to come out to converse with the soldiers on the soldier's side, firing at them, and then an engagement, of which several were killed, including Lean Bear, and this angered them. They began to start their collection of weapons then as the Indian side. But on the military side you can trace this throughout by seeing a bunch of raids in April and May and June, especially southwest of Denver where the Hungate family was killed on June 11th.
Speaker 2:And then actually the outbreak starts May 18th 1864 near Great Bend with what's known as the Walnut Creek Massacre, which just was a government train carrying mostly flour from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Union. But 10 young men were killed there in an aggressive attack that started as friendly and once freighters thought they were friendly they were killed. There were five who were wounded. This started it the day before at Fort Lyon, the Indians were dancing in the fence fort as a ruse, because they then stole all the horses nearly all of them and mules from the fort. And then the day after the Walnut Creek Massacre, further east in Cow Creek, where several people killed in days of siege that took about a week before the military released the settlers that were caught there at Cow Creek. So that started it, but then you can just trace it going north from there Four buffalo hunters killed in Lincoln County in August early July and then at the front of August, on August 7th, the conglomerate of Lakota, arapaho and Cheyenne attacked on the Little Blue near Oak, nebraska.
Speaker 2:According to the Nebraska State Historical Society in their publication on the 150th anniversary of their state in 2017, 100 settlers were killed in that we can identify by name about 50. And then the next day, 90 miles further west, came the Plum Creek Massacre, where 11 freighters were killed, and in these attacks there were several captives taken, and these were the captives. That and this is all pre-St Crete that wine troop went out north roughly up to about St Francis, kansas, near the Colorado border, and met with the Indians there after receiving a letter from Black Kettle asking for peace, saying that they had prisoners that they would trade. And these were four of the captives and there were eight actually in the village, but four were released to wine coop late September and brought back to Fort Lyon and then brought to Denver for the Camp Weld Conference. Actually that was early September when they were brought to Fort Lyon and then brought up to Denver for a conference with Governor Evers and these chiefs. Seven of them went up there Black Kettle, white Antelope and others went up there to try to negotiate a peace and thinking that they could do that Once it was August. It was terrible and deadly raids and really put everybody on notice that the Plains Indians were at war. So this went on and this was pretty much the things that led up to the Sand Creek Massacre At this Camp Weld conference on September 28th. And Camp Weld was located just south of Denver and if you live in Colorado it's roughly at about 8th Avenue and I-25.
Speaker 2:At Camp Weld it was a failed peace. Governor Evans notified the Cheyenne and Arapaho that had come up that too much violence had happened over the summer. They didn't react to the efforts that Governor Evans had to bring separate the peaceful Indians from the warring Indians. Only one tribe came in by Chief Arapaho, chief Friday, up at Tashela Puder, up by Fort Collins, where it is today, and he's the only ones that stayed out of the action where all the warring happened. Now, when those people that were in the warring faction, and that includes Black Kettle, because they didn't come in. They now want peace and Governor Evans said that we're past that.
Speaker 2:Actually the War Department was. He was not under that, he was the Department of the Interior as a governor of the state, of the territorial state of Colorado. He was also the commissioner of Indian affairs for all of the agencies in Colorado territory, which were five. He was not in a position to make peace when there was a war going on, so he advised them that they must make peace with the military. Colonel Shevington at this time was actually not under where the Indians were at Sand Creek, which was under the Department of Kansas. He was more involved outside of that and not directly under the orders of General Curtis, who was the one that said they must make peace with them, the one who had communicated with Evans, the one who wrote to Chivington and said these Indians need to suffer a little bit more for what they've done before we make peace. So really the chance for peace was not there at Camp Weld and then from that they were told to make that peace and they go down near Fort Lyon, which would be in where Lamar is today, not Los Animas.
Speaker 2:That's the second Fort Lyon which started in 1867. But they went down there and here this is where it gets a little controversial, because the facts are from the reports of Major Anthony, who was then sent to command at Fort Lyon right before, about two weeks before the Sand Creek Massacre happened. He was placed in charge there by General Curtis. Major Weinkoop was ordered to Fort Lyon and he was going under investigation for leaving the territory to try to rescue those captives without permission, which he did not have permission to do. That he just went and did it and then wrote his report when he got back. So he was taken away from command of Fort Lyon.
Speaker 2:Major Anthony was sent there from Fort Larned and when he got there, when you read his reports, the Arapaho had come in and submitted their weapons there weren't many and were receiving annuities. After about 10 days Anthony said this cannot go, no more. We cannot feed you. You must go somewhere else and again make your peace with the military, which Anthony couldn't. And at that time, when they left, some Cheyenne came up from Chantcric where he had been staying, asked for provisions and they were denied and told to go back. They never turned over any weapons or anything.
Speaker 2:The Arapaho that had come in some weeks earlier had turned over weapons, were given provisions and then given their weapons back and told to leave the area and don't come near the fort. And right after that the Cheyenne came down wanting to say that they were at Sand Creek and stuff. And he's told no, you make your peace with the military and don't come near here. And that's where it stood until Chivington shows up with the 3rd Colorado Cavalry the night before the attack, puts the fort basically under siege. He doesn't let anybody leave or come in because he doesn't want the Indians to know that he's down there. However, as his way coming down, indians did already report to Black Kettle that they were coming and that was why Black Kettle came down to the fort shortly before the massacre and was sent back. So the Indians were where they were coming, but at any rate this is where it was up until Chivington came in.
Speaker 2:Then he took two companies from there. Anthony joined him. He was very convinced that the Indians at Sand Creek were hostile, with the exception of about five, of which Black Kettle was one, white Antelope was one, one Eye was one, I think. Stand in the Waters was one, I can't remember the other one, but he named also that the trader, john Smith, was authorized and given permission to be in the camp and he's to be saved. His son is there trading and his son is to be protected and saved People like that. So Anthony says yeah, I'll give these soldiers here to you, shemington, these two companies, and I'll be in charge of them, and we'll go, but we're not going to kill all the Indians, we're going to allow those people, peaceful ones, to be saved. Well, that didn't happen and Chivington said yes to it but then didn't follow through on his promise and you get the Sand Creek Massacre the next day.
Speaker 1:Well as I understand it, Jeff, you've got a personal connection to the Sand Creek Massacre through your great-great-uncle, is that correct? It was a soldier in the 3rd Colorado Cavalry.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's correct.
Speaker 1:So how has this link influenced your research and your perspective on the event?
Speaker 2:It gave me a personal connection. But let me explain how that happened because it also helps me. It helps to explain me as a historian. I was studying the Sand Creek Massacre a good 10 years before I learned that I had my great-great-uncle there. I wondered if my great-great-grandfather was there and I had looked up his name among the participants in the Third Colorado. His name was William Alonzo Watson and he's not there and I wondered why. And as I learned more about my family's history, which I had not been that connected with although I'd heard the stories all throughout, they were in the valley there in 1859, my family. In 1863, my great-great-grandfather finished freighting. He was a freighter from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Union in the summers of 59, 60, and throughout, and then in 1863, he had gone back to Missouri off-season and he brought his mother and sister out.
Speaker 2:I knew that, but with me having a personal connection, it doesn't change anything. It's the truth. It's like when I did a lot of metal detecting at the Hungate massacre site and I took the standard story that Nathan Hungate saw his house on fire. The worker with him rode to Denver and Nathan rode about a mile and a half to try to rescue his family and the Indians were already done and pilfered the cabin and caught him about a mile away, coming to his family, and killed him. That's the standard story.
Speaker 2:You pick up any book on Sand Creek Massacre, you'll hear that Not a true narrative. I didn't know that. I accepted everything until I found relics that showed there was a big fire at the cabin with lots of firing, lots of burned weapons, that I found the remnants of them in the cabin, exploded weapons showing that they exploded with repeated firing. .50 caliber Warner carbine examined by Doug Scott of the National Park Service who said this would not explode if it was in a fire and loaded. It could only explode because it was fired so often that the barrel got so hot that it just shifted a little bit and the next shot blew it
Speaker 2:up. That's when I realized that these relics say that Nathan was inside that cabin. Then I did research on when this story originated about him and it's 1892 in a newspaper article. It's not true. So I changed the narrative on that because of the relics I found at Sand Creek. And that's how I do this history. I don't come in with an idea of who's guilty and who's not. I come in to a situation with wanting to collect the evidence and let the evidence direct my beliefs. So it really didn't change me at all when I learned that my great-great-uncle was there.
Speaker 1:That's actually a great lead-in for the next question that I have for you, Jeff. The Sand Creek Massacre is obviously a deeply traumatic event for the Cheyenne and Arapaho people. So how do you approach the sensitive nature of this history, particularly when presenting perspectives that may be challenging or controversial?
Speaker 2:Oh, that's a great question and if you can allow me to explain it, I'll do it with an example that just happened this weekend I've been in. The last week I've been involved in Pueblo with the National Convention of the Oregon-California Trails Association and we had two days of talks and two days of tours. In the second day of talks we had a Sand Creek panel with a National Park supervisor overseeing and introducing a Cheyenne and an Arapaho who discussed what the Cheyenne massacre has done to them. And of course, they present the Indian story, which has several errors in it. And I know that the person in charge of this whole convention did not want me on the panel, did not want me involved with it at all, and was concerned that I might upset things with some of my knowledge. And let me show you how I reacted on this, because I nailed it down right to the issue that you asked about. And that is after they gave their narrative and everything, and then they were taking questions and all is after they gave their narrative and everything, and then they were taking questions and all that, and they were talking about the Sand Creek Massacre being so upsetting to them and so affecting them, losing 23 Cheyenne chiefs in the battle. Chester the Cheyenne who spoke and lives on the reservation in Oklahoma said it was 212 that were killed. The National Park guy said it was 150. So when it was my chance, I said I brought up the fact that and one of the things that they said is that they were able to work with the State Historical Society of Colorado and put on a display in their museum in Denver, which is still there, saying in panels everything about their story, and then they had a little booklet that you could buy too. That added a little more to that.
Speaker 2:I was up there several times, at least three times, and I also gave a talk with a group of people that had gone at one time with me about what my thoughts were on that. It's just very fascinating. And they mentioned that and they said now, finally, finally, we've able to let the people know our story, our true story. And they talked about their publication and putting up and how they worked on that and they were very proud, as they should be, of being able to put out their story like that. So I raised my hand and I said to them and this answers your question, I think best I said to them. Look, I've read that booklet several times, I was up there several times, I've studied this and I was very, very, very moved by something in there that I did not know.
Speaker 2:And then I proceeded to talk about the panels that talked about the boarding schools after the wars were over and how the children were taken away from the boarding schools and forced to assimilate into white culture, cutting their hair, punishing them if they spoke their native tongue and making them only speak English and stuff, and we all know that story.
Speaker 2:It went all the way up to the 1960s and the definitive book on that has not been written because it's a very dark part.
Speaker 2:It was actually done by the Quakers as a means of the peace policy to get rid of their culture by putting them into the white culture, so you got to separate them from everything.
Speaker 2:Well, here's what this panel said and this is what I brought up. I said it said what white people don't know is that we are a very spiritual people and we communicate with our dead ancestors and our dead ancestors cannot hear us unless they hear it in our language and they wiped out our ability to communicate with our dead ancestors and I thought that was something and I mentioned it to them and I said to me I think that might have been more traumatic than the Sand Creek Massacre. I approached it by not challenging them about the facts of the Sand Creek Massacre. I approached it by not challenging them about the facts of the Sand Creek Massacre. I didn't feel that's appropriate. I wanted to instead give them my sympathy for what I took, and Scott Radcliffe takes, to be worse than the Battle of the Bear River fight and the Sand Creek fight, and that was the boarding school.
Speaker 1:That was historian Jeff Broom, author of Indian Raids and Massacres Essays on the Central Plains Indian War. His deep dive into the primary sources and his willingness to challenge established narratives offer a thought-provoking perspective on the Sand Creek Massacre. We encourage our listeners to explore his work further. I warmly encourage anyone with a keen interest in the historical events surrounding the Sand Creek Massacre to attend Dr Broome's insightful presentation on October 4th at 2 o'clock pm at the Dodge City Library. During this thought-provoking session, Dr Broome will critically examine and challenge the oversimplified narratives that have often emerged about this tragic event. He will employ a rigorous methodology centered around primary sources, ensuring that the discussion is firmly grounded in empirical evidence. Through his meticulous research, Dr Broome aids to shed light on the complexities of the Sand Creek incident, providing attendees with a deeper understanding of its historical significance and the varied perspectives surrounding it. Don't miss this opportunity to engage with a nuanced interpretation of a pivotal moment in American history. That's it for now.
Speaker 1:Remember to check out our Wild West Podcast shows on iTunes or wildwestpodcastbuzzsproutcom. You can also catch us on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash Wild West Podcast or on our YouTube channel at Wild West Podcast, Mike King YouTube. So make sure you subscribe to our shows listed at the end of the description text of this podcast to receive notifications on all new episodes. Thanks for listening to our podcast. Thanks for listening to our podcast. We encourage you to visit the Western Cattle Trail Association website at westerncattletrailassociationcom to explore upcoming events, including a special presentation by Dr Jeff Broom on the Sand Creek Massacre. Join us next time on Wild West Podcast as we travel back in time to the stonehouse of Dodge City. If you have any comments or would like to contribute to our series, please contact us at wildwestpodcast at gmailcom. We look forward to hearing your thoughts in future episodes. Bye.
